http://www.urch.com/forums en Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:32:35 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.urch.com/forums/tm_images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.urch.com/forums http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/129074-gmat-740-m-50-v-40-a.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:38:35 GMT It's over with 740, making me go ga-ga. I always used to visit this section and always dreamt of typing in one day. Finally, the day has come...yipppieee :grad:

This was my thrid attempt. 2 years back I wrote GMAT for the first time. I took coaching which I later realized taught me just a tip of this iceberg. I prepared for 3 months then and scored 660. Pretty bad and demotivating for me. But soon I realised that i wasn't prepared enough. I wasn't able to study for an year and earlier this year I decided to prepare again, but unfortunately just 10 days before my exam date, typhoid hit me. I wasn't able to study for those 10 days and wrote paper in high fever. Ended up with 640. I was
broken but I decided to give my last shot. I again studied for 3.5 months and here I'm with 740 (M50, V40). I'm flying high right now, so so excited :)

Preperation for maths: Being a computer engineer, I was always been pretty comfortable with Maths. I didn't do much of preperation as well.
I studied:
1. Official Guide 10/11/12 (though i realise that OG alone is not at all suffice to score high in maths)
2. GMATPrep questions posted at manhattan forum
3. A collection of 175 questions from manhattan forum - awesome collection

Offlate, I've been hearing and reading that Maths level has gone tough and a few questions are reaching manhattan level, but frankly speaking I didn't find so. I would say it is gone a bit tough but it is still more or less gmatPrep level. Just be careful about DS traps as I saw a lot of DS questions back to back.

Preperation for Verbal: This was the real nightmare and thus I concentrated on this section like anything.

critical reasoning:
1. critical reasoning Bible - Understanding each and every concept is not enough. Try to implement it while making questions. This is the major difference in my prep this time.
2. Practice LSAT questions - They are tough, brutal but help amazingly to make you think critically. Atleast they helped me. I did around 500 LSAT questions.
3. Maintained log of each question in an excel file explaning what I was thinking while making this question and what i was suppose to think to make a question correct.
4. Official Guide 10/11/12 - Start with OG and end with OG. I completed OG questions except the last 40 questions, which are relatively tougher than earlier questions. Then I practised LSAT question regularly for 3 months every alternate day, and then towards the end I practised those 40 OG questions. Compare the accuracy against that of the earlier OG questions.
5. Forums (Manhattan and testmagic) - After saturating everything.
6. Keep tracking logs and the highlighted points in them.
My accuracy reached almost 90-95% in critical reasoning.

reading comprehension (My weakest area):
reading comprehension Bible - This is a nice book, but what matters in reading comprehension is practice, practice and practice
My accuracy reached almost 80% in reading comprehension.

SC (My strongest area):
1. Manhattan 3rd edition: Revise it as many times as you can. I revised it atleast 10 times and everytime i learned something new.
2. Official Guide: I practiced it 2-3 times. But what helped me more is to familiarize myself with correct and incorrect style used my GMAT. For this I just read all the OG questions several times. Just reading no practising.
3. Manhattan GmatPrep Forum: Must do. Here i would like take an opportunity to thanks Manhattan tutors (esp. Ron) for their crisp and clear explanations. My accuracy reached almost 95-100% in SC and i owe this to manhattan tutors.
4. Testmagic forum
5. Adhamjons SC notes
6. PSahil notes
7. Erin's notes
8. I prepared a log of all the questions which I found different or tough from various sources, and revised them many times. This really helped.

To sumup, I observed that two things are very important for critical reasoning and SC :2cents::
1. Rules
2. Pattern recognition (this is more important).

Tests:
Manhattan test 1: 670
Manhattan test 2: 680
Manhattan test 3: 710
Manhattan test 4: 770
GMAT prep 1: 770 (a few repeated questions)
GMAT prep 2: 760 (a few repeated questions)
Manhattan test 5: 770
Manhattan test 6: 740
By manhattan test 6, I was confident enought to slay the beast ;)

Last but not the least, I would like to thanks two important persons without whom I would not have achived this. My bro Divyang, who supported me at every moment and my friend Abhas Jha, who guided me at every moment and much more :)

I'm already running late with my applications. I've 5+ years of experience and have an average curricular activities in my profile.
Do you think I can make it to London Business School (my dream school)?

I'll be more than happy to reply any questions. Never loose hope. Keep fighting :tup: ]]> Just Finished My GMAT aras82 http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/129074-gmat-740-m-50-v-40-a.html http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/129064-750-q49-v42.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:34:52 GMT Hi all I sat the test today, and got nice 750 (Q49,V42). I was not posting on this forum, but I read extensively through the results/debrief posts in this section. This info helped me a lot, so I want to give this forum back. _Me_ I am Russian, 26, and this was my first GMAT attempt. I have... Hi all

I sat the test today, and got nice 750 (Q49,V42).

I was not posting on this forum, but I read extensively through the results/debrief posts in this section. This info helped me a lot, so I want to give this forum back.

