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03 Nov 2009, 05:01
Kudos
Bookmarks
Decided to take the GMAT just about a month back(last week of september). Took the exam today and got 720.
Prep materials:
- OG review 12
- Kaplan premier online 2010
- Manhattan SC guide
Test scores:
GMATprep test 1(Diagnostic before starting prep): 690(Didnt notice the Quants and Verbal split. I wasn't aware that raw score is to be noted).
Kaplan free test (Oct 1st week): 640(Q:43; V:32)
Manhattan free test(Oct 2nd week): 660(Q:47; V:33)
Kaplan Premier Test1 - Paper test : Didn't take
Kaplan Premier Test2 - NonCAT(Oct 28): 660(Q:46; V:38)
Kaplan Premier Test3 - CAT(Oct 29): 720(Q:49; V:44)
Kaplan Premier Test4 - CAT(Oct 30): 670(Q:49; V:31)
GMATprep test 2 (Nov 01): 680(Q:50; V:31)
Kaplan Premier Test5 - CAT(Nov 02): 680(Q:50; V:31)
Real GMAT (Nov 03): 720(Q:49; V:40)
The real GMAT Experience
Quants felt quite easy except for one question that took about 5 mins, after which I made a guess and moved on. At every point of time, I was running ahead of the clock. Was wondering if I was doing badly at some point of time, since some questions felt very easy. Guess they must be the experimental questions. Wondering where I made mistakes. Expected a 50 or 51.
Verbal felt easier than the Kaplan CATs that I took, but till the score came up, I wasn't sure if I was doing at the 30 level or the 40 level. At one point, I had to do 15 questions in 17 mins. Managed to squeeze in time from CRs, and adjust that with RC and SC, since CR was my strength. The GMAT practise tests that I had already taken helped me stay cool, since I had faced such a situation earlier in the practice tests, and managed the time in pretty much the same way. When 6 seconds were remaining, I made a guess for the last question and clicked "Next" but right at the time I was about to press the next button, the test timed out. Hope that missing the last question wouldn't have affected my score much.
Problems faced during Prep and solutions
The biggest problem that I faced uptil Manhattan free test was that I was poor in sentence correction. I would normally eliminate 3 options and have two options in hand of which I didnt know which to choose. Found about Manhattan SC guide from this forum and got it, and read through the whole book, and got better in SC.
The next problem I faced in tests(as you could see from the Verbal scores of 31 in many Kaplan tests) was that I often fell half asleep while trying to read the reading comprehension passages. It wasn't to do with the passage, but somehow I couldn't keep my brain on. So, the only commandment I had to bear in mind on the day of the exam was "Don't go into the half-sleepy state!". The distance from the exam room to the rest room made me run during the breaks, which kept me in a good state on the exam day, and made me do well
.
Math Preparation
I didn't prepare for Math.
Verbal Preparation
Manhattan SC guide was very helpful to improve SC performance. It just took a couple of nights to finish the book, and the results were very good. Awesomely written short and sweet guide!
Understanding the really dry passages(the women related ones, constitution related ones, etc.), and answering inference questions based on them would be a tough thing. I found that reading each line and translating it to my mother tongue and then moving to the next line helped a lot. When we read in a language that is not our mother tongue, though we understand the meaning of the sentence easily, we might miss out some intricate details in it. But translating it to mother tongue helps bring out the exact meaning of the sentence. The RC passages in OG 12 were quite good.
I didn't prepare for CR.
Rant
I was able to prepare only for about 5 days in a focused manner(The last 5 days). Spent a couple of hours for some 10-15 days before that looking through the forums, and reading the prep materials. At last, I feel that I could have put in some more effort into the preparation, and scored more. But happy with this score since this would be good enough to get my applications into the "take a look at" pool.
Thanks GMATClub! Without all your really useful posts, I wouldn't have been able to give GMAT within such a short span on time. The posts helped me understand what in my GMAT score matters to the B-Schools, which books to avoid and which ones to read for what, and to demystify GMAT. I had been a passive member here so far. Would try to contribute in someway or the other to repay my debts to the community
Prep materials:
- OG review 12
- Kaplan premier online 2010
- Manhattan SC guide
Test scores:
GMATprep test 1(Diagnostic before starting prep): 690(Didnt notice the Quants and Verbal split. I wasn't aware that raw score is to be noted).
