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Jyoti Ramnath:
GMAT Score from 650 (Q48, V33) to 710 (Q48, V40)
http://www.beatthegmat.com/my-gmat-journey-from-650-to710-in-one-month-t93626.html
I have read through multiple posts on BTG with very useful advice on
which books to read, how to plan the GMAT Prep, how to prepare for the
test day etc. Instead of going through a detailed account of my journey,
I will focus on the materials I referred, what I felt about those different
study materials, what I did differently in my two GMATs and how that
difference helped me score a 710 the second time.
Quant prep
How much ever books I read for quant, I always felt no one book
prepared me completely for GMAT Quant:
- Kaplan : Quant questions seem too simple and different from what you
see in a real GMAT. Can be used to practice in the initial days of GMAT
prep just to get your brain warmed up.
- MGMAT : MGMAT Strategy guides are very good to understand the
concepts. I could clearly see a jump from 40 to 47 in my practice test
scores. Quant in MGMAT Practice tests are again good as a stress test.
They will train you well to speed up your calculations and think of
solutions fast. But do remember the real GMAT Quant is not that
computation intensive as you see in MGMAT. Also the real GMAT is much
more tricky than MGMAT Quant.
- SC : Timing can not be fixed until you nail the problems faster. This
requires absolute clarity with concepts. When I first read MGMAT SC
guide, I marked certain difficult sections. I started reading through those
sections every day morning. I wanted to remember those concepts
crystal clear so that I could recall them faster while answering questions.
The best resource to practice SC is GMAT Prep questions. No other
resource gave me the taste of real SC as GMAT Prep did.
- CR : There are only a certain question types you get in CR. Once you
identify those, do know the wrong and right answer patterns as well.
Powerscore CR Bible is a lengthy guide to read. But you can pick only
certain topics which you see regularly in GMAT and go through them. It
does help in identifying right and wrong answers.
- RC : RC's in real GMAT is not that difficult. OG is a good resource to
study RC. For me the key to RC was to get my timing right. I practiced
to read the passage in 2-2.5 min and attack each question in 1 min. The
moment you get a control over time ( without compromising on your
reading quality ), RCs are very much handled. Aristotle RC99 helped me
in fixing my timing. The passages in RC99 are way different from real
GMAT but going through those long and confusing passages especially
under the medium and difficult sections help get my timing right.
Above all, practicing from GMAT Prep, using it as a study material helped
me greatly. Crackverbal had prepared some very good study materials
compiled from retired GMAT Prep questions and they were the best
resource I could get my hands on.
To Summarize, my final set of advice is:
- Never ever practice without a timer. Download any timer you find and
always keep a log of your timings.
- Make your own flash cards as each one of us have different pain
points. Spend atleast 2 hours everyday reading through those flash
cards.
- Don't use GMAT Prep just in the last few days to check on your score
level. There is a wealth of study material in GMAT Prep and that is the
best material you can find. Over the internet, you can find 2 versions of
GMAT Prep - one that you download from mba.com and another older
2006-07 version ( This is not the powerprep one but a later version) .
The questions in both of them are different and that gives you a broader
range of questions to try out. Start taking GMAT Prep much earlier and
take it multiple times to extract all questions out of it. However be
conscious not to read too much into the scores you see in GMAT Prep
repeats. They are highly INFLATED.
My debrief has come quiet late as I took my second GMAT in Aug.
I have already applied to B-schools in R1. Eagerly waiting for the results
Smile
A bit about me : 30 / F / Indian / Entrepreneur
Ritwik Verma:
GMAT Score from 680 (Q49, V33) to 750 (Q50, V41)
Crack erbal
http://www.crackverbal.com/forum/threads/680-to-750through-Crack-Verbal/233
2. If you are preparing yourself for a marathon, don't train yourself with
100m sprints. (This led me to take all my practice tests along with
AWA and IR)
3. If you are 90% sure about an answer choice, you are good to make
that choice. If you are 100% sure, you have perhaps spent too much
of time on that question. (This suggestion helped me not to spend
extra time over questions and get nervous because of lack of time)
4. Don't take the Quant and Verbal sections as individual tests of 75
minutes, but take them as 5 tests of 15 minutes each. (Again, it
helped me manage my time better)
My preparation was based around OG and GMAT prep tests... After
solving each section in OG, I categorized my mistakes in one of the 5-6
pre-identified categories. That helped me identify my common mistakes
in each section and make a strategy to avoid common errors.
Moreover, I took 2 Mock Tests at the CrackVerbal center - one, a day
before the actual GMAT - which helped me a lot.
Eventually, when I took the GMAT, I scored 750 (Q-50, V-41). I can't
thank the CrackVerbal team enough for giving me the ability to
increase my Verbal score by whopping 8 points!
Skvignesh:
GMAT Score 720 (Q49, V40)
http://www.pagalguy.com/forums/gmat-and-gre-prep/mysuccessful-gmat-ex-t-40477/p-1549367#post1549367
1
2
3
4
5
6
47
47
46
47
50
51
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
35
35
36
39
38
35
V
V
V
V
V
V
680
680
680
700
720
700
(exact same)
(something is crawling)
(verbal is finally moving)
(Finally I saw my range)
(I doubted my Quant score in the last two
I had three days left for the exam and so I took the GMATprep 2. I
scored a 47 Q 41 V 710 there. This made me feel confident. I started the
entire journey with a 720-740 score in mind and I was always counting
on my abilities to reach there. A 50 Q 40 V 740 was my target.
