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StartupAddict's GMAT Journal

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StartupAddict's GMAT Journal [#permalink] New post   13 Aug 2007, 19:23
I'm starting a little journal here to keep track of my progress :-)

GMAT Goal: 50+ Q, 45+ V, GMAT 770+

My GPA is ridiculously low (2.8), which in actuality is a great GPA from my program & school (joint computer science/ combinatorics&optimization), but still need to do better :-) Plus GMAT is fun (hah).

So I've done a few tests. I did a Kaplan once, and got 600, about 3 months ago, and felt like a huge idiot, so I've been doing some studying here and there.

Here are some tests I've done so far:

GMAT Paper Tests:
#28 - 730 (50Q,41V)
#31 - 690 (48Q,36V)
#37 - 700 (49Q,38V)
#42 - 650 (48Q,34V)
#52 - 720 (49Q,39V)
#55 - 770 (51Q,45V) (after studying SC)

These are the most recent CAT tests I've done:

GMATPrep2: 740 (47Q,45V), 12 Q wrong, 5 V wrong.
GMATPrep1: 750 (49Q,42V), 10 Q wrong, 8 V wrong.
PowerPrep1: 740 (46Q,46V), 7Q wrong, 6V wrong (3RC,2SC,1CR).

(Note - I kept running out of time at the end for Quant, so I have to improve my speed).

Books completed:

GMAT for Dummies (good introduction)
Kaplan (OK - good tricks, good for beginners)
Barrons (useless, terrible answers)
McGraw Hill (good intermediate book, some mistakes in the questions)

Analysis:

Verbal is good, can always improve more. Have to increase my mental endurance, I usually space out during RC's and can't make sense of anything in the ridiculously hard passages!

Quantitative is good, I just overthink questions and spend too much time trying to solve them in complicated ways, when there are much easier ways to do questions. I have to do a lot of Quant questions to increase my speed in order to lock in a 50+ Q.
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[#permalink] New post   14 Aug 2007, 20:09
PowerPrep1: 730 (48Q,42V)

Got 5x Q wrong, 7x V (5RC,2CR).

Bah. The RC's were freaking impossible! I got 2 freaking 75 line passages omg with the most confusing questions; the fact that I slept 2 hours last night didn't help either. I made a lot of stupid mistakes on math. I got some weird questions on the quant, which seemed easy (ie 10% of the motorists who went through the speed trap got a ticket, but 20% of those who went through did not get a ticket. What % of people went through the speed trap? something like that... I don't even get what it's asking).

Grrrrrr not happy at all
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[#permalink] New post   15 Aug 2007, 10:47
Did about 100 questions of Quant yesterday from the OG10 PS (scanned Q's 1-250, did about 1 in 2-3, lots I skipped... although I should go back and review those stupid questions where you have to figure out how to set things up). Good news is I can do most in my head now... I'm good at rate problems now... geometry I'm better at, although sometimes DS gets to me.

Going to finish up 250-450 today, do some DS, a little bit of CR/RC... so about 250-300 quant questions today. There is no reason I should get less than 51 on Q.... I have an undergraduate degree in CS & Combinatorics/Optimization... which is pure math. I'm still disappointed with that crappy score last night. I guess doing RC when you're on the verge of passing out from exhaustion is a bad idea!!!!!

I did sleep better though. I woke up at about 11am today after going to bed around 3:30.... the night before I went to bed at 2:30am and woke up at 8am. The day before that, I went to bed at 8:30am, and woke up at 1pm. And pretty much the entire week I was going to bed at 8-10am, and waking up at 5-6 pm, which is annoying/frustrating!!!!
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[#permalink] New post   15 Aug 2007, 11:48
hey Startup Addict. Your scores look VERY good. Just remember to relax the day before the test and clear your mind a bit, otherwise you risk burnout during the test. When is the test?
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[#permalink] New post   15 Aug 2007, 17:56
kryzak wrote:
hey Startup Addict. Your scores look VERY good. Just remember to relax the day before the test and clear your mind a bit, otherwise you risk burnout during the test. When is the test?


Thanks. Yeah, I realize that :-) I looked over that 730 PP I did the other day, and had I been more awake and alert, I would have gotten only maybe 2 math, and 3 verbal wrong. (instead of 5/7 or whatever).

Did 82 DS questions today from OG10, and 10PS, along with about 20SC, so about 100 questions total today. I didn't do a CAT or test today, taking it easy.

