hi guys,
i got a lot out of this forum. thanks to all. wanted to pass on my experience with the actual test and offer some tips to those that are yet to tame the beast.
highlight: 710 - Q47 (81%), V41 (93%)
preparation - with all the crap going on at work (and elsewhere!), didn't get to spend much time on GMAT:
- probably about 1 month of *somewhat* focused prep - 1-2 hrs a day, not
very consistently, and approx 2.5 months of somewhat casual GMATting - about 1 hr or less a day).
- last one week is when i took most of the tests
- about 5 tests.
PP2 - 740
Kaplan 1 - 600
Kaplan 2 - 560
Kaplan 3 - 560
PR 1 or 2 (can't remember) - 650
ETS Test 25 - 720
- other work:
(a) solved a lot of
OG, esp for DS, PS, CR and SC.
(b) timed myself with that spreadsheet from
Hoc Phan (qhoc...) for every set of
35-41 questions on
OG. it is an awesome
companion tool as you work through
OG
(c) read through kaplan, kaplan800
i had postponed the GMAT date once already. jan 27 was the last available date that would give me the option to take it another time if i had messed up. thankfully i don’t have to take it again.
the test itself:
1. essays were calming like others suggested
2. quant was tougher than
OG, but not much
more... like the last 50-100 problems in DS
and PS
- started out with number line question
- had three questions on probability
- one or two with |expression|
- one DS question on compound interest!!
- one on co-ordinate geo
sorry, can't give you specifics. (ets policy)
3. verbal
- atleast two CRs of the form: how will you
complete this argument?
- one or two CRs with bold face statements
in two places and then describe the effect
of those two statements on the overall
argument
- 4 RCs - 3 of 40-45 lines, one towards the
end (when i had 7 mts left with 6 q's to go)
with 60 lines, but relatively easy questions
- SCs were not too tough - just usual tense
agreement, s-v agreement, idiomatic
("does that sound good") etc.
would i have done things differently? maybe so, but here are some specific suggestions
- take pp1 before solving
OG but after reviewing all the concepts and after some
practice, say from Kaplan.
- work through
OG completely and dispassionately! don’t get encouraged because the earlier set in each case (ds, ps, sc) is definitely much easier than towards the end.
- take tests like kaplan to build up stamina of solving long problems repeatedly
- get your fundamentals on probability, modulus etc crystal clear (if that’s possible)
- read spidey’s notes from sentencecorrection.com, the idiom list from somewhere around here.