Ohhh... having done all that I had my exam centre about 350 kilometres
from my place and during the journey and also during my stay in the
hotel, I took the same gmat prep 2 math section (i just clicked
something in verbal) thrice and got some 48 49 50 kind of scores with
repeated questions. I knew for sure that hitting a 50 in Quant might be
really difficult. My only hope of reaching a 740 was hitting 41 in verbal
and 49 in Quant.
I had a few friends in Cochin and the day before the exam I went
around meeting them. On the day of the exam, I think there was some
unknown fear developing. I realised this when I watched a comedy strip
and started really laughing. In the midst of the comedy I started feeling
fearful and I thought may be its good to spend some more time relaxing
(I had almost stopped watching any TV in the last few weeks before
GMAT - I did have my share of entertainment in games and internet).
D-Day.
I was quite cool on that day, never had any exam day pressures, I
always had at the back of my mind that I could retake this exam and
that kind of helped me keep my cool. Had my breakfast at 07.30 lunch at
11.45 and reached the centre before 1 hour. The guys at the centre
(Rajagiri College) were very cooperative and allowed me some time to
settle down. It was then that I learnt the two breaks were to be for 10
minutes each and not just 5. I took my time to read the instructions and
had a nice chat with the guy in the centre. I learnt a bit about the
general exam procedures.
I had filled all my profile information in MBA.com before the test and so
it was just next next next in that section. After about 15 seconds I saw
the 720. Felt happy about that but I was a bit surprised about a 49 and
40 only adding up to 720 (considering that 50 40 would be 740). I
started the entire journey with about 720-740 as my target so I was
happy that I atleast reached my range.
My short profile, 30 Year old, Indian male, I am a Cost Accountant
(ICWAI) by qualification and I have about 4 years of experience in the
government sector (Indian Railways) 4 years in a manufacturing concern
in the Accounts and ERP implementation roles and now about 3.5 years
in an IT MNC as a Lead Business Analyst. I hope that a total of 11-12
years of experience and a 720 would help me to get into one of the
schools of my dream. At the start of the preparation, and even now, I
would not consider myself a super-math guy or a great exams guy, so a
720 from me should tell everyone here that, if you stay cool, know your
weaknesses, and keep your vision, you can achieve a good score (I am
not saying that 720 is good but thats what I had as a target )
I have plans to apply to Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, ISB and LBS. IIM A
Nanyang Singapore and IIM B are still in my list too. I strongly believe in
destiny and I think I have never remained as cool as I was on the GMAT
day on any exams previously and not even in a few job interviews. With
the way things have gone, I think god will take me there, sorry for
getting philosophical, but I think thats the way to look at it.
Thanks to CrackVerbal, Manhattan GMAT and last but not the least PG
for the direct and indirect help. A word to people preferring to verbalise
the exam in India, a weekday afternoon appointment at cochin might be
a good idea. They even informed me that if you take an afternoon
appointment, you can take it in the morning if the slots are free. I had
accommodated myself in a very good small hotel called Bluehouse
nearby, it was an excellent stay which helped things too.
Varun:
GMAT Score from 680 to 730 (Q48, V42)
Crack erbal
http://www.crackverbal.com/forum/threads/GMAT-680-to730/194
Hi,
Just done with my GMAT last week and scored 730 (Q48, V 42)..
Although this is an improvement over my last score of 680 but I am not
very thrilled with my score. Just to make it clear I am not unhappy
either. Although 20 points more would have done no harm..would they??
I am saying so because my target score was 750 as I scored 760 and
770 in my last two GMATPreps. I was aiming 750 with a deviation of +10 but in the end only managed a 730.. All this story to remind you that
be prepared for surprises on the test day. I was banking on a Q score of
50/51 and in the worst case 49 but ended up with *only* 48. I would
have achieved by target score had I not fared so badly in Q. Again to
reiterate that it is good to depend on your strengths but be prepared for
surprises on the test day.
Coming to the preparation: I had already given the GMAT once so I was
familiar with overall structure and complexity of the test. I knew I had to
increase my verbal score if I were to achieve my target score. After
searching on the various forums for test prep companies I cam
across CrackVerbal. I called and had a word with Arun and
explained what were the problems I was facing on the Verbal
section. After talking to him I realized I was talking to someone
who knows the test inside out and could help me with my
problem areas. I went ahead and enrolled into their online
program. Needless to say I did not regret my decision. The best
part is how quickly the team at CV responds to your queries.
Although there are few downsides to the online course specially in terms
of its packaging but the content and the quality of the content is top
notch and in the end that is the thing that matters the most.
First thing a perspective test taker needs to do is understand the test the challenge that lies ahead of him/her and then figure out a plan
according to his/her strengths. The best way to do this is to take a
GMATPrep test and if you think you are not ready to sit for extended
periods with high concentration levels you can take the paper diagnostic
test in the OGs. After taking this test you can see which areas you need
to work on more compared to the others. Before you start hitting the
questions it is very important to build strong fundamentals. Depending
on your weakness areas you can allocate appropriate time to various
sections. Depending upon your work load/ professional or personal
commitments you can make a study plan and remember it is very
important to follow it. There would be many reasons/ opportunities to
postpone your studies to the weekends but it is imperative that you
study regularly over the weekdays as well.
