TestMagic

TBAY · 2007 July 17th, 10:22 PM

Your favorite son did it TM!!!!!!!!!! I crossed the 7 ft hurdle about 20 minutes ago. This debrief is looooonnnnggggg overdue.

Special thanks to(some may no longer be on the board):

1. Mike Jung: you kept me motivated when I first began my journey. Your drive was infectious
2. Ashuu_79: Your math skill is scary and I no doubt benefited from your posts.
3. thankont: I owe you a lot. No matter how petty my question (and most were), you were never condescending. You always took the time to explain, sometimes with graphs that you took the time to make on your PC. I really appreciate the time that you took to help me out.
4. JustMe123: You answered my very first post on this forum (last year). Thank you for your advice regarding RCs.
5. Clintonn: I don't even know what to say about you. Without those verbal documents on your page, I wouldn't have crossed the 40 mark. They gave me the confidence that I needed. You have been so selfless on this site and we all appreciate it.
6. Charu: Your Sig ("Arise, awake....") was inspiration.

To anyone that helped me out, I thank all of you. Without this site, I don't where I would be.

Debrief

I feel that the purpose of my writing should be to motivate anyone else that is in the position that I found myself in a year ago. I started out not knowing much about the GMAT, but I knew that I wanted to go to b-school. I bought my first book (Cracking the GMAT--Princeton Review) in June '06. I took my first POWERPREP (that's how long I've been doing this) exam about a month later. The result? 500. I couldn't even finish the exam. Luckily, I didn't know what the maximum was, or I probably would've been crushed. I found TM soon after. Initially, I ONLY read debriefs. I knew that I was nowhere the guys, in terms of math skill, on this site and I was too nervous to post "stupid" questions (If you seaech my posts, you'll see that I quickly overcame this fear). Once I got over this, I found that everyone was willing to help me out. I would ask the most basic questions, but, still, no one would be condescending. One of my most memorable moments on TM occurred when I was able to answer someone else's question! From then on, I was a regular.

I got the Manhattan GMAT books about 2 months into my prep and they were a blessing. I didn't realize how weak of grasp I had on the fundamentals. These helped tremendously. I used these, Kaplan, OG11, the OG11 supplementals and Kaplan800 (and TM, of course) for prep. After 6 months of prep, I sat for the test. The result? 640. I was crushed because I had prepared so hard and I knew that I could perform better than that. Literally, my nerves (and the constant thumping sound of my heart) did me in. I took a week off, and I got back on my grind.

I vowed to come back stronger. I scrapped Kaplan and Kaplan800, and added the SETS, GMAT Prep, OG11, Clintonn's verbal notes and TM. I used the verbal SETS religiously and they were EXCELLENT prep. I saw 3 questions on my exam from the verbal SETS. I did GMAT Prep over and over to become more comfortable with the interface (the actual test looks and feels EXACTLY as GMAT Prep) and with the pressure of having the clock on my back. I posted my questions on TM as usual and practiced for another 3 months. I reasoned that my last performance was my lowest and that I HAD to do better. I sat for the test. The result? 660. I increased my verbal by 5 points, but my quant dropped 2 points! My nerves killed me again. I would get stuck on a question early, see the little clock in the corner ticking away and totally lose focus. After that happened, I knew I was finished.

At this point I didn't know what else to do. I had followed the prescription of all of the high scorers on this site, yet I still didn't perform as well as I felt that I should. I was stuck because I didn't know other resources I could use or where my strategy had gone wrong. After analyzing my prep, I realized one thing: 1) that I knew how to answer the extreme (either very easy or very hard) questions. I realized that I was suffering because I wasn't knocking down the questions in the middle range that would enable me to get to those "TM type" questions that I knew how to answer. I figured this out, but I didn't know where to get practice to really LEARN math. my answer came in the form a website: bellcurves.com. This was the key.

I told myself that I was only taking the test 3 times and that I was going all out on this last attempt. To increase the pressure, I scheduled my test for 30 days later. The pressure forced me to step up to the plate. I used this site everyday. I saw over 1500 questions and I learned how to attack the GMAT problems. The site stores every question that you get wrong during homework sets or drills, and allows you to go back and create reviews later on to see whether you have actually learned the concepts. On this final attempt, I wasn't really active on TM. I also didn't do GPREP too many times. I took a practice test a week into my prep and I scored bery well. I could tell that what I was learning on bellcurves was helping (I scored Q50 on that test, but I saw 3-4 repeats). I went through the sections reviews on the website during the last week of my prep.