Me
I am Russian, 26, and this was my first GMAT attempt. I have graduated from the local university, and have 5 years of working experience as an auditor/investment analyst. I have to admit that the single most important factor in my relatively high score is my prior education/background. I had strong math at my university, and my English is fine. However I still believe my 2 cents might be helpful here.

Quant
Most people on this forum said that Manhattan GMAT books are a winner, so I read only them. They are extremely good. I think what Manhattan GMAT author do is they take all available GMAT questions from GMAC (Official Guide + QR + VR + GMATPrep), analyse them, and prepare books that include all tested concepts broken down by 5 major topics (same with verbal). I.e. their starting point is the most relevant questions themselves. This makes studying these books very efficient, because you learn only what you need, and to the extent you need. Their ‘basics’ sections are too straightforward, but still useful if you have to remind yourself the material you have studied some 8-10 years ago. As for practising, I solved after the chapters problems from Manhattan GMAT, and OG/QR (not all of them, but 80-90%). Nothing else.

Verbal
I think that the only area you can make real progress on GMAT relatively quickly is SC. This is because here GMAT tests set of rules of written English, which you can learn easily and quickly. At the same time, reading comprehension and critical reasoning test your English and your logical capabilities. My view is that although these can be improved, it will take much more time, so my advice is to concentrate on SC. I did exactly this, and 70% of my time spent on verbal sections was devoted to SC.

Everybody says here Manhattan GMAT is the best in SC, and Powerscore critical reasoning Bible – in critical reasoning. So I read these two books, and found both of them really good. On reading comprehension, I read Manhattan GMAT, which is fine as well.

On verbal section, apart from these books and OG/VR, I read/solved nothing else.

The right strategy for SC is to grasp the rules, and then practice a lot. I prepared notes of Manhattan GMAT SC, and did most of OG problems.

With respect to reading comprehension/critical reasoning, without disregarding my previous comment, I still advise you to read at least book on critical reasoning, and preferably both, and of course do some practice. When unprepared to GMAT peculiarities, you read answer choice on critical reasoning problem, and feel something is wrong, but can’t determine what exactly is incorrect. Same thing with nother 2-3 choices. You get confused, and you make a mistake. critical reasoning Bible will show you where to watch for pitfalls. You will start spotting mistakes more quickly and will become more confident in your answers. Same applies to reading comprehension, to a lesser extent though. Finally, I was not practicing either reading comprehension or critical reasoning much.

General
- I think efficient approach is first to grasp theory, and than practice questions
- Do not practice OG prior to reading theory
- I recommend prepare notes on verbal books while you read them. This will structure concepts in your mind, and will help you to remember them
- GMATPrep rocks. Got yesterday 740 on GMATPrep test, and 750 on real test today. It is very good predictor of your real performance
- my observation is that quant is slightly harder on real GMAT than on GMATPrep, while verbal – slightly easier

If you have any questions, I will be more than happy to answer them.

Again many thanks to those posted here before, and good luck to all of you on your GMAT. ]]> Just Finished My GMAT Stos http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/129064-750-q49-v42.html http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/129051-730.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:19:52 GMT First time taking test. 49Q 41V. Surprised my V wasn't better.

Started prep by working through entire Princeton Review book (realize now that this isn't very popular). Then worked through most of the Official Guide 12 ed. During this time was taking practice CATs. Using three kinds of CATs: Princeton Review, Kaplan and Official GMAT Prep. Didn't crack open Kaplan book, just used it for CATs.

Was killing the V section and having trouble on PS and DS. I wasn't fast enough. I spent too much time practicing problems in an untimed environment. I think my preparation would have been much more effective had I started doing timed Q problems a few weeks earlier.

About nine days before the test I realized that my math was way too slow. Got an awful practice test score that was way below my median score at the time. That score was so low because I had run out of time on Q and had to guess for the last 8 or so questions.

Bought the Official Guide to Q review and practiced all week. I'd do about 30 questions in a sitting of 60 minutes. Worked through the entire book and felt much better. In last two days before exam, went over old CATs. Realized that I was able to do the problems quickly that I had missed earlier.

Princeton Review
650 - one month out
690 - 3.5 weeks out

Kaplan
700 - 3.5 weeks out
780 - 3 weeks out
710 - 3 weeks out
660 - 1.5 weeks out (here's when i realized my Q was too slow)
760 - 4 days out

Official GMAT Prep:
750 - 2 weeks out
760 - 6 days out

Actual GMAT
730

Test Day
Test center in NY didn't have a bathroom on the floor where the exam was given. Had to go to the 15th floor to use bathroom. Turned out to be less of a problem than I had anticipated, but I still didn't like it.

I hate those noteboards. Even more I hate the one-noteboard per test-taker at a time policy. My handwriting is pretty big, I used an entire side of a sheet on one Q question. Just give me two noteboards to begin so I don't have to wait for the exam proctor to bring me another one.