My plan was to do the following:
Theory - brush up the concepts though guide books and CV books
Complete OG systematically - it is very important to review the
questions you have attempted. Here I must say that maintaining a error
log comes in quite handy at the later stages of your preparation.
After the OG - do the CV advanced document. This document
exposes you to high level questions.
Take a test every weekend and review your test thoroughly.
The material to follow is quite standard and has been discussed quite
often on the forum so I will not mention it again. It is very important to
follow the right material and only practice from the official sources.
In the end - fix your target score depending upon the schools you
are targeting. Make a plan to reach your target score from your
current score. Never shy to ask for help on the forum or from
one of the CV faculty. Never forget that GMAT is only a piece of your
MBA application and fairing poorly on the GMAT is not the end of the
world. You can always retake the exam if you are not satisfied with your
score.
Happy GMATing,
Varun
LostPhoton111:
GMAT Score from 710 (Q50, V36) to 750 (Q50, V42)
http://www.pagalguy.com/forums/gmat-and-gre-prep/gmatexperience-750-q50-v42-t-57811/p-2259409#post2259409
Hello Everyone,
I would like to share my experiences in GMAT preparation and hope that
it would be helpful to at least some of the aspirants.
For the sake of background, this is my second attempt at GMAT. The first
time I scored 710 (Q50, V36) AWA 4.5, but was not happy with my
preparation as well as the score and decided to write GMAT again.
Books referred (I would say that all three books are a must) : I am a
strong advocate of referring only very limited material but doing it
thoroughly
1) OG 12
2) OG Verbal
3) Manhattan SC : Very helpful in developing concepts in Sentence
Correction (the biggest pain area for me)
Some important learnings for me in the process:
Solve only the official material, i.e. OGs. I realized that most other
material is nowhere near the original GMAT. Besides solving questions
from other sources confuses you even more and affects your concepts
negatively as one starts thinking a lot even for simple questions.
Since for many aspirants, the OG material may not be enough. I would
suggest solving the same material twice, it helps in testing and
reinforcing the concepts.
Tests taken:
GMATPrep 1: 710 (before starting preparation)
GMATPrep 2: 760 and 770 (with a few repeat questions)
Again, I believe that one shouldn't solve any other tests as most others
are not true reflection of actual GMAT. Infact poor scores in these exams
negatively affect the confidence of the student.
Class Attended:
CrackVerbal
I was looking for a verbal only class, which was comprehensive,
short duration and focused on improving the concepts.
CrackVerbal fit the bill and was very helpful in improving my
verbal score.
Some important pointers (in a nutshell): All this is common knowledge
and most of us already know it, but still I would like to re-emphasize:
1) Solve OGs thoroughly, so that you understand all the concepts in
detail. If needed, solve it twice for topics you are weak at. (This includes
OG Verbal too)
2) Manhattan SC is must for developing concepts of sentence correction
3) Solve only the Official GMATPrep tests or atleast consider only
GMATPrep scores as true indicator of your performance in actual GMAT.
Don't get demotivated by poor scores in Manhattan/Kaplan/Princeton
etc.
4) Remember confidence is very important: And confidence comes from
practice
middle of the exam, that doesn't mean that you are doing poorly. There
would be simple questions even when you do extremely well and solve
10s of questions correctly in succession
11) Focus more on the initial questions to ensure that they are not
wrong so that the algorithm sets you at a higher level. However, try to
map time after 35 minutes. You do not want to encounter a situation
when you have to solve 10 questions in 10 minutes
12) Do not panic if you are not able to understand what the answer to
any particular question would be, just guess and go ahead. It's ok to
guess if you are stuck rather than to waste lots of time. Not only does it
wastes time but also causes frustration and you find it extremely difficult
to concentrate on further questions and ultimately causing you to panic.
So don't get stuck on any question, just guess
13) Keep track of the time during the 8 minute break. I didn't and lost 1
minute from my verbal section
14) Eat light and maybe have a chocolate before the exam. That helps
de-stress you
15) Sleep sufficiently long a night before so that you have the mental
stamina to take the 4 hour long exam
16) Last but not the least, don't consider GMAT as a life and death issue.
As every bschool website say (which is true as well), GMAT is just one of
the factors in your Bschool application, so don't kill yourself too much on
it. Chill and take it easy.
Apart from this, I would be happy to answer any questions which you
may have.
All the Very Best!
Vikas:
GMAT Score 760 (Q50, V42)
Crack erbal
http://www.crackverbal.com/forum/threads/My-First-timeGMAT-experience--760-50Q-42V/81
Just wanted to add a quick write up on my GMAT process and the exam
experience from last week. Hopefully this helps a few of you who are
planning to the take the GMAT in the next month or so.
I started about 3 months ago when I attended a Score Booster
workshop conducted by Arun. I came in without really knowing
what the GMAT was and had to ask Arun what this OG thing
was that he kept referring to constantly. But I came away
impressed and signed up the Verbal Class. I was quite busy with
work during this time, and did not have much time to spend on doing
daily homework, so really most of what I learnt and practiced happened
during class hours. Towards the end of the classes, I realized that the
only way i can push myself to prepare in full seriousness was to set a
date for the exam first. I picked a date in early july since I wanted an
afternoon 1pm exam - early morning adds stress around waking up and
getting to the exam hall while evening exams - you are too tired already.
