720 (Q50, V37)

[TomTom]

First of all I would like to thank all of you for making this forum the best place for anybody preparing for the GMAT. For the past two month I was silent oberserver of this forum and especially interested in your debriefs on discussions about difficulty levels. Now it is time to contribute to this place.

The day before yesterday I took the GMAT and scored a 720 (Q 50, V38). As I am not a native English speaker I struggled most with reading comprehension and some tough critical reasoning, during my preparation as well as during the actual text.

I prepared for about 3 months for the exam while working full-time. Last week prior to thee test I took holidays in order to better focus on the preparation. During this time I worked at least once through the following books: OG 11 (an absolute must), Kaplan Premier 2008 Edition (the included CD with 4 CATs is a very good practice) and complete Manhattan Turbo Charge Your GMAT Edition (expensive and explanations for verbal questions not always persuasive). I worked at leat three times through the concepts necessary for PS and SC which helps a lot for testday as you will face questions that you haven‘t seen before.

In my oppinion the difficulty level of the test is similar to GMAT Prep. In contrast to some people giving the test during the past few weeks, I wouldn‘t evaluate it as difficult as Kaplan or Manhattan GMAT. The test has a lot to do with your confidence and your stress resistance. My advise to you: Don‘t panic! All of us will make mistakes, even stupid ones but once you confirm your answer, forget immediately about it and concentrate on the next question.

Don‘t take your mock results too serious. For me only GMAT Prep was a good indication of my actual result. I must admit that I scored during my last preparation week in a range of 180 points... Manhattan GMAT with 570 at the lower end three days prior to test day and 750 in GMAT Prep (though had some repeated questions) one day later.

Trust in your strengths and try to improve them as this will boost your score. Additionally, I enjoyed working on my strengths and so studying was sometimes even kind of fun...

If you have any questions, drop me a line. Will keep visiting the forum for the next few weeks.

Some info on my background: German, 1.5 years working ex. in consultancy, Bachelor‘s degree in business related field, targeting at Master Program in Finance at Oxford or LSE. Anyone an idea whether I might expect a call for an interview?

[Meggieski]

Oh my god that quant score is ridiculous!!! Congrats!!!!

[LoveMom]

Hi friend,

You said that Kaplan Premier 2008 Edition (the included CD with 4 CATs) is a very good practice. I would like to buy CATS not the book because I don't have enough time to read book. Do Kaplan sell the CATS account online? I you know, please send me the link so that I can buy online.

Thanks.

[Libran]

TomTom,
Firstly, congrats on the great result! Kudos to you for keeping your nerves, especially during your practice tests before the exam.

My question: what did you do to improve on Crit Reasoning and Reading Comprehension? Those two are my biggest weaknesses and I'm struggling to find a good strategy that will work for me....

Thanks much!

[TomTom]

LoveMom, as far as I know you need to buy one of Kaplan's books or book a course in order to get the CATs. But you may want to check with them directly. As most people in this forum I found that the Kaplan mocks are extrem difficult especially the verbal part because the text passages are much longer than at GMAT Prep or in my real test. Yet, you learn how to work under time pressure. Kaplan offers a free test which is a linear test rather than a CAT. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to post links, just visit the Kaplan webpage and watch out for the free test.

On the CD that is included in the book you also have about 4 sets per section which are good practice as well. So even without reading the book it is a good value for money.

Libran, to be honest most of my errors were probably in the reading comprehension and critical reasoning part. Not sure whether I am the right person to ask for advice on these topics. At the beginning I really foccussed on achieving a high accuracy in SC and improve the time per SC question. Kaplan recommends to spend less than one minute per question. That's what I started with. Having improved the timing, I could spend more time on reading and understanding stems and stimuli.

For critical reasoning I sticked to the Kaplan strategy. Read question first, then read stimuli and screened for any signal word that indicated the conclusion. Once I understood the line of reasoning, I read though the questions and tried to eliminate as many wrong questions as possible. I watched out for out of scope, answers for other questions and too strong answers. That's pretty much all I did, so not a perfect strategy. Just keep practicing and analyse all answers afterwards the correct and wrong ones.

The "strategy" for reading comprehension was mainly the same. The reading passages I got in the GMAT were much shorter than those in Kaplan or Mahattan. And as far as I know most people experienced the same.

I am happy to answer any further questions

[volcharm]

TomTom,

first and foremost, congrats on your score. your quant score is impressive. i want to ask you if you could describe your experience with the quant section with a little more detail, mainly in regards to:

1) proportion of PS vs DS questions
2) predominant concepts tested (any combinatorics/probability q's?)
3) time constraints encountered
4) any additional relevant info pertaining to your quant preparation

I would really appreciate it.
Thanks.

[munuchwa01]

Congrats dude !!

[rajuksj]

Great Quant Score.... Congrats
How were you faring in quants during practice.
Do you have any tips for us ? Thanks.

[TomTom]

Thanks for your gratulations.

Volcharm,

1) The proporation was similar to GMAT Prep. I didn’t count how many DS or PS questions were asked but I wasn’t surprised by too many DS
2) A lot of different concepts were tested. I remember that I was faced with about 5 geometry questions and a few variable based problems. Though I didn’t have a high number of combinatorics (1) and probability questions (2)
3) Once I realised that I should be able to solve a problem, I aimed to answer it correctly and didn’t mind whether it took 2 or 4 minutes. On the other hand I had several easy questions that I could ask in less than 30 secs. As a result I wasn’t encountered by any time constrains, I had 7 mins to answer the last 5 questions which was almost enough.
4) Go through the concepts again and again at least every two weeks, in particular through those you are not familiar with. Review the solution approach of your study books for the questions on which you spent a lot of time - no matter whether you answered them right or wrong. If you spent more than 3 mins on a problem there must be a shortcut. And most important PRACTICE! Do as many sets as possible and do not concentrate solely on difficult questions as you want to have a high time accuracy rate on easy questions and solve them time efficiently.

During my last few days prior to test date I was studying the PS part of Nova GMAT Prep Course Book. Every concept is well explained and is followed by a set of about 30 questions. In my opinion a really good book, probably those ones focussing only on quant are even better.

I just received my disappointing AWA score: 4.0 I spent only about one hour studying for that part, which wasn’t actually enough. I prepared a template and aimed to achieve a 5.0

Now I really consider taking the GMAT again. I will be applying to some competitive Master of Finance programs. Do you think it is necessary? I am really looking forward to receive some advice.

[gotit]

TomTom, thank you for your debriefing. I totally agree with you regarding the preparation strategies and test day strategies. I recognized them myself.

I understand how you feel about the AWA score. If I were you, I probably wouldn't want to do the exam all over again. AWA is just a reference score. Since it's not counted in the total score, it's unlikely that the universities will take it seriously. I would concentrate on the application and forget about the AWA. I would worry that I would get a lower score than 720 if I took it again because even if I was well prepared, I wouldn't know what mistakes I would make on the exam day and how I would feel on the day. But if you decide to take it again, I could probably help you a bit on the essays if you want. Best wishes!