Verbal questions were hard. A number of the reading comprehension questions seemed to have more than one reasonable answer. I chose the best I could and moved on, but it was significantly harder than GMAT Prep practice or Kaplan practice, if you ask me.

Quant section wasn't as bad as I feared. You need to really know a few basic rules that GMAC loves. You know the ones I mean, they're all right there in the early section of the Official Guide.

Thanks
To all the really smart people here who post answers. I've been lurking this site for about a month.

Last Thoughts
Don't be like me. Be smart and separate your GMAT study from the rest of your apps. During the last week of the GMAT study I was going on campus visits because I didn't leave myself enough time. The two processes are really separate and you should keep them apart.

Do whatever you can to make yourself calm the day before the test. GMAC preys on nervous test takers who lock up because they're so worried about the exam. Study like crazy over the final week but use the last day just to do whatever you ordinarily like doing (except going out and getting drunk!) go for a run, cook a yummy meal, watch a movie, etc.

Study the questions in a timed environment early in your test taking process. Most people who finished high school can do these questions given enough time. For me it's much more critical to know how to get a "down and dirty" answer very fast than to know how to get the kind of answer your high school algebra teacher would be proud of.

Best of luck on applications. See you in class in fall 2010! ]]> Just Finished My GMAT phr_phr http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/129051-730.html http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/129002-dilemma-regarding-gmat-retake-help-me-out.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:21:50 GMT Hi All, I am an Indian IT Applicant .I am planning to apply to US and UK B Schools for fall 2011 intake. I have taken the GMAT 4 times with scores ranging from 640- 660. The Mean score for Indian applicants for my target colleges(30- 50 ranked US colleges) is around 700. So i am in a dilemma... Hi All,

I am an Indian IT Applicant .I am planning to apply to US and UK B Schools for fall 2011 intake. I have taken the GMAT 4 times with scores ranging from 640- 660. The Mean score for Indian applicants for my target colleges(30- 50 ranked US colleges) is around 700. So i am in a dilemma whether i should retake the GMAT and score 700+ to improve my candicacy especially considering the fact that my profile is pretty ordinary.But i am skeptic that the adcoms will view me unfavourably if i take the GMAT 5 times.So could you please let me know whether i should go for the GMAT for a 5th time.Have any of you known candidates who have made it to top B-schools after taking GMAT 5 times?

Regards
vd53 ]]> Just Finished My GMAT vd53 http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/129002-dilemma-regarding-gmat-retake-help-me-out.html http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128999-500-q-44-v17-shell-shocked-help-me.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:00:52 GMT Today is the day for me to remember.I used to score 30-35 in verbal in all my manhattan tests.it was quant which used to be in late 30's.I dunno where to go from here:rolleyes:....bovine mastication not sleep yesturday..hardly 4hrs...i dunno may b tht's the reason..but am not done yet..planning to take up in jan..please let me know if i would be too late to join for Aug batch?also even though i scored 590-660 in manhattan ...din cross 590 in even one gprep..por favor, El Señor help me guys..i knw i can get thr..just let me knw if jan mid most humbly and respectfully would get me to score bet 600-650..thts all i need..have a decent profile.. ]]> Just Finished My GMAT rajeshrc http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128999-500-q-44-v17-shell-shocked-help-me.html http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128963-640-need-advices.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:03:56 GMT hey all,

i've been now a somewhat long time lurker and needed you guys advices on my current situation.

I just passed my gmat today and got a mere 640 (q43, v35), far from what i was expecting (i was consistently scoring 720+ on every test i did (2 powerprep, 4 (old/new) gmat prep, 3 Manhattan GMAT, ...). 640 was what i got when i started studying back in sept.. Anyway, as you can imagine, i'm rather shocked.

Anyway, I'll be applying for a phd for next sept, most of the applications are due for early january.

Now, I need your advices: is it worth it? Do you guys think I have any chances of getting in somewhere?

I was looking at columbia, nyu, wharton because of some professors there that really got my interest but now my options, if any, are much more limited.

I'd appreciate any input! thanks..

p.s. i've already checked to pass the gre but the earliest date is in january in my area and that won't make the application deadlines. ]]> Just Finished My GMAT alias2 http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128963-640-need-advices.html http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128917-done-gmat-720-q48-v41.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:17:29 GMT Hi all, I took the GMAT today and scored 720. This is my second attempt. My first attempt was exactly six months back and I had scored 610.( Q33, V38). From my first attempt I realised that I had to improve a lot in Quants and my verbal was ok. So I focussed mainly on quants during my second... Hi all,

I took the GMAT today and scored 720. This is my second attempt. My first attempt was exactly six months back and I had scored 610.( Q33, V38).
From my first attempt I realised that I had to improve a lot in Quants and my verbal was ok. So I focussed mainly on quants during my second stint and as the scores say, I have improved. I know a lot of people score a lot better, but I aint greedy. In case I dont get into schools of my choice I would rather focus on improving my profile than my gmat score.

In short I am done with gmat :)

For anyone who is scoring low in quants I would suggest strengthening their basics first. I went through the site Onlinemathlearning.com and found it really good for basics.

