took it today, got a 730 :) , saying thanks

Question

Thanks everyone for everything!!!! what more can i say. I took the GMAT today and scored a 730 (97 perc) (48Q 41V)
As tradition commands , i have some advice for the yunguns cough cough

TOP TEN THINGS TO DO AND NOT TO DO

1) I never used the OG!!
2) I bought the kaplan and pr books and exhausted both
3) Kaplan CD contrary to popular belief is not very good. It has corny cartoon graphics and the tests are way too hard ( i got a 520 on the first and couldn even finish the second on time) read my earlier post about that and ull see how frustrated i was!!!!
4)KEEP an Error Log!!!!!!
5)oh the only good thing about the kaplan CD were the verbal lessons.
6)if u start a month and a half before the exam, dedicate a week to each topic ( ie week i sentence correction week 2 DS etc) at the end of every week take the practice test. DO NOT take your score too seriously.
7) Always go in to ur exam with the aim of acing it and the confidence that you will.
8) FORGET about every previous question answered.
9)Use your earplugs
10) walk out with a smile no matter what your score because the GMAT isnt life and life isnt the GMAT!!!!

Lemme know if yall have any questions

Peace and thanks to everyone who took time to answer my questions.
Hopefully ill answer some on this post and give back
 
Karan

lastochka · Answer

congrats on excellent score!

could you share what sort of questions appeared on the math sections? (permutations/comb, abs. values, etc.?)
also, how did you practice for your RC or did it come natural to you?

karankaul · Answer

i got one perm comb problem, two median mode problems, and one permutation problem..all these problems were medium-easy...the hard problems i got were the algebra word problems...make sure you know that well, i think basic probabilty and perm comb is sufficient.
For Rc , i followed the Kaplan approach to the dot. It works reallly well. Identify the topic, scope and the gist of each paragraph, then identify the purpose, write all these down, and then start on the questions, it works!!!!

riteshb · Answer

karankaul, your post is great. How should we study for the standard deviation or statistics questions? I think everyone knows how to find averages, modes, & medians but it can't be that simple, can it? Most of the statistics-related questions I found in the OG were easy but I've read that some people have seen hard questions on this topic on recent GMAT exams. 


I scored a 500 on Kaplan 1 & 510 on Kaplan (I didn't finish the math on either so that hurt a lot) & your post gives me hope that I can get in the 650-700 range.

crackgmat750 · Answer

Karankaul:
 Congrats for the wonderful score. It is amazing that you achieved this score without touching OG. How did you prepare for SC? Did you just studied kaplan/princeton , or did something extra for that. 41 in verbal is very good for a non native speaker. I would like to know your strategy in this section.
Also, how was your experience in maths section. Didnt U find some really tough questions in first 10 questions? How about coordinate geometry stuff?
Infact your kaplan scores have boosted me.. I scored 630 in first kaplan test.. I didnt find maths very hard in that..only found RC's and some cr's hard. Yes, scoring is very harsh.And am doing reasonably well in their section tests. For reference, how were you doing in individual section tests in kaplan cd?. For ex.. how many correct out of 22 in SC, 16 in CR.. 20 in DS and so on.
Thanks and good luck.

SigEpUCI · Answer

Wow, im jealous, congrats on your achievement!

karankaul · Answer

Ritesh:
Accordig to my personal humble opinion, you dont really have to do much about statistics, probability or perm comb, just understand the basics and the medium to easy questions, if u get a realllly hard question from these topics in the GMAT< it means you are doing really well, so either way dont lose hope..just understand the basics and do some practice Qs
and dont worry about kaplan, frankly the kaplan tests have less to do with the GMAT than even the LSATS do. The scores on Kaplan tests should NEVER MATTER.

crackgmat:
I prepared for the SC, by studying the methods from the kaplan, PR books and then solved every single question i could get my hands on .,... I did not have OG cuz it was too expensive for me, but i did have Powerprep, so i did that. Im not really a non native speaker, a lot of indians are not because they have been learning english for 12 years in school.... But ill have to take the TOEFL anyway which is a joke because most people can ace that in their sleep.
I found the hardest math Qs were questions #10-#20...after than it just got ridiculously easy...
I dont remember my individual kaplan scores, but it semms you are doing well.....

karankaul · Answer

you know ... i also believe that studying for the gmat is like a bell curve...after some time u get to the point where you are top of ur game and scoring the maximum number of right questions...If u study past that, then ur scoring rate goes down.kinda like a bell curve... So be care ful and make sure you manage urself well... I went down the bell curve..so i gave myself couple days off and studied till i climbed back up again...

Hope this helps

Praetorian · Answer

Congratulations for the 730. Great score.. 

Good luck on your essays and admissions. Do continue visiting and keep sharing your knowledge with new members. 

Sincerely
Praetorian

Antmavel · Answer

Congratulations !!!! Good job. I am specially happy because you didn't use the OG and you score not so high at Kaplan...me too ! ( conclusion -> I have also the right to dream about getting 700 ^_^) :cool

Anyway, great score and you should be also very happy because now you can burn your Kaplan and Princeton :-)

I just hope I can do the same in 3 weeks... :twisted:

myfrankenstein · Answer

Great attitude.

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took it today, got a 730 :) , saying thanks

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