Kaplan free test (Oct 1st week): 640(Q:43; V:32)
Manhattan free test(Oct 2nd week): 660(Q:47; V:33)
Kaplan Premier Test1 - Paper test : Didn't take
Kaplan Premier Test2 - NonCAT(Oct 28): 660(Q:46; V:38)
Kaplan Premier Test3 - CAT(Oct 29): 720(Q:49; V:44)
Kaplan Premier Test4 - CAT(Oct 30): 670(Q:49; V:31)
GMATprep test 2 (Nov 01): 680(Q:50; V:31)
Kaplan Premier Test5 - CAT(Nov 02): 680(Q:50; V:31)
Real GMAT (Nov 03): 720(Q:49; V:40)
The real GMAT Experience
Quants felt quite easy except for one question that took about 5 mins, after which I made a guess and moved on. At every point of time, I was running ahead of the clock. Was wondering if I was doing badly at some point of time, since some questions felt very easy. Guess they must be the experimental questions. Wondering where I made mistakes. Expected a 50 or 51.
Verbal felt easier than the Kaplan CATs that I took, but till the score came up, I wasn't sure if I was doing at the 30 level or the 40 level. At one point, I had to do 15 questions in 17 mins. Managed to squeeze in time from CRs, and adjust that with RC and SC, since CR was my strength. The GMAT practise tests that I had already taken helped me stay cool, since I had faced such a situation earlier in the practice tests, and managed the time in pretty much the same way. When 6 seconds were remaining, I made a guess for the last question and clicked "Next" but right at the time I was about to press the next button, the test timed out. Hope that missing the last question wouldn't have affected my score much.
Problems faced during Prep and solutions
The biggest problem that I faced uptil Manhattan free test was that I was poor in sentence correction. I would normally eliminate 3 options and have two options in hand of which I didnt know which to choose. Found about Manhattan SC guide from this forum and got it, and read through the whole book, and got better in SC.
The next problem I faced in tests(as you could see from the Verbal scores of 31 in many Kaplan tests) was that I often fell half asleep while trying to read the reading comprehension passages. It wasn't to do with the passage, but somehow I couldn't keep my brain on. So, the only commandment I had to bear in mind on the day of the exam was "Don't go into the half-sleepy state!". The distance from the exam room to the rest room made me run during the breaks, which kept me in a good state on the exam day, and made me do well
.Math Preparation
I didn't prepare for Math.
Verbal Preparation
Manhattan SC guide was very helpful to improve SC performance. It just took a couple of nights to finish the book, and the results were very good. Awesomely written short and sweet guide!
Understanding the really dry passages(the women related ones, constitution related ones, etc.), and answering inference questions based on them would be a tough thing. I found that reading each line and translating it to my mother tongue and then moving to the next line helped a lot. When we read in a language that is not our mother tongue, though we understand the meaning of the sentence easily, we might miss out some intricate details in it. But translating it to mother tongue helps bring out the exact meaning of the sentence. The RC passages in OG 12 were quite good.
I didn't prepare for CR.
Rant
I was able to prepare only for about 5 days in a focused manner(The last 5 days). Spent a couple of hours for some 10-15 days before that looking through the forums, and reading the prep materials. At last, I feel that I could have put in some more effort into the preparation, and scored more. But happy with this score since this would be good enough to get my applications into the "take a look at" pool.
Thanks GMATClub! Without all your really useful posts, I wouldn't have been able to give GMAT within such a short span on time. The posts helped me understand what in my GMAT score matters to the B-Schools, which books to avoid and which ones to read for what, and to demystify GMAT. I had been a passive member here so far. Would try to contribute in someway or the other to repay my debts to the community
05 Nov 2009, 12:45
Kudos
Bookmarks
Thanks for the wishes mates.
The way I approach the problem is just similar to what Kaplan recommends. Before reading the statement, I look at the question and see what it asks for - support, flaw, etc. I then read the passage and understand it. The next step is to look at the 5 options and see which one supports/refutes the argument(whichever the question asks for).
I said that CR is my strength because I'm able to do CR with more accuracy in less time compared to the other two - SC and RC. I don't have any special trick to share here.
The way I approach the problem is just similar to what Kaplan recommends. Before reading the statement, I look at the question and see what it asks for - support, flaw, etc. I then read the passage and understand it. The next step is to look at the 5 options and see which one supports/refutes the argument(whichever the question asks for).
I said that CR is my strength because I'm able to do CR with more accuracy in less time compared to the other two - SC and RC. I don't have any special trick to share here.