Quick pointers to some material I used:

For first attempt: OG11, Kaplan, Manhattan sentence correction.

For second attempt: In addition to the above material: Kaplan800, manhattan test series, 800 score test series also referred to some manhattan maths material and most importantly questions from "Testmagic" :).

My tests in the practise tests including gmatprep ranged from 680 to 720.

It was only during my second attempt did I use this website and found it really helpful. Thanks to all the active users of test magic :) ]]> Just Finished My GMAT CyberSpy http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128917-done-gmat-720-q48-v41.html http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128837-tips-130-point-increase.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:39:11 GMT I'll soon be finishing my MBA from a Canadian University and plan to do a PhD in marketing. However, I need a 700 on the GMAT and my first attempt was only a 570. (43Q, 26V)

Is a 130 point increase even feasible?

First of all, I didn't take the GMAT too seriously before, since my undergrad GPA meant I only needed between 550 and 600 on the GMAT to get into the MBA program.

Now I need to get at least a 700 but my target range is 680 - 720.

I just got pounded on the verbal because I ran out of time and had to guess on a substantial portion of the questions.

1) If I download GMATPrep, uninstall it and download it again, will it give me different tests each time? If so, how many times can I do this?

2) Where are other practice exams located?

3) How can I get my verbal score up substantially?

Tips, strategies in general?

Please, any help would be appreciated. ]]> Just Finished My GMAT PhD Marketing http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128837-tips-130-point-increase.html http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128827-thanks-all-scored-710-a.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:22:17 GMT Hello All, Scored 710 today. Though happy about the score, some things were totally disappointing. *Background:* Non-native speaker. Has been in US for the last 10 years. Education: BS: Civil Engineering MS: Environmental Engineer Currently working as an Environmental Consultant First... Hello All, Scored 710 today. Though happy about the score, some things were totally disappointing.

Background:

Non-native speaker. Has been in US for the last 10 years.
Education:
BS: Civil Engineering
MS: Environmental Engineer
Currently working as an Environmental Consultant
First attempt: 650 (Q49, V27)
Current attempt: 710 (Q46, V41).
Am I happy with the score - kind of, but I am very, very, very disappointed with my Quant score. Not even in my worst day have I scored anything below 46 for quant, and I was way overconfident about quant. I guess this caused me the few extra points. I wanted 50 on quant, and I am confident (yes, still) that I could do so. Details will be followed.
Last year, I applied to only one school and was rejected. Feedback provided by the school mentioned score as one reason. So I decided to give another shot.
From the previous GMAT, I thought my reason for low score on verbal was mainly SC. At that time, I found SC’s to be real hard or questions were really weird in the real exam. I remember spending time on SC’s and this caused me to get stressed on time, resulting in screw up of reading comprehension and critical reasoning. When I took last time, I thought my reading comprehension and critical reasoning skill wasn’t too bad, but I guess I was wrong. Though a non-native speaker, I consider myself to be good in English, since I have been an avid reader from school years. I have been reading WSJ, Fortune, National Geographic etc from long years back. But, as somebody mentioned GMAT grammar needs a different skill, though I now believe it’s not that hard to develop (will discuss this later).
I will discuss how I targeted each section, and I am hopeful that this may help someone later on.

Materials Used


Mainly:
OG 11, 12
Verbal Supplement �" New and Old
Quant supplement old one
critical reasoning Bible
Grammar books I have mentioned
Kaplan LSAT books
Jeff Sackmann’s some of the question banks.

Sentence Correction

As I mentioned previously, during my first attempt, I found SC to be hard because I really could not apply the spilt/resplit during the exam. I found some questions to be way too confusing to understand and get some flow out of it, though I have worked heavily on SC. I realized that I am not able to differentiate between verb-past participle-present participle. I believe this is a very common issue as I can see this from different forum questions people post. I did not like this and wanted to master the sentence formation. So I spent some time understanding the differences between various sentence components and figuring out how they are glued together to form lengthy sentences.
From my local library, I picked up a book called “Handbook for Writers” �" Published by Simon and Schuster and written by Lynn Quitman Troyka. I really liked this book and liked the way exercises were provided in this book. If you are deciding on this one, try to get the Teachers Edition as it contains the solutions to the exercises. Word of caution: there is nothing magical in this book that will help you score big on verbal, but will surely help you get a good understanding of sentence formations. I also used another grammar book called “A grammar book for you and me” by Edward Good. This is also a good one to work on to get a good grip on sentence structures. You might be able to know what is an adjective etc, but these books can firm up your fundamentals, at least these books did it for me. I thoroughly went through all the OG SCs.

