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14 Oct 2007, 10:56
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Hello Everyone,
I have been reading posts from all the members regarding their GMAT experiences and the post are very inspiring indeed. I have been a regular visitor of GMAT forums.
I started my GMAT journey last September. I work in Engg. in embedded s/w. Initially I tend to look to take GMAT very lightly thinking that I will be able to score atleast 650 with 2 to 3 months of study and from the experiences of my friends. But that wasnt the case with me and I learnt the hard way.
My first attempt with GMAT was in Oct 2006 and I got a shocking score of 440 (Q 35 V 17). I was probably expecting in the range of 500 to 520. I studied on and off after that and appeared for the test in last week of Sep with the score of 550 (Q40 V 26). I had improved but the score was not good enough for my target schools.
My study pattern so far has also not been consistent and although I appeared for my 2nd GMAT attempt after 1 year, the actual preparation might be about 3 to 4 months. Now in retrospect I felt that I should have worked a lot harder. But at times it was hard with my work schedule, and family. I thought I worked as much as I could but in the end it was not good enough.
I would really appreciate some advice on my study plans and approach for GMAT. Sorry this is a long post as this is debrief of my 1 year prep so far.
My preparations for 2nd time:
I think I have covered all the recommended material for GMAT.
I solved Kaplan Math Workbook (only once) and then went on to solving OG 11th Edition. I really stuggled with my Advance Quant questions and my verbal skills were horrible. I had maintained error logs as recommended by other members and identified my weak areas in Verbal and Quant.
I had problems with Tough Word Problems, advance Combinatorics, probability, Inequalites, Co-ordinate geometry and number properties.
In a span of about 5 to 6 months I managed to solve Quant MGMAT guides books, OG 11th Ed Quant problems and Verbal problems. I also refered to the CR bible in the mean time. I think it was a good reference. I took some notes from that book for strengthen, weaken and assumptions problems. My CR score varies, someday i get about 70 to 80% right but on other days it would be about 40% to 50%. I also refered to Kaplan Verbal workbook and followed the RC and CR strategies to attack the problems. I was just in the process of figuring out which technique would work best for me in RC and CR. After following the RC stategy from Kaplan book I improved on my RC but need to work on my speed. After refering to MGMAT SC guide I improved a lot on SC too (to about 50 to 60% from 20%).
At this point I was a little comfortable with tough Quant problems, but at the same time I would also get stuck in some of the tough ones. I would eventually manage to get those right but ofcourse not in timed conditions. I was ok with all the Quant concepts and needed to work on breadth of different problems. Just more practice. I also attempted 3 Kaplan test from the Kaplan CD's the scores for which were. I dont know the exact dates but I took them between March to beginning of May. I know I should have taken more test and should have been more regular with my studies.
Kaplan Test 1 520 (Quant 32 Verbal 23)
Kaplan Test 2 550 (Quant 32 Verbal 30)
Kaplan Test 3 520 (Quant 33 Veral 22)
Power Prep1 600 (Qaunt 46 Verbal 26)
The reason for higher power prep score is because most ofthe questions were from 11th Ed and I knew how to solve those.
So in the last 2 months I started with the DS and PS 1000 questions set which are very exhaustive. I struggled in some of tough questions but I managed to finish all problems once before my test. I didnt get a chance in the end to solve the questions I had wrong. I was also solving verbal questions from the SC1000, RC1000 and CR1000 (For CR its mostly from 11th Ed). I managed to get atleat 60 to 70% questions right in Verbal overall but in timed conditions I puke.
I also managed to go through 4 MGMAT practice test
1st -- July 28th 2007 Score 530 (Quant 41 Verbal 22)
2nd -- Aug 11th 2007 Score 580 (Quant 43, Verbal 27)
3rd -- Aug 18th 2007 Score 580 (Quant 40 Verbal 31)
4th -- Sep 1st 2007 Score 600 (Quant 41 Verbal 32)
15th Sep GMATPrep Test 1 600 (Quant 43 Verbal 31)
22nd Sep GMATPrep Test 2 630 (Quant 47 Verbal 32)
At this point I thought that I would atleast be able to get atleat 600 and by stroke of luck maybe even 630.
