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GSBChicago · 11-30-2005, 09:44 PM

Preparation

I started my preparation with this stupid book called “GMAT for Dummies” back in July. Getting a general idea of what GMAT is all about was my initial goal and this book appeared to be good for that purpose. Plus, I wasn’t ready to commit myself to serious studying yet; I just wanted to do some casual reading. However, it didn’t take long to realize that this book was for those who are targeting at mid 500’s. Since I was aiming at mid 700’s, it didn’t seem to be very helpful. I quit reading this book and began with some serious research to custom tailor the preparation process that would fit my goal.

So, after wasting almost a month, I resumed in August my preparation with a new book called Cracking the GMAT (Princeton Review). This book did a good job to help me build foundational knowledge, specially for Quantitative part. Verbal part was okay, but I wouldn’t recommand spending too much time on it. After 2 weeks of study, I took one of the four practice tests that came with the book. The result was 630.

Then, I bought the OG (11th edition), which is also called “Bible” among those studying GMAT. In my personal opinion (and I am sure that a lot of students will agree with me), this book, along with the 10th edition, is A MUST. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of reading the OG. Taking GMAT without OG is like attempting to use a very complicated machine without reading its manual. You may sucessfully figure out how to operate the machine after several attempts, but it will save your time and effort if you know exactly how the machine works and exactly what you are supposed to do. I attacked about 15-20 questions per day: PS on Mondays, RC on Tuesdays, DS on Wednesdays, CR on Thursdays and SC on Fridays. For the first 1/3 questions, I maintained the hit rate of 90%.

At this time, my SC and RC skills seemed inadequate compared to the others. So, I spent extra hours during the weekends on these parts. Meanwhile, I took another two Princeton Review practice tests and got 640 and 670. When I was half way through with the OG 11th with the overall hit rate of 90%+, I decided to give it a shot at the real thing. I registered for one in October. During the last week before the test, I took 6 sets of GMATPrep test. The score ranged from 640 to 740. So, my prediction was 690-710.

1st Attempt

The result was devastating! I got 650. Although my math performance(48) wasn’t even near to be stellar, I wouldn’t complain too much about it, given the fact that there were 3 questions that I had no idea how to even start with(I ended up wasting nearly 15 minutes on those and eventually had to guess and move on!). I learned that I needed more practice on combinition/permutation and probability. The verbal score, however, left me a very bitter taste, specially after I learned that I made a fatal mistake of guessing 4 RC questions (7 through11). After realizing I spent too much time on the first 6 questions, which I was pretty sure I nailed, I got a bit panicked and my brain didn’t seem to function well enough to digest a boring, boring passage. I managed to read the passage twice, wasting 5 minutes or so, but still couldn’t have a clear understanding. So I was like..hmmm…and guessed the four questions and moved on. And yes, after that, I started getting relatively easy questions. In fact, they were so easy that I was able to complete the section with almost 10 minutes to spare. My ignorance about the notorious “adaptive” nature of GMAT test gave me a false hope, as I thought that I nailed the verbal section, and…you can’t imagine how shocked I was to see the score. I almost screamed. I could feel that my face was turning red so I got the heck out of the test site and immediately registered for another test in Nov.

More Preparation

I did more serious research on how to improve my math score and, of course, learned that guessing first 10-15 questions is like committing a suicide. I bought Kaplan 2006 edition to practice on very hard and dirty math questions. This book and the CD that comes with it have lots of very difficult math questions. These questions definitely helped me build endurance. Soon enough, I was able to solve most of the Kaplan math questions within a 2-minute time frame. I also continued with the OG 11th. I timed every single question; I gave myself 2 minutes for a math question, 1.5 minutes for SC and CR each, and 10 minutes for each RC passage that normally has 7-8 questions, and also tried to maintain the hit rate of 95% and above. This practice made me kind of nervous in the beginning (my palms got all clammy) but I was able to overcome the time pressure. During November, I spent about 3-4 hours a day on weekdays and 15 hours on each weekend. Yes, I did some serious studying! Before the test, I completed the OG 11th and the 10th edition. I was able to spend extra extra time on SC section and worked all the math questions in Kaplan 2006 edition three times. I took another 10 sets of GMATPrep; with some repeating questions, I consistantly hit mid 700s. Also, I took the last Princeton Review test and got 740. So, this time I was pretty sure that I was ready!

