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27 Feb 2012, 07:48
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Hello guys,
I’m just back from the test center where I passed my first (and probably only) gmat attempt . I scored 720 (Q50, V38). Although it’s a very decent score that matches my profile quite well (good at quant, non native speaker), it’s difficult no to be slightly disappointed given the higher scores I got on the mock tests, namely:
GMATPrep 1 (sept 2011) : 650 (Q46 V33)
MGMAT CAT1 (dec 2012) : 690 (Q49 V38)
MGMAT CAT2 (jan2012) : 730 (Q50 V39)
GMATPrep1 (jan2012) : 750 (Q50 V40) (didn’t know it was possible to get 750 with Q50 V40…)
MGMAT CAT3 (jan2012) : 710 (Q46 V41) (quant down, verbal up)
MGMAT CAT4 (feb 2012) : 730 (Q48 V41)
GMATPrep2 (one week before test day) : 740 (Q50 V39) (quant up, verbal down)
GMATPrep2 (2 days before test day) : 760 (Q50 V44 ( !!??))
Real test : 720 (Q50 V38) (note that when I use GMATclub score calculator with my most relevant mock scores (GMATPrep2 first time : 740 and MGMAT4 : 730, I get 720… well done guys
Clearly the real test confirms the quant score I have had for weeks and I guess the verbal is a slight underestimation of my actual ability
The good news is that I think I performed quite well on the essays, which scared me a lot before the test (I think non native speakers will confirm).
I’m not going to detail all my preparation as there exists 100’s of posts that do that, many of which are written by guys who got a higher score than I, but I would like to give you my experience of the test and write down a few informations that may help anyone better prepare for the GMAT.
I studied in MGMAT, the 8 guides + the Advanced GMAT Quant guide. Those books are really good as they help you really understand what you’re studying. I think « Advanced Quant» goes too far : you don’t need it to get a high score on the quant part. It’s like killing a mouse with a bazooka. GMAT maths are not that complicated. I don’t think I would have got a 51 if I had spent more time in that book. The 5 MGMAT quant guides are sufficient to get the best of yourself on the quant part.
The real test is more difficult than GMAT Prep and not just a little bit. There were several math questions for which I really struggled and/or had to guess randomly. This never happened to me on GMATPrep. Of course, I made mistakes on GMATPrep but not that many (usually 4-6) and they were due to an excess of confidence. During the test, I was sometimes completely lost.
Concerning verbal, I had the feeling at the end that I had done pretty good (like 40). Unfortunately, it wasn’t the case. The problem with verbal is that the score is very sensitive to the mere mistake you do as I have noticed from GMATPrep (7 mistakes 39, 6 mistakes 40, 4 mistakes 44). But I have no trick against that. I think I did better in SC than usual, but I think that, on the contrary, my CR and RC have been worse than usual. The RC are much longer in the real test than in GMATPrep, I got three « short » passages (3 §) and one long (I mean huge) passage (5 or 6 §).
Now some lessons I would like to underline :
-During the last 10 days or smth : focus exclusively on official material (OG & GMAT Prep) . Forget about other mock tests or exercices from any other source, they will disturb you, and they won't be close to the real test.
-In general, limit the sources you use for your prep : I think it makes you lose focus to use MGMAT + CR Bible + iPad app of GMATclub + 1000 SC’s and 3000 RC’s... You’d better limit yourself to one source or two sources that you know work. Many exercices that you encounter on the internet are not close to what you get on the real test. Note that I purchased the GMATclub iPad app because I had received an iPad and I was going on holydays for a few weeks and I didn’t want this break to impact my prep too much. This app is good and I recommend it. And if you want to do your whole prep based on it, it might well work, but don’t take too many different sources because you’ll get lost and disoriented.
-Do not go on GMATclub during the last week. It’s very stressful to see posts of people who scored 760 at GMATPrep and finally got only 720 at the real test. You’ll take too much time stressing and wondering if it can happen to you too. You’d better study. Such posts are very informative and inspirative but I think one should avoid them during the last stages of the prep.
Hope this will help. If you have any question, don’t hesitate. I haven’t posted too much during my prep but as this community has helped me a lot, I’ll try to give back a part of that.
I’m just back from the test center where I passed my first (and probably only) gmat attempt . I scored 720 (Q50, V38). Although it’s a very decent score that matches my profile quite well (good at quant, non native speaker), it’s difficult no to be slightly disappointed given the higher scores I got on the mock tests, namely:
GMATPrep 1 (sept 2011) : 650 (Q46 V33)
MGMAT CAT1 (dec 2012) : 690 (Q49 V38)
MGMAT CAT2 (jan2012) : 730 (Q50 V39)
GMATPrep1 (jan2012) : 750 (Q50 V40) (didn’t know it was possible to get 750 with Q50 V40…)
MGMAT CAT3 (jan2012) : 710 (Q46 V41) (quant down, verbal up)
MGMAT CAT4 (feb 2012) : 730 (Q48 V41)
GMATPrep2 (one week before test day) : 740 (Q50 V39) (quant up, verbal down)
GMATPrep2 (2 days before test day) : 760 (Q50 V44 ( !!??))
