Hi all,
I haven't been frequently messaging here but since we have something like this thread, I might as well make use of it and if it helps anyone - good enough
So i finally took my GMAT on the 12th
Score - 730
Math - 50
Verbal - 40
I started taking tests sometime in April I guess.
Diagnostic - 650
Practice test 1 (Kaplan) - 640
Definitely not the score that I wanted.
so I spent sometime on lessons here trying to grasp what Kaplan had to say on how to go about solving the problems, especially verbal.
Practice test 2 (Kaplan) - 590
Practice test 3 (Kaplan) - 590
This is when the little voice in my head came back to say - "Hmmm ... dude, you're going the other way!"
So I take a day(i.e. a weekend because I didn't get much time during week due to work pressure) off to figure out what's wrong - I was trying to imitate the approach from Kaplan rather than incorporate it to strengthen my own approach.
Next I took Princeton -
Practice test 1 - 720
Practice test 2 - 740
Practice test 3 - 760
I feel Princeton gen helps as a morale booster. Make sure to use this when you think you are going down. It doesnt say you have it all correct but it doesnt let a negative patch come up and that you just need some bit of tweaking.
Anyhow - I had saved the GMAT Prep tests for the end, the weekend before D-Day and I must say they are definitely the best in mapping your score.
Test 1 - 690 Math 51, Verbal - don't remember :p
Test 2 - 740 Math - 50, Verbal - 40
But use the GMAT prep tests judiciously because I feel the question pool is small - So small that I had one question in my actual GMAT repeated from the GMAT Prep test. :D
Of the 2 categories, verbal was where I stuttered and slowly figuring out my follies I came up a bit more balanced. Math was usually 50-51, only resentment is I didn't go higher. :p
The most important thign that I would like to emphasize here is on your self-confidence. I totally believe in the statement - "It gets as difficult as you want it to get."
So do not get bogged down at any point in time for scoring less. I was myself scroing 590 barely 2 weeks from my D-Day.
Try to take the best of what you have and that from Kaplan or any other place and use them both to get ahead. I say this because you cannot replace your approach to solve problems, you can only modify what you have.
Hope this helps.
Please feel free to ask anything if you think I can be of help
Cheers