As previous posters have mentioned, OGs have some gems hidden in it. I noticed that even after going through these several times, I still could find something new each time I review these books. Then, I collected many GMATPrep questions floating around various forums, including Manhattan GMAT forum. One thing I liked about Manhattan GMAT forums was the explanations provided by Ron, Stacey and other instructors were phenomenal. Ron Purewal is amazing. His explanations are excellent and sometimes so funny that you will never forget those examples. I went through these questions several times and copied all the questions that I thought were out of ordinary or the concepts were tricky. Also, for the ones that I repeatedly made mistakes, I wrote my own questions testing that concept to thoroughly understand the tricks and traps.
I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH: Reviewing and dissecting the question is the most important thing you need to do to get the fundamentals right. After all, there is only so much concepts that GMAC can test, but can do so in a billion ways. That is why it is so important to understand the fundamentals than the question itself. This is applicable to all GMAT topics, be it DS, PS, or critical reasoning.

During the final month of prep, I happened to pick Max Morenbergs “Doing Grammar” from the library. I finished studying that in 2 days or so, though I will advise more time if you happened to go over it. I believe this is a good book to go over after you have understood basic grammar fundamentals. The book is not easy read, but I found it interesting. I was parsing a few GMAT questions after going over this book so that I could delineate needed words/phrases from modifiers, and an absolute phrase (very tricky ones). When I say modifiers, I meant prepositional phrases, adjectives/adverbs, restrictive and non-restrictive participial phrases/clauses etc. Basically, when reading through SC questions, you should be able to do this distinction and trim the sentence down to S-V-O form. Some of the long sentences need practice, but it is very doable and extremely helpful. I also picked up some good books from library that had GMAT like writing.

During the final few weeks, I went over most of the GMATprep SC without looking at the options at all. I was trying to identify errors and correcting them in a GMAT way. I could parse I noticed that I was able to replicate what GMAT wanted in SCs without looking at the options. Bottom line: I was able to think almost like the question makers in correcting the SCs, though I still had hiccups at times. I would suggest go over the collections floating around and go over it many, many times, each time do with a fine-tooth comb. Write your own funny sentences. You will notice that there are some definite patters that GMAC keeps on testing. But, GMAC does it in such a way that you can easily miss even the simple ones unless you are thoroughly looking for it. Solution for this => Practice, practice, practice. I used to miss more X than Y idiom several times in some questions, though this probably was the simplest one to remember. As it has been said time and time again, SC is one section in which you can make drastic improvements with proper studying.

Critical reasoning

You may want to start getting the fundamentals right with the critical reasoning Bible, though don’t die on it. One through read and then a quick review should be enough. But the most important thing is to apply those rules to questions. Initially, I was picking choices which I thought felt right. Though, nothing is wrong with this approach, I think a solid concept approach is necessary on some questions. critical reasoning also, you need to dissect the question to death. When you do so, you will find several patterns repeated in most of the questions.
• Look for cause-effect pattern. Lot of strengthen/weaken/assumptions questions follow this pattern, and If X then Y sort of rules applies here (details in critical reasoning bible, so I am not going over it).
• Look for percentage trap problems. Eg: This year X was 10% higher than Y, does not mean X was higher than Y in definite numbers. Yes, very basic concept, but in exam you could end up making a mistake because the question is phrased in such a way. Also, I remember some questions in prep in which percentage are given to mislead you think in this percentage trap concept, when it is testing for something else. So keep a look out for those. I wish I could dig up a question in this pattern.
• Indirect effect question types. Eg: X caused Y to become extinct. How do you weaken or strengthen? Correct answer will be Z caused something that affected Y and as such indirectly affected X. Some questions I could think of are:
1. Tiger sharks …
2. Partridge population..
3. Sea otters..
• Price questions. In these type keep in mind that supply and demand affects the change. May be only one is changing while other is constant or may be both. One question I could think of is “Cotton Infestation” question from the GMATPrep. I remember picking a choice that was concerned with demand, when nothing about demand is stated. But the right answer was about supply => “ A new pesticide is effective in killing the pests”, which in effect means supply will not go down.
• Alternate Option. In these, question will be asking how to weaken or strengthen an argument, and the wrong answer choice will be one that provides a different alternative.
For example: question says X causes Y, question asks to weaken or strengthen. There will be a choice that says Z also causes Y. Who cares may be A, B, C..etc will also cause Y, but we are looking at only X. So something related to X should be the correct answer choice.
Two questions I could think of are “Uranium supply” and “Pundra Weakening” in the prep.
There are many in various patterns and I don’t want to keep on typing all. And of course there are many questions that do not fall under any category and all that is needed is common sense and careful reading. So, ultimately the important thing is to read critically and find the logic behind the question/choice pattern. It might take some effort, but absolutely worth it. For critical reasoning also, I just made up some my own silly questions to ingrain the concept in to the brain.

