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From 620 to 720(QA:47, VA: 42)


shoebite

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Actually I took the exam on the 30th, but posting now since I've practically had no internet access for quite sometime. Typing from the cafe,for I really can't stay away from this forum for long! :D

 

Okay, I'm a pretty new name around. Joined only 2 weeks back I guess. But the way this forum has benefitted me in my prep is just indescribable. I can't state enough the importance of the various threads, all those discussions et al.

 

I'm not qualified to post any tips and stuff here I believe, 'cause my how-I-prepared story is not only unbelievable, but also potentially harmful to the future test takers. It's better no one follow my example. :D

 

My only advice(which WON't harm anyone, I promise), is to take advatange of this forum to the max. Trust me, you can increase your score by even a 100 points(as I did), just by actively participating and following advices of the other gurus. They know their stuff, and offer great explnations and help you with your silliest doubts. If you have a major time crunch, as was in my case, just go through as many threads as you can. There are some very important and useful concepts that people have posted here, which helped me improve a 100-fold.

 

Okay, enough of gratitude then :P

 

Due to my inability to access internet from home, I'll be getting online only infrequently, but I'll still try and post my opinions wherever I think I should. Hehe.

 

So, many thanks again to TM and all the members, and my best wishes to all the future test takers.

 

P.s. Like a friend told me(when I was getting the pre-exam jitters)-"Don't worry gudiya, it's just English and Math!"

Profound indeed.

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Alright, I just realized that I do have a couple of tips to give. I was desperate for a good score, and so searched a couple of other forums as well, for that one thing other than good prep that would help me improve my score. I had scored a 620 only a month back, took a break of 1 week and started preparing again. But no amount of prep can work unless you remember these two things:

 

1) Unlike the popular belief, the first 8 questions don't make or break your chances. EACH question on the test is equally important, so please, please, do not waste your time on just the first few questions, thinking, getting them right will gurantee you a 700+.

 

2) A higher score in verbal IS gonna get you a higher score. Even if you get 51 in quant, but score poor in VA, it's not gonna make much difference, as would a higher score in VA and a decent score in QA.(the exact same thing happened in my case). QA was never my forte. When my quant was over, I found myself shivering in the break. I had a feeling I'd done real bad. But I remembered the guru-mantra-- a decent score(read42+) in VA can make immense difference to your score. I kept my nerves and did what I do best- take VA test :)

So just in case you have a weak QA, but decent VA, try cashing in on it. Or maybe if after your quant section you feel you're doomed, believe me, you aren't, if at all you can manage a good verbal score.

 

So well, that's about the only gyan I can give.

 

Adios!

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I am in the exact same boat that you were. I just scored a 620 (Q36, V38) on Monday, and I have scheduled my re-take for 11.11 - due to application deadlines. The only redeeming this I have going is a scored a 6 on the AWA. I am also not great in quant & faded really fast after the quant section - couldn't focus on verbal.

 

I understand you may be hesitant to share your study plan, but any advice you can offer would be great!

 

Also, did you or anyone you know use a tutor? I am thinking that may be the only way to redeem my score.

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Sounds good buddy! Not to mention, be sure to cash in on the score!!!

All the best.

Btw what were ur Gprep scores like and whats ur take on the verbal on the Gprep compared with the real ones? (especially SC & RC) and finally how many RCs?

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Big thanks to all you guys :)

 

@Hokie: Since you've already taken the test once, I presume you must be done with your OG(atleast). Follow it up, thoroughly. You don't have to solve everything again, just go through the last 100 questions in each section.

VA: If you're confident of your verbal skills(irrespective of your score last time), just don't waste your time on any books. Participate in the SC, CR threads here. You will find an unbelievable increase in your score next time I'm sure. And remember, no IMOs. Post your reasoning. Read what others think. If you spend enough time, you'll keep bumping into the kinda gyan that no book offers.

QA: Quant weak? Join the club. I'll tell you what I did. From the mocks I'd taken earlier and the main exam itself, I figured I was weak in inequalities and a few other topics. Brushed up the basics, went through OG's last 100 ques in both DS n PS. And then, spent a whole day collecting problems related to my weaker topics discussed in this forum. For each of those ques, I also searched the best expln available(as per me). So after a while, I had a collection of all those problems that discussed various topics, alongwith the reasoning and the tips on how to go about. It helped me immensely. I did it all in just 3 days. You have more than a month. You should be fine :)

 

Tutor? I'd say, to each his own. They can only help you so much..after that, it's only your hard work that matters. If you feel like you're totally clueless on something, and that studying on your own is not leading you anywhere, you may give it a thought. But honestly, since you've about one month left, better strategise things yourself and prepare.

