GMAT 770 (Q50, V46)

Question

I got done with my GMAT a couple of days back. I thought I would share my experience.

I am writing this to point out a possible pitfall to be aware of while giving the Q part of the test. During the course of my preparation I had never run into time problem in Q - even with the challenges and the kaplan tests. However in the actual test I became too tentative. I started checking and double checking each answer. As a result I started running out of time and ended up rushing through the 2nd half of the test. I got 50 (95%ile) which is fine but I had the MFE program at Berkeley as one of my options and now thats out.

I found the Q in GMAT to be as tough as Kaplan, tougher than Princeton, way tougher than PowerPrep and not as tough as the Challenges.

I was surprised by how easy V was. Either I had overprepared or I just got lucky. In any case it was easier than both Kaplan and Princeton. Probably at the same level as PowerPrep. I ended up with 46 (99%ile) , which is way better than what I had ever expected.

Anyway I got 770 and am happy with the score. I only wish I could swap my Q and V percentiles. Well, one cannot have everything.

Before signing off I'd like to state how much I appreciate the Challenges. They are absolutely essential for anyone wanting to do well in Q. I'll pass on this message to all my friends who are planning to give GMAT and are not aware of this site.

Thanks everyone
Smruti

hornsfan2005 · Answer

congratulations smrutib. please share your prep experience if you can and best of luck on your applications.

jpv · Answer

awsome score.. :cool

Would you please share ur preparation strategy? Gud luck for ur apps. :gl

banerjeea_98 · Answer

wow ! that's an awesome score, congrats ! :-D

cud u plz share ur practice test scores ? We always hear how Quant is too tough, but seems like there is absolutely no way to know how tough is tough without taking the test itself. Is the quant tough becose the questions r not solvable in 2 mins, too many calculations or are there new concepts that one doesn't know. How does one prepare for quant without understanding the scope of it ?

Too many testimonies abt very tough quant for comfort.

mckenna · Answer

Great score Smruti. Wish you had got the 51 you wanted!
GL with your apps.

What do you think was the reason for missing 51? Was it just time management or were there some real tough questions?

Thanks

swath20 · Answer

Congrats Smruti.....

All the best with your future endeavours

MA · Answer

Congratulations for your sucessful gmat exam and score.

Thanks for sharing your real test experiances. But cold you please tell about the kinds of MAth problems such as combinations and permutations, probability, and so on...................?

Thanks again and good luck for your days ahead..........

smrutib · Answer

I define the three categories of Quant qs. as follows
Easy - don't have to think. 30 secs max
Middle - have to think, but know for sure that you are doing right. 60-90 secs
Difficult - either don't understand the qs. at 1st go or understand it but don't know the relevant formula. > 120 secs

There were hardly any easy qs. on the gmat. Most of the qs. fell in the middle category. Ofcourse since I got anal, I took nearly 120 secs for the middle qs. as well and ran into time problems later. Unless my memory is tricking me there were 3 difficult qs.

A permutations qs. Real easy if you knew the formula.
A geometry qs. Middle if you knew a formula
A numbers qs. which I still can't understand.

Since I didn't know the formulae I had to derive them from basic principles and that ate up a lot of my time.

As for the general breakup of categories, I don't really remember now. There weren't that many probability or permutations qs. - definitely not more than 3. If thats what you were interested in knowing.

smrutib · Answer

I am listing practice test results in sequential order

Before any preparation
Arco Diagnostic - 650
Some nameless Diagnostic - 710

After some practice with PowerPrep exercises
Kaplan Diagnostic - 750
PowerPrep 1 - 750

After lots of practice with ETS 9th Ed and some Kaplan exercises
Kaplan 1 - 730 (50Q, 40V)
Princeton 1 - 730 (51Q, 41V)

After Kaplan exercises and some Princeton exercises
Princeton 2 - 730 (51Q, 40V)
PowerPrep 2 - 750

In the last week
Princeton 3 - 700 (47Q, 40V)
Kaplan 2 - 700 (50Q, 39V)
Kaplan 3 - 740 (50Q, 40V)
Princeton 4 - 750 (51Q, 43V)
Kaplan 4 - 670 (50Q, 37V) Before I started this test I got a message that there weren't enough qs. to accurately score this test. Anyway since this was my last test before the exams you can imagine my confidence level going into the exams.

Hope that helps

HongHu · Answer

Wow that was a great score. Congratulations! Hope you would have time to share more of your strategies with the club.

smrutib · Answer

Before I list my preparation strategy I would like to give some background. This is not some vanity project. Really!! When I was reading people's strategies I always wanted to know their background. Because then I could evaluate how relevant their strategies were to me. 
 
I have a engineering background from India. So was quite comfortable with Quant concepts to start with. I was (still am) almost completely blind to formal rules of grammar. But had enough exposure to english to have a intuitive feel of what is right. Not that it takes you too far in GMAT SC.
 
BTW there was no grand strategy in the order in which I did things. I got all my books from the library. So I worked on what was available at any point of time, except for the last week which was planned in advance.
 
1. Couple of online diagnostic tests
2. Practice exercises in PowerPrep
3. Brush up theory with ETS 9th edition
4. ETS 9th edition exercises
5. Brush up theory with Kaplan 2005
6. Exercises in Kaplan 2005 CD
7. Exercises in Kaplan 2005 book
8. Skim through test taking strategies in Princeton Review 2004
9. Princeton Review exercises
10. Last week 
 - ETS 10th edition last 100-150 Qs. from each section
 - GMAT 800 exercises. I tried to go through the reasoning for all of them. But after a while I gave up on the SC. It was too much information for me.
 
Every practice test (whether full or section) I gave, I made it a point to keep track of the mistakes I was making. This helped me in identifying my weak areas (e.g. number properties in Quant, inferences in RC) and taking steps to correct them. 

I also kept track of the qs. where I was making 50-50 guesses along with the guesses. I read up the explanations for these qs., even if I got them right. Doing this was helpful in identifying those subtle differences (e.g. should vs shall in SC). 

Since I am not an early morning person and the test was at 8:00 AM, in the last week I gave a couple of full length tests at 8:00 AM. 

As for time required, I started in the last week of January. Had to take one week off in the middle as I fell sick. So it took about 6-7 weeks. Except for the last week, there wasn't too much work at the office. So I could study a bit at office. So except for the last 10 days it was a pretty leisurely schedule.
 
Hope this helps. Thanks again for all the wishes.

Praetorian · Answer

I am sorry i missed your post the first time. Thats a real good score smruti and a very informative post.

 Thanks for your kind words about the challenges. What can we do to make them better?

We would all greatly appreciate if you visit us from time to time and help others. 

thanks much
Praetorian

wunderbar03 · Answer

smrutib, congratulations on your incredible score! 

Breaking 750 barrier is the dream of the many in this forum.

Good luck to your application.

forrestgump · Answer

first - big congratulations...

second - does the Berkley MFE mandate a 51Q ? I am surprised if it does !

smrutib · Answer

forrestgump - I stand corrected

Berkeley MFE mandates a 90 percentile. I initially thought it was 99 percentile. Their average is 93 percentile I think.

forrestgump · Answer

smrutib - good to know that...

wish you the very best.

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