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bradical213
Joined: 29 Mar 2015
Last visit: 15 Nov 2017
Posts: 49
Given Kudos: 53
Concentration: Strategy, Operations
Schools: Darden '18 (D) Owen '18 (M$) Foster '18 (A$)
GMAT 1: 760 Q49 V46
GPA: 3.81
Products:
05 Oct 2015, 11:46
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So I'd thought I'd share my experience for two reasons:
1. To give some positivity to those who may not be happy with their Practice test scores as they prepare.
2. To describe my accidental method, which was born out of circumstance, that I believe ultimately helped me.
First Practice Test
In March of 2015 I took the first MBA.COM Gmat Practice test. At this point I didn't even know what was covered on the GMAT, or really read a single thing about it. I downloaded the software, booted it up, and took the test. I got 690.
Piece of cake! No prep and 690, I'll be getting an 800 in no time!
I was wrong. After reviewing my first test and brushing up on some basic math principles, I took a few more free practice tests. 660, 670, 630. Wtf was going on?
Studying - Part 1
Deciding I had to get serious about this, I purchased the Manhattan full guide. I also purchased the OG Quantitative supplemental book, since that was my biggest area for improvement.
I dedicated about a month to a deep dive through all of the Manhattan quant section books. Then I completed every problem in the OG Quantitative supplemental book, and reviewed my wrong answers. I did read through the Manhattan books on the verbal sections, and did the questions in those books, but no further practice on verbal.
Then I took a practice test. Still no improvement. I had studied so much that when questions came up, instead of instinctually working, I was in my own head thinking about how to approach to problem, and getting distracted.
After this 5-6 weeks of studying, I was hit with a crisis at work, that threatened to put my MBA plans on hold, and I basically forgot about the GMAT for two months.
Studying Part II
Two months go by with no studying, and after some important discussions, I decide to not put my MBA plans on hold, but follow through. At this point, I had one month until I had to take the exam.
I purchased the OG guide. Quant being the section where I could use the most improvement, I did every DS and PS question in the book. After completing those, I redid all the questions I had gotten wrong in the OG Quant supplemental months prior, then retried all the incorrect questions from OG guide quant sections once they weren't fresh in my mind.
Taking a long time off seemed to help my brain actually absorb the material without over thinking it or being unsure, it was second nature, and the questions seemed so much easier this time around.
Verbal being not as big of a concern, I did 10-20 questions from each question type from the OG, to remind myself of the types and the basic principles.
For IR and AWA, I did absolutely no practice or studying, skipping them even on practice tests except for the last practice test. It was a judgement of mine that my time would be better spent elsewhere.
Last Practice Test
Two days before the exam, I took a manhattan Prep exam.
710 (Q42, V47).
Ok after all that studying, 1000 or so problem questions, 20 points improvement. I was disappointed, but also knew, at this point, it was time to let it go and take the damn test.
I took the day before the test off completely. What else could I possibly accomplish in one day?
ACTUAL TEST
Day of actual test, I had a very "whatever happens happens" attitude.
AWA - with no prep, but being a philosophy major and having a law background, writing the essay was straight-forward and I felt confident I would get an acceptable score.
IR - with no prep other than one practice test I was a bit thrown for a loop, but made sure to move along through the questions and not get stuck on anything that I couldn't figure out. Had no idea what my score would be. Could have gotten them all correct or all wrong.
Quant - I was feeling great, moving along through the section, until about 2/3rd's of the way in, I started to feel the questions were TOO easy. Did this mean I was being given softballs due to early incorrect answers?
I got to about 5 questions remaining and looked at the time, I had 25 minutes left. Never in any practice test had I left more than a minute on the clock. The last five tried to make use of the extra time, but didn't really need it and anxiously I finished the section with 15+ minutes remaining on the clock.
Finishing this early, I was CONVINCED I had somehow bombed this section… even though I never specifically found any questions to be that difficult.
