Scored 790 (Q51,V50)

Hi everyone,

A friend pointed me to this board to get some tips on applying for schools now that my GMAT is done. I came across this forum so I thought I'd share my story like everyone else.

I took my exam yesterday and had to rub my eyes a couple times to make sure I was seeing the right score

Total Score: 790
Quant: 51
Verbal: 50

I must say that luck played a huge part in this considering I made several "best guesses". During practise exams I usually aced the math part (1-2 wrong overall) but then got beat down on the verbal section (8-10 wrong). Sentence correction alone accounted for 80% of my mistakes on most tests.

My biggest scare was the very first question in the verbal section (a sentence correction problem) which I wasn't confident on. Definitely a sucky way to start!

Overall, the testing experience was what I expected based on the GMAT prep exams. The essay sections were a bit of a surprise because the 30 min felt like it went by FAST. I didn't write any practise essays prior to the exam so I wasn't sure how to gauge it. For those that plan on winging the essay part, I would suggest doing at least one trial essay to get a feel for the time constraints.

As for my studying regiment, I started studying 2 months in advance and tried to follow what I used for the LSAT. Write a full exam 2-3 times a week (about once every 2-3 days) and spend an hour or so reviewing mistakes the day after. I created "exams" by dividing up the 800 questions from the official GMAT book into ten 80-question sets. It worked out to roughly the same ratio of question types as the actual exam. I also entered in the scores and times I had for each of the 5 question types so I could identify my weak areas (accuracy and/or timing)

Math has always been a strong suit of mine so I focused significantly less time on that part. Also, having previously studied for the LSAT, I was already familiar with the reading comprehension and critical reasoning questions (which were definitely harder on the LSAT).

I finished the exams and questions about 2 weeks prior to the exam and spent the remaining time:

- Reading through Kaplan, Princeton, and GMAT strategies for sentence correction
- Doing random sentence correction questions wherever I could find them
- Reading strategies on answering the AWA questions

GMAT Prep 1: 720 (2 months prior to exam, initial assessment)
GMAT Prep 2: 760 (1 week prior to exam)
Kaplan: 640 (2.5 weeks prior to exam)

I didn't do the other Kaplan exams because the questions didn't seem representative of what the GMAT would actually cover. Many of their critical reasoning questions were formatted like the logical reasoning questions in the LSAT.

I think that's it. Time to start writing those essays.

Cheers,

Mousepotato