730 (44Q, 46V) on 17/09/2009

[Anonymoose]

Originally Posted by shp003

Hello Friend,

Can you please tell me whats the best way to start off with the GMAT. Do I need to prepare and improve my vocabulary like for the GRE ( Barrons wordlists etc). And then start doing the practice exercises?.

I purchased the OG and it will arrive anytime soon.
Thanks!

Unlike the GRE, which has analogy and antonym sections which are directly based on your knowledge of obscure vocabulary, the GMAT has no sections for which you basically study for via rote memorization. With that said, however, my non-native friend with whom I studied had some difficulty understanding the reading comprehension sections; thus, while it is not outright necessary to study lists of vocab words, if you know you are somewhat lacking in that area (or more directly, if you have the same problem as my friend) it may be a good idea to brush up (and yeah, I think the GRE vocab is pretty similar to the GMAT vocab so their lists would be pretty useful).

To this end, it can be very useful to study prefix and suffix roots to know roughly what a word means, as well as what part of speech it is (noun, adjective, etc.) -- this latter part is about all you need to know for sentence corrections.

Just got my AWA score today! Updating my original post with the results. By the way, thanks to everyone who congratulated me!

Edit: Never mind, I can't edit my original post :P

I got a 6 on the AWA, so I guess I can speak about it with some confidence. Basically, keep in mind that you are being graded in part by a computer program; although we obviously don't know the exact rules it uses, it seems to like specific keywords, correct spelling and grammar, and length.

SPECIFIC KEYWORDS: The templates you see floating around, as well as the logic (critical reasoning) questions themselves, all contain a number of words in common; phrases like "this argument is not well-reasoned or cogent because it presupposes several unwarranted assumptions" are good. "The first error in reasoning this argument commits is..." "The second logical fallacy the author uses is..." "Not only... but also," etc. Again, the GMAT uses a special type of English, so use those idioms from SC; use that terminology from critical reasoning; etc etc etc.

CORRECT SPELLING AND GRAMMAR: Try to finish with about 7 minutes left so you can go back through your essay and proofread it. "Minor spelling/grammar mistakes will not count against you" presumably means you have a margin of error, and if you go above that margin it is not terribly unreasonable to assume the program will lower your score.

LENGTH: The one rule you can throw out from GMAT English is the one regarding wordy sentences. Studies have shown that longer essays score higher, and honestly, if I were to write a computer program that had to try to grade an essay, I'd probably make length one of the factors as well. To be honest, however, I didn't really have to write any fluff; for the Argument essay just giving examples of possible situations that the argument overlooks fills up a lot of space, and the examples for my Issue essay were even more detailed and involved, so in the end length wasn't really a problem.

To the specific sections:

ARGUMENT ESSAY: You basically should treat the given argument as a critical reasoning question and try to find the hidden assumptions that are necessary to make the argument valid (e.g. for the conclusion to be entailed by the premises). You can usually find 2-3. The first paragraph of your essay should explicitly state the given argument's conclusion, calling it the conclusion, and then state the premises, calling them the premises/evidence. You should then explicity write out the assumptions, one per body paragraph, and give examples of how they may not be true. For instance, if the assumption is that A caused B, you can say that the author overlooks the possibility that B caused A due to [make up some reason], and follow up with "because the author overlooks this possibility, her argument is vulnerable to attack on these grounds." If you find yourself stuck with only 2 assumptions, try to split one of them into two. Following with my "A causes B" assumption, split it into "the author overlooks that B may cause A" and "the author also overlooks that a third event may cause both A and B." Your conclusion can then list a bunch of possible strengtheners, i.e. possibilities that coincide with, rather than conflict with, the assumptions.

ISSUE ESSAY: Take a stand (pick a side) based on what you think you can find 3 clear supporting points for. In the intro, first give an overview of your 3 points; then admit a possible counter-argument; then explicitly state your stance, using a phrase along the lines of "however, upon close inspection of pertinent evidence and arguments, I believe that X." Use your 3 points to make 3 body paragraphs, giving concrete examples of each (these examples can be purely hypothetical if you can't think of any real ones). For the summary... just restate your intro in different words

All in all, I wrote 2 practice essays of each type before I took the real test. I think this helped me because I was surprised to find myself pressed for time. By making myself write practice essays within the strict 30 minute time limit beforehand, I was able to finish with about ten minutes left in each section on the real test day. I'd recommend practicing beforehand until you are comfortable with doing all of the above in just a little over 20 minutes (leaving enough time for proofreading).