2nd Attempt

I got to the exam site on time. After going through all the formalities, I started with AWA. I was given moderately difficult issues, so I had to come up with some stupid things to type up 5 solid paragraphs. However, typing essays helped me calm down a little bit.

During my first break, I chugged down a can of Red Bull to get ready to fly through the math qeustions. I could immediately feel my heart pumping hard. This thing(Red Bull) is scary stuff…but it works.

First 10 questions or so were okay(between OG level and GMATPrep level). They were followed by a few dirty questions(Kaplan level), then by some moderate ones. I knew I was doing well when I got some very difficult questions, but I was also worried when I saw unbelievably easy ones. I managed to complete all the questions with 7 seconds to spare.

During my second break, I ate a Kitkat candy bar and drank a bottle of coke. I could feel that the Red Bull I had earlier started wearing off, so I needed something to boost up my energe level. One bad thing about this exam site was that the restroom was located too far away; when I came back from the restroom, my break was already up.

The first SC question kind of got me. I could easily eliminate A, B and C but had to spent more than 5 minutes to decide between D and E. The correct answer was D. Grammatically, both were correct, but E kind of distorted the meaning. I couldn’t believe the very first question took me so much time! Second and third SC questions were relatively easy. But I made sure I got them correct. By that time, I already spent 10 minutes. Luckly, however, the first RC passage was not tricky at all. After the first RC, I got hard bin questions all the way through the end of the session. It was nerve wrecking to see all these long SC and CR questions, but at the same time, it made me feel good since I knew I was doing well. I had one boldfaced CR question, which was not that bad. The questions I got toward the end were specially time-consuming. When I got the 4th passage, I only had 7 minutes left. And this damn passage was so difficult to understand that I started wondering whether I was reading something in French or in Spanish. I had to guess the last two of these RC questions and move on. I was still reading 37th question, which was a CR question, when time was finally up.

After going through the stupid survey, I was asked whether I wanted to see the score. I closed my eyes and briefly recapped the performance. I felt good about it. In fact, I couldn’t recall any moments that I felt this good about my performance in any of my practice tests. So I clicked Proceed and…boy was I happy to see what I saw!! 750 (Q50 V41)!! Again, I could feel that my face was turning red. The proctor handed me a copy of unofficial score and asked me whether I feel happy. It was very difficult to pretend that it was not a big deal, but I was able to suppress my giddiness and told him that I was just glad that it was over. I don’t know why I did that….

kindergartenkid · 12-01-2005, 01:01 AM

congratulations and bestuluk for apps.

I still don't understand why me?
I got the same breakup as you with 740

Anyways

chix475ntu · 12-01-2005, 04:05 AM

Congratulations. Best of luck for your future.

CTG1983 · 12-01-2005, 06:19 AM

Hey boss. Had u completed all questions in verbal, u would have got 790!!

Bright · 12-01-2005, 08:25 AM

Congrats buddy!!!!!!

Rupinder · 12-01-2005, 09:31 AM

Wowwwwwww

Thats a cool score Dude, Now thats what I call motivation and knowing what you are worth

60sec · 12-05-2005, 12:39 PM

Congrats GSB

monil · 12-05-2005, 04:04 PM

Gr8 Score Boos buddy !!! Keep it up.. I hope to boost my scores woo with yourr exp.

-Monil C

kronique · 12-05-2005, 05:09 PM

great score bud....best of luck for the apps..........

gschmilinsky · 12-06-2005, 02:59 PM

Great score and very very encouraging story. I love the improvement! Thanks, for the study tips they were helpful.

