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Attack · 2009 November 5th, 12:40 AM

Done with GMAT, 740(51q, 38v)
Had a score of 680(47,35) when i took the exam in August.
Quite ecstatic now!!
---------------
Prep- For the previous attempt.
Verbal-Official Guide 12-once
thousand SC- 1-200.
Manhattan SC(multiple times), critical reasoning bible.

Quant- OG-12
Duration 1 month. (average 1 hr a day)
Took gmatprep exams multiple times and manhattan free test.Scores ranged from 690-730. (verbal 34-36 (once 40 in a reexam of gmat prep), and quant 48-49)
Needless to say i was disappointed with a 680.
-------------
Decided sometime in the first week of october that i will hit it out again (lots of inspirational stories on this forum contributing to that

)

But unfortunately was completely sunk into work (even on weekends)and could not gather enough time and energy to prepare well for gmat. Nevertheless the prep started...with solving thousand SCs and quant qs on this forum while i got time at office :P

Prep- For this attempt-
Verbal- OG12 last hundred qs of each section twice over. analysing every q there.
Official Guide verbal Purple cover
Thousand SC- 201-450
Manhattan SC- once.

Purchased manhattan SC (new version) and manhattan critical reasoning. but dint find time to open them even once as i wanted to master OG first. Nevertheless used that for login to manhattan tests.

Quant - No prep other than solving qs on testmagic.

Exams- Did not take Gmat prep this time as i was pretty much done with OG and solving gmat prep would have given an unrealistic score.
---------
I had no exam date fixed but had planned to take it up on october end or nov first week..
And soon it was november and i was still doing the OG!
Day before yesterday I took Manhattan exam and scored 720 (50,38). Was quite happy with that quant score, and some of the verbal qs i got wrong did not conform to the 'rules' of Official Guide.Thought i could have scored more in the real test

That day was analysing the exam late into the night and before going to sleep I impulsively decided that i will take the exam before i go 'out of form' Checked
MBA.com and they had a 8 am slot in 30 hrs from then. Also had no conflict with any work at office during that time.
And bang! i booked the exam.
------
The day before the exam ie yesterday , felt that I need to revise at least once all that i have done for prep till then. Came back from work and by 6 pm started out with OG. Went through all the qs I had got wrong and the reasons for them. Also went through the maths formula list-writing down every formula. And it took a quite bit of time. Could sleep only by 1.30 am.
Set up an alarm for 6.30 am as i had 8 am slot. but damn! probably there was anxeity at the subconcious level and i was awake by 6. In the morning just to warm up. wrote tables

,cubes, roots, recirocals of 1-20 from memory, Also went through the Idiom list.

-------------
Went with the confidence that I will smash verbal (and score at least 42 )(had prepared well and was hitting 90% accuracy in OG problems).

And quant, that I will fight for every single question just as Nadal fights for every single point. (sorry i picked this line from one of the posts on this forum. )

Quant -concentrated hard for every single question --did smoothly. Made myself doubly sure that i dont miss out on DS .There were a 2-4 tough qs but I think I got them by back substitution/ mannual count, which took some time . (Reminded myself of nadal rule and did not give up on any q.)

Was doing with good pace and could mark the answers confidently.Eventually finished the section with 12 mins to spare!
Felt good and confident that I have done it well.

Verbal-Tried to concentrate but it got more and more screwy as I progressed and by the time I reached 12th q. my brain was tired.(think i was getting most of the answers right!!) Slowly treaded trying the nadal rule making sure i dont leave out any q for chance.( spending as much as 2-3 mins trying to eliminite one of the 2 narrowed down choices for a few qs) Also had to Read and reread some arguments/questions (which clearly showed concentration lapse on my part). Got 2 convoluted super long RCs…
By the time it was 33q, brain had refused to work and eyes were closing down (probalby lack of good sleep the night before was showing). took a 30 second break and stared at the roof leaning back on the chair( just wanted to look away from screen). When I resumed,clicking on next, I got another monster reading comprehension with 4 paras on a *kd up philosophical topic. And I had only 9 mins to go ...
Now the interesting part--

a thought came that if I GUESS all these reading comprehension qs I will get easier qs after that and i will max it out there
Bang!! 4 qs in 10 sec. !!

But hell it was not to be…, and that put undue pressure on me..
got long CRs and also one boldfaced critical reasoning . Reread the critical reasoning writing down the cause-effect , assumption and parameters that may influence (I HAD to get the remaining ones correct)
Again unfortunately was left with 20 seconds for the last SC. Remembered the First rule of Manhattan SC-Brevity!! And selected the shortest sentence without reading :P

Glided through the screens. And the result was verbal 38 and quant 51!!
Overall 740 (97 %ile)

--

In the hindsight I think I was crusing well in verbal, at some 42-43 level by the time I reached that reading comprehension .
That reading comprehension was probably the barrier between a super high verbal score and a mediocre one. !
And that I did not take up the challenge!

