Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Apr 2601:30 AM EDT
-02:30 AM EDT
Learn how Keshav, a Chartered Accountant, scored an impressive 705 on GMAT in just 30 days with GMATWhiz's expert guidance. In this video, he shares preparation tips and strategies that worked for him, including the mock, time management, and more.
Apr 2512:30 AM EDT
-01:30 AM EDT
At one point, she believed GMAT wasn’t for her. After scoring 595, self-doubt crept in and she questioned her potential. But instead of quitting, she made the right strategic changes. The result? A remarkable comeback to 695. Check out how Saakshi did it.
Apr 2610:00 AM EDT
-11:00 AM EDT
The Target Test Prep course represents a quantum leap forward in GMAT preparation, a radical reinterpretation of the way that students should study. Try before you buy with a 5-day, full-access trial of the course for FREE!
Apr 2711:00 AM EDT
-12:00 PM EDT
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors
Apr 2808:00 AM PDT
-11:00 AM PDT
Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.
May 0111:00 AM PDT
-12:00 PM PDT
Free- full-length test + 15 concept videos + 150+ short videos + study plan!
Hi everyone,
Just wanted to give my debrief from my exam earlier this week. On February 13, I took the GMAT for the first time and scored 710 (Q49, V38, IR6, AWA6). I had been scoring higher on my practice exams and knew I could do better, so I gave myself one month to boost my score to my target score 760. I took the exam this past Tuesday (March 17th, St. Patrick's day) and scored 760 (Q48, V47, IR6, AWA6).
Materials Used
I took the Veritas Prep Live Online class with Ravi Sreerama. I started back in September 2014, but got caught up with a ton of work at school and was not able to take full advantage of the course. I had to miss four sessions and didn't do the homework as I should have each week. With that said, I loved Ravi and he is an amazing instructor. He has his "99th percentile or bust" mentality which will push you, especially if he knows what you are capable of. I started to really study after I finished classes back in December. I rewatched most of the classes with Ravi and then some of the On Demand videos from Veritas to really lay the foundation.
From there, I focused on GMATPrep (including question and exam pack 1), OG 2015, Verbal Review, and Quant Review books. I felt that these books were actually the best resource as they were official GMAT questions. The one thing I learned throughout the process is that it is hard to truly replicate GMAT questions. Whatever you do, make sure you study the GMAC official resources as these are much more likely to be similar to what you will see on test day.
Verbal was always my weakness so I picked up the MGMAT SC book and the PowerScore CR Bible. Felt that these were pretty good resources as I knew Verbal would help me unlock my target score. I would recommend these books if you want in depth verbal review. Main downside is that they don't have many questions in them. All of the Veritas books came with homework problem sets which was nice.
After I took the GMAT the first time, I decided to sign up for Magoosh and get the 50 point score improvement guarantee. My logic was that I will spend $100 to get to 760, and if I don't get there then I get my money back. Overall, Magoosh was decent. The video explanations for each question were great and I did like some of the course videos. I thought that some of the Verbal questions (specifically their RC questions) were brutal. Their "long RC passages" were sometimes 4-5 paragraphs and not always realistic to the exam questions. The adaptive algorithm on Magoosh isn't very realistic and their IR question format online is not the best. Overall, I would recommend Magoosh, as long as you do not give much credibility to their score estimates, they were way off.
CATs
I took a bunch of exams leading up since I retook the exam. I did all of the Veritas Prep Exams and all of the GMATPrep exams (including Exam Pack 1). My scores on GMATPrep were 750-760 and on Veritas I started at 700 and fluctuated in the mid 700s until my last exam where I scored 790.
Overall, I actually felt pretty confident in my Quant scores (was always getting around Q50) and was really nervous about my verbal score (would fluctuate between V40 and V44). I do think that the most important thing about the CATs is to make them as realistic as possible. That means taking them at the same time as your actual exam, taking only an 8 minute break, no cell phone, etc...
You should NOT be taking more than 2 CATs each week and even 2 per week is likely too many. You want to make sure you have enough time to identify your mistakes on each exam and study each of the areas of weakness. When identifying weaknesses, it is NOT sufficient to say "I am bad at geometry". You need to make it as specific as possible (e.g. "I need to work on circles and triangles within Geometry"). I always liked to think of it as identifying the book and chapter. Veritas made this easy since they broke up the books in a very logical manner, but this is critical to seeing improvement on the GMAT.
Quant
I didn't really do anything special for Quant. I do think it is important to truly understand each question and read the explanation. This is where an error log is important. You definitely want to have some way of identifying your mistakes and noting areas of potential improvement, otherwise you will find yourself just grasping at anything for improvement.