Reading Comprehension

Probably this is one of the most important and difficult part we all struggle with, but I think by practice anybody can master it. Different people use different strategies for reading comprehension, and one size may not fit all. So pick which one works for you or combine several strategies. My strategy was to read the passage not so fast and not so slow, but in such a way that I understand all items in it. I noticed that when I skip one sentence that I could not understand and moved on, I ended up in trouble because sometimes the rest depends on the previous one. Also, NEVER answer an reading comprehension question without going back to the passage and making sure you got it right. Initially, I used to pick answers from memory. I have found that brain has the tendency to keep various words/sentences in mind, but may be from different parts of the passage mingled together. So the best way is to make sure by going back to the passage. Also, you need to read the passage within time frame. For me, I could read short passages in under 2 minutes or so, medium ones, 2-3 minutes, and long ones less than 4 minutes. Also, I notice that, on average, my time in answering the question was around 1 to 1 min and 15 seconds, unless the choice is way too complicated for which I might have taken 2 minutes. I think reading a lot will help, especially noticing the flow of the passage and remembering where to look for.
I did a lot of LSAT passages, though in my opinion the questions/choices in LSAT are not as complicated as GMAT or GRE. But LSAT passages are dense and big. I happened to borrow couple of LSAT books that Kaplan gives to its LSAT students. One is LSAT mastery and the other Pacing practice. In LSAT Mastery, questions are arranged based on difficulty level, and some of the critical reasoning questions (4 or 5 star one) are extremely hard. In pacing you will have 5 passages as one set and there are quite a few. I did some to get speed, that is, you do 5 passages in 35 minutes (apprx. 25 questions). So by practicing these, more than anything you may be able to achieve higher reading speed. Is it necessary to have LSAT book?. Absolutely not. Will it help?. Most probably yes. But if you can find enough GMAT passages, I would say stick with those and keep on practicing. Towards the end, my hit rate on reading comprehension was close to >95%.
Also, one important thing with reading comprehension is, like in critical reasoning, when you read choices ask the questions “Is this choice 100% true, is it absolutely true or is it may be true”. There could be just a single word that does not fit in, and that should be good enough to eliminate the choice. Anyway, use caution when you do so.

D-Day

I booked an early slot since I am an early person. I reached at the centre around 7.15 or so, and started the exam by 7.40. I started by writing the AWA template (thanks to Chinese Burned). I think that template is the best and to the point. Also, I wrote Quant timings that I wanted to achieve. I used Manhattan GMAT timing.
5th question > 66 minutes
10th> 56
15th > 46, and so on. I think it is a good idea to write this on all booklet pages or at least on alternative pages because I wrote only on first two pages and had to look back and forth when I was on later pages. This was annoying, and could make you more stressful.
Took a break after AWA: used the restroom, took couple of gulps from my energy drink (Acai energy booster, works good for me without having any crash). Started on Quant. First question was lengthy, but a simple one. Though the questions were not harder than previous, some are slightly different than usual patterns. Round question 25 or so, I noticed that I am somehow behind my timing, though I do not remember getting stuck with any questions. I started to increase the pace, but somehow my brain acted strange. I wasn’t able to think properly on questions I knew were easy. I ended up skipping ( blindly picking a choice) easy ones. At the same time, I was able to crack the ones that I thought were kind of hard and intuitive. But along the way, I knew I was not doing up to my mark, because last time I had really hard questions and it just got harder and harder each time. But I didn’t really see that this time. I got 4 or 5 Geometry questions. One was time consuming though a simple one. But I had to skip since time was running out. I also got 3 or 4 P&C and probability questions. I don’t think those were too hard, but one P&C question, I know I screwed it up. As somebody previously mentioned, some of the questions are slightly different, but not HARDER than before (at least I thought so). I think they are mostly GMATprep like.
For quant, you need to get the fundamentals straight. Try not to use much of easy derived formulae than the approach (for example for work done together 2xy/xy etc). It is better to know how this is derived so that when a twisted question comes you can get it from scratch. And an important thing about quant, you need to practice a lot, as Manhattan GMAT says as if peeling the onion, you need to peel the question to see what fundamental concept is tested. Try to come up with your own questions from the pattern. For example. If question says, X is 3, Y is 4, What is Z, which is X+Y. Do not just stop right there when solving this question. Think what if A is given, which is C+D, and X is A*Y, etc. What I meant is explore and see what all ways GMAC can ask the same question in various formats. Some of the questions I saw on real exam were not usual questions that we see, but could be expanded from the usual pattern. Speed is the key with quant. As I mentioned earlier, I am totally devastated with my quant score. I never scored less than 46 in any prep exam. One big mistake I did was I did not practice quant this time, until 10 days before the exam. And 2 days before the exam, I kind of had a lost feeling with quant because I could not revise the tricks and traps that I had it on my notes. But still I thought, I will get 48 or so because I am usually good in quant, though I was aiming for 50 this time than the previous 49. Boy, I was wrong => My bad judgment screwed me up. I know if I were to take the exam (but hell no), I can get 49 or 50 for sure. So the point is make sure you practice with good questions. I bought some Jeff Sackmann’s question banks, which I think are exact replica of GMATprep questions. If you want more questions of same pattern, go for it, but I would say stick with OG 12 and prep.
Anyways, I finished quant on time, but knew I didn’t do well. Took a break again, had my drink and was really pumped up for Verbal. Though, I know verbal is my nemesis, I was confident. I felt that even if I screw up on SC, I can kill critical reasoning and reading comprehension. So, I started by writing down the timings on scratch book let. For verbal also, I followed Manhattan GMAT timing. This time I wrote it on various pages of booklet. First 2 questions were SC and were easy. At the 12th questions, I looked at the time, and saw that I had 63 minutes left. Felt happy because I did 11 questions in appx. a minute or so, and was fully confident that I got all correct. As I moved on I felt that either I am screwing up or doing well. I thought the questions were simple, especially the SCs. I had 2 big passages, 4 or 5 long paragraphs, and one was on geology/geography. It was mind twisting. It went on like “The area is south of northwestern peninsula of easterly north winds and west of east-westerly latitudes, bound by northward dip and inclined 100 feet apart from the southern hemisphere (I made this up, but was kind of like this). I kept my cool and read the screwy sentences twice. I knew I had plenty of time and did not want to take a chance. Except for couple of CRs later on, I thought GMAC was making fun of me by giving these questions. I believe I might have got all SCs correct. At around 30th question, I had 32 minutes or so. I started to slow down to make sure, I get it all right. Finally, I finished the verbal with around 11 minutes remaining.
I started filling in the stupid survey (most were there from my previous) when my heart was pounding hard. Because of quant screw up, all I wanted a score above my previous 650. Finally when I clicked score, I saw a 7xx. Though was elated to see the 41 in verbal (92%), was shocked to see 46 in quant. But I am relieved that its over. Thanks for all you folks, though I utilized TM in a different waythan everybody else (mostly to check answers and of course read Just Finished my GMAT for motivation, though some time back I used to answer to posts and participate).