Real test : 720 (Q50 V38) (note that when I use GMATclub score calculator with my most relevant mock scores (GMATPrep2 first time : 740 and MGMAT4 : 730, I get 720… well done guys
Clearly the real test confirms the quant score I have had for weeks and I guess the verbal is a slight underestimation of my actual ability
The good news is that I think I performed quite well on the essays, which scared me a lot before the test (I think non native speakers will confirm).
I’m not going to detail all my preparation as there exists 100’s of posts that do that, many of which are written by guys who got a higher score than I, but I would like to give you my experience of the test and write down a few informations that may help anyone better prepare for the GMAT.
I studied in MGMAT, the 8 guides + the Advanced GMAT Quant guide. Those books are really good as they help you really understand what you’re studying. I think « Advanced Quant» goes too far : you don’t need it to get a high score on the quant part. It’s like killing a mouse with a bazooka. GMAT maths are not that complicated. I don’t think I would have got a 51 if I had spent more time in that book. The 5 MGMAT quant guides are sufficient to get the best of yourself on the quant part.
The real test is more difficult than GMAT Prep and not just a little bit. There were several math questions for which I really struggled and/or had to guess randomly. This never happened to me on GMATPrep. Of course, I made mistakes on GMATPrep but not that many (usually 4-6) and they were due to an excess of confidence. During the test, I was sometimes completely lost.
Concerning verbal, I had the feeling at the end that I had done pretty good (like 40). Unfortunately, it wasn’t the case. The problem with verbal is that the score is very sensitive to the mere mistake you do as I have noticed from GMATPrep (7 mistakes 39, 6 mistakes 40, 4 mistakes 44). But I have no trick against that. I think I did better in SC than usual, but I think that, on the contrary, my CR and RC have been worse than usual. The RC are much longer in the real test than in GMATPrep, I got three « short » passages (3 §) and one long (I mean huge) passage (5 or 6 §).
Now some lessons I would like to underline :
-During the last 10 days or smth : focus exclusively on official material (OG & GMAT Prep) . Forget about other mock tests or exercices from any other source, they will disturb you, and they won't be close to the real test.
-In general, limit the sources you use for your prep : I think it makes you lose focus to use MGMAT + CR Bible + iPad app of GMATclub + 1000 SC’s and 3000 RC’s... You’d better limit yourself to one source or two sources that you know work. Many exercices that you encounter on the internet are not close to what you get on the real test. Note that I purchased the GMATclub iPad app because I had received an iPad and I was going on holydays for a few weeks and I didn’t want this break to impact my prep too much. This app is good and I recommend it. And if you want to do your whole prep based on it, it might well work, but don’t take too many different sources because you’ll get lost and disoriented.
-Do not go on GMATclub during the last week. It’s very stressful to see posts of people who scored 760 at GMATPrep and finally got only 720 at the real test
. You’ll take too much time stressing and wondering if it can happen to you too. You’d better study. Such posts are very informative and inspirative but I think one should avoid them during the last stages of the prep.Hope this will help. If you have any question, don’t hesitate. I haven’t posted too much during my prep but as this community has helped me a lot, I’ll try to give back a part of that.
27 Feb 2012, 09:58
Kudos
Bookmarks
such a humble debrief....thanx for posting and congratulations ( + kudos ) for the debrief..
i take ur advice of limiting oneself to one or two good source and also of going through official material in last 10 days..
thanx once again and good luck for ur future endeavor...
i take ur advice of limiting oneself to one or two good source and also of going through official material in last 10 days..
thanx once again and good luck for ur future endeavor...
Shko1
Joined: 21 Aug 2011
Last visit: 12 Jul 2012
Posts: 22
Own Kudos:
Concentration: Leadership, Finance
Schools: HBS '15 CBS '15 Wharton '15 Sloan '15 Stanford '15
GMAT Date: 04-02-2012
GPA: 3.79
WE:Corporate Finance (Finance: Investment Banking)
Products:
27 Feb 2012, 11:08
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First of all great score. Congrats on your hard work! I am going through the Advance Quant Section as well. Can you opine on how the questions on the Adv. Quant book relate to the actual test. Obviously getting a 50 on the Quant meant you clearly got a number of difficult questions correct.
I guess i am one of those who visit the forums quite often so will cut down on that 