 

@ Fiver: My GPREP scores have been such accurate indicators of my preparedness for the real test, that it was in fact, spooky!

Before my first exam, I took both the GPREPs, one before starting on any prep, and one, just before the D-day. GREP-1 was 650, and GPREP-2... 620!! And in the 2nd GPREP, I'd run outta time in quant, so screwed up VA.. and the exact same thing happened on the real test!!

 

Anyway, in the 3 weeks' time I had before the retest, I took only 3 tests, one Princeton prep, on which I did good(720), but I was not really sure about how accurate these other tests were.

Took GPREPS again(which were as good as new since I'd never analysed them nor did I remember the questions).

GPREP-1 a week before the real test- 680. Only reason for this low score was poor quant. GPREP-2, 3 days before the G-day.. 720. And that's exactly what I scored on the real thing. :)

 

Now, to answer your question, I found GRPEP verbal to be a very good indicator of the actual thing. As I already mentioned above, what I got on GPREPS both the times was what I got on the actual tests too. Verbal is very balanced on GPREP. It's neither too tough, nor too easy.

On the actual exam, I got 4 RCs, 2 of which were long, 1 was very short, and the last one was medium. Can't comment on the difficulty level, since the length aside, they were all the same to me.

SC's have been my forte always, so they never seem too tough to me. But I guess this time around I got easier SC's compared to the last time. There were a few long SC's where the whole sentence was underlined, so it took me a little more time than I usually need. But difficulty-wise, they were pretty much similar to the mocks.

CRs- my nemesis. Grr.. If you're good at it, then no problem, else solve the powerscore bible which others have suggested so often(although I didn't do anything extra..only TM threads!)

 

Um.. that's more or less like it. I'm not sure if anything I babbled above will help anyone, but if does, I'll be more than glad. :)

 

Shoebite.

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shoebite I t have been procrastinating in taking part in the forum discussions here and I think that its about time that I start doing that. I think that your statement regarding a 100 point increase because of participating in this forum has really pumped me to be more active here.

 

Thanks for some great advice. I plan to take the GMAT on 22nd November Insha Allah.

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This is great! Thanks again. :)

 

A few more (two-part) questions: o: )

 

- Did you feel like it was just a timing issue the first time you took the GMAT, or did you really need the content review?

- If you needed to review content - what was your study time/focus/program like? How many hours per week/day did you spend on which topics?

- You scored really well in quant in spite of calling it a weakness. How did you do that??

 

I really appreciate your insight!

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Hokie,

Lemme answer your questions one by one:

 

1) Did you feel like it was just a timing issue the first time you took the GMAT, or did you really need the content review?

 

--- it was both actually. See, it's kinda interrelated. I was weak in quant, hadnt brushed up the basics really before taking the tests. So it ended in my spending more than 2 mins per ques on quant, which left me with no time for the last 10 questions, which led to random answering,and hence, the terrible scores. Also, I was under an impression that spending more time on the first 10 questions would do me good..it did just the opposite.

 

2) If you needed to review content - what was your study time/focus/program like? How many hours per week/day did you spend on which topics?

 

-- I'd say you better not get affected by others' plans/strategies etc. It helps only in the beginning, but since everyone has different strenghts and weaknesses, what works for one person wouldn't necessarily work for another. And please, do NOT ask me how much time and days I spent preparing- my house was undergoing renovation, so I had only the night hours to prepare. I essentially improved my score by a 100 point in less than 2 weeks. So , er, you better not ask me :D

 

3) You scored really well in quant in spite of calling it a weakness. How did you do that??

--

Yes, this is a good question. It was pretty easy actually. After I bombed my fisrt GMAT, I spent atleast a couple of days on self analysis. I knew I was fine with word problems, but inequalities, mixtures, probabiltiy etc were my nemesis. So I went through the basics for these topics again, read(yes, read) the last 100 questions for PS n DS from OG, and then went on a major question hunt on this forum like I've mentioned before. Here, people post threads which have questions from such varied resources, that you really don;t have to look furthur.

Once I was sure I was okay with the basics, took 3 mocks- GPREP-1 and Princeton test.. which again led me realize what mistakes I was making in quant, and worked on those areas. After a gap of one week, I was done. Took the GPREP2 3 days before the G-day, and boom! 720 :D

 

Hope this helps. All the best to you!

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congrats....shoebite

did you gave any other kaplan or manhattan tests,if yes what were your scores?