Important takeaways

• Do not go on collecting all the books you can. I did it the first time and ended up using only a few, thus wasting my time and energy.
• Extremely important, keep an error log and see the ones that you repeatedly make the mistake
• Study thoroughly and make sure you revise all your notes and the ones you got wrong. Understand the logic behind the question rather than the question itself. For quant see how you can do it in a easier way. It is important to train in any new method that you adopt so that during exam you do not need to think to do the questions, but the method is implemented automatically
• If you think you will figure a method to attack a question type during exam, you could be wrong. Exam is probably not the best place to figure it out because you are on a time crunch. It should be more automatic just as you’re driving a car without much thinking.
• For SC, read first to understand the meaning, since higher level questions are usually more about meaning than about strict grammar rules. On second read identify the errors. But you should be the one picking the strategy during the exam day, so you don’t need to follow this. Then practice, practice, practice.
• For critical reasoning, understand thoroughly the patterns, and read critically and carefully. Think as if you have been given a Analysis of Argument question, and find flaws or questions for each sentence you read.
• For reading comprehension, make sure a choice is 100% correct, no ifs and buts. Always go back to the passage to select an answer choice. Do not reply on your memory
• Make sure you give plenty of time to revise and do not try to cram more towards the end. You will not be able to go thoroughly over the mistakes if you do so and whatever you learned will be of no use.
• Be confident and stay calm (yes easy to say, but critical). For verbal, I was very calm and it worked for me.
• For DS questions, do not solve the questions. Sometime absentmindedly you may do so. Avoid this and save some previous time. Read what the question is asking for carefully. Write it down on your note pad. You can do this for PS also and that way you avoid misreading the question.
• As has been mentioned everywhere, go for quality and not quantity, though qualitative quantity work is good.
I would like to add a lot more, but nothing is coming to my mind now. Please feel free to ask any questions or PM me if needed. Thanks again TM.

Soomodh ]]> Just Finished My GMAT soomodh http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128827-thanks-all-scored-710-a.html http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128803-scored-660-good-enough.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:39:53 GMT Hello everyone I took my gmat today and scored a dismal 660. On my first attempt I had scored 590. here is my profile. Age will be 29 by the time i join native Hello everyone

I took my gmat today and scored a dismal 660. On my first attempt I had scored 590.

here is my profile.

Age
will be 29 by the time i join

native
Indian

professional background
almost 8 years of experience in IT and ITES. (3 years international experience - currently working)

currently working as a Manager and as a consultant to a big insurance company for their IT division. Though I am into IT but my roles are not technical. I am more into formulating IT business processes, process and organizational change management, organizational and service risk management, project management, business continuity planning, process improvement, compliance with global standards, compliance and security auditing, etc. I have had exposure at different supervisory levels in my previous organizations as well.

My Bachelors is not from a top university but I do have a Masters.
my scores aren't stellar but are amongst the top 10 in my class. But dont know how to prove it.
Bachelor of Science - 63%
Masters of Science - 69.5%

professional certifications
I do have quite a few professional certifications like Six Sigma Black Belt, Information Security auditor, etc. Also I do have lots of certificates from my employers. In my current company I have set up a completely new function, starting from hiring to training and managing people. Have been involved in big projects.

recommendations
I can arrange two strong recommendations one from my MD and another from my Client.