A lot of my studying happened during the two weeks before the exam, I
was regularly spending 4-5 hours every evening doing problems from
the OG, and reading up on forums on strategies around both test taking
as well as approaching problems. The first GMAT Prep Test that I took
about two weeks before the exam - I scored 690, and I did not finish the
quant section in time. About a week later I took the second test and
scored 690 again and this time I did finish all the quant problems. This
was quite de-motivating since it appeared that all my studying during
that week was for naught and I wondered if I had hit my level. But with
only a week to go, I decided I'd amp up my studying, took a few days
off work and concentrated on fixing the spots that I was having
difficulties in. Retaking both tests got me 750 on each, but with about
30% of the questions repeated it was not a good yardstick since the
repeated questions allowed me to spend a lot more time on the harder
problems, and skewing the overall time graph.
The day of the exam, I solved a few problems before I left home, so that
I get my mind in the quant solving mindset. I had a light breakfast and
got to the exam center by 12. I was expecting to sit and relax for an
hour, but they told me start the exam immediately since there were a
few spots open. Half a red bull later, I started on the essay - which was
easy and and the IR section - which was a lot harder than I expected. A
single passages/table/graph question was quite confusing, with a lot of
data that was irrelevant and I was asked a total 3 X 4, 12 questions on
that same data set, of which I had to guess on about 6. Feeling a bit
demotivated, I started on the Quant section. The questions started out
easy and got hard very fast. I was stuck by the fifth question for about 3
minutes and I decided to guess and keep going.
Then the questions were moderately easy till I had about 4 minutes left
for the last five questions and ended up guessing on a few of them,
including blindly guessing on a chart type question since just trying to
read the chart would have taken 2 minutes. Within the DS Questions,
there were very few Cs and Ds. Mostly As, Bs and Es - so almost every
question needed to be solved for both data points. I did not get even a
single question on probability, and there was just one on combinations,
so I would suggest not to waste too much time on this section if you
guys find it hard. A majority of the harder questions were based on the
number line, and I had to plug in values for quite a few since I could
figure out the pattern fast enough.
During the Verbal section, the exam was front loaded with RC and CR I got only 2 SC questions during the first twenty. The unfortunately part
about this was that the second half, which had the harder questions
were mostly SC, where trying to pick between the last two almost
always involved guessing since they would both "sound right". There
was only one SC question that was fully underlined, but quite a few that
had only 1-2 words underlined.I found the RC and CR questions quite
straightforward, with only one or two guesses.
My key takeaways:
1. As Arun keeps saying, GMAT is all about time management
and Pattern Recognition. If you can figure out instantly what
type of question it is, then you save almost 30-40 seconds, so
its important to practice all type of questions. The one thing that
helped me was I practiced OG with the solution pages instead of the
question pages so that I read the explanation for each choice, even the
ones i got correct. This way I learnt the technique that gmat expects you
to know and was able to apply it on similar questions.
2. OG is more than enough. I started on some manhattan tests, but i
gave up after a few questions because they were too ambiguous and the
answer key did not provide satisfactory explanations. I only practiced
from the OG and GMAT prep software, and that too I only had time to
do about 80 percent of OG questions.
3. During the exam, its extremely important to be alert and awake and
in a good mood. I think this made a huge difference that I was relaxed
and not nervous and I was able to give every question full attention.
Towards the end of the verbal, all the SC options started to sound right
and since I had plenty of time left, I took a quick unscheduled break,
washed my face and basically traded 10% of time left for 10% more
freshness. I do not recommend this unless you have more than five
minutes on top of the 2mins X questions left. But yes, I washed my face
and sipped redbull during every break :) As far as redbull is concerned I made me very hyper at times, but I followed a similar consumption
pattern as I had practiced during my prep tests so I knew what to
expect.
4. Given the adaptive nature, its very hard to know whether you are
doing well or not - so dont get caught up if you are getting questions
wrong. Most likely they are the harder ones! I definitely did not expect
the score I got given the number of questions I answered incorrectly but that was just the software throwing questions at me till it found a
set that I could not answer.
5. The score on the actual exam was higher than anything i got my
practice tests - so dont keep pushing your exam date - just make sure
you go in with a clear mind.
I can say without a doubt that CrackVerbal and Arun were a big
part of why I was able to succeed on the GMAT and most of
what Arun said during class came back to me during the exam
to help pick the right choice many times.
Thank you Arun.
hprashi:
GMAT Score from 660 (Q50, V28) to 700 (Q51, V33)
http://www.beatthegmat.com/v28-v33-in-2-monthst72350.html
Hi,
Wanted to write this post for quite sometime now. A little background
about myself - An engineer from India, 24 yrs, 1.5 Yrs work exp as a
Risk Analyst at a MNC bank.
I started my preparation in August. As I was not a natural in Verbal,
concentrated much of my time practising and reviewing verbal. I used
OG 12 and Manhattan Sentence correction. I hardly spent any time on
quant. I took the GMAT Practice tests and almost always scored between
700-730 with a quant score of 50-51 and verbal score fluctuating
between 33 - 38. I felt comfortable with that score range and decided to
take the GMAT (big mistake!!). I bombed. Scored 660 (Q50, V28!!!)
