770 (q50, v44)

[MilD]

I just finished my test, called my mom and dad, and drove back home (in the dark, in the heavy rain).

The test was much simpler than I expected. Kaplan is way too tough. And the Official Guide is not 600 level, unlike what some people say. The test was at/around the Official Guide level, not above it.

I started my test prep about 4 months ago, but I got really serious at the beginning of September, completed a diagnostic test from Arco, did all questions from 10th edition Official Guide, then picked up Kaplan, became very disappointed, did Princeton Review's tests, did one GMATPrep and one PowerPrep, registered for the GMAT because I loved my scores, bought Official Guide 11th edition because I ran out of fresh questions for practice, did 3 tests from Ultimate GMAT Prep CD, did second GMATPrep and second PowerPrep, revised questions where I had made mistakes in the Official Guide 10th and 11th edition, and went for the test.

My practice test scores were as follows -
Arco diagnostic - 670-690
Kaplan diagnostic - 680
Kaplan 1 - 560
Kaplan 2 - 580
Kaplan 3 - 540
Kaplan 4 - did not bother to take it, was too depressing already
Princeton Review online - 690
Princeton Review 1 - 710
Princeton Review 2 - 720
Princeton Review 3 - 720
GMATPrep 1 - 720
PowerPrep 1 - 760
Ultimate GMAT 1 - 690
Ultimate GMAT 2 - 710
Ultimate GMAT 3 - 750
GMATPrep 2 - 780
PowerPrep 2 - 760
Real Test - 770

I am very disappointed with my quant score - 50. I have been getting 51 in most of my practice test. What makes it worse is that 50 is way too low a score for the demographic category I belong to (yea, we all know how admissions work). I knew I made one mistake (I wasn't getting any of the answers from the options), in the second-to-last question, but I hoped it would be an experimental question. Apparently, I got more than that one question wrong. I got 2 probability questions, one very early in the test (I think it was the 7th question). Other than that, every question was at the Official Guide level.

Actually, my verbal score isn't too high - I've been getting around 44 in many of the practice tests towards the end of my preparation. I guess the practice tests were a bit harsh with me on the overall score. At the real exam, I got 2 back-to-back RC sections, for a total of about 9 questions. That really helped me on time, because I could complete the 9 questions within 9 minutes when I was about 10 minutes behind time. The fourth RC passage was massive, about 95 lines long, and the logic was convoluted with negations of negations of negations. The other verbal questions were at the same level of difficulty as the Official Guide.

I had not prepared for the AWA sections at all. While I am not a great writer (as you can tell from the tons of mistakes you can see in what I have typed so far), I have always been good at making up stories. Of course, being able to talk about any topic under the sun (the PBS nut that I am) helps. I guess my past experience with TWE about 7 years ago (when I got a 6) has made me overconfident. So basically, what I'm saying is that I did not have a template for the AWA. I just made it up on the go. Even during the practice tests, I only attempted the AWA sections in the last GMATPrep and PowerPrep tests.

Of all the books I used, I found that only the OGs were useful for the real test. I did not have the GRE Official Guide when I took that test 7 years ago and now I know what I missed (although I got a good score on the GRE too). All other testprep books are actually a waste of time. Don't buy the 11th edition Official Guide if you have the 10th (and vice-versa) and if you have not reached a stage where you can look at a question from the 10th edition and immediately point to the answer. Once you reach that stage, get the Official Guide that you do not have(depending on whether you have the 10th or the 11th edition). The discussions on the verbal section in this forum were also useful - it's always useful to get a different perspective.

Anyway, I am very happy to have got over this hurdle with a great overall score. It has not been easy to study while working more than full-time and running around to various doctors.

[chix475ntu]

Congratulations. Awesome score!
Best of luck for your apps.

[karmaholic]

Super Score!!! Excellent performance! Congratulations

[vivekmenon83]

GREAT SCORE .
CONGRATULATIONS & ALL THE BEST FOR APPL .

[bulls-eye]

Great Score.....All the best...

[Arielffm]

Congratulations! How did you manage to improve so dramatically your Reading Comprehension? According to the one of your previous topics your rate was about 60-70% only few moths ago. I'm wondering what did help you, Official Guide explanations or just lots of practice/concentration in general.. Thanks in advance for any advice.

[2005buster]

congratulations on thy spectacular performance.

[mydreamGMAT]

Great Score.........Good Luck for your apps

[MilD]

To answer Ariel's question about what helped me with RC -
Plain common-sense. I followed the simple rule - if the passage doesn't say so, it isn't so. This really helps in selecting the right answer.

The RC section of the GMAT (and GRE) is about comprehending what is given, and only what is given. This is different from reading your text books for knowledge.

The reason I was scoring lower on the RC earlier was because while reading the passage, I used to add my general knowledge to everything I was reading. After doing some RCs from the Official Guide, I realized my mistake. I just stopped doing that and my score in RC improved.

In short, if you know anything about the topic of the RC, just blank that portion of your brain until your test is done. Don't use your brain. Use only the text in the passage to answer questions.

[monil]

Great score MilD... ALL the best for your Appz !!! Good inspiration from you!!!!

-Monil C vbmenu_register("postmenu_237460", true);