11-30-2005, 09:44 PM	#1 (permalink)
GSBChicago Trying to make mom and pop proud Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 1	750 (q50, V41) Preparation I started my preparation with this stupid book called “GMAT for Dummies” back in July. Getting a general idea of what GMAT is all about was my initial goal and this book appeared to be good for that purpose. Plus, I wasn’t ready to commit myself to serious studying yet; I just wanted to do some casual reading. However, it didn’t take long to realize that this book was for those who are targeting at mid 500’s. Since I was aiming at mid 700’s, it didn’t seem to be very helpful. I quit reading this book and began with some serious research to custom tailor the preparation process that would fit my goal. So, after wasting almost a month, I resumed in August my preparation with a new book called Cracking the GMAT (Princeton Review). This book did a good job to help me build foundational knowledge, specially for Quantitative part. Verbal part was okay, but I wouldn’t recommand spending too much time on it. After 2 weeks of study, I took one of the four practice tests that came with the book. The result was 630. Then, I bought the OG (11th edition), which is also called “Bible” among those studying GMAT. In my personal opinion (and I am sure that a lot of students will agree with me), this book, along with the 10th edition, is A MUST. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of reading the OG. Taking GMAT without OG is like attempting to use a very complicated machine without reading its manual. You may sucessfully figure out how to operate the machine after several attempts, but it will save your time and effort if you know exactly how the machine works and exactly what you are supposed to do. I attacked about 15-20 questions per day: PS on Mondays, RC on Tuesdays, DS on Wednesdays, CR on Thursdays and SC on Fridays. For the first 1/3 questions, I maintained the hit rate of 90%. At this time, my SC and RC skills seemed inadequate compared to the others. So, I spent extra hours during the weekends on these parts. Meanwhile, I took another two Princeton Review practice tests and got 640 and 670. When I was half way through with the OG 11th with the overall hit rate of 90%+, I decided to give it a shot at the real thing. I registered for one in October. During the last week before the test, I took 6 sets of GMATPrep test. The score ranged from 640 to 740. So, my prediction was 690-710. 1st Attempt The result was devastating! I got 650. Although my math performance(48) wasn’t even near to be stellar, I wouldn’t complain too much about it, given the fact that there were 3 questions that I had no idea how to even start with(I ended up wasting nearly 15 minutes on those and eventually had to guess and move on!). I learned that I needed more practice on combinition/permutation and probability. The verbal score, however, left me a very bitter taste, specially after I learned that I made a fatal mistake of guessing 4 RC questions (7 through11). After realizing I spent too much time on the first 6 questions, which I was pretty sure I nailed, I got a bit panicked and my brain didn’t seem to function well enough to digest a boring, boring passage. I managed to read the passage twice, wasting 5 minutes or so, but still couldn’t have a clear understanding. So I was like..hmmm…and guessed the four questions and moved on. And yes, after that, I started getting relatively easy questions. In fact, they were so easy that I was able to complete the section with almost 10 minutes to spare. My ignorance about the notorious “adaptive” nature of GMAT test gave me a false hope, as I thought that I nailed the verbal section, and…you can’t imagine how shocked I was to see the score. I almost screamed. I could feel that my face was turning red so I got the heck out of the test site and immediately registered for another test in Nov. More Preparation I did more serious research on how to improve my math score and, of course, learned that guessing first 10-15 questions is like committing a suicide. I bought Kaplan 2006 edition to practice on very hard and dirty math questions. This book and the CD that comes with it have lots of very difficult math questions. These questions definitely helped me build endurance. Soon enough, I was able to solve most of the Kaplan math questions within a 2-minute time frame. I also continued with the OG 11th. I timed every single question; I gave myself 2 minutes for a math question, 1.5 minutes for SC and CR each, and 10 minutes for each RC passage that normally has 7-8 questions, and also tried to maintain the hit rate of 95% and above. This practice made me kind of nervous in the beginning (my palms got all clammy) but I was able to overcome the time pressure. During November, I spent about 3-4 hours a day on weekdays and 15 hours on each weekend. Yes, I did some serious studying! Before the test, I completed the OG 11th and the 10th edition. I was able to spend extra extra time on SC section and worked all the math questions in Kaplan 2006 edition three times. I took another 10 sets of GMATPrep; with some repeating questions, I consistantly hit mid 700s. Also, I took the last Princeton Review test and got 740. So, this time I was pretty sure that I was ready! 2nd Attempt I got to the exam site on time. After going through all the formalities, I started with AWA. I was given moderately difficult issues, so I had to come up with some stupid things to type up 5 solid paragraphs. However, typing essays helped me calm down a little bit. During my first break, I chugged down a can of Red Bull to get ready to fly through the math qeustions. I could immediately feel my heart pumping hard. This thing(Red Bull) is scary stuff…but it works. First 10 questions or so were okay(between OG level and GMATPrep level). They were followed by a few dirty questions(Kaplan level), then by some moderate ones. I knew I was doing well when I got some very difficult questions, but I was also worried when I saw unbelievably easy ones. I managed to complete all the questions with 7 seconds to spare. During my second break, I ate a Kitkat candy bar and drank a bottle of coke. I could feel that the Red Bull I had earlier started wearing off, so I needed something to boost up my energe level. One bad thing about this exam site was that the restroom was located too far away; when I came back from the restroom, my break was already up. The first SC question kind of got me. I could easily eliminate A, B and C but had to spent more than 5 minutes to decide between D and E. The correct answer was D. Grammatically, both were correct, but E kind of distorted the meaning. I couldn’t believe the very first question took me so much time! Second and third SC questions were relatively easy. But I made sure I got them correct. By that time, I already spent 10 minutes. Luckly, however, the first RC passage was not tricky at all. After the first RC, I got hard bin questions all the way through the end of the session. It was nerve wrecking to see all these long SC and CR questions, but at the same time, it made me feel good since I knew I was doing well. I had one boldfaced CR question, which was not that bad. The questions I got toward the end were specially time-consuming. When I got the 4th passage, I only had 7 minutes left. And this damn passage was so difficult to understand that I started wondering whether I was reading something in French or in Spanish. I had to guess the last two of these RC questions and move on. I was still reading 37th question, which was a CR question, when time was finally up. After going through the stupid survey, I was asked whether I wanted to see the score. I closed my eyes and briefly recapped the performance. I felt good about it. In fact, I couldn’t recall any moments that I felt this good about my performance in any of my practice tests. So I clicked Proceed and…boy was I happy to see what I saw!! 750 (Q50 V41)!! Again, I could feel that my face was turning red. The proctor handed me a copy of unofficial score and asked me whether I feel happy. It was very difficult to pretend that it was not a big deal, but I was able to suppress my giddiness and told him that I was just glad that it was over. I don’t know why I did that….