I was naturally shocked and devastated. Later, I sat back and thought
what went wrong and realised that even though I was scoring 33-38 in
verbal in practice tests, I was not very clear on why I chose the answer
option that I did. After practising and reviewing OG, I was able to feel
the difference in my approach, but was not consciously clear of how I
was solving the problems. I was going with my instinct instead of
following logic and rules most of the time.
I decided to take the GMAT again. This time, I decided to take some
professional help as I didn't know what to do to improve my verbal
Rohit Nandan:
GMAT Score 690 (Q47, V38)
Crack erbal
http://www.crackverbal.com/forum/threads/690-Q47-V38AWA-5-IR7/181
room.
Exam:
Formalities Done! Dont fret about the AWA or the IR and just go
through it and try to use the IR section as a buildup for the quants
section. Done with the section, I drank a little bit of water, half a
chocolate, used the restroom , used the eyedrops and did some mental
maths.
Quant section was alright. I didnt dwell too much on the intricacies , no
overthinking and was doing pretty well but my eyes starting hurting and
I found it really hard to concentrate. But, I finished the section with very
few regrets and I am alright with the score.
Break Repeated the earlier sequence
Verbal: I like Verbal! I went through the first 10 questions or so without
much difficulty and found Bold Face staring at me, soit was all good! It
went on alright for few more questions till my eye started acting upIt
was pretty difficult to concentrate and I felt that while I am trying to
plough it through, the questions are a little easier than question number
25-28 ought to be. I decided to take an unscheduled break for 2-3
minutes, used the drops, splashed water and re-started the exam. I
finished reasonably strong but I do think that I should have taken the
unscheduled break earlier.
Submitted the score and was praying for a 700..but alas, a 690. No
problem. Dear GMAT, you are only a part of the application process, you
are out of the way and now, I get to work!
My suggestions:
Take the exam when you are at your peak. I had to reschedule the exam
due to a schedule conflict with work and I am sure it slowed me down.
OG = Holy Grail
Rsriram84:
GMAT Score from 620 (Q49, V26) to 730 (Q50, V38)
http://www.pagalguy.com/forums/gmat-and-gre-prep/mytryst-with-gmat-730-v-t-42977/p-1615129#post1615129
As with most people taking up CAT, I also wondered about all the fuss
made wrt GMAT's toughness in general and the verbal section in
particular.. I thought I was a 700+ material and used to have an
impression that even if I were to be woken up in the middle of my sleep,
I would still manage a score in excess of 700.. Well, it did not take much
time for me to disown this belief..
In the first week of May, I took the GMAT Test Prep 1.
I fell flat on my face by scoring a 620(Q-49, V-26). I was shocked. It
brought me back to ground zero. After analysing the test, I found that I
was not able to complete the Verbal section and that I made many silly
mistakes in the Quant section.. I figured out that I had to work hard on
the verbal front while at the same time consolidate on the Quant front...
The idea was to touch a figure of 750/760 to offset the disadvantage of
being an IIM.. I booked the GMAT appointment.. 29th July, it was..
I went on a book buying spree in the first week of May.. OG-11, Kaplan
Premier, Kaplan 800, Kaplan Verbal workbook.. Downloaded soft copies
of 1000 SC/RC/CR, Spidey's notes, Rajat NDA's notes and what not..
That I used every single material of these would be a BIG BIG LIE...
Anyways, I started with OG-11 in the month of May.. Took my own
sweet time and completed it by the end of MAY.. Found that my accuracy
in Quant was 85%+ and in Verbal 70%+.. I decided to take up GMAT
Test Prep 1 again.. This time I scored a 690 ( Q-50, V-34)..
the test obviously had some repeat questions and I did'nt read too much
into the score.. After this, I completed the Kaplan Premier book.. I found
that my accuracy in Verbal still hung in the mid 70s..
A timely bonus at my workplace in the month of June made me
decide to extend my relationship with Arun.. I joined
CrackVerbal in the first week of June.. In the month that followed,
things became very hectic at my workplace.. I tried to solve questions
from the 1000 series whenever I got time in office.. I went to office on a
couple of weekends and took the complete printout of OG10.. In fact,
we got a mail from the management warning the employees not to use
the printers in a irresponsible manner.. Fortunately they did not (or did
they ?) track down the black sheep.. I tried to squeeze out time and
spent 2 hrs a day solving OG10..
I took up PowerPrep 1 in the middle of June and scored a 690
(V-34,Q-49)..
I found that many of the questions were from OG10/OG11.. And I was
frustrated that with just 40 days left, I was still not able to hit a 700.. I
spoke to Arun and vented out my frustration about my inability
to do so.. He asked me to just concentrate on the preparation
and not the score.. However, I was desperate to hit a 700.. Atleast
once .. to get my confidence going.. I continued solving OG10.. I spoke
to TFA (Pavan) in the last week of June.. I had heard about the
manhattan test series.. After he gave his personal opinion, I decided not
to take any more PowerPreps since it would not be a correct indicator
having many repeats from OG10/OG11.. Having gotten through IIMK, he
helped me out with his MGMAT account.. Till July 18th, I had taken up 4
MGMATs..
