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16 Sep 2004, 17:32
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yes, i'm a lurker. but in the spirit of community learning - and giving back to a group and i have received so much from - i thought i'd write my first post and share my experiences.
the first time i took the gmat was on 8.22.04, and i scored a pitiful 650 (v40 q 40). i think the primary reason i **** up was incredibly stupid time management. anyway, i felt that i could do better, so decided to focus, fix my errors, and try again. yesterday i came out with a 710. it's ok, not my target of 750 - but i don't think it's worth my time/$$ taking the test any more.
i'll break this post up into two parts: the test experience itself, and then my prep schedule.
<u>the test experience</u>
note: the only interesting thing at the center itself was that they proctors made me take off my digital wristwatch before taking the test. i suppose it was to ensure i wouldn't use a built in stopwatch. it definitely was a strange feeling not having a wristwatch on, so if you have one - take an old fashioned watch instead.
AWA was pretty standard. i got a 6 last time around so i wasn't too worried. besides, i think that as long as one is doing 4.5 or better nobody really cares.
quant section was somewhat of a rollercoaster, primarily because i thought that i had bombed it - ie, scored 40 or so. i thought this because i only saw one combinatorics problem and one probability problem - and they were both reasonably easy. believe it or not, i think some of the hardest questions sequencing wise (for me) were between 6-12. i got a really scary geometry d/s question in which i had to find the area of a shape that looked like shrek. also, got some very tough sequences and number property questions. there were some complex groups and rates questions, but all manageable. the big thing to report from my experience is that just because you didn't get 4 combination questions doesn't mean you did poorly. if you can solve most of the stuff on this website, then you are Golden in that area. the biggest improvement for me was time management. the first time i took the test, i ended up spending 12 minutes on #6 (yes, i remember exactly the point of downfall). if i had a gun i'd have shot myself for spending that long on a question. it totally messed up my flow and ability to focus on all the other questions. anyway, this time i was quicker, more focused, and a lot more diligent. folks: no question is worth more than 3 minutes of your time... ofcourse, each person paces themselves, but don't go too much over the 3 minute mark on the first 15 questions, and if you do make sure you compensate and move quickly - but accurately - through the others. as far as ? types, there were a lot of d/s questions, and very hard questions based on fairly simple foundational concepts (factoring, divisibility, mods, roots, exponents). finally, towards the middle/end of the test, the questions did start to get easier (or maybe i was used to the harder questions...).
regarding the verbal section, i got lucky - out of the first 10 questions, most were CR and RC. i love these and generally do well, so it was a positive boon. the SCs were not too difficult. i was actually saddened that i only scored a 40 on verbal - i was hoping to hit 45ish. i think my fault here is that i was too cocky and over confident. mental note (for myself): even if you think you're really good at something, make sure to be thorough and recheck work. i feel like i went through about 5 RCs, which is the most i've ever gotten.
<u>part ii: the preparation</u>
i started princeton review lessons about two months ago (before that i had never looked at a gmat problem) and finished just before my first test (8.22). during class i did about 10-12 hours per week. the week before the exam i did about 20-30 hours. it was towards the end of my pr classes that i ran into gmat club... the questions and discussions here have been invaluable. regarding the practice tests i took, in PR they ranged from 640-730. i did take the 4 kaplan tests, and they ranged from 590-670. finally, powerprep was 730 and 770 (i don't consider power prep accurate though because i recognized some of the questions from working the OG).
anyway, after my disastrous performance on the first time test, i took a one week holiday, and when i came back registered to take the gmat on the 15th... this gave me about 9 days of prep time. for the past 9 days, i have lived and breathed gmat... doing lots of problems and taking a long time to make sure that i thoroughly understand a concept and that i can recognize it no matter what the application of the concept.
in quants, all i can say is practice, practice, practice. the reasons why i believe i did better that the first time around are:
1. better at doing computations quickly and WITHOUT errors. this is key. it sounds stupid, but being able to find the LCM/GCD of 14 and 160, or multiply 55 x 125 in under 30 seconds is very helpful.
