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Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.
Hello everyone,
GMAT:740(Q50,V40) IR 7 AWA 5,5 (official score)
Two days ago I was like most people in here, searching for gmat tips/tricks, patterns, formulas, success stories to motivate me, but now the gmat journey is over and I would like to share my story mostly to motivate my fellow gmat takers.
Background:
Male, 27, business administration graduate.
I was not working during my prep, I focused on the gmat.
Preparation:
1)I studied thoroughly for approximately 4 months.In my opinion 3-5 months is ideal for a 700+
2)Materials used:
1)Prep center in my country (I met people with same goals and concerns as me,it helped in motivating me,provided plenty of cats and a lab,it helped overall)
2)OG 13th edition (must)
3)Manhattan guides( I studied only their quant guides, they were good)
4)magoosh (Good question bank, good quant videos, mediocre verbal videos, nonetheless it helped me a lot, I recommend)
5)e-gmat (unfortunately I did not get the chance to buy any of their programs, but I did all the free stuff they offered and they were good, I recommend especially for non-natives)
6)Veritas free question bank (Some questions seemed a bit off, but overall they were decent)
7)Gmat club tests/forum discussions (What a huge help, browsing the forums every day helped me stay focused on my target. The tests I did, helped a ton with my quant, I definitely recommend)
8)Powerscore bible for CR(excellent book, I recommend)
9)Aristotle SC(seemed above average, overall just ok)
10)CATS:
I took in totall 16 cats(6 mgmat, 5 kalpan, 1 magoosh, 4 gmat prep).. yes I know I overdid it.
I took all tests with awa,IR and under normal test conditions.
Mgmat (6) cats:my score varied from 590 to 680. 590-630 in the second month of my preparation and 640-680 in the last month.Their cats are excellent for practice,but their quant is a lot harder than the real stuff,much more wordy and time consuming, I personally never scored above 47 in their quant,whereas in many other tests I scored 50-51 consistently.
Magoosh(1):650..it was ok, not sure how accurate it is.
Kaplan(5) cats:I took them during the last 2 weeks of my preparation and I scored 690-720. Close to the real thing, quant much easier than mgmats, verbal was maybe a notch harder than the real thing. Overall well polished.
Gmat prep:I took two during the first 2 weeks of my preparation scoring 550 and 580.
I reseted(I could not remember any questions, so scores were not inflated) and took the first one, 3 week prior to my exam scoring 670, I took the second one 2 days before my exam scoring 690.
I took the gmatpreps in my house, whereas i took the mgmat/kaplan cats in a computer lab, it seems that it is better to take the cats in a lab rather than your comfort zone in your room, it pushes you to score higher and not be as relaxed as you would in your room.
They are in fact the best indicator of how you will perform, even though in my case I scored 50 more in the real exam than my best gmat prep, due to my hign focus and confidence in my knowledge and skills during the test day.
As you can see, my highest cat score was 720, and my highest gmat prep score 690...so anything is possible don't get demotivated by a low cat score!!!
It is important to note that throughout my academic years, I have almost always been more focused when taking an official test than when taking a mock test, so that helped as well.
Tips:
1)Set your goals,aim high score higher,keep dreaming every day during your preparation.
2)Choose wisely your prep mats, there are so many options out there, be very cautious on what you choose for your preparation, I hope some of my recommendations will help.
3)Make a study plan, and try to stick to it,unfortunately my study plan was changing quite often and I had problems sticking to it, big mistake.
4)Quant:practice, practice, practice by far the best way to improve. Verbal, in SC and CR think quantitatively, its not so much about grammar, as about logic and clear thinking. In RC I was weak, most of the passages bored me to death, so I would just say, stay focused and on topic while reading a totally uninteresting passage.
5)Try to meet and talk with people taking the gmat, it will help you alot. Be active on the forums!(I was browing the forums every day)
6)Take cats I would say 6-12 are enough no need to overburn yourself with many cats!
7)Enjoy life, go out with friends, exercise, be active even though gmat should be your n1 priority it should not be the only one!
8)During the exam be RELAXED, stay FOCUSED, think POSITIVELY,..i Strongly believe, I scored a 740 because of those 3 factors.
9)Use the test breaks to move around a bit, eat a healthy snack(I had a banana and fitness bar), drink water, go to the toilet.
10)Think like a winner and you will win!
Ps:Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes, I wrote the debrief quite fast.
GMAT:740(Q50,V40) IR 7 AWA 5,5 (official score)
Two days ago I was like most people in here, searching for gmat tips/tricks, patterns, formulas, success stories to motivate me, but now the gmat journey is over and I would like to share my story mostly to motivate my fellow gmat takers.
