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17 May 2016, 10:37
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I wanted to share my GMAT experience on this forum as a way of saying thank you to everyone whose experience has inspired me, and I hope my experience with the GMAT will provide you hope and encouragement that this test can be conquered!
First, a little about myself -
I am a slightly above average student (3.4 GPA) that just graduated in December 2015 from a top 20 public university in the South (think Clemson, UGA, UF) with a decent aptitude for testing (~2000 SAT). As you can tell, I am a relatively intelligent individual but certainly not "Ivy-league material", and with a little bit of hard work and preparation I managed to pull off a 750 on the GMAT. I only say this to encourage you to not be defined by your circumstances, and to give the GMAT your all regardless of what background you come from. If I can do it, so can you!
Second, I must admit that I think my official GMAT score of 750 is slightly inflated, as I had a very good test day and my first two reading comprehension sections involved subjects I am very comfortable with (RC was generally my weakest section). However, I do think that I am in the 720 - 730 range, which would still make me very competitive for any top 10 program, and I think that the study methods I applied (all self study, total cost of around $100) can reasonably be expected to improve the average student 50 - 80 points above the score he/she received on a cold, official gmat practice test (from GMAT prep software).
I started studying on Feb 15, 2016 and studied for 11 weeks straight leading up to my GMAT on April 29th. Overall, I would say I studied roughly 12-15 hours per week, for a total of 130 - 150 hours spend studying. As has been stressed many times on this forum, the key to improving your GMAT score is reviewing the practice questions you missed, and identifying what lead you to make these mistakes, so that you can address and prevent these mistakes in the future. To study, I purchased to 2016 Official Guide on Amazon (~$20) and the Manhattan GMAT individual strategy guides (IMO, Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning were incredibly helpful). I also received access to 6 Manhattan GMAT tests with the purchase of a strategy guide. These tests were very helpful in providing insight on what I needed to improve on, but it is crucial that you only use the official gmat prep practice tests as an indicator for what you will score.
I would do roughly one practice test every other week, and I would spend the 10 - 12 workdays in between doing practice problems from OG and Manhattan while focusing on what my weaknesses were. I would always do practice problems timed, and try to do 37 Quant questions in 75 minutes every M/W and 41 Verbal questions in 75 minutes every T/TH. The weekend would be for reviewing the problems I missed, and focusing on what it was that caused me to miss that problem. If I felt there was a misunderstanding or fundamental weakness in a certain area, I would go through the Manhattan Strategy Guide for that subject.
From Feb 15 - April 29th, here are the results of my tests.
2/15 - COLD GMAT Prep CAT - 660
KAPLAN - 650
VERITAS - 600
MGMAT 1 - 680
ECONOMIST - 690
MGMAT 2 - 660
MGMAT 3 - 680
4/29 - GMAT - 750!!!
As you can see, I never scored above 700 on a CAT but got a 750 on the real exam. I think this is due to A) the CATs being harder than the real exam and B) I didn't take a CAT in my final three weeks leading up to the test, as I focused on improving what my weaknesses were during crunch time.
While my results aren't necessarily common, they are certainly achievable!!
Best of luck in your studies, and remember - if I can do it, so can you!
First, a little about myself -
I am a slightly above average student (3.4 GPA) that just graduated in December 2015 from a top 20 public university in the South (think Clemson, UGA, UF) with a decent aptitude for testing (~2000 SAT). As you can tell, I am a relatively intelligent individual but certainly not "Ivy-league material", and with a little bit of hard work and preparation I managed to pull off a 750 on the GMAT. I only say this to encourage you to not be defined by your circumstances, and to give the GMAT your all regardless of what background you come from. If I can do it, so can you!
Second, I must admit that I think my official GMAT score of 750 is slightly inflated, as I had a very good test day and my first two reading comprehension sections involved subjects I am very comfortable with (RC was generally my weakest section). However, I do think that I am in the 720 - 730 range, which would still make me very competitive for any top 10 program, and I think that the study methods I applied (all self study, total cost of around $100) can reasonably be expected to improve the average student 50 - 80 points above the score he/she received on a cold, official gmat practice test (from GMAT prep software).
I started studying on Feb 15, 2016 and studied for 11 weeks straight leading up to my GMAT on April 29th. Overall, I would say I studied roughly 12-15 hours per week, for a total of 130 - 150 hours spend studying. As has been stressed many times on this forum, the key to improving your GMAT score is reviewing the practice questions you missed, and identifying what lead you to make these mistakes, so that you can address and prevent these mistakes in the future. To study, I purchased to 2016 Official Guide on Amazon (~$20) and the Manhattan GMAT individual strategy guides (IMO, Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning were incredibly helpful). I also received access to 6 Manhattan GMAT tests with the purchase of a strategy guide. These tests were very helpful in providing insight on what I needed to improve on, but it is crucial that you only use the official gmat prep practice tests as an indicator for what you will score.
I would do roughly one practice test every other week, and I would spend the 10 - 12 workdays in between doing practice problems from OG and Manhattan while focusing on what my weaknesses were. I would always do practice problems timed, and try to do 37 Quant questions in 75 minutes every M/W and 41 Verbal questions in 75 minutes every T/TH. The weekend would be for reviewing the problems I missed, and focusing on what it was that caused me to miss that problem. If I felt there was a misunderstanding or fundamental weakness in a certain area, I would go through the Manhattan Strategy Guide for that subject.
From Feb 15 - April 29th, here are the results of my tests.
2/15 - COLD GMAT Prep CAT - 660
KAPLAN - 650
VERITAS - 600
MGMAT 1 - 680
ECONOMIST - 690
MGMAT 2 - 660
MGMAT 3 - 680
4/29 - GMAT - 750!!!
As you can see, I never scored above 700 on a CAT but got a 750 on the real exam. I think this is due to A) the CATs being harder than the real exam and B) I didn't take a CAT in my final three weeks leading up to the test, as I focused on improving what my weaknesses were during crunch time.
While my results aren't necessarily common, they are certainly achievable!!
Best of luck in your studies, and remember - if I can do it, so can you!
17 May 2016, 10:44
Kudos
Bookmarks
Congratulations on a great score. Did you write only one GMATPrep exam?
19 May 2016, 07:48
Kudos
Bookmarks
shadowfax1
shadowfax - actually yes, I took my final CAT roughly 3 weeks prior to the test, and worked very hard over the next 3 weeks to improve in certain areas, with plans to take my final GMATPrep CAT the day before the exam. I ended up feeling comfortable with my knowledge of the content going into the week of the exam, and I figured taking a full length CAT the day before the exam might wear me out, so I never took it!