Verbal - About what I expected. I made an effort to pace myself, but I had always finished verbal early, and actually had found my first instinct answers to be better than the ones I over deliberate, so I finished with 25 minutes left on clock. Felt very confident about the section.
The Score
Geez, when you have to click that button to see your score… you click, its loading, and then… BAM… there it is. Your mind is processing all of the numbers on the screen at once and trying to make sense of them.
Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised.
Total: 760
Quant: 49
Verbal: 46
IR: 8
AWA 5.5
In total that was 50 points higher than any practice test I took, and my quant score in particular was a 49, when I in practice tests I had found myself in the 42-45 range.
Verbal was a 46, which I had score as high as 49 in practice tests, but overall, still 99% percentile, so couldn't complain.
Lessons I learned:
1. I did way better on quant on the real thing than on Manhattan prep tests. In fact, I was convinced I was getting easy questions because i never encountered a single problem that was as challenging as some of the Manhattan 700-800 level problems. The test felt much more in line with the OG problems, where I never felt helpless or completely unable to complete a question. At the same time, those Manhattan tests were probably great practice for the real thing but really making me have to work to master some of the concepts and approaches that I might not have learned on easier questions.
2. I scored much higher than the practice tests. I'm glad I didn't let my practice tests scores get in my head or focus on them too much, my forced two month break from studying afforded me a certain peace with whatever my score would be, and that helped me the most. I did not take the second GMAC practice, which may have given it a more accurate pre-test forecast. But I'm actually kind of glad I didn't.
3. If you have the ability, try studying intensely for a while, and then completely take a long break from it. At least a week vacation or something. I did this by accident, but when I came back after a long lay off and started studying again, I noticed that my brain had actually retained a lot of what I had previously studied, and answering problems was more second nature than when I was in the middle of a month long intense study session. Plus, the time off will help you see what information you have really absorbed and what information is just staying in your brain on the surface, waiting to escape! (Im sure this seems crazy and most people study study study, and then take the exam, but I KNOW I did better by having a hiatus in the middle).
4. Confidence on the day of test. Be confident. Studying is over. Being anxious will not help you. If you end up going to the 1st or 20th ranked school in the country your life will still be whatever you make of it. Enjoy the ride. I believe having this attitude helped me score at the top of my potential.
1. To give some positivity to those who may not be happy with their Practice test scores as they prepare.
2. To describe my accidental method, which was born out of circumstance, that I believe ultimately helped me.
First Practice Test
In March of 2015 I took the first MBA.COM Gmat Practice test. At this point I didn't even know what was covered on the GMAT, or really read a single thing about it. I downloaded the software, booted it up, and took the test. I got 690.
Piece of cake! No prep and 690, I'll be getting an 800 in no time!
I was wrong. After reviewing my first test and brushing up on some basic math principles, I took a few more free practice tests. 660, 670, 630. Wtf was going on?
Studying - Part 1
Deciding I had to get serious about this, I purchased the Manhattan full guide. I also purchased the OG Quantitative supplemental book, since that was my biggest area for improvement.
I dedicated about a month to a deep dive through all of the Manhattan quant section books. Then I completed every problem in the OG Quantitative supplemental book, and reviewed my wrong answers. I did read through the Manhattan books on the verbal sections, and did the questions in those books, but no further practice on verbal.
Then I took a practice test. Still no improvement. I had studied so much that when questions came up, instead of instinctually working, I was in my own head thinking about how to approach to problem, and getting distracted.
After this 5-6 weeks of studying, I was hit with a crisis at work, that threatened to put my MBA plans on hold, and I basically forgot about the GMAT for two months.
Studying Part II
Two months go by with no studying, and after some important discussions, I decide to not put my MBA plans on hold, but follow through. At this point, I had one month until I had to take the exam.
I purchased the OG guide. Quant being the section where I could use the most improvement, I did every DS and PS question in the book. After completing those, I redid all the questions I had gotten wrong in the OG Quant supplemental months prior, then retried all the incorrect questions from OG guide quant sections once they weren't fresh in my mind.
