760 - Q50 V44 - Exam Day - GMAT on 26th July

Question

Hi, Project has been bad for past 2 weeks so I thought of postponing the exam but then I was too tired of preparations and wanted it to be over. I took GMAT on 26th July and scored 760 (Q50, V44). If one thing worked for me then it must have been cool head, I had few tense moments but overall I was able to concentrate on the job at hand. Believe it or not, I was thinking of canceling the score but accepted after 4 minutes. Moral, don't cancel your score how ever bad you feel but don't cancel the score. I certainly got 8th question wrong in quant and that somewhat reflects in this score. First question of the exam caught me off the guard as I got a Graph question of medium high difficulty, could have got it wrong but spent 5 minutes on first one, just to make sure.

8th question consumed around 6-8 minutes and for the first time my brain freezed in quant section, it was terrible feeling but sanity prevailed and I guessed (after wasting so much time) before moving on. I was quite tense but then I took a deep breath and took few seconds to relax. (I never practiced or even tried substitution technique, which could be handy in such situations. So at least practice them and use when required) Finally quant section was over 5 minutes in advance. I was not very high on confidence, still 8th question was on top of my head. Took 10 minutes break for relaxing, went outside had some snacks and all. English was never my strong point so I was cautious in first 10 questions. Finally, even English was over 10 minutes in advance. Strange: I used to barely complete my English sections and sometimes had to rush through last few questions. My weaknesses, if you can improve on these then score should be good: 1. Oversight in DS 2. Usually don't double check calculations 3. RC - I don't revisit the passage before answering the questions. 4. SC - Idioms, I am zero. Never learnt those. - One day before exam, I just saw a few in Manhattan SC bible. Stregth: Quant CR It's late 2:30 AM and tomorrow is Monday. I have to convince my boss for recommendation letter, so I will get back to you soon with more information regarding preparation. I received my final report - AWA 5.0? Screwed the Issue essay

StartupAddict · Answer

760 -- congrats man. Awesome score!! And without idioms-- 44V, wow

You must be a CR/RC god!

judokan · Answer

Or he is a god of making non-educated guess? : )

j8liu · Answer

Wow... Congrats, mate.

ashudce · Answer

I am bad at guessing but yes I think that last minute decision of buying Manhattan's SC bible helped a lot.
I got this book 2 weeks before the exam and went through it second time just a day before the exam. I got a question on Colon ':' , Semicolon ';' and being non native, I would have got these wrong without MGMAT SC guide.

So this book should be must for all.

RC, I usually get inference questions wrong because I always use memory to answer RC questions. Lately I tried to revisit the passage but it was too late.

CR: Find Conclusion, Assumption and that is it, accuracy increases as one concentrates, visualizes and draws diagrams, if required.

2 weeks before the exam, my confidence level grew in Verbal as I was consistently scoring in 33-38 range. (previous range was 25-32)

Still, I believe that maintaining your calm will go long way.

My Test Scores (far from good):
------------------
Kaplan Paper test (got it from a kaplan student) - 670
GMAT Prep1 - 650
kaplan CD Test1 - 580 (I was devastated)
kaplan CD Test2 - 620 (confidence shattered)
kaplan CD Test3 - 640 (no improvement)
800V4 - 710 (these are easy, so don't count)
800V2 - 730 
kaplan CD Test4 - 670 (still bad)
Gmat Prep1 (Retake after 2.5 months) - 710 (i wanted 750 as it was repeat)
Manhattan 1 (got this with SC book) - 640 (man, confidence lost even in Quant)
Manhattan 2 - 670 (9 wrong in quant, should I postpone the exam and revisit basics?)
---2 weeks before Final
Kaplan Course Test 2 - 780 (One of my friend, who is kaplan student, sacrificed his test for me)..I am on high
Manhattan 3 - 730 (Wow..I am doing good)
GMAT Prep2 - 720 ( 5 days before actual GMAT)
Manhattan 4 - 760 (2 days before final)

Final - 760

I took 3 exams including final within 5 days, it is risky but I was enjoying the high scores. 
I noticed that earlier I was not concentrating on 1-10 questions, last 2 weeks I worked on this and improvement was visible.

My take on different Mock CATs:
1. Kaplan - Easy quant, Good Verbal.
2. Manhattan Online - Good Quant section(don't loose moral), easier Verbal
3. GMAT Prep : Very similar to Final CAT. Quant as well as verbal falls in between kaplan and Manhattan.
4. 800: easy questions, not truly representative of actual GMAT

Manhattan has tougher questions in first 2 exams, so don't loose confidence.

judokan · Answer

wow, you got 33-38 in mock exam, but it jumped to 44 in real one.

Congrat!

judokan · Answer

btw, I do not think the MGMAT Verbal is easier than GMATprep, especially for the CR and RC

ashudce · Answer

What helped was sudden improvement in SC and concentration in first 1-10 or1-20 questions.

ashudce · Answer

I didn't go through Manhattan guides for CR or RC so, can't comment on those.
But if you take 6 free exams that come with any Manhattan guide then standard suddenly goes down from Exam1-2 to Exam 3-4. I never tried 5 and 6 so don't know for sure.