This time around was unlike the two previous ones. I was actually calm last night. I actually didn't study much of anything last night. I was actually confident (although I was little nervous because I didn't work as hard on my verbal). I woke up and looked over a bellcurves formula list, studied a few idioms and left for the center. I was in complete control of both sections from the beginning. Around question 7 on quant, I could no longer hear my heart beating. I didn't hear my heart until question 38 on verbal (I was ready for this thing to be over!!!) The result? 720!!!

I know my score isn't near the best, but it's damn good. Any of you on this site can cross the 700 mark. The question you should ask yourselves is: Am I willing to do whatever it takes, even after falling 3 times, to get the score that I want? If your answer is no, that's fine. If you're answer is yes, I look forward to reading your debrief once you cross that hurdle. It's a great feeling to see all of the hard work and sacrafice pay off. Continue to work hard becuase if you don't, there will be someone like me steadily gaining ground on you. We have the potential to knock this test, but sometimes it takes a person who began at the very bottom to succeed for us to realize it. Go after your dreams TMians.

Your favorite son,

TBAY

fitness-freak · 2007 July 17th, 10:45 PM

Congratulations.

Can you please compare the difficulty of CR and RC of the current GMAT with that of ETS based Powerprep ?

jaybird · 2007 July 17th, 11:04 PM

That's exactly what I needed to hear. You're the man, baby. You're the man!!!

TBAY · 2007 July 18th, 02:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fitness-freak

Congratulations.

Can you please compare the difficulty of CR and RC of the current GMAT with that of ETS based Powerprep ?

I can't really compare the two since I haven't taken a POWERPREP test since June/July '06. Compared to GMAT Prep, the actual GMAT verbal was a bit harder. What I would tell anyone concerned about the verbal section is to practice the SETS--all of them. You hear a lot SETS 21-31, but I feel that RC passages and CRs from the SETS are on par with the GMAT. With the SETS, you see nearly every question type. If you're using the GPREP software, what you see depends on how well you're scoring. Use the SETS and become familiar (and comfortable) with different Q types and you'll be fine on the actual GMAT.

One thing that helped me TREMENDOUSLY was that I read the Wallstreet Journal EVERYDAY. You don't necessarily have to do the same, but reading quality publications does wonders for your comprehension.

HTH.

TBAY

harrydnyc · 2007 July 18th, 02:26 AM

Congrats TBAY. Reading your post has given me inspiration. Great debrief as well. I am sure you could not wait to write it after all of your hard work. Hope to write my own soon. Good luck with your B-School apps.

surya167 · 2007 July 18th, 03:08 AM

Congratulatiuons TBAY....Well.. my lsat score was 660 too.. and after reading your post... it seems i can cross 700... Thanks man..
and all the best for your next phase.. Do let us know where you landed up!

TBAY · 2007 July 18th, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harrydnyc

Congrats TBAY. Reading your post has given me inspiration. Great debrief as well. I am sure you could not wait to write it after all of your hard work. Hope to write my own soon. Good luck with your B-School apps.

Thanks Harry. That's why I wrote my debrief. I'm speaking to that person who has douobts about his quant or vebal abilities, as I did initially, and I want to let them know that it can be done. I started my prep a year ago, and I needed evey day of it. I began on the bottom rung of the ladder and covered a lot of ground by sheer will. As long as we have that fighter's mindset that will keep picking us up from the pavement after each time that we're knocked down, we can do anything.

AS SOON as I saw my score I thought about Test Magic. Wanting to write a debrief was probably a 1/4 of my motivation to knock out the test.

You guys have helped me so much and I'm excited to be in a position to return the favors.

Clintonn · 2007 July 18th, 03:25 AM

CONGRATS!!! Really was rooting for you.

Today I received a PM from Erin and he said he was shutting down my thread because GMAC wrote him abut copyright violations. Well, I'm glad I had the opportunity to help so many.

Good luck on those app.

TBAY · 2007 July 18th, 03:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clintonn

CONGRATS!!! Really was rooting for you.

Today I received a PM from Erin and he said he was shutting down my thread because GMAC wrote him abut copyright violations. Well, I'm glad I had the opportunity to help so many.

Good luck on those app.

Thanks Clint. Your contibution to this site has been amazing. Thanks for eveything.