Taking a long time off seemed to help my brain actually absorb the material without over thinking it or being unsure, it was second nature, and the questions seemed so much easier this time around.
Verbal being not as big of a concern, I did 10-20 questions from each question type from the OG, to remind myself of the types and the basic principles.
For IR and AWA, I did absolutely no practice or studying, skipping them even on practice tests except for the last practice test. It was a judgement of mine that my time would be better spent elsewhere.
Last Practice Test
Two days before the exam, I took a manhattan Prep exam.
710 (Q42, V47).
Ok after all that studying, 1000 or so problem questions, 20 points improvement. I was disappointed, but also knew, at this point, it was time to let it go and take the damn test.
I took the day before the test off completely. What else could I possibly accomplish in one day?
ACTUAL TEST
Day of actual test, I had a very "whatever happens happens" attitude.
AWA - with no prep, but being a philosophy major and having a law background, writing the essay was straight-forward and I felt confident I would get an acceptable score.
IR - with no prep other than one practice test I was a bit thrown for a loop, but made sure to move along through the questions and not get stuck on anything that I couldn't figure out. Had no idea what my score would be. Could have gotten them all correct or all wrong.
Quant - I was feeling great, moving along through the section, until about 2/3rd's of the way in, I started to feel the questions were TOO easy. Did this mean I was being given softballs due to early incorrect answers?
I got to about 5 questions remaining and looked at the time, I had 25 minutes left. Never in any practice test had I left more than a minute on the clock. The last five tried to make use of the extra time, but didn't really need it and anxiously I finished the section with 15+ minutes remaining on the clock.
Finishing this early, I was CONVINCED I had somehow bombed this section… even though I never specifically found any questions to be that difficult.
Verbal - About what I expected. I made an effort to pace myself, but I had always finished verbal early, and actually had found my first instinct answers to be better than the ones I over deliberate, so I finished with 25 minutes left on clock. Felt very confident about the section.
The Score
Geez, when you have to click that button to see your score… you click, its loading, and then… BAM… there it is. Your mind is processing all of the numbers on the screen at once and trying to make sense of them.
Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised.
Total: 760
Quant: 49
Verbal: 46
IR: 8
AWA 5.5
In total that was 50 points higher than any practice test I took, and my quant score in particular was a 49, when I in practice tests I had found myself in the 42-45 range.
Verbal was a 46, which I had score as high as 49 in practice tests, but overall, still 99% percentile, so couldn't complain.
Lessons I learned:
1. I did way better on quant on the real thing than on Manhattan prep tests. In fact, I was convinced I was getting easy questions because i never encountered a single problem that was as challenging as some of the Manhattan 700-800 level problems. The test felt much more in line with the OG problems, where I never felt helpless or completely unable to complete a question. At the same time, those Manhattan tests were probably great practice for the real thing but really making me have to work to master some of the concepts and approaches that I might not have learned on easier questions.
2. I scored much higher than the practice tests. I'm glad I didn't let my practice tests scores get in my head or focus on them too much, my forced two month break from studying afforded me a certain peace with whatever my score would be, and that helped me the most. I did not take the second GMAC practice, which may have given it a more accurate pre-test forecast. But I'm actually kind of glad I didn't.
3. If you have the ability, try studying intensely for a while, and then completely take a long break from it. At least a week vacation or something. I did this by accident, but when I came back after a long lay off and started studying again, I noticed that my brain had actually retained a lot of what I had previously studied, and answering problems was more second nature than when I was in the middle of a month long intense study session. Plus, the time off will help you see what information you have really absorbed and what information is just staying in your brain on the surface, waiting to escape! (Im sure this seems crazy and most people study study study, and then take the exam, but I KNOW I did better by having a hiatus in the middle).
4. Confidence on the day of test. Be confident. Studying is over. Being anxious will not help you. If you end up going to the 1st or 20th ranked school in the country your life will still be whatever you make of it. Enjoy the ride. I believe having this attitude helped me score at the top of my potential.
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