The damage was done from my side but hell! quant had more than made up for that.

All's well that ends well!

My 2 cents.-

Verbal-Remember 'Official Guide is God'. Do every single question of OG. There is a definite 'take away' from Every single question of OG. what is given as explanations for answers form the fundametal godly rules on which gmat is based.
For example today i got an SC with 4 choices with 'not only ..but also' construction and one choice with 'Not only .. but just' construction which seemed correct. (i could remember from one of OG qs that this also is an accepted usage and u don’t have to be dogmatic about the former construction.)
Also had made some of my own rules from OG problems such as . In a seemingly run on sentence there IS another meaning more than meets the eye, which will render the choice invalid. :P

Quant- Its been said many times, but i reiterate, Gmat quant is of basic level and easy. and as u do well sometimes the topics get diversified such as Standard deviation, coordinate geometry etc are introduced but overall difficulty of qs dont increase too much, provided you are familiar with the topics.
Also know the number systems and properties associated with them at the back of your hand. Makesure u know this- how value of x (and its exponents/reciprocal) changes compared to another (changing) variable when it moves across the number line from -2 to +2. Many qs test thy understanding on this. Also look for how the variables are defined in the question stem. (Think on these lines --->are the variables specifically given as integers? is there no mention? in that case what all possible values can x take in the given range...)
Also diversify your knowledge base- learn to work on problems based on slopes of lines, geometrical theorems, and if possible be familiar with a bit of higher mathematics if u really want to max your score (today i got a DS q on parabola - lines intersection on XY plane)

Overall- Prepare well and prepare hard

and based on THAT go with a confidence to the exam that u will do well.
Take the exams under proper conditions sitting for 4 hrs in one go. and try to take them during the time of day when thy exam is scheduled. One reason i feel i got blanked out in verbal was that all the exams i took were starting late in the night. Probably my body was not attuned to the timing of the day.

Also try to remove the anxeity before the exam. Dont think about the possible glory/disappointment/uncertainity/ when u get the score. Be focussed on the problem types. I know its easier said than done!!
----

Finally I want to express my gratitude to all the people on this forum-- your stories have truly inspired me all through this journey. THANKS AGAIN!!!

Cheers,
Attack.

arindambanerji · 2009 November 5th, 01:02 AM

hey congrats..good score

gotit · 2009 November 5th, 05:14 AM

Congratulations!! That's an amazing score. And thank you for the detail debriefing!

abhishek_750 · 2009 November 5th, 06:41 AM

With couple of days to my GMAT, you are an inspiration!

A very well deserved 700+ score! Congratulation!!

xperience · 2009 November 5th, 06:51 AM

WOW.. fantastic score mate.. all the best for the admission forms..

Attack · 2009 November 11th, 02:20 PM

Just to update. Got 6 in AWA

santroz · 2009 November 11th, 07:21 PM

cool man..you rock.. congratulations..

parajulibharat · 2009 November 13th, 09:57 PM

Hey Attack, quick question for you.

My understanding of OG 12 (or 11 in the matter) was just a consolidation of Verbal - OG12 and Math - OG 12. I saw you used the consolidated one as well as the seperate Verbal-Official Guide 12 for verbal. Does Verbal-Official Guide 12 has additional concepts/questions that OG 12 does not cover? How important is having the Verbal-Official Guide 12 when you already have OG 12?

Thanks in advance.

Attack · 2009 November 19th, 07:44 PM

I got a few pms/ queries about prep for quant. Though i have mentioned about almost nil prep for quant, i did have a tryst with indian Bschool entrance exam CAT and over the years i had built up a good base of my Quant. That surely helped me here.
My apologies I dont have quick/easy way out for quant prep.

@bharat,
the Official guide Verbal and quant have additional questions.

Though OG12 covers almost all the concepts, u may go through the suppliments for additional practice/ increase in confidence. (for some reason just doing 100+ q in each section did not make me confident that i could crack Gmat.

, (especially when u know doing thousands of qs for CAT dosent gurantee u a good score.)

Infinite7 · 2009 November 20th, 08:45 AM

Great score Man, You brought it down is what you did! Congratulations!

Good luck with your applications!