Verbal
As I mentioned earlier, I used the Veritas Prep stuff only for RC, and then supplemented SC with MGMAT and supplemented CR with PowerScore. On my erasable pad, I wrote out A-E at the top (horizontally) and then made a table for each question (questions were vertical). That way, when I would eliminate an answer choice, I would draw a line through the box. This saved time for me.
For RC, I gave myself 2 minutes to 2:30 to read the passage and take notes. As a native english speaker, I guess this was a bit easier for me since I was able to comprehend everything. However, regardless of familiarity with the English language, the best way to improve RC is to read anything and everything. I liked the read The Economist, Wall Street Journal, and other business related sources. Other people have recommended fiction books, but the most important thing is just to expose yourself to reading throughout each day.
For CR, it is essential to focus on "predicting the answer". Especially for assumption questions, you need to understand where the flaw of the argument is and how to bridge the logic gap. This is mainly practice, but I do think some critical CR skills can be obtained just by reading the AWA prompts. GMAC has the entire list on their website and it is a 30 page document with just AWA prompts. Definitely take time to go through some pages and identify assumptions, why each argument is weak, and how it could be strengthened.
SC was a tricky subject for me. Ultimately, I just practiced all of the official questions I could get my hands on, and sooner or later the answers eliminated themselves. A lot of people like to say an answer is correct because "its idiomatic", but there is almost always another reason why the other answers are incorrect. I think on something like SC, you can be pretty formulaic with it. For example, when you see "their" and "its" in the answer choices, immediately your brain should think Subject-Verb Agreement and should go on a mission to find the correct subject. Part of this is practice, but another part is just identifying the splits within the answer choices.
Overall, SC is the easiest Verbal area for a quick boost since it can be relatively formulaic. RC is probably the hardest for quick improvement since it requires much more familiarity with comprehension. Focus on finding 4 incorrect answers, rather than the one correct answer. This will change your perspective on the verbal section as there are 4 answers that contain critical errors.
AWA
Just use the Chineseburned template on GMAT Club (how-to-get-6-0-awa-my-guide-64327.html). It is the perfect template. Also read through the GMAC topics that they give you for free on their website (https://www.mba.com/us/the-gmat-exam/gma ... sment.aspx).
IR
I never thought much of IR. Sometimes it was super easy, sometimes it was brutal. Its nice that most business schools don't even look at this. Definitely do the GMATPrep IR though to familiarize yourself with the types of questions. The best part about IR is that you don't have to do much studying specifically for it. Most of your studying for Quant and Verbal will be sufficient.
Other Advice and Recommendations
1. Error log, just do it. No questions asked. Whether it's on the computer or in a notebook, you must track what type of questions you are getting wrong and why you are getting them wrong.
2. Perfect practice makes perfect. There is no point in doing questions untimed and on paper. Make sure all of the questions are on the computer and get one of the yellow pads with a marker from Veritas or MGMAT. If your practice is realistic, you will see results.
3. Take breaks while studying. I liked to do 75 minute sessions for Quant and Verbal with 8 minutes in between. This made it realistic for me and helped build up some of my stamina.
4. Make your CATs extremely realistic. As mentioned earlier, do the FULL CAT (IR and AWA included) with no distractions at the time of your actual exam.
5. If you are not in a studying mood, then DO NOT STUDY. I tried to force myself to study after a bad day and not only did I get most questions incorrect, but also I then felt even worse about myself as a human being. You sometimes need to take a step back from the exam. Taking a day off here and there is not the end of the world.
6. Do not try to outthink the GMAT algorithm by spending more time on early questions. GMAC has repeatedly tried to kill this myth. Just go at your normal pace (2 min for quant, 1:45 for verbal). The first 10 questions are just an INITIAL ASSESSMENT of your ability and the algorithm adapts throughout the course of the exam.
7. Read as much into your correct questions as you do for your incorrect ones. There is something to be learned from every question you do. Take notes and do not make the same mistake twice.
Leading Up To The Exam
Take your last CAT a few days before the exam. This way you can go over any last areas of weakness. Do not do anything the day before the exam. I repeat, do not do anything the day before the exam. MAYBE, read your AWA guide twice and any quick study guides once or twice (I had a 10 page SC guide that I made and read once).
On the day of the exam write mantras and motivational quotes on the top of the erasable pad. I wrote "Q50 + V45 = 760" and other motivational quotes on my pad. That way, you can always take a look down at your pad and see something that will cheer you up.
The mental aspect of the GMAT is critical. Make sure you are in the right state of mind the entire week before.
Last piece of advice, put the exam in perspective. This is just one aspect of your application to business school.
Thank you to everyone on this forum who has helped me. Special shout out to bb, Bunuel, EMPOWERgmatRichC. Apologies if I left anyone else out.
Feel free to PM me with any questions or if you just want to chat more about my experience.
Best of luck studying for the GMAT and have confidence!
