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GMATLA
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I have figured I need to start reading more English books. I am glad there are some reading recommendations on this forum. Thanks!
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So true bb! I am fortunate enough to have English as my first language, but even I made some large improvement just by adding reading into my study plan. For any of the foreign students out there that want to push your verbal score up, definitely take a look into GMAT fiction. Making strides in Verbal is big because verbal will really help to drive your score into that 700+ range!
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GMATLA,

This summed up my experience nearly perfectly, and caused me to finally post.

1. 660 max (44, 34) on the 5 CATS but under pressure got a 700, 6.0AWA on test day (47,39).
2. 8 hours of studying per week for 4 months. About 160 total. I have no math background (Art History) and my English is terrible (600 on SAT) so I needed to put in some work.
3. About 2 hours per week were learning the test/time on Gmatclub
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Great post... another key thing to note (this should go without saying) if you put in 160 hours of QUALITY studying your score will improve. Intense focus for 3 hours where you feel like your brain cannot absorb any more is completely different than 3 hours where you spent half the time texting friends, checking fb and doing anything but reading and absorbing.
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+1 GMATLA

Thanks for such a motivational and inspirational post.
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This is an awesome post. Having just joined this forum, I simply can't imagine beginning my journey without it. Thanks for the positive encouragement.
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Any idea how you could practice timing? I've built an excel tool displaying total time left for 37 questions, it also automatically calculates the time it took me to answer each question.

But especially when practicing, I don't like to just guess after 2-3 minutes but I feel like its better for me to keep trying to solve the problem, even though it can take up to 7-10 minutes. Obviously, this kind of renders my absolute time measurement obsolete. I suppose on the GMAT it'd be great to know "okay, I'm at question x and ideally, I should still have y minutes left", but how can you really learn those values by heart when you can't really use them for practicing?

Also, do you guys think its really important never to spend more than 2-3 minutes on any question? Sometimes I'm facing questions that I know I can solve, but it may take 3-4 minutes. Other questions are, at times, quite easy and I can easily solve them in 1 - 1.5 minutes - sure I could keep thinking for another minute to really make sure my answer is correct for those easier questions, but in probably 90% of those cases my first answer is indeed the right one. Wouldn't it make sense to spend a little less time on those easy questions then in order to be able to spend 3-4 mins on the heavy ones?
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Here's a link to a great GMAT timer: gmat-timer-56014.html

Quote:
Any idea how you could practice timing?
There are many things to consider when practicing timing. Here are a few of the basics:
1. Average timing per problem type:
Any Quant: 2 minutes
SC: 90 seconds
RC: 90-120 seconds per question (this INCLUDES reading the passage)
CR: 2 minutes
2. Know what milestones you should be at in each section so that you are "on-time"
3. Read this post on timing: timing-strategies-on-the-gmat-80176.html

Quote:
But especially when practicing, I don't like to just guess after 2-3 minutes but I feel like its better for me to keep trying to solve the problem, even though it can take up to 7-10 minutes. Obviously, this kind of renders my absolute time measurement obsolete. I suppose on the GMAT it'd be great to know "okay, I'm at question x and ideally, I should still have y minutes left", but how can you really learn those values by heart when you can't really use them for practicing?
At the beginning of your studying, you should not be considering timing. You should be considering and learning how to solve problems. It will be OK to spend 7-10 minutes on one problem so you can work through the problem. BUt don't get in this habit on test day. I would take that problem, put it in your error log for review at a later date, and write down what you were thinking and how you could solve this problem in 2 minutes the next time around. Once you start getting closer to test day, you should start really only spending 2-3 minutes per quant problem (and learn the other timing) and make sure to always be timing yourself. NEVER spend more than 3 minutes on any problem. SO you will start learning guessing strategies, b/c on test day you will have to bail on that question. Spending 5 minutes or more on one question could ruin your whole strategy. No one question is worth that effort, b/c you may not get a chance to see 2 or 3 problems that you could have gotten right.

Quote:
Also, do you guys think its really important never to spend more than 2-3 minutes on any question? Sometimes I'm facing questions that I know I can solve, but it may take 3-4 minutes. Other questions are, at times, quite easy and I can easily solve them in 1 - 1.5 minutes - sure I could keep thinking for another minute to really make sure my answer is correct for those easier questions, but in probably 90% of those cases my first answer is indeed the right one. Wouldn't it make sense to spend a little less time on those easy questions then in order to be able to spend 3-4 mins on the heavy ones?
NEVER SPEND MORE THAN 3 MINUTES ON ANY QUESTION. If you get stuck on one question on test day it could ruin you. For every question you spend 2:30 on you have to spend 1:30 on another question. Every question you spend 4 minutes on, you will have to spend 0 time on a another question. DO you see how this starts to get to be a problem? YOU NEVER WANT TO LEAVE YOURSELF less than 1 minute to power through a different question. If you see a proble you know, but will take you more than 3 minutes, you should probably know that this is a CRAZY tough question and spend 1 minute and narrow it down to 2-3 answers and guess. No question is worth all your time. Plus, every question on the GMAT is designed to be solved in 3 minutes or less. You can definitely make educated guesses on test day and score a 700+ plus, it is actually highly recommended. You should spend your time on questions you can get right, and if this means ditching a few questions, it makes perfect sense.
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What do they all have in common?

They all scored 700 or higher, obviously :)
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I think tools such a GRocket are extremely useful. It was a chance discovery for me, but trying to answer questions in a timed environment inculcates the discipline needed for a high score on GMAT.

Apart from this, following are extremely useful:

official guides, gmatclub, MGMAT books, CR bible from powerscore.

A little about my verbal level at the beginning: When I first opened MGMAT SC guide, I read the first three page and then slept for 4 hours to overcome my anxiety as everything went over my head. I bought Painless Grammar from Rebecca Elliot, a book that is prescribed for elementary students. :) If I can improve my English, anyone can do so.

So all the non-native speakers, don't lose heart. English can be improved. Path is there for us, but it's slightly lengthy.
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That was really a nice post. I wanted to know a thing. I have been browsing through this forum for a past few days and have found that many books available in the market don't provide questions with difficulty level at par or greater than the real test which you need to score 770+. So could anybody tell me some good books for concept building and practicing good questions. I heard Manhattan books were good- some of them.
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I plan on becoming part of this 700+ club. I'm starting points 2 3 4 and 5 today! Hopefully if I master those point 1 will come naturally :)
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I have colleagues who have reached 700, 730 and one who reached 750, and they all said the same things about quant...

1. Know the foundations of the maths *cold*. There are a lot of topics to get familiar with, however the foundations are actually pretty straight forward. Develop a confident knowledge base to draw from.

2. Go hard. Each of them went full on at their studies. Social events, movies, drinking all went on the backburner. They had strong drive to master the GMAT, which kept them going when they had to tough it out on little sleep. **slightly worried that the term "go hard" could be a bit of an Aussie saying. Hoping you all know what I mean.

3. They all did different prep courses and the choice didn't matter so much... the common theme was that they all came to understand why the OG is considered the bible. They did question after question after question, they reviewed how the OG got the answers, they kept records of their errors so they could work on their weaknesses.

4. They worked on timing, and knew when to strategically guess.

For study time, the common theme was three months or four months solid.

Hope this helps!
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Nice post. I hope to join that club very soon.
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I would add that they are able to study on a consistent basis. This probably isn't always the case, but people who pick a study plan and then attack it consistently are way more likely to be successful than those who study sporadically.
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boosted my confidence and gave me a hope thanks!
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Lovely post sir.. It increased the motivation.
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