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Apr 2808:00 AM PDT
-11:00 AM PDT
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.
18 Apr 2011, 14:07
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Roughly a month ago I started preparing for GMAT. At first, I got the OG from a library and started working on it. I found the Quant part rather trivial, but Verbal part was disastrous (as you have probably guessed already, I am not a native English speaker. Although, I have been studying natural sciences for a couple years in the UK).
Nevertheless, my GMAT Prep Test 1 got me 710, which his quite good, but not outstanding. Afterwards, I tried was majority of the free tests online. Here Princeton Review and Manhattan seemed to be the best choices. At this point I thought that I have reached my threshold of some sort. No matter what I did, the score stayed at 700-720 (47-49Q ±39V) and SC as the most painful part. I then got my hands on the Manhattan Prep for SC (library again), which is actually the very best study tool possible- concise and precise. I can say this after quickly skimming through most of the others in the library. Surprisingly enough, the score did not change significantly, so I decided to concentrate on my studies and just see what happens. A week later, I took the Prep Test 2 and got 770. This score was a complete surprise, I was sure I screwed up the Verbal part rather bad....
And so came the Big Day (G Day?
). The AWA went quite ok- just make sure to layout a good structure and find at least 4-5 arguments and a nice summary in both essays. Afterwards, there was a 8 min break (I was quite surprised- I always thought it was supposed to be 5 min long) during which I had half a can of the cheapest energy drink I could find and half a bar of Snickers, and forced myself to go to the bathroom. After a couple of stretches, I was sitting in the chair and fitting my earplugs for the Quant part....
A first, it appeared as a complete disaster. I spent 4 minutes on the very first question! At this point, I was starting to freak out and had to stop for 30s to calm myself down by quietly repeating: Oh, screw that Masters programme! Thankfully, I was alone in the test chamber. The questions started getting much harder (it's good, isn't it) and I actually had to make educated guesses in couple of cases, probably somewhere in the range from q18 to q25. Yet, questions from q30 were absolutely trivial. At this point I thought that I was completely screwed and tried to do my best on the last couple of questions. After doing my best and finishing 5.30 min early, I left for a break. After having the leftovers of energy drink and Snickers, I got back to the room...
...and left it after the verbal part. It might have been the fatigue, an extreme need to go to the bathroom that started around q35, or both, but I can't really recall even the topics of RC, let alone any SC or CR questions. I only remember the extreme problems concentrating on Qs 39-41 due to the need to go to bathroom. Damn caffeine nearly costed my a couple of percentile points...
It is hard to describe the blissful feeling I had after viewing the score for the first time. (and the confirmed AWA score of 6.0)
It is really hard to make any comments without seeing the actual question reports. However, I still feel that an initial screw up can be safely compensated by a good performance towards the end of the test. Also, it is crucial to have as many sorts of ways of calming down, as possible- just think what works best for you.
Nevertheless, my GMAT Prep Test 1 got me 710, which his quite good, but not outstanding. Afterwards, I tried was majority of the free tests online. Here Princeton Review and Manhattan seemed to be the best choices. At this point I thought that I have reached my threshold of some sort. No matter what I did, the score stayed at 700-720 (47-49Q ±39V) and SC as the most painful part. I then got my hands on the Manhattan Prep for SC (library again), which is actually the very best study tool possible- concise and precise. I can say this after quickly skimming through most of the others in the library. Surprisingly enough, the score did not change significantly, so I decided to concentrate on my studies and just see what happens. A week later, I took the Prep Test 2 and got 770. This score was a complete surprise, I was sure I screwed up the Verbal part rather bad....
And so came the Big Day (G Day?
). The AWA went quite ok- just make sure to layout a good structure and find at least 4-5 arguments and a nice summary in both essays. Afterwards, there was a 8 min break (I was quite surprised- I always thought it was supposed to be 5 min long) during which I had half a can of the cheapest energy drink I could find and half a bar of Snickers, and forced myself to go to the bathroom. After a couple of stretches, I was sitting in the chair and fitting my earplugs for the Quant part.... A first, it appeared as a complete disaster. I spent 4 minutes on the very first question! At this point, I was starting to freak out and had to stop for 30s to calm myself down by quietly repeating: Oh, screw that Masters programme! Thankfully, I was alone in the test chamber. The questions started getting much harder (it's good, isn't it) and I actually had to make educated guesses in couple of cases, probably somewhere in the range from q18 to q25. Yet, questions from q30 were absolutely trivial. At this point I thought that I was completely screwed and tried to do my best on the last couple of questions. After doing my best and finishing 5.30 min early, I left for a break. After having the leftovers of energy drink and Snickers, I got back to the room...
...and left it after the verbal part. It might have been the fatigue, an extreme need to go to the bathroom that started around q35, or both, but I can't really recall even the topics of RC, let alone any SC or CR questions. I only remember the extreme problems concentrating on Qs 39-41 due to the need to go to bathroom. Damn caffeine nearly costed my a couple of percentile points...
It is hard to describe the blissful feeling I had after viewing the score for the first time. (and the confirmed AWA score of 6.0)
It is really hard to make any comments without seeing the actual question reports. However, I still feel that an initial screw up can be safely compensated by a good performance towards the end of the test. Also, it is crucial to have as many sorts of ways of calming down, as possible- just think what works best for you.
18 Apr 2011, 14:20
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Shalom!
Wow! Almost unbelievable. I hope to have one of these days when I take my GMAT test this July!
Wow! Almost unbelievable. I hope to have one of these days when I take my GMAT test this July!
(30 seconds ago via e-mail - lol)>> 