03/26 Edit: Added AWA score, 6.0
04/05 Edit: Added AWA essay template per requests
Just wanted to give my debrief from my exam earlier this week. On February 13, I took the GMAT for the first time and scored 710 (Q49, V38, IR6, AWA6). I had been scoring higher on my practice exams and knew I could do better, so I gave myself one month to boost my score to my target score 760. I took the exam this past Tuesday (March 17th, St. Patrick's day) and scored 760 (Q48, V47, IR6, AWA6).
Materials Used
I took the Veritas Prep Live Online class with Ravi Sreerama. I started back in September 2014, but got caught up with a ton of work at school and was not able to take full advantage of the course. I had to miss four sessions and didn't do the homework as I should have each week. With that said, I loved Ravi and he is an amazing instructor. He has his "99th percentile or bust" mentality which will push you, especially if he knows what you are capable of. I started to really study after I finished classes back in December. I rewatched most of the classes with Ravi and then some of the On Demand videos from Veritas to really lay the foundation.
From there, I focused on GMATPrep (including question and exam pack 1), OG 2015, Verbal Review, and Quant Review books. I felt that these books were actually the best resource as they were official GMAT questions. The one thing I learned throughout the process is that it is hard to truly replicate GMAT questions. Whatever you do, make sure you study the GMAC official resources as these are much more likely to be similar to what you will see on test day.
Verbal was always my weakness so I picked up the MGMAT SC book and the PowerScore CR Bible. Felt that these were pretty good resources as I knew Verbal would help me unlock my target score. I would recommend these books if you want in depth verbal review. Main downside is that they don't have many questions in them. All of the Veritas books came with homework problem sets which was nice.
After I took the GMAT the first time, I decided to sign up for Magoosh and get the 50 point score improvement guarantee. My logic was that I will spend $100 to get to 760, and if I don't get there then I get my money back. Overall, Magoosh was decent. The video explanations for each question were great and I did like some of the course videos. I thought that some of the Verbal questions (specifically their RC questions) were brutal. Their "long RC passages" were sometimes 4-5 paragraphs and not always realistic to the exam questions. The adaptive algorithm on Magoosh isn't very realistic and their IR question format online is not the best. Overall, I would recommend Magoosh, as long as you do not give much credibility to their score estimates, they were way off.
CATs
I took a bunch of exams leading up since I retook the exam. I did all of the Veritas Prep Exams and all of the GMATPrep exams (including Exam Pack 1). My scores on GMATPrep were 750-760 and on Veritas I started at 700 and fluctuated in the mid 700s until my last exam where I scored 790.
Overall, I actually felt pretty confident in my Quant scores (was always getting around Q50) and was really nervous about my verbal score (would fluctuate between V40 and V44). I do think that the most important thing about the CATs is to make them as realistic as possible. That means taking them at the same time as your actual exam, taking only an 8 minute break, no cell phone, etc...
You should NOT be taking more than 2 CATs each week and even 2 per week is likely too many. You want to make sure you have enough time to identify your mistakes on each exam and study each of the areas of weakness. When identifying weaknesses, it is NOT sufficient to say "I am bad at geometry". You need to make it as specific as possible (e.g. "I need to work on circles and triangles within Geometry"). I always liked to think of it as identifying the book and chapter. Veritas made this easy since they broke up the books in a very logical manner, but this is critical to seeing improvement on the GMAT.
Quant
I didn't really do anything special for Quant. I do think it is important to truly understand each question and read the explanation. This is where an error log is important. You definitely want to have some way of identifying your mistakes and noting areas of potential improvement, otherwise you will find yourself just grasping at anything for improvement.
Verbal
As I mentioned earlier, I used the Veritas Prep stuff only for RC, and then supplemented SC with MGMAT and supplemented CR with PowerScore. On my erasable pad, I wrote out A-E at the top (horizontally) and then made a table for each question (questions were vertical). That way, when I would eliminate an answer choice, I would draw a line through the box. This saved time for me.
For RC, I gave myself 2 minutes to 2:30 to read the passage and take notes. As a native english speaker, I guess this was a bit easier for me since I was able to comprehend everything. However, regardless of familiarity with the English language, the best way to improve RC is to read anything and everything. I liked the read The Economist, Wall Street Journal, and other business related sources. Other people have recommended fiction books, but the most important thing is just to expose yourself to reading throughout each day.
For CR, it is essential to focus on "predicting the answer". Especially for assumption questions, you need to understand where the flaw of the argument is and how to bridge the logic gap. This is mainly practice, but I do think some critical CR skills can be obtained just by reading the AWA prompts. GMAC has the entire list on their website and it is a 30 page document with just AWA prompts. Definitely take time to go through some pages and identify assumptions, why each argument is weak, and how it could be strengthened.