MGMAT1-690 (V-34,Q-49)
MGMAT2-710 (V-37,Q-49)
MGMAT3-750 (V-41,Q-51 ... This was a BIG confidence booster.. For the
first time, I felt I had it in me to score a 740+)
MGMAT4-710 (V-39,Q-48 )
I found the Manhattan series to be awesome.. Their Quant was tougher
than the actual GMAT and the verbal part was close to the actual test.. I
enjoyed every MGMAT test that I had taken up.. I used to analyse every
test properly and made sure that I did not make the same mistakes
again in the next test.. By mid July, I had completed OG10 and was
confident that I would hit around 710-720.. But it was still 30/40 less
than the score that I aimed for.. I read in many a threads that Kaplan
800 was the stimulant needed to take one from a 700ish score to a
750+.. I took up kaplan 800 and finished it in a week's time.. I revised
all the questions that I had marked in OG10/OG11 while solving those
questions the first time around.... I also brushed up the concepts which I
learnt from the MGMAT tests.. On the 25th of July, i took up the last
mock- GMAT Test Prep 2 with the aim of touching a 740/750 score .. At
the end of it, I was in for a BIG shock..
I had scored a 680(Q-49,V-33) ..
I was devastated.. I started doubting my capabilities.. That night, I
treated myself to
On the 27th, Abhishek (the_hate) took up the GMAT and scored a 750..
I was so happy for him.. He reassured me and asked me to keep my
cool and just relax.. After that, I decided not to think about my
probabale score.. Thought i d just give my best shot and accept
whatever score comes up.. Had given my cent % on the prep front..And
that is what mattered in the end..
'G' day experienceWhile booking the GMAT appointment, I had no other option but to
select the much dreaded afternoon slot..The time frame was one when
my conscious gave way to the subconscious.. I had taken up all the
mocks in the afternoon slot just to be in the correct mind frame.. I had
practised AWAs while taking up the MGMATs and I did not have much
problems on the day either.. I went on to the quant section, and after
solving the first 2-3 questions, I grew in confidence.. I solved the first 10
questions in 12-13 minutes and completed the entire section with 9
minutes to spare.. I had guessed only 1 question which figured
somewhere between q20-q30.. At the end of it,I was totally confident or
Tarun and Ashish- My offline study partners.. We had a solid study group
sort of a thing.. We used to share questions, strategies,etc and
motivated each other to increase our performance levels.. Can't thank
you enough guys..
TFA- Bhai, thanks a lot for your tips and the MGMAT thing.. Can't explain
how helpful it was in my preps..
Abhishek(the_hate)- Needless to say, if not for his encouragement, I
would have been brooding over my mock scores and would not have
reached even a 700.Thanks buddy..
CrackVerbal- The faculty, the content, the discussions and the
peer group that I got there was more than helpful..
Some general pointers that I d like to give1) My score in verbal is not high but of what I have practiced, I feel
there is no substitute for OG.. Completing OG10 and OG12 properly and
solving Kaplan 800 should ideally help a person in getting to a 40+ score
3) I strongly recommend the Manhattan test series. Although it costs
around 40$, you will have your every penny worth..The tough quant
section prepares you well for the main test..
4) Don't be hell bent on taking 10-12 mocks.. IMHO, space out your
mocks in such a way that you don't drain yourself out.. Even if you
decide to take 7-8 mocks, ensure that you learn from every mock and
see an improvement in every exam. At least I tried to do the same wrt
my preps..
5) Talk to people who have taken up the GMAT recently..Read debriefs in
forums.. I have found them to be very helpful.. I spoke to 3-4 people
who had taken up the GMAT within the last one month. I tweaked my
prep plans at times based on their experience.
6) Don't take your mock scores to your heart.. Instead learn from every
mock.. In my case, I scored 50 more than what I did in the last mockGMAT TestPrep2
and
7) Take these pointers of mine with a pinch of salt.. There are gurus who
score a 750+ with minimal efforts.. with ease.... They d wonder whats
the big deal in a 730 score.. In my case, I had to work hard for this
score.. I just wanted to share the experience of an average guy who got
to a decent score..
Cheers!!
Sriram
10
Arindam Bhattacharyya:
GMAT Score from 580 (Q47, V23) to 710 (Q49, V36)
Crack erbal
http://www.crackverbal.com/forum/threads/GMAT-journeyfrom-Q47-V23-to-710-Q49-V36/172
Yesterday I took the GMAT for the second time and scored 710. This was
my second attempt and I happy that I increased my verbal score from
23 to 36.
I was always confident about my quant skills but I am little disappointed
that I could not score a 50 in quant.
Initially I scored a paltry 580 in my first attempt at GMAT with Q47 and
V 23. I was literally disappointed and wanted to increase my score to at
least 700. I searched on net and zeroed down to CrackVerbal.
Initially I was little skeptic but after reading the posts from
Arun Sir AKA Psychodementia, I joined CrackVerbal in June 1st
week 2012. During the course I learned how to recognise the
pattern in CR, approach RC using mapping techniques and
debunk SC.
Before joining CrackVerbal my approach for RC and CR was not
correct. For CR I used PS CR Bible, though the content of the
book is excellent but the approach is not correct reading the
stimulus first and then reading the question stem. CrackVerbal
helped me to rectify this and explained all the possible CR
patterns. It is very important to recognise the pattern in CR as
11
idream:
GMAT Score 700 (Q51, V34)
http://www.pagalguy.com/forums/gmat-and-gre-prep/got700-51-slash-34-slash-5-t-35094/p-1253114
I gave GMAT some time back and got a 700 with 51 in Q and 34 in V.