Looking at doing 160 DS tomorrow + 100 PS tomorrow, then a CAT.
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[#permalink] New post   17 Aug 2007, 16:30
Yeah... so I'm never doing a McGraw Hill CAT again. I just did CAT 6, and got 700 (?!). Got 8 wrong on math (upon checking my answers, *4* of THEIR answers were WRONG!), and got 4 wrong on verbal, 2 SC, 1 RC, 1 CR. The CR is disagree with (their argument is extremely weak), the 2 SC were hard, but that's ok, and the RC was tough. So I got 3 wrong.

But overall very weak prep. Difficulty didn't scale, score isn't accurate (37/41 usually is a 46-47V+ which is 99th percentile +).


I'm never touching a POS McGraw Hill CAT again. How is Kaplan's? Same thing (no scaling, no Q/V scores, etc?).

GRRRR!
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[#permalink] New post   17 Aug 2007, 17:29
try MGMAT CAT... avoid Kaplan (you'll get 500-600's on your scores) and Princeton Review (math too easy, same problems with CR/RC as McGraw Hill).

And don't take a CAT *after* you do 260 math problems... your score will be much lower than what it could be.
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[#permalink] New post   18 Aug 2007, 17:39
Hah, I know. How does MGMAT compare to the real thing?
I like the GMAT Prep.

I did about 100 DS, 20 SC today, plus a GMATPrep.

Oy, doing 120 math problems followed by a CAT rapes you!!!!!!! My brain hurts so bad now. I did well though!

GMATPrep: 760 (99th)
Quant: 50 (95th) , 29/37
Verbal: 44 (97th), 33/41

I got 8 wrong on Quant, and 8 wrong on Verbal. On verbal I got 1CR, 1RC wrong; but 6 freaking SC!!!!!!! GAH. MAN was it BRUTAL. I should only get 1-2 SC wrong, damn it. The difficulty got ridiculous. I got the first 12 right on math, then got 6 out of the last 10 wrong (time/brain stopped working!!!!!!). I got some ridiculous questions. Verbal was OK, surprisingly I did OK on the RC....

Next up: DS/PS, focusing on Venn diagrams, circle geometry, and DS word problems (I HATE those).

And more SC!!!!!!!! GAH. Back to work......
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[#permalink] New post   19 Aug 2007, 02:03
Good work! Looks like you got the same score on verbal I got the first GMATPrep. 1 wrong in RC and CR, and 6 in SC. Too bad my real test verbal was only 41.

If you can get 760 after 120 questions, I think you're ready for the real test... unless you're aiming for 800 ;)
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Re: StartupAddict's GMAT Journal [#permalink] New post   20 Aug 2007, 09:57
StartupAddict, Where can i get the powerprep and the gmat paper tests?

StartupAddict wrote:
I'm starting a little journal here to keep track of my progress :-)

GMAT Goal: 50+ Q, 45+ V, GMAT 770+

My GPA is ridiculously low (2.8), which in actuality is a great GPA from my program & school (joint computer science/ combinatorics&optimization), but still need to do better :-) Plus GMAT is fun (hah).

So I've done a few tests. I did a Kaplan once, and got 600, about 3 months ago, and felt like a huge idiot, so I've been doing some studying here and there.

Here are some tests I've done so far:

GMAT Paper Tests:
#28 - 730 (50Q,41V)
#31 - 690 (48Q,36V)
#37 - 700 (49Q,38V)
#42 - 650 (48Q,34V)
#52 - 720 (49Q,39V)
#55 - 770 (51Q,45V) (after studying SC)

These are the most recent CAT tests I've done:

GMATPrep2: 740 (47Q,45V), 12 Q wrong, 5 V wrong.
GMATPrep1: 750 (49Q,42V), 10 Q wrong, 8 V wrong.
PowerPrep1: 740 (46Q,46V), 7Q wrong, 6V wrong (3RC,2SC,1CR).

(Note - I kept running out of time at the end for Quant, so I have to improve my speed).

Books completed:

GMAT for Dummies (good introduction)
Kaplan (OK - good tricks, good for beginners)
Barrons (useless, terrible answers)
McGraw Hill (good intermediate book, some mistakes in the questions)

Analysis:

Verbal is good, can always improve more. Have to increase my mental endurance, I usually space out during RC's and can't make sense of anything in the ridiculously hard passages!

Quantitative is good, I just overthink questions and spend too much time trying to solve them in complicated ways, when there are much easier ways to do questions. I have to do a lot of Quant questions to increase my speed in order to lock in a 50+ Q.
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[#permalink] New post   20 Aug 2007, 15:06
S. Addict:

Did you try to finish the paper test exams within the suggested 25 mins per section guideline?