In the end I finshed up with a PowerPrep Test 3 days before the test with a score of 660 (Quant 49 Verbal 31).I just got 12 wrong in Verbal out of 41 and still only managed 31. I really dont know how they calculate this. Quant I was familiar with atleast 20 questions and thats why managed to score 49.
On my test day AWA was a breeze. Then back to my Maths section. The first question was of Inequalities, and fractions. I was nervous and took about 4 mins to solve it and it the end I came to 2 choices but had to guess out ofthe 2 to move on. I think I had that incorrect. The next one was easier than that and managed fine. In the middle I had so many problems where I did came down to about 2 choices and then had to guess. At about 25 I got a an 3 dimensional overlapping sets problem (Venn diagrams) and I was not able to do that. Not because I didnt know the concept but because of sheer time pressure. I scrwed up a combinatorics too and my answer didnt match the one in the answer choices. Again guessed and moved ahead. But at this point I didnt loose my cool, and tried to focus on the next questions. In the end I managed to guess at least 15 problems out of 37.
At this point I knew I had screwed it up but wanted to finish Verbal with a positive attitude. Most of the questions I had were Easy to Medium difficulty (that is according to my standards) and I had to guess on last 3 questions as I was out of time. Went through all the 10 screens in about 5 secs and clicked to Report my scores and there it was 550.
I was dissapointed by then though it was 110 points improvement than my last attempt.
I seriously need advice for my GMAT prep as I dont want to give up now. I want to atleast get 650 to have a decent shot at Admissions to my target schools (which are top 20). Is it recommended to solve OG11th Edition again even though you're familiar with most of the problems.
I have stayed away from GMAT after that except for today while writing this post. But will have to start my prep soon. I was hoping to appear after 2 months.
Also I do hope to regularly participate in the discussions on this forum.
Thanks in advance for your help.
- A
I have been reading posts from all the members regarding their GMAT experiences and the post are very inspiring indeed. I have been a regular visitor of GMAT forums.
I started my GMAT journey last September. I work in Engg. in embedded s/w. Initially I tend to look to take GMAT very lightly thinking that I will be able to score atleast 650 with 2 to 3 months of study and from the experiences of my friends. But that wasnt the case with me and I learnt the hard way.
My first attempt with GMAT was in Oct 2006 and I got a shocking score of 440 (Q 35 V 17). I was probably expecting in the range of 500 to 520. I studied on and off after that and appeared for the test in last week of Sep with the score of 550 (Q40 V 26). I had improved but the score was not good enough for my target schools.
My study pattern so far has also not been consistent and although I appeared for my 2nd GMAT attempt after 1 year, the actual preparation might be about 3 to 4 months. Now in retrospect I felt that I should have worked a lot harder. But at times it was hard with my work schedule, and family. I thought I worked as much as I could but in the end it was not good enough.
I would really appreciate some advice on my study plans and approach for GMAT. Sorry this is a long post as this is debrief of my 1 year prep so far.
My preparations for 2nd time:
I think I have covered all the recommended material for GMAT.
I solved Kaplan Math Workbook (only once) and then went on to solving OG 11th Edition. I really stuggled with my Advance Quant questions and my verbal skills were horrible. I had maintained error logs as recommended by other members and identified my weak areas in Verbal and Quant.
I had problems with Tough Word Problems, advance Combinatorics, probability, Inequalites, Co-ordinate geometry and number properties.
In a span of about 5 to 6 months I managed to solve Quant MGMAT guides books, OG 11th Ed Quant problems and Verbal problems. I also refered to the CR bible in the mean time. I think it was a good reference. I took some notes from that book for strengthen, weaken and assumptions problems. My CR score varies, someday i get about 70 to 80% right but on other days it would be about 40% to 50%. I also refered to Kaplan Verbal workbook and followed the RC and CR strategies to attack the problems. I was just in the process of figuring out which technique would work best for me in RC and CR. After following the RC stategy from Kaplan book I improved on my RC but need to work on my speed. After refering to MGMAT SC guide I improved a lot on SC too (to about 50 to 60% from 20%).
At this point I was a little comfortable with tough Quant problems, but at the same time I would also get stuck in some of the tough ones. I would eventually manage to get those right but ofcourse not in timed conditions. I was ok with all the Quant concepts and needed to work on breadth of different problems. Just more practice. I also attempted 3 Kaplan test from the Kaplan CD's the scores for which were. I dont know the exact dates but I took them between March to beginning of May. I know I should have taken more test and should have been more regular with my studies.