SC was a tricky subject for me. Ultimately, I just practiced all of the official questions I could get my hands on, and sooner or later the answers eliminated themselves. A lot of people like to say an answer is correct because "its idiomatic", but there is almost always another reason why the other answers are incorrect. I think on something like SC, you can be pretty formulaic with it. For example, when you see "their" and "its" in the answer choices, immediately your brain should think Subject-Verb Agreement and should go on a mission to find the correct subject. Part of this is practice, but another part is just identifying the splits within the answer choices.
Overall, SC is the easiest Verbal area for a quick boost since it can be relatively formulaic. RC is probably the hardest for quick improvement since it requires much more familiarity with comprehension. Focus on finding 4 incorrect answers, rather than the one correct answer. This will change your perspective on the verbal section as there are 4 answers that contain critical errors.
AWA
Just use the Chineseburned template on GMAT Club (how-to-get-6-0-awa-my-guide-64327.html). It is the perfect template. Also read through the GMAC topics that they give you for free on their website (https://www.mba.com/us/the-gmat-exam/gma ... sment.aspx).
IR
I never thought much of IR. Sometimes it was super easy, sometimes it was brutal. Its nice that most business schools don't even look at this. Definitely do the GMATPrep IR though to familiarize yourself with the types of questions. The best part about IR is that you don't have to do much studying specifically for it. Most of your studying for Quant and Verbal will be sufficient.
Other Advice and Recommendations
1. Error log, just do it. No questions asked. Whether it's on the computer or in a notebook, you must track what type of questions you are getting wrong and why you are getting them wrong.
2. Perfect practice makes perfect. There is no point in doing questions untimed and on paper. Make sure all of the questions are on the computer and get one of the yellow pads with a marker from Veritas or MGMAT. If your practice is realistic, you will see results.
3. Take breaks while studying. I liked to do 75 minute sessions for Quant and Verbal with 8 minutes in between. This made it realistic for me and helped build up some of my stamina.
4. Make your CATs extremely realistic. As mentioned earlier, do the FULL CAT (IR and AWA included) with no distractions at the time of your actual exam.
5. If you are not in a studying mood, then DO NOT STUDY. I tried to force myself to study after a bad day and not only did I get most questions incorrect, but also I then felt even worse about myself as a human being. You sometimes need to take a step back from the exam. Taking a day off here and there is not the end of the world.
6. Do not try to outthink the GMAT algorithm by spending more time on early questions. GMAC has repeatedly tried to kill this myth. Just go at your normal pace (2 min for quant, 1:45 for verbal). The first 10 questions are just an INITIAL ASSESSMENT of your ability and the algorithm adapts throughout the course of the exam.
7. Read as much into your correct questions as you do for your incorrect ones. There is something to be learned from every question you do. Take notes and do not make the same mistake twice.
Leading Up To The Exam
Take your last CAT a few days before the exam. This way you can go over any last areas of weakness. Do not do anything the day before the exam. I repeat, do not do anything the day before the exam. MAYBE, read your AWA guide twice and any quick study guides once or twice (I had a 10 page SC guide that I made and read once).
On the day of the exam write mantras and motivational quotes on the top of the erasable pad. I wrote "Q50 + V45 = 760" and other motivational quotes on my pad. That way, you can always take a look down at your pad and see something that will cheer you up.
The mental aspect of the GMAT is critical. Make sure you are in the right state of mind the entire week before.
Last piece of advice, put the exam in perspective. This is just one aspect of your application to business school.
Thank you to everyone on this forum who has helped me. Special shout out to bb, Bunuel, EMPOWERgmatRichC. Apologies if I left anyone else out.
Feel free to PM me with any questions or if you just want to chat more about my experience.
Best of luck studying for the GMAT and have confidence!
03/26 Edit: Added AWA score, 6.0
04/05 Edit: Added AWA essay template per requests
Attachments
File comment: AWA Template
GMAT AWA Template.docx [129.73 KiB]
Downloaded 230 times
File comment: Personal SC Guide
Sentence Correction Guide.docx [379.9 KiB]
Downloaded 808 times
23 Mar 2015, 01:46
Kudos
Bookmarks
Great debrief! What was the SC guide that you talked about?
23 Mar 2015, 07:38
Kudos
Bookmarks
Andreascmj
So I actually made my own SC guide.
I personally believe that one learns better when they create the resources rather than just pulling them from a random source and reading. So I went through the Veritas Prep and MGMAT SC book to highlight all of the key points (see attached file).
I would recommend for everyone to make something like this for each section. I do think its very doable for SC and CR. RC may be a little harder to make a guide like this.
In terms of quant, I think its possible to make a review sheet with the relevant formulas on it.
Ultimately, I think the most important thing is to go very in depth on the areas that you are weak in. If you can turn a weakness into a strength, you will see your score jump.
Best of luck!
Attachments
Sentence Correction Guide.docx [379.9 KiB]
Downloaded 304 times