Key take aways from GMAT experience:
- In most of the cases, it is verbal that pulls the score down. I did
Manhattan + OG 10 & 11. In practice tests i even got a 45-46. But still in
the actual test i got 34. I think CR is quite manageable. It's SC & RC
which together do the damage. I think OG & Manhattan helped to a
certain level but then it's upto a person to grasp & apply in the real time.
- Quant had lot of tricky questions. It had some long and confusing word
problems. But the key to solve those kind of problems was to remain
fully concentrated and not miss anything in the problem statement.
Whenever i found that i had time on hand and was ahead of time, i used
to resolve the questions. I found 3 mistakes in resolving. And so much
so that the original incorrect answer i had found was there as one of the
options.
- I used a timing chart found on another website. Before starting the
section i would make the table on the sheets given to us - After 10th
question, x mins shud remain, after 20th, y mins and so on. I did this for
bothe Quant & Verbal. It helped a lot. I think this was one of the best
ways to track time.
- I delayed prep for AWA and really started 4-5 days before the actual
test. I think this got me 5.0 in AWA. I feel i shud have started earlier.
Shud have given myself a couple of weeks and improved upon to get a
6.0. Don't delay AWA till the last moment.
- One more reason why i got 5.0 in AWA. I was feeling good after
writing the first essay and hence started the second essay (Issue) on an
overconfident note. I didnt bother to stick to the strategy to brainstorm
for a couple of minutes and then start writing. I straight away took a
side and started writing. 5 minutes into the essay and it occurred to me
that the other side offered more persuasive examples. I switched side in
the middle of my essay. Though i completed everything in time but then
i got 5.0
Special thanx to Psychodementia for all his help, guidance and
support during and after my prep. Psychodementia , you rock!
For people not so confident in Verbal, i wud recommend this
link, "CrackVerbal", Home. Though I didnt attend the bootcamp as
such but i took guidance (not only verbal but all aspects of GMAT &
MBA) from the mentor himself and the ideas have really helped me in
tangible ways.
And thanx to all the forum members for sharing so much information
and knowledge on this forum.
Happy to help for any queries.
-idream
12
Aparna Kohli:
GMAT Score 720 (Q47, V23)
Crack erbal
http://www.crackverbal.com/forum/threads/GMAT-720/154
I am a doctor, so getting past the math and the reasoning may seem like
a night mare. But its really no big deal. Let me know if anyone needs
any helps. I really did start from the scratch.
:
English:
Do a lot of reading, particularly the Hindu editorial. 2 more suggestions:
The Economist ( get a subscription; 500 for 3 months. Its too expensive
to buy otherwise) and the Business Today. It'll give you some
perspective.
For sentence correction: Pradyot's class. Just listen. Its enough.
Books: OG 12 +Kaplan 800
If you're really bad at English: Sentence correction bible. Its useful
For CR: Manhattan strategy guide. I can email it to you if you want.
I downloaded it.
Maths:
Don't take it lightly. DS is particularly tough.
Do Geometry and Numbers properly. I had a slight advantage. I was
doing CAT coaching and the maths was ok for me.
2 more imp topics: Inequations, Modulus,
For DS: Modulus is superimp.
Also for DS, always consider a number can be a fraction
(positive/negative)
13
Vishal Chaudhury
http://www.pagalguy.com/forums/gmat-and-greprep/reviews-gmat-coaching-institutes-bangalore-t-79987/p3345539
Finally, the fact that Arun conducts ad-hoc workshops even for ppl who
are not crackverbal students speaks about his desire to help people out.
One can expect support for a long time even after finishing the course....
14
Sherin Kurian:
GMAT Score from 660(Q44, V37) to 660(Q47, V34)
to 710(Q48, V39)
Crack erbal
http://www.crackverbal.com/forum/threads/My-GMATjourney-660-to-660-to-710/80
internet to see forums where test takers have mentioned that one can
expect much higher score than the Kaplan score during the actual GMAT
which made me happy. Later, I picked few questions randomly from each
section in OG-12, some problems from the sea of materials I have
collected and solved them. Also I attempted GMAT Prep Tests 1 and 2
and ended up with 690 and 720 respectively. Once again I browsed to
find that the actual GMAT could be +/- 30 from the Prep Test scores. I
wanted to be optimistic that I never thought of the negative side.
Test Day AWA section went well. The Quant section started and I
knew I was going in a very slow pace. Finally at the end, I had to leave
5 questions unanswered. Verbal section went fine especially because I
got very simple RC passages from my comfort areas. I was prepared to
see a bad score at the end of the test since I could not complete Quant
section. But when I saw 660, I was quite happy.
I knew the score was not good enough to get into any of the top schools
with less than 3 yrs work experience. As I mentioned earlier, I was not
sure whether I wanted to do an MBA at that point. So, I just let it go.
What went wrong - Though I did not want to take the score seriously,
I tried to think about the areas I need to improve if I try to attempt
GMAT ever again and came up with these:
1. Quant Lack of Practice: Knowing the concepts and a lot of formulas
is not good enough. I had not done much math in almost 3 years. This
has resulted in slow calculations and more silly mistakes while doing the
Quant section.
2. Spend around 1-2 hours regularly for about 2 months before taking
the test which will help in better focus and improves speed.