2. learning the fundamental, foundational concepts of mathematics is critical. understand rules of divisibility, exponents, roots, properties of integers, recognize patterns in sequences, etc. there are enough questions on the gmat that test some or all of these concepts (individually on easy questions and in parallel on tough questions) that it is important to be comfortable on how to deal with numbers.
3. learn from your mistakes: error logs are great! but don't just understand why something you did is wrong -- try to pull out a generalization that is helpful.
4. tackling a question: the most important thing is to think about a question before answering it. i know, that may sound redundant, but take about 10-15 seconds to read the question and understand what big concepts are being tested. try to picture the concept before you attack it -- look for patterns, shortcuts, and then go in for the kill. for me, this approach really, really helped. remember - ETS is good at being tricky, but *every* problem CAN be solved in under 3 minutes. maybe i got lucky, but i did not have to do any "brute" math computations throughout the test... though i'd like to believe that this strategy worked for me.
5. practice! gmat club has been amazing for that!
for verbal - just understand/memorize SC rules (native english speakers can trust their "ear"... whatever that means).
for CR - finding the assumption is key. and solve the question in your head before looking for an answer... for me, this helped tremendously. in RC, get a good general grasp of the passage and then look for specifics as needed. infact, if you read carefully, you may not have to go back to the passage at all.
hope this was helpful. i'll continue to lurk around... i'm a nut, i love solving logic puzzles and combinatorics... maybe i'll start participating more :)
ecdysis.
the first time i took the gmat was on 8.22.04, and i scored a pitiful 650 (v40 q 40). i think the primary reason i **** up was incredibly stupid time management. anyway, i felt that i could do better, so decided to focus, fix my errors, and try again. yesterday i came out with a 710. it's ok, not my target of 750 - but i don't think it's worth my time/$$ taking the test any more.
i'll break this post up into two parts: the test experience itself, and then my prep schedule.
<u>the test experience</u>
note: the only interesting thing at the center itself was that they proctors made me take off my digital wristwatch before taking the test. i suppose it was to ensure i wouldn't use a built in stopwatch. it definitely was a strange feeling not having a wristwatch on, so if you have one - take an old fashioned watch instead.
AWA was pretty standard. i got a 6 last time around so i wasn't too worried. besides, i think that as long as one is doing 4.5 or better nobody really cares.
quant section was somewhat of a rollercoaster, primarily because i thought that i had bombed it - ie, scored 40 or so. i thought this because i only saw one combinatorics problem and one probability problem - and they were both reasonably easy. believe it or not, i think some of the hardest questions sequencing wise (for me) were between 6-12. i got a really scary geometry d/s question in which i had to find the area of a shape that looked like shrek. also, got some very tough sequences and number property questions. there were some complex groups and rates questions, but all manageable. the big thing to report from my experience is that just because you didn't get 4 combination questions doesn't mean you did poorly. if you can solve most of the stuff on this website, then you are Golden in that area. the biggest improvement for me was time management. the first time i took the test, i ended up spending 12 minutes on #6 (yes, i remember exactly the point of downfall). if i had a gun i'd have shot myself for spending that long on a question. it totally messed up my flow and ability to focus on all the other questions. anyway, this time i was quicker, more focused, and a lot more diligent. folks: no question is worth more than 3 minutes of your time... ofcourse, each person paces themselves, but don't go too much over the 3 minute mark on the first 15 questions, and if you do make sure you compensate and move quickly - but accurately - through the others. as far as ? types, there were a lot of d/s questions, and very hard questions based on fairly simple foundational concepts (factoring, divisibility, mods, roots, exponents). finally, towards the middle/end of the test, the questions did start to get easier (or maybe i was used to the harder questions...).
regarding the verbal section, i got lucky - out of the first 10 questions, most were CR and RC. i love these and generally do well, so it was a positive boon. the SCs were not too difficult. i was actually saddened that i only scored a 40 on verbal - i was hoping to hit 45ish. i think my fault here is that i was too cocky and over confident. mental note (for myself): even if you think you're really good at something, make sure to be thorough and recheck work. i feel like i went through about 5 RCs, which is the most i've ever gotten.