Kaplan Test 1 520 (Quant 32 Verbal 23)
Kaplan Test 2 550 (Quant 32 Verbal 30)
Kaplan Test 3 520 (Quant 33 Veral 22)
Power Prep1 600 (Qaunt 46 Verbal 26)
The reason for higher power prep score is because most ofthe questions were from 11th Ed and I knew how to solve those.
So in the last 2 months I started with the DS and PS 1000 questions set which are very exhaustive. I struggled in some of tough questions but I managed to finish all problems once before my test. I didnt get a chance in the end to solve the questions I had wrong. I was also solving verbal questions from the SC1000, RC1000 and CR1000 (For CR its mostly from 11th Ed). I managed to get atleat 60 to 70% questions right in Verbal overall but in timed conditions I puke.
I also managed to go through 4 MGMAT practice test
1st -- July 28th 2007 Score 530 (Quant 41 Verbal 22)
2nd -- Aug 11th 2007 Score 580 (Quant 43, Verbal 27)
3rd -- Aug 18th 2007 Score 580 (Quant 40 Verbal 31)
4th -- Sep 1st 2007 Score 600 (Quant 41 Verbal 32)
15th Sep GMATPrep Test 1 600 (Quant 43 Verbal 31)
22nd Sep GMATPrep Test 2 630 (Quant 47 Verbal 32)
At this point I thought that I would atleast be able to get atleat 600 and by stroke of luck maybe even 630.
In the end I finshed up with a PowerPrep Test 3 days before the test with a score of 660 (Quant 49 Verbal 31).I just got 12 wrong in Verbal out of 41 and still only managed 31. I really dont know how they calculate this. Quant I was familiar with atleast 20 questions and thats why managed to score 49.
On my test day AWA was a breeze. Then back to my Maths section. The first question was of Inequalities, and fractions. I was nervous and took about 4 mins to solve it and it the end I came to 2 choices but had to guess out ofthe 2 to move on. I think I had that incorrect. The next one was easier than that and managed fine. In the middle I had so many problems where I did came down to about 2 choices and then had to guess. At about 25 I got a an 3 dimensional overlapping sets problem (Venn diagrams) and I was not able to do that. Not because I didnt know the concept but because of sheer time pressure. I scrwed up a combinatorics too and my answer didnt match the one in the answer choices. Again guessed and moved ahead. But at this point I didnt loose my cool, and tried to focus on the next questions. In the end I managed to guess at least 15 problems out of 37.
At this point I knew I had screwed it up but wanted to finish Verbal with a positive attitude. Most of the questions I had were Easy to Medium difficulty (that is according to my standards) and I had to guess on last 3 questions as I was out of time. Went through all the 10 screens in about 5 secs and clicked to Report my scores and there it was 550.
I was dissapointed by then though it was 110 points improvement than my last attempt.
I seriously need advice for my GMAT prep as I dont want to give up now. I want to atleast get 650 to have a decent shot at Admissions to my target schools (which are top 20). Is it recommended to solve OG11th Edition again even though you're familiar with most of the problems.
I have stayed away from GMAT after that except for today while writing this post. But will have to start my prep soon. I was hoping to appear after 2 months.
Also I do hope to regularly participate in the discussions on this forum.
Thanks in advance for your help.
- A
14 Oct 2007, 13:01
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hey Abhi,
Dont be too disappointed.You will improve with some practise...
Your verbal is a bit low...... what is ur achilees heel there???
I ended up with a GMAT score of 640 a week back.Raring to go again.....My quant is really week.
When are u planning to retake it???? and what colleges are u applying to???
Cheers
Ashish
Dont be too disappointed.You will improve with some practise...
Your verbal is a bit low...... what is ur achilees heel there???
I ended up with a GMAT score of 640 a week back.Raring to go again.....My quant is really week.
When are u planning to retake it???? and what colleges are u applying to???
Cheers
Ashish
14 Oct 2007, 20:08
Kudos
Bookmarks
Thanks for your kind words Ashish. I was planning to appear again perhaps in Jan. Right now I am just thinking of GMAT and I have put my plans for B-school on back burner. Will have to assess after my GMAT score. I was planning for MIT and TUCK but thats just a plan.
Abhi.
Abhi.