Background:
Male, 27, business administration graduate.
I was not working during my prep, I focused on the gmat.
Preparation:
1)I studied thoroughly for approximately 4 months.In my opinion 3-5 months is ideal for a 700+
2)Materials used:
1)Prep center in my country (I met people with same goals and concerns as me,it helped in motivating me,provided plenty of cats and a lab,it helped overall)
2)OG 13th edition (must)
3)Manhattan guides( I studied only their quant guides, they were good)
4)magoosh (Good question bank, good quant videos, mediocre verbal videos, nonetheless it helped me a lot, I recommend)
5)e-gmat (unfortunately I did not get the chance to buy any of their programs, but I did all the free stuff they offered and they were good, I recommend especially for non-natives)
6)Veritas free question bank (Some questions seemed a bit off, but overall they were decent)
7)Gmat club tests/forum discussions (What a huge help, browsing the forums every day helped me stay focused on my target. The tests I did, helped a ton with my quant, I definitely recommend)
8)Powerscore bible for CR(excellent book, I recommend)
9)Aristotle SC(seemed above average, overall just ok)
10)CATS:
I took in totall 16 cats(6 mgmat, 5 kalpan, 1 magoosh, 4 gmat prep).. yes I know I overdid it.
I took all tests with awa,IR and under normal test conditions.
Mgmat (6) cats:my score varied from 590 to 680. 590-630 in the second month of my preparation and 640-680 in the last month.Their cats are excellent for practice,but their quant is a lot harder than the real stuff,much more wordy and time consuming, I personally never scored above 47 in their quant,whereas in many other tests I scored 50-51 consistently.
Magoosh(1):650..it was ok, not sure how accurate it is.
Kaplan(5) cats:I took them during the last 2 weeks of my preparation and I scored 690-720. Close to the real thing, quant much easier than mgmats, verbal was maybe a notch harder than the real thing. Overall well polished.
Gmat prep:I took two during the first 2 weeks of my preparation scoring 550 and 580.
I reseted(I could not remember any questions, so scores were not inflated) and took the first one, 3 week prior to my exam scoring 670, I took the second one 2 days before my exam scoring 690.
I took the gmatpreps in my house, whereas i took the mgmat/kaplan cats in a computer lab, it seems that it is better to take the cats in a lab rather than your comfort zone in your room, it pushes you to score higher and not be as relaxed as you would in your room.
They are in fact the best indicator of how you will perform, even though in my case I scored 50 more in the real exam than my best gmat prep, due to my hign focus and confidence in my knowledge and skills during the test day.
As you can see, my highest cat score was 720, and my highest gmat prep score 690...so anything is possible don't get demotivated by a low cat score!!!
It is important to note that throughout my academic years, I have almost always been more focused when taking an official test than when taking a mock test, so that helped as well.
Tips:
1)Set your goals,aim high score higher,keep dreaming every day during your preparation.
2)Choose wisely your prep mats, there are so many options out there, be very cautious on what you choose for your preparation, I hope some of my recommendations will help.
3)Make a study plan, and try to stick to it,unfortunately my study plan was changing quite often and I had problems sticking to it, big mistake.
4)Quant:practice, practice, practice by far the best way to improve. Verbal, in SC and CR think quantitatively, its not so much about grammar, as about logic and clear thinking. In RC I was weak, most of the passages bored me to death, so I would just say, stay focused and on topic while reading a totally uninteresting passage.
5)Try to meet and talk with people taking the gmat, it will help you alot. Be active on the forums!(I was browing the forums every day)
6)Take cats I would say 6-12 are enough no need to overburn yourself with many cats!
7)Enjoy life, go out with friends, exercise, be active even though gmat should be your n1 priority it should not be the only one!
8)During the exam be RELAXED, stay FOCUSED, think POSITIVELY,..i Strongly believe, I scored a 740 because of those 3 factors.
9)Use the test breaks to move around a bit, eat a healthy snack(I had a banana and fitness bar), drink water, go to the toilet.
10)Think like a winner and you will win!
Ps:Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes, I wrote the debrief quite fast.
03 Jul 2014, 17:46
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Dear Sgouro,
Thank you for sharing your experience. You have made some very relevant points. I especially like -
Regards,
Rajat Sadana
Thank you for sharing your experience. You have made some very relevant points. I especially like -
Quote:
. Success of non-natives such as yourself furthers this point. In addition, I am glad that we could be a part of your GMAT journey. Good luck for your applications.
Regards,
Rajat Sadana