I took the Test # 31 verbal alone recently. I scored about 40-41(14/18 RC, 19/22 SC, 13/16 CR). But I took about 30-35 minutes for each section.

I was wondering whether my score looks bloated because of the extra time I took.
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[#permalink] New post   20 Aug 2007, 17:57
Yes. You have to time yourself strictly. Remember, on the real test you'd run out of time, and probably only answer 2/3 of the questions.... hence your score would be a lot lower. Also, when you calculate your score, you have to subtract X/4 where X is the # you got wrong, so your score would have been a 44 raw, which scales to a 39V not a 40-41. Those old tests are retarded, the material doesn't get hard, you just have to be fast.

Also did another GMATPrep2 today, got 760, 50Q/44V.. 8&8 wrong -- WTF! Dejavu. That's identical to what I got on the GMATPrep1... also today was TERRIBLE - I couldn't think as I wasn't in the zone.... I got 1 math question wrong in the first 24, then i got 7 wrong in the last 13 as I ran out of time...... wtf? Verbal was terrible... I got 5-6 **** SC wrong again GRRRRRRR
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[#permalink] New post   20 Aug 2007, 18:23
Mate, I think its time to focus on mental preparedness for the test. I reckon if you think clearly and perform at your best during the test, you will totally ace it (760+). Frankly there is not much difference after you cross 750. You will be in the 99th percentile.

Good luck.
ps. I'd be rooting for ya. I loved combinatorics when I did Comp Sci :)
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[#permalink] New post   20 Aug 2007, 18:46
Thanks man. But my average is really bad.. my GPA is a 2.7 now, so I need to get really high on the GMAT :)

Good point -- I don't know how to improve mental prepardness! I need speed or something..... I know by the time I get to verbal my brain is much, I can't concentrate...... I read something once, twice, even three times and it still doesn't register..... like when I do a few questions, I get them fine, but when I do it I can't concentrate, I have to keep motivating myself to keep the speed up.... any tips for prepping yourself for doing 2.5 hours nonstop? I also don't do essays........... this may even tire me out more :O
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[#permalink] New post   20 Aug 2007, 22:21
generally the more full CATs you do with AWA, you brain should get more trained (like lifting weights or running)... but if that's not happening... I actually don't know what to suggest... sorry. :?
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[#permalink] New post   21 Aug 2007, 00:34
Hey have a look at my debrief. Especially the bits on mental preparation.

https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=47351

I haven't found many more 'guides' to this on gmat club yet.
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[#permalink] New post   21 Aug 2007, 20:15
Thanks BSDLover :-) I think you just need to eat and do as many CAT's as possible. I think I'm going to start doing essays soon to build more mental stamina.

I have to do more Quant stuff so I'm faster & better at it.

Anyways, I just did another CAT:

PowerPrep1
Score: 780
Quant: 50 (2 wrong)
Verbal: 49 (3 wrong)

I'm still paranoid and need to do way more Quant along with SC......
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[#permalink] New post   21 Aug 2007, 20:18
Question... are you repeating GMATPrep and PowerPrep tests? how many repeat questions do you see?
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[#permalink] New post   21 Aug 2007, 20:22
StartupAddict wrote:
Thanks BSDLover :-) I think you just need to eat and do as many CAT's as possible. I think I'm going to start doing essays soon to build more mental stamina.

I have to do more Quant stuff so I'm faster & better at it.

Anyways, I just did another CAT:

PowerPrep1
Score: 780
Quant: 50 (2 wrong)
Verbal: 49 (3 wrong)

I'm still paranoid and need to do way more Quant along with SC......



Somehow I dont feel inspired... I feel guilty :(
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[#permalink] New post   22 Aug 2007, 01:21
kryzak wrote:
Question... are you repeating GMATPrep and PowerPrep tests? how many repeat questions do you see?


Yes, although I did them a while ago. I saw maybe 2 repeats I remembered on Quant, and even then I didn't remember the answer so I had to work through it again. I do about 100-150 questions a day, and I rarely remember questions I did the day before. Verbal I saw 2-3 repeats and 1 passage repeated. There are more repeats on PP than on GMATPrep, I know when I repeat a GMATPrep I see completely new questions.

I don't know what else to do. I don't trust the books, but GMAC only gives out PP/GMATprep....... I guess I'll do a MGMAT or a Kaplan tomorrow.

The main thing I worry about is stamina........ it's that mushy brain feeling after doing Quant........ nothing makes sense on Verbal, its weird, I read a question but I can't make it out, but I guess subconciously I can still make out the answer :-) I 'feel' answers... haha..... as dumb as it sounds
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