<u>part ii: the preparation</u>
i started princeton review lessons about two months ago (before that i had never looked at a gmat problem) and finished just before my first test (8.22). during class i did about 10-12 hours per week. the week before the exam i did about 20-30 hours. it was towards the end of my pr classes that i ran into gmat club... the questions and discussions here have been invaluable. regarding the practice tests i took, in PR they ranged from 640-730. i did take the 4 kaplan tests, and they ranged from 590-670. finally, powerprep was 730 and 770 (i don't consider power prep accurate though because i recognized some of the questions from working the OG).
anyway, after my disastrous performance on the first time test, i took a one week holiday, and when i came back registered to take the gmat on the 15th... this gave me about 9 days of prep time. for the past 9 days, i have lived and breathed gmat... doing lots of problems and taking a long time to make sure that i thoroughly understand a concept and that i can recognize it no matter what the application of the concept.
in quants, all i can say is practice, practice, practice. the reasons why i believe i did better that the first time around are:
1. better at doing computations quickly and WITHOUT errors. this is key. it sounds stupid, but being able to find the LCM/GCD of 14 and 160, or multiply 55 x 125 in under 30 seconds is very helpful.
2. learning the fundamental, foundational concepts of mathematics is critical. understand rules of divisibility, exponents, roots, properties of integers, recognize patterns in sequences, etc. there are enough questions on the gmat that test some or all of these concepts (individually on easy questions and in parallel on tough questions) that it is important to be comfortable on how to deal with numbers.
3. learn from your mistakes: error logs are great! but don't just understand why something you did is wrong -- try to pull out a generalization that is helpful.
4. tackling a question: the most important thing is to think about a question before answering it. i know, that may sound redundant, but take about 10-15 seconds to read the question and understand what big concepts are being tested. try to picture the concept before you attack it -- look for patterns, shortcuts, and then go in for the kill. for me, this approach really, really helped. remember - ETS is good at being tricky, but *every* problem CAN be solved in under 3 minutes. maybe i got lucky, but i did not have to do any "brute" math computations throughout the test... though i'd like to believe that this strategy worked for me.
5. practice! gmat club has been amazing for that!
for verbal - just understand/memorize SC rules (native english speakers can trust their "ear"... whatever that means).
for CR - finding the assumption is key. and solve the question in your head before looking for an answer... for me, this helped tremendously. in RC, get a good general grasp of the passage and then look for specifics as needed. infact, if you read carefully, you may not have to go back to the passage at all.
hope this was helpful. i'll continue to lurk around... i'm a nut, i love solving logic puzzles and combinatorics... maybe i'll start participating more :)
ecdysis.
16 Sep 2004, 21:59
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Bookmarks
Good job Ecdysis,
You're not a total lurker as you write this mail and it could be useful for future test taker so no problem about that.
"i got a really scary geometry d/s question in which i had to find the area of a shape that looked like shrek"
--> it's crazy, I got exactly the same kind of thing at my 2nd question in the test (that I've totally done wrong...) and I've spent 5-6 mn to answer it ! the worst thing is that I didn't even succeed to find any answer... I've tried to guess. Mine was not like shrek but it was 2 strange rectangles , one smaller inside one bigger and I had to find some strange angles with no information. It was also a DS like you...anyway, now the test is over but I was totally surprised by the question. I've never seen something like that, even in OG, Kaplan or Princeton.
Anyway, thanks for sharing, at least, your test experience. Good luck with your application.
You're not a total lurker as you write this mail and it could be useful for future test taker so no problem about that.
"i got a really scary geometry d/s question in which i had to find the area of a shape that looked like shrek"
--> it's crazy, I got exactly the same kind of thing at my 2nd question in the test (that I've totally done wrong...) and I've spent 5-6 mn to answer it ! the worst thing is that I didn't even succeed to find any answer... I've tried to guess. Mine was not like shrek but it was 2 strange rectangles , one smaller inside one bigger and I had to find some strange angles with no information. It was also a DS like you...anyway, now the test is over but I was totally surprised by the question. I've never seen something like that, even in OG, Kaplan or Princeton.
Anyway, thanks for sharing, at least, your test experience. Good luck with your application.