[geniee]

Congo for your great score !

Were the questions similar to those in OG ? What did you do in the last 10 days ?

[munuchwa01]

Congrats dude !!

[Anonymoose]

Originally Posted by geniee

Congo for your great score !

Were the questions similar to those in OG? What did you do in the last 10 days ?

1. The questions were indeed of the same type as those in the OG. The OG contains questions that are better-worded and fairer than those from Kaplan or Princeton Review.

2. In the last ten days: during two of them I did my 2 official practice tests (new version) with the essay at the same time (in my case, 9:00 AM) I would have to do them during the official day.
The other days I did some questions from each section each day. To me, the GMAT -- with its strict time limit -- is something of an exercise, instead of just a test of pure understanding/memorization.
This means that I did a few questions each day, including the day before (which some recommend taking off). On the day before, as mentioned, I only slept about two hours, so I highly regret not taking nyquil/equivalent the day before.

[rajuksj]

Congratulations for your score. All the best for your admissions !!

I would like to know on how many months you prepared and what was u'r overall study plan(may be weekly or daily). and also the books you practiced in the order of u'r prep( Ex: Did you start off with Kaplan and then move to OG before the actual exams ???) and the tests you took at each stage.

Your posts were really very helpful. thanks.

[Anonymoose]

Originally Posted by rajuksj

Congratulations for your score. All the best for your admissions !!

I would like to know on how many months you prepared and what was u'r overall study plan(may be weekly or daily). and also the books you practiced in the order of u'r prep( Ex: Did you start off with Kaplan and then move to OG before the actual exams ???) and the tests you took at each stage.

Your posts were really very helpful. thanks.

Thanks,

-I studied hardcore for one month but did questions every now and then (right before I went to sleep, if eating a meal by myself, when I wasn't busy at work (lol)) for a couple months before that.
-I actually bought the Kaplan book first, but ended up realizing that I'd need to purchase the OG. The OG is pretty much necessary and has tons of questions. So yeah, the answer would be that if you're going to use the Kaplan questions at all, use them before the official questions so that before the test you are used to the real style.
-In terms of a study plan, I didn't really have one. I just kind of did questions from each section and zoned in on the ones that I found myself getting wrong more (in my case, sentence corrections and problem solving). The end-all be-all for questions is the OG, the Kaplan book was just for finding techniques.
-CATs:
1. The older official program ("GMAT Powerprep" I think?) Test 1: Q46, V44 (unsure about total score since I did the sections seperately), about 1 month before official day.
2. GMAT Powerprep Test 2: Q49, V46 (also unsure about total score). About 3 weeks before official day.
3. Newer official program ("GMATPrep"?) Test 1: Q48, V49, Total=760. About 12 days before official day.
4. GMATPrep Test 2: Q49, V48, Total=760. About 5 days before official day.
My first and third scores were somewhat artificially inflated due to me recognizing a significant proportion of the questions. The other ones were pretty legit.

[rajuksj]

Its surprising that you did not practice Kaplan Tests. Guess you had some talent already !!!!.
Thanks for your reply buddy ...

[ss1]

congrats,
im stuck at a verbal 37 and i cant seem to increase it, i write the exam in 14 days! can you help?
any suggestions at all?
also, why the low quant? do you think the quant on the exam was harder than the OG?

[Anonymoose]

Originally Posted by ss1

congrats,
im stuck at a verbal 37 and i cant seem to increase it, i write the exam in 14 days! can you help?
any suggestions at all?
also, why the low quant? do you think the quant on the exam was harder than the OG?

My suggestion would be to practice those sentence correction questions. The other two are much harder to improve.

I definitely felt that the math section was harder than on the official tests. As mentioned, I was scoring 48-49 in those. My advice for that would be practice data sufficiency questions, there are a lot more of those now.

[ss1]

thank you so much. do you think verbal in OG compares with the test level? and where did you practice verbal from?