I speak 4 languages, including 1 foreign.

Do you think I hold a chance of getting though schools such as Cranfield, Oxford, Manchester, Rice University, etc.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I am also planning to take a third attempt and hope to cross the 700 mark this time, do you think a third attempt will reduce my chances?

Thanks
Neeraj ]]> Just Finished My GMAT Neeraj.Jha http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128803-scored-660-good-enough.html http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128800-gmat-strategies.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:17:38 GMT Hi,
I haven't yet booked a date for my GMAT test. I am planning to give the test in either Dec '09 or Jan '10 depending upon my confidence levels & my preparation.

I have Princeton Review, OG 12th Edition, OG Verbal & OG Math. What other books do i have to prepare? I need to start math from basics bcoz i forgot everything. What are the best books for Quant & Verbal?

Pls, suggest me good books, cd's & sites to follow? Is there a particular strategy to follow for GMAT preparation? If so, Pls let me know abt that also.

Thank You,

Astute.
]]> Just Finished My GMAT astute http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128800-gmat-strategies.html http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128726-gmat-need-help.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:34:33 GMT Hi,
I am planning to give my GMAT test in Dec. I haven't even started practicing. I am not at all good at math. I don't even know where to start. Can anyone please suggest me a good way & a lot of good materials to get an excellent score? I don't have much time also. Please, help me!
Thank You. ]]> Just Finished My GMAT tulasikishor http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128726-gmat-need-help.html http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128704-re-scheduling-canceling-test-please-help.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:29:45 GMT Hi All, Apologies , if I am putting this message in the wrong section, but I am doing so , since this is the section most often read and hence, I believe someone or other will reply me on this unique situation. I have my test on 18th nov, but due to some inconsistent GMATPrep result I am... Hi All,

Apologies , if I am putting this message in the wrong section, but I am doing so , since this is the section most often read and hence, I believe someone or other will reply me on this unique situation.

I have my test on 18th nov, but due to some inconsistent GMATPrep result I am completely shaken and not feeling too confident. So, following are what I am thinking and would appreciate your advice :

1.Since the test-date is within a week, if I cancel , I am not going to get any $$ from GMAC. So, why not take the test, and see if I get my desired score.
If I get a good score, go with it, else cancel it.
My Question is, if I cancel the score, will I be permitted to take the test within 1 month period ? does that rule apply only for tests where we report the score ?

2.I just now checked at mba(dot)com and found that I can still book a date after say , 1 week. So, in that case, is it possible that I book another date 1 week away, say 25th nov, and then take the test on 18th. If I get good score, cancel the 25th Nov else, take re-take the test on 25th.
here my question is : how would it be possible? would I not be breaking the rule of GMAC that no one can take the test within 1 month of taking the test ?

Has anybody faced this situation ? Your help would be much appreciated.

PS: WHy I am trying to defer by 1 week is that I have not been able to finish/re-visit some parts of OG and I firmly believe revisiting/doing OG will greatly enhance my chances of good score.

THanks,

Trips
]]> Just Finished My GMAT tripatsu http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128704-re-scheduling-canceling-test-please-help.html http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128606-730-q49-v41-gmat-12th-nov.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:52:43 GMT Hello everyone, i just came home from the test center with a 730 in the GMAT. It was my first attempt. Before the test I said, that I would be happy with 730 or more, so I am okay ;) I know I could score 750+ but I think 730 is fine and I am happy to put the GMAT books aside. Detailled debrief... Hello everyone,
i just came home from the test center with a 730 in the GMAT. It was my first attempt.

Before the test I said, that I would be happy with 730 or more, so I am okay ;) I know I could score 750+ but I think 730 is fine and I am happy to put the GMAT books aside.

Detailled debrief will follow. ]]> Just Finished My GMAT MattB http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128606-730-q49-v41-gmat-12th-nov.html http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128599-660-third-time-47-34-a.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:38:52 GMT Today I took the test. I got 660 (47, 34) my first time i got 600 (49 y 23) in october 2007 my second time i got (49, 27) in october 2006 I can say that Math has gotten tougher. I got 2 probabilites, 2 hard geometry problems and 2 very long problems (those you need to try with all the... Today I took the test. I got 660 (47, 34)
my first time i got 600 (49 y 23) in october 2007
my second time i got (49, 27) in october 2006
I can say that Math has gotten tougher. I got 2 probabilites, 2 hard geometry problems and 2 very long problems (those you need to try with all the alternatives)
Math starts very easy but in the 6th question became very tough. The exam has a lot of tricky questions in DS.
gmatprep 690 (47,33)
gmatprep 620 (42,34)
The actual exam was harder than the gmatprep.
gmatmanhattan betweeen 620-680

I am going to apply to Chicago Booth. I am from Peru. 6 years of experience in big companies. Undergrad in USAthanks toan athletic scholarship.
How do you guys see my options? ]]> Just Finished My GMAT pierovic18 http://www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/128599-660-third-time-47-34-a.html