580 to 680-This forum helped me build the much needed confidence

[nomika]

I took the GMAT yesterday for the second time. First attempt:June, 2004.I was crashed by my first score.I was prepared at the time as well but i did not approach the test (on the test day) the right way.Also i was not able to sleep and that affected my performance.

I took a break and then prepared for the GRE(took it in October) and GMAT at the same time.
I am interested in a Phd Program in Business and some schools require GRE other GMAT but i was not sure i was going to take the GMAT again.
I was not a very active member(in posting) but I did read many of the posts which helped me build the much needed confidence to take another shot at the GMAT.

I cant say Math was my favourite subject, on the contrary but i killed the "beast"
My preparation consisted in using: The Official Guide-definetly the bible.The Paper Tests,Kaplan. ( IMHO Arco and Peterson are very poor preparation books or cd's)
Recent scores:
PP1 760, PP2 790 (after Official Guide- even after 3 months of not seeing the Official Guide(since my first attempt) i remembered the answers.So not a good indicator.
Kaplan:600-650
Paper tests:660-680:very good indicator

Firts real GMAT:580 quant 42 verbal 28 -June
Toefl:300-July
GRE:quant 710 verbal 540 (studied 1000 words but still got some other 15)-October
second GMAT:680 quant 47 verbal 35-November

Test day:yesterday i was absolutely sure i messed up my quant section.The questions were really hard in the beginning -similar to Kaplan and got easier towards the second half but by that time my timing was really bad.Still i think it was the right decision to spend more time on the first questions.

I got more(a lot) DS than personal statement questions.No probability, no median, no SD, no coordinate geometry just tons of numbers property questions and one interesting combinatorics and a few geometry questions.

Verbal part: first of all thank you Spidy for posting your grammar notes!!.Those really helped.
I dont think i missed any SC questions but i messed up the bold CR and believe it or not i got the same horrible RC passage( even though GRE RC passages tend to be worse) i got in my first GMAT.
i knew it's going to throw my timing off the minute i saw it.So i had to fly through the last 11 questions which were 90% CR (i got none of those in the first part of the test) and the feeling was just horrible. I know i lost valuable points but taking into consideration the fact that i thought i did worse than my first time you can imagine how happy i was in the end when i saw the 680.

It is a very big accomplishment for me and i cant thank enough Erin for starting this forum.
I am not a native English Speaker and i did not know of anyone here in my area (Romania) who had recently taken the test.This forum helped me alleviate the feeling of unknown i faced in the beginning.

Man, it feels good not to have to see those tests anymore!
Thanks everybody for sharing your experiences and good luck!

Nomika

[r2kins]

congrats nomika!!
your success inspires me give to give my GRE again ...after a dismal 1200 the first time!
anyways, best of luck with applications!!
Kinshuk

[spiderman]

Congrats Nomika. Amazing improvement !! good luck with the apps.

[Lubainah]

Congrats Nomika! All the best with the applications

[gmatguy]

congrats .... thats a nice score

[Trups]

Hi Nomika

You said "first of all thank you Spidy for posting your grammar notes!!.Those really helped."

I'm about to appear for GMAT in mid Dec . Could you please forward that link to me or email the the same to me at trupsworld@gmail.com


Thanks

-Trups

[nomika]

Hi Trups!
You can find and download those notes if you go to the first thread in the Sentence Correction Forum.
Good luck!