Certainly standard was high in CAT1 and CAT2 of Manhattan series but I don't think those are truly representative of actual GMAT. Rather 3rd and 4th test are better representative of what you get on exam day.

bdumpala · Answer

Congratulations on 760...excellent score

I have a few questions for you

What was your preparation strategy for the last 10 days before the exam... did you buy the GMATClub challeneges for quant and verbal..Iam also scoring in the 35-38range in verbal section and quant 44-46 range...hwo can i improve on this...pls give me any suggestions or advice...

what did you do for the AWA section???

waiting for your reply,
Thanks

judokan · Answer

Thanks ashudce

suyashjhawar · Answer

congrats...gr8 score...all the best for applications...... :-D

pomi1423 · Answer

Yeah... !! Congratulations for the score... I see stars when i think of GMAT:)
Hi, Its kindof a weirdo quest...? Before the quest.. I am prami been planning to take up GMAT from quiet a long while. But this time i decided to take up and started preparing just a week back. I am planning to give the exam in the mid of Nov would this be sufficient to prepare. It would really helpful for me if you can give me a headsup on the strategy you put in to prepare. Approx how long you been preparing with dedicated no of hours. And the referral books.

Thanks
Prami

Thanks Prami

ashudce · Answer

Last 10 days, my effort was concentrated on: 1. Revisited Quant basics including P&C, Probability, Geometry, formulae 2. 11th Edition, Practiced each section in reverse order as difficulty level is more in last questions 3. Completed Manhattan SC twice 4. I used to prepare notes for verbal, Quant and DI. Revised the notes 5. Gave 3-3.5 Mock CATs AWA I practiced around 10 issues and essays from 11th editions, used to pick 1st , 5th...and so on..rest I just scanned through for the sake of it. Refer an article from a 6th Grader (AWA) on https://www.sharmaashutosh.blogspot.com I used to add tough questions in my blog and referred same in office

. the blog is not clean but I will do that after applications. By the way, I scored 5.0 in AWA, screwed up the issue essay. I was lost and was unable to elaborate much on example.

ashudce · Answer

Refer first post for list of books. I started preparation in Mid March and scheduled the exam on 12th July, shifted same to 26th when I came to know of a book called Manhattan GMAT SC

Preparation was on-off kind due to work pressure. Ideally speaking, it should be 3-4 hrs daily over 2-2.5 months but who gets that kind of time..so 3 months should be safe bet. Strategy, I first prepared for a week to brush up the basics as i didn't want to see low GMAT Prep1 result. Then worked on 10th edition, it has more questions than 11th. Give some exams regularly, full length. GMAT is mind game so win it over.

ashudce · Answer

Isn't it wierd?
I gave my exam on 26th July and received the score on 31st July. - AWA 5.0.
As per unofficial scorecard, I should received my report within 20 days, isn't 6 day too fast? Online shopping is slower

abhaypratapsingh · Answer

Ashudce:

What was break up for your KAPLAN?

I just gave one test and got 580 (Q50 , V27) which is freaking me out. My other test scores are : 
GMATPREP 1 (1) 640
MGMAT 1 680
MGMAT 2 640
MGMAT 3 680
PowerPrep 1 670
GMATPREP 1 (2) 690
MGMAT 4 700
MGMAT 5 730
GMATPREP 1 (3) 750
KAPLAN 580 (Q50 , V27)

I have less than week where in planing to give 2 more KAPLAN test , MGMAT 6 , PowerPrep 2 and GMAT PREP 2 ( 3 TIMES), but really the KAPLAN scores are dissappointing.

thanks,

ashudce · Answer

Hei abhai, Usually my kaplan read like Quant - late 40s and Verbal mid 30s (initially i had sub 30 scores too

) Are these scores in chronological order? 'coz going by your other scores, KAPLAN score should have been better unless it was a bad day. Better give another kaplan, but GMATPREP is better representative so chk your score in GMATPREP2. You can also buy 3 exams from MBA.com (but questions may repeat from Official guide) all the best

abhaypratapsingh · Answer

Yes it is in chronological order. I gave another KAPLAN test, this time only the verbal part score 33. Gave other tests as well :
Power prep 2 (730 Q50 V41) , 
MGMAT-6 700 (Q51 V 35) 
and GMAT-PREP-2 720( Quant 50 ,Verbal 38)

I will give Gmat Prep2 again tommarow for the second time to see where I stand. I have real test on monday ( 11 August). It is pretty obvious that Verbal is going to decide my fate.
Hope I have some luck on verbal section.

thanks.

ashudce · Answer

Don't forget to revise MGMAT SC guide. Also have a look at the idioms list i.e. at end of the book.
Try to take only english section of Kaplan, without worrying about time limit, which will help you maintain the calm and then check if your english score improves.

33 is a good score, you can anytime jump 3-6 marks on exam day.

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760 - Q50 V44 - Exam Day - GMAT on 26th July

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