2009 November 5th, 12:40 AM	#1 (permalink)
Attack Eager! Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Chicago Posts: 31	740 (51, 38v) Done with GMAT, 740(51q, 38v) Had a score of 680(47,35) when i took the exam in August. Quite ecstatic now!! --------------- Prep- For the previous attempt. Verbal-Official Guide 12-once thousand SC- 1-200. Manhattan SC(multiple times), critical reasoning bible. Quant- OG-12 Duration 1 month. (average 1 hr a day) Took gmatprep exams multiple times and manhattan free test.Scores ranged from 690-730. (verbal 34-36 (once 40 in a reexam of gmat prep), and quant 48-49) Needless to say i was disappointed with a 680. ------------- Decided sometime in the first week of october that i will hit it out again (lots of inspirational stories on this forum contributing to that ) But unfortunately was completely sunk into work (even on weekends)and could not gather enough time and energy to prepare well for gmat. Nevertheless the prep started...with solving thousand SCs and quant qs on this forum while i got time at office :P Prep- For this attempt- Verbal- OG12 last hundred qs of each section twice over. analysing every q there. Official Guide verbal Purple cover Thousand SC- 201-450 Manhattan SC- once. Purchased manhattan SC (new version) and manhattan critical reasoning. but dint find time to open them even once as i wanted to master OG first. Nevertheless used that for login to manhattan tests. Quant - No prep other than solving qs on testmagic. Exams- Did not take Gmat prep this time as i was pretty much done with OG and solving gmat prep would have given an unrealistic score. --------- I had no exam date fixed but had planned to take it up on october end or nov first week.. And soon it was november and i was still doing the OG! Day before yesterday I took Manhattan exam and scored 720 (50,38). Was quite happy with that quant score, and some of the verbal qs i got wrong did not conform to the 'rules' of Official Guide.Thought i could have scored more in the real test That day was analysing the exam late into the night and before going to sleep I impulsively decided that i will take the exam before i go 'out of form' Checked MBA.com and they had a 8 am slot in 30 hrs from then. Also had no conflict with any work at office during that time. And bang! i booked the exam. ------ The day before the exam ie yesterday , felt that I need to revise at least once all that i have done for prep till then. Came back from work and by 6 pm started out with OG. Went through all the qs I had got wrong and the reasons for them. Also went through the maths formula list-writing down every formula. And it took a quite bit of time. Could sleep only by 1.30 am. Set up an alarm for 6.30 am as i had 8 am slot. but damn! probably there was anxeity at the subconcious level and i was awake by 6. In the morning just to warm up. wrote tables ,cubes, roots, recirocals of 1-20 from memory, Also went through the Idiom list. ------------- Went with the confidence that I will smash verbal (and score at least 42 )(had prepared well and was hitting 90% accuracy in OG problems). And quant, that I will fight for every single question just as Nadal fights for every single point. (sorry i picked this line from one of the posts on this forum. ) Quant -concentrated hard for every single question --did smoothly. Made myself doubly sure that i dont miss out on DS .There were a 2-4 tough qs but I think I got them by back substitution/ mannual count, which took some time . (Reminded myself of nadal rule and did not give up on any q.) Was doing with good pace and could mark the answers confidently.Eventually finished the section with 12 mins to spare! Felt good and confident that I have done it well. Verbal-Tried to concentrate but it got more and more screwy as I progressed and by the time I reached 12th q. my brain was tired.(think i was getting most of the answers right!!) Slowly treaded trying the nadal rule making sure i dont leave out any q for chance.( spending as much as 2-3 mins trying to eliminite one of the 2 narrowed down choices for a few qs) Also had to Read and reread some arguments/questions (which clearly showed concentration lapse on my part). Got 2 convoluted super long RCs… By the time it was 33q, brain had refused to work and eyes were closing down (probalby lack of good sleep the night before was showing). took a 30 second break and stared at the roof leaning back on the chair( just wanted to look away from screen). When I resumed,clicking on next, I got another monster reading comprehension with 4 paras on a *kd up philosophical topic. And I had only 9 mins to go ... Now the interesting part-- a thought came that if I GUESS all these reading comprehension qs I will get easier qs after that and i will max it out there Bang!! 4 qs in 10 sec. !! But hell it was not to be…, and that put undue pressure on me.. got long CRs and also one boldfaced critical reasoning . Reread the critical reasoning writing down the cause-effect , assumption and parameters that may influence (I HAD to get the remaining ones correct) Again unfortunately was left with 20 seconds for the last SC. Remembered the First rule of Manhattan SC-Brevity!! And selected the shortest sentence without reading :P Glided through the screens. And the result was verbal 38 and quant 51!! Overall 740 (97 %ile) -- In the hindsight I think I was crusing well in verbal, at some 42-43 level by the time I reached that reading comprehension . That reading comprehension was probably the barrier between a super high verbal score and a mediocre one. ! And that I did not take up the challenge! The damage was done from my side but hell! quant had more than made up for that. All's well that ends well! My 2 cents.- Verbal-Remember 'Official Guide is God'. Do every single question of OG. There is a definite 'take away' from Every single question of OG. what is given as explanations for answers form the fundametal godly rules on which gmat is based. For example today i got an SC with 4 choices with 'not only ..but also' construction and one choice with 'Not only .. but just' construction which seemed correct. (i could remember from one of OG qs that this also is an accepted usage and u don’t have to be dogmatic about the former construction.) Also had made some of my own rules from OG problems such as . In a seemingly run on sentence there IS another meaning more than meets the eye, which will render the choice invalid. :P Quant- Its been said many times, but i reiterate, Gmat quant is of basic level and easy. and as u do well sometimes the topics get diversified such as Standard deviation, coordinate geometry etc are introduced but overall difficulty of qs dont increase too much, provided you are familiar with the topics. Also know the number systems and properties associated with them at the back of your hand. Makesure u know this- how value of x (and its exponents/reciprocal) changes compared to another (changing) variable when it moves across the number line from -2 to +2. Many qs test thy understanding on this. Also look for how the variables are defined in the question stem. (Think on these lines --->are the variables specifically given as integers? is there no mention? in that case what all possible values can x take in the given range...) Also diversify your knowledge base- learn to work on problems based on slopes of lines, geometrical theorems, and if possible be familiar with a bit of higher mathematics if u really want to max your score (today i got a DS q on parabola - lines intersection on XY plane) Overall- Prepare well and prepare hard and based on THAT go with a confidence to the exam that u will do well. Take the exams under proper conditions sitting for 4 hrs in one go. and try to take them during the time of day when thy exam is scheduled. One reason i feel i got blanked out in verbal was that all the exams i took were starting late in the night. Probably my body was not attuned to the timing of the day. Also try to remove the anxeity before the exam. Dont think about the possible glory/disappointment/uncertainity/ when u get the score. Be focussed on the problem types. I know its easier said than done!! ---- Finally I want to express my gratitude to all the people on this forum-- your stories have truly inspired me all through this journey. THANKS AGAIN!!! Cheers, Attack.