 

Oh yeah, I'd taken the Kaplan tests before my first GMAT. Scored badly-

Kap-1 : 560

Kap-2 : 580

 

I'd read somewhere that Kap tests are very tough and so you can safely add a 100 points there, so I did just that, you know..to boost my morale and stuff :P

But jokes apart, these tests are very tough, and portray a very wrong picture(unless you decide to agree with the adding 100 points bit)

 

Before my 2nd GMAT, I took only GPREPS and a couple of Princeton tests. The former, as we all know are the best indictor of your performance. But Princetons were pretty accurate too(in my case atleast). Got a 690 and a 720 in them.

 

Other than these std tests, I used to try and find some random online tests and took some sectional also, just in order to build more stamina. I personally don't think too many mocks are needed, only that they are needed to be taken at the correct stages of prep.

 

HTH. All the best!

 

Shoebite

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hi shoebite

 

 

can u tell how much accuracy u were getting when u was doing the preparetion( in each i mean sc rc and cr.

 

 

 

 

)

Big thanks to all you guys :)

 

@Hokie: Since you've already taken the test once, I presume you must be done with your OG(atleast). Follow it up, thoroughly. You don't have to solve everything again, just go through the last 100 questions in each section.

VA: If you're confident of your verbal skills(irrespective of your score last time), just don't waste your time on any books. Participate in the SC, CR threads here. You will find an unbelievable increase in your score next time I'm sure. And remember, no IMOs. Post your reasoning. Read what others think. If you spend enough time, you'll keep bumping into the kinda gyan that no book offers.

QA: Quant weak? Join the club. I'll tell you what I did. From the mocks I'd taken earlier and the main exam itself, I figured I was weak in inequalities and a few other topics. Brushed up the basics, went through OG's last 100 ques in both DS n PS. And then, spent a whole day collecting problems related to my weaker topics discussed in this forum. For each of those ques, I also searched the best expln available(as per me). So after a while, I had a collection of all those problems that discussed various topics, alongwith the reasoning and the tips on how to go about. It helped me immensely. I did it all in just 3 days. You have more than a month. You should be fine :)

 

Tutor? I'd say, to each his own. They can only help you so much..after that, it's only your hard work that matters. If you feel like you're totally clueless on something, and that studying on your own is not leading you anywhere, you may give it a thought. But honestly, since you've about one month left, better strategise things yourself and prepare.

 

@ Fiver: My GPREP scores have been such accurate indicators of my preparedness for the real test, that it was in fact, spooky!

Before my first exam, I took both the GPREPs, one before starting on any prep, and one, just before the D-day. GREP-1 was 650, and GPREP-2... 620!! And in the 2nd GPREP, I'd run outta time in quant, so screwed up VA.. and the exact same thing happened on the real test!!

 

Anyway, in the 3 weeks' time I had before the retest, I took only 3 tests, one Princeton prep, on which I did good(720), but I was not really sure about how accurate these other tests were.

Took GPREPS again(which were as good as new since I'd never analysed them nor did I remember the questions).

GPREP-1 a week before the real test- 680. Only reason for this low score was poor quant. GPREP-2, 3 days before the G-day.. 720. And that's exactly what I scored on the real thing. :)

 

Now, to answer your question, I found GRPEP verbal to be a very good indicator of the actual thing. As I already mentioned above, what I got on GPREPS both the times was what I got on the actual tests too. Verbal is very balanced on GPREP. It's neither too tough, nor too easy.

On the actual exam, I got 4 RCs, 2 of which were long, 1 was very short, and the last one was medium. Can't comment on the difficulty level, since the length aside, they were all the same to me.

SC's have been my forte always, so they never seem too tough to me. But I guess this time around I got easier SC's compared to the last time. There were a few long SC's where the whole sentence was underlined, so it took me a little more time than I usually need. But difficulty-wise, they were pretty much similar to the mocks.

CRs- my nemesis. Grr.. If you're good at it, then no problem, else solve the powerscore bible which others have suggested so often(although I didn't do anything extra..only TM threads!)

 

Um.. that's more or less like it. I'm not sure if anything I babbled above will help anyone, but if does, I'll be more than glad. :)

 

Shoebite.

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@ wannabee- thanks! And well, time management is the essence of this test. Try and balance the section by devoting equal time per ques, i.e. arnd 2 mins per ques. There might be times when you get across a ques that seems challenging, and you know you can solve it correctly even if it takes time, but even then try for 2 mins max and then mark your best guess and move on.. don't get emotional about any ques.

Remember, there are also gonna be some ques on the exam that won't be scored. Who knows you're wasting your time on something that won't be marked! So to sum it up, give every single ques equal time. I rushed through my last 10 ques the first time and ended up with a Math score of less than 40.. managed time properly the 2nd time, got 47. That should say it all.

 

All the best!

 

@kool_sunny- I believe we've already discussed this over PM :)

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