12-01-2005, 01:01 AM	#2 (permalink)
kindergartenkid Within my grasp! Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: EarthBound Posts: 450	congratulations and bestuluk for apps. I still don't understand why me? I got the same breakup as you with 740 Anyways _ _ _ _ SIG _ _ _ _ *I came, I saw, I hit it (GMAT)* right there in the jaw** - Get Back by Ludacris

12-05-2005, 05:09 PM	#9 (permalink)
kronique Ride the Lightning !! Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: india Posts: 4,042	great score bud....best of luck for the apps.......... _ _ _ _ SIG _ _ _ _ I am told that i talk in shorthand & then smudge it.

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12-01-2005, 04:05 AM	#3 (permalink)
chix475ntu TestMagic Guru-in-Training Join Date: May 2005 Location: Jersey City Posts: 921	Congratulations. Best of luck for your future.

12-01-2005, 06:19 AM	#4 (permalink)
CTG1983 TestMagic Guru Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 1,572	Hey boss. Had u completed all questions in verbal, u would have got 790!!

12-01-2005, 08:25 AM	#5 (permalink)
Bright Within my grasp! Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 275	Congrats buddy!!!!!!

12-01-2005, 09:31 AM	#6 (permalink)
Rupinder Trying to make mom and pop proud Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 10	Wowwwwwww Thats a cool score Dude, Now thats what I call motivation and knowing what you are worth

12-05-2005, 12:39 PM	#7 (permalink)
60sec Within my grasp! Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 316	Congrats GSB

12-05-2005, 04:04 PM	#8 (permalink)
monil Eager! Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Mumbai Posts: 57	Gr8 Score Boos buddy !!! Keep it up.. I hope to boost my scores woo with yourr exp. -Monil C

12-06-2005, 02:59 PM	#10 (permalink)
gschmilinsky TestMagic Guru-in-Training Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: USA Posts: 787	Great score and very very encouraging story. I love the improvement! Thanks, for the study tips they were helpful.

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