2009 November 11th, 07:21 PM	#7 (permalink)
santroz This is it !!! Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 364	cool man..you rock.. congratulations.. _ _ _ _ SIG _ _ _ _ The game is not over..until I win it..

2009 November 19th, 07:44 PM	#9 (permalink)
Attack Eager! Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Chicago Posts: 31	I got a few pms/ queries about prep for quant. Though i have mentioned about almost nil prep for quant, i did have a tryst with indian Bschool entrance exam CAT and over the years i had built up a good base of my Quant. That surely helped me here. My apologies I dont have quick/easy way out for quant prep. @bharat, the Official guide Verbal and quant have additional questions. Though OG12 covers almost all the concepts, u may go through the suppliments for additional practice/ increase in confidence. (for some reason just doing 100+ q in each section did not make me confident that i could crack Gmat., (especially when u know doing thousands of qs for CAT dosent gurantee u a good score.) Last edited by Attack : 2009 November 19th at 08:13 PM.

2009 November 20th, 08:45 AM	#10 (permalink)
Infinite7 I can DO this! Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 330	Great score Man, You brought it down is what you did! Congratulations! Good luck with your applications! _ _ _ _ SIG _ _ _ _ "Whether you think you can or think you can't, either way you are right." - Henry Ford

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2009 November 5th, 01:02 AM	#2 (permalink)
arindambanerji TestMagic Guru-in-Training Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 741	hey congrats..good score

2009 November 5th, 05:14 AM	#3 (permalink)
gotit Advancing my career Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Calgary, AB, Canada Posts: 135	Congratulations!! That's an amazing score. And thank you for the detail debriefing!

2009 November 5th, 06:41 AM	#4 (permalink)
abhishek_750 I JUST got here. Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: New Delhi Posts: 22	With couple of days to my GMAT, you are an inspiration! A very well deserved 700+ score! Congratulation!!

2009 November 5th, 06:51 AM	#5 (permalink)
xperience One last time...! Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chandigarh Posts: 453	WOW.. fantastic score mate.. all the best for the admission forms..

2009 November 11th, 02:20 PM	#6 (permalink)
Attack Eager! Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Chicago Posts: 31	Just to update. Got 6 in AWA

2009 November 13th, 09:57 PM	#8 (permalink)
parajulibharat Within my grasp! Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 138	Hey Attack, quick question for you. My understanding of OG 12 (or 11 in the matter) was just a consolidation of Verbal - OG12 and Math - OG 12. I saw you used the consolidated one as well as the seperate Verbal-Official Guide 12 for verbal. Does Verbal-Official Guide 12 has additional concepts/questions that OG 12 does not cover? How important is having the Verbal-Official Guide 12 when you already have OG 12? Thanks in advance.

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