3. Concentrate on few materials than randomly pick and try from every
other book available!
What went wrong : Though I started the prep early enough, I could
continue in the pace I had planned; the break for a month had a
negative effect. I did not have the right mindset for the exam.
After I had the results from all schools by early March, I decided to
attempt GMAT once again. Looking at the scores, I knew I could do
better. If I had similar cuts in Quant and Verbal in both the attempts, I
wouldnt have tried again. But the inconsistent scores in Quant and
Verbal made me optimistic. While browsing through the internet to
get motivated by stories where people improved their scores, I
found someones post in pagalguy mentioning about
CrackVerbal. I felt I needed help that will give me direction in
my preparation. My plan was to take the classes which will span
for around 2.5 months and take a week off and then write the
exam which will keep me focused.
CrackVerbal Experience
Sentence Correction
I started my classes on Mar 25 with Sentence Correction. The
approach was good which is completely focused on cracking the
question than learning grammar. The classes covered almost all
question type with detailed explanation.
I had solved many questions in OG earlier and few other sources prior
to coming for the classes, but whenever I get an answer correct, I never
went back and read the explanation. This approach has a major
drawback. If we get an answer correct by luck, we can almost be sure
that we get a similar question wrong the next time since we dont know
the real reason why one choice is correct. Also the approach of
elimination worked really well for me. It was easier to find mistakes in
the answer choices which can thus be eliminated than to find the correct
answer choice.
Critical Reasoning
I used to be reasonably good at CR in the tests I attempted so far. But
the approach I had was driven more by intuition than by reasoning. The
intuition method worked well for me for the questions that are below
700 level. The accuracy dropped drastically beyond this, especially on
strengthen/weaken questions. The classes actually helped me to think
wrt to the context of the question.
Reading Comprehension
RC was my enemy right from the start. If I get very easy passages, I
was able to get few questions correct, but as the difficulty increases I
used to get almost all wrong ! My approach was to scan through the
passage and re-read after getting the questions. I used to take notes,
but the notes did not give me the correct storyline behind the passage.
The mapping process taught during the classes helped a lot in improving
my accuracy in RC section. The advantage of mapping was that main
theme of the passage along with a clearly connected series of events
could be drawn easily. This was especially helpful when encountered
with tough passages.
Quantitative
I was initially thinking of not signing up for Quant classes. But I am
really happy that I took it up. The problems solved in the class are
generally of higher difficulty and the explanations given were really
good. The classes helped me a lot in solving Data Sufficiency problems
in a very systematic way. I used to supply random examples to prove or
disprove the statements which sometimes did not cover all possible
cases. I could see improvement in the accuracy for Data Sufficiency
problems when I practiced the approach before the test.
overall idea, but I did not do well in the other questions. There were 3
more RC passages which were really long. I could comprehend two of
these passages well with the mapping process. I dont have comments
on the last one since I am sure I did not get that correct! I had to hurry
towards the end due to the extra time spent on the last RC passage.
Anyways, finally it was time to see the score. I was extremely delighted
to see 700+ score with more than 80 percentile in both Quant and
Verbal.
What worked for me : I was able to prepare myself for GMAT
over a period of time since I joined the classes. Even if I was not
able to spend a lot of time during weekdays, I could get the tempo back
on weekends. By Gods grace, I had lighter load at work around the test
date, so could take a week off and write practice tests every day which
built the stamina I needed for taking the real GMAT; and finally the
score!
My heartfelt thanks to the entire CrackVerbal team for their
guidance and support :). Best wishes to all future aspirants.
Feel free to reach out to me with any questions.
15
Advyth Gururaj:
GMAT Score from 640 (Q49, V29) to 730 (Q50, V38)
Crack erbal
http://www.crackverbal.com/forum/threads/700plusDefinitely-achievable-730-Q50-V38-AWA-6/83
from the first few links that google prompted..I also Picked up some
more good books and spent an hour every night solving questions.. Early
November I gave a few practice tests.. Had my scores oscillating from
one extreme to the other.. 590 to 760 .. With the hope of being able to
replicate the best of my scores from the practice test , I went ahead and
took the GMAT What transpired was a disappointing 640I had a 49 in
Math..and a 29 in English It was not late before I realized i`d gone
into Battle with the wrong weaponry..
Went back home dejected..Thought I should give myself some more
time to study..I gave myself a 6 month study period, and booked
another date for April12..Picked up the same material to do the same
thing again..
Luckily I had a friend of mine, walk upto me and say, - So you had a
640 on GMAT the last timeI see you are dissatisfiedplanning to pull it
up to 650 this time??
And I said, What nonsense..I need a 700 atleast..
With a smirk he said, Not with your current way of studying,,you are
gonna get a 700.
He then uttered the same lines , I would get to hear much later
from Arun at CrackVerbal..
You dont need to study the definitions of a gerund, an Infinitive etc..You
dont need to go into that depth to do well in the GMAT. What you need
is a simple set of rules,strategies,tactics to beat the Test..You dont have
to become an English pundit to do better in VerbalYou should go check
out this place called Crack Verbal. They are supposedly this group of
Verbal experts and claim they can get most of their students to score
700plus more often than not.. See if they can help you
And help they did..Just 6 weeks of good informative verbal sessions saw
me take the GMAT in April this year more confidently.. I learnt Simple yet