TBAY · 2007 July 18th, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by surya167

Congratulatiuons TBAY....Well.. my lsat score was 660 too.. and after reading your post... it seems i can cross 700... Thanks man..
and all the best for your next phase.. Do let us know where you landed up!

The toughestt thing to do is conquer yourself surya. I had to get over my anxiety during the test (I could literally hear and feel my heart pounding during the test). The only way that I got over it, was confidence--and this came from practicing a lot of different problems.

You're too close to let it slip away from you. That 7xx is yours, you just have to really believe that you can get it (AND THEN GO GET IT!)

2007 July 17th, 10:22 PM	#1 (permalink)
TBAY Within my grasp! Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 484	720 GMAT - From 500 to 720 (Q48,V41 :: 95%) Your favorite son did it TM!!!!!!!!!! I crossed the 7 ft hurdle about 20 minutes ago. This debrief is looooonnnnggggg overdue. Special thanks to(some may no longer be on the board): 1. Mike Jung: you kept me motivated when I first began my journey. Your drive was infectious 2. Ashuu_79: Your math skill is scary and I no doubt benefited from your posts. 3. thankont: I owe you a lot. No matter how petty my question (and most were), you were never condescending. You always took the time to explain, sometimes with graphs that you took the time to make on your PC. I really appreciate the time that you took to help me out. 4. JustMe123: You answered my very first post on this forum (last year). Thank you for your advice regarding RCs. 5. Clintonn: I don't even know what to say about you. Without those verbal documents on your page, I wouldn't have crossed the 40 mark. They gave me the confidence that I needed. You have been so selfless on this site and we all appreciate it. 6. Charu: Your Sig ("Arise, awake....") was inspiration. To anyone that helped me out, I thank all of you. Without this site, I don't where I would be. Debrief I feel that the purpose of my writing should be to motivate anyone else that is in the position that I found myself in a year ago. I started out not knowing much about the GMAT, but I knew that I wanted to go to b-school. I bought my first book (Cracking the GMAT--Princeton Review) in June '06. I took my first POWERPREP (that's how long I've been doing this) exam about a month later. The result? 500. I couldn't even finish the exam. Luckily, I didn't know what the maximum was, or I probably would've been crushed. I found TM soon after. Initially, I ONLY read debriefs. I knew that I was nowhere the guys, in terms of math skill, on this site and I was too nervous to post "stupid" questions (If you seaech my posts, you'll see that I quickly overcame this fear). Once I got over this, I found that everyone was willing to help me out. I would ask the most basic questions, but, still, no one would be condescending. One of my most memorable moments on TM occurred when I was able to answer someone else's question! From then on, I was a regular. I got the Manhattan GMAT books about 2 months into my prep and they were a blessing. I didn't realize how weak of grasp I had on the fundamentals. These helped tremendously. I used these, Kaplan, OG11, the OG11 supplementals and Kaplan800 (and TM, of course) for prep. After 6 months of prep, I sat for the test. The result? 640. I was crushed because I had prepared so hard and I knew that I could perform better than that. Literally, my nerves (and the constant thumping sound of my heart) did me in. I took a week off, and I got back on my grind. I vowed to come back stronger. I scrapped Kaplan and Kaplan800, and added the SETS, GMAT Prep, OG11, Clintonn's verbal notes and TM. I used the verbal SETS religiously and they were EXCELLENT prep. I saw 3 questions on my exam from the verbal SETS. I did GMAT Prep over and over to become more comfortable with the interface (the actual test looks and feels EXACTLY as GMAT Prep) and with the pressure of having the clock on my back. I posted my questions on TM as usual and practiced for another 3 months. I reasoned that my last performance was my lowest and that I HAD to do better. I sat for the test. The result? 660. I increased my verbal by 5 points, but my quant dropped 2 points! My nerves killed me again. I would get stuck on a question early, see the little clock in the corner ticking away and totally lose focus. After that happened, I knew I was finished. At this point I didn't know what else to do. I had followed the prescription of all of the high scorers on this site, yet I still didn't perform as well as I felt that I should. I was stuck because I didn't know other resources I could use or where my strategy had gone wrong. After analyzing my prep, I realized one thing: 1) that I knew how to answer the extreme (either very easy or very hard) questions. I realized that I was suffering because I wasn't knocking down the questions in the middle range that would enable me to get to those "TM type" questions that I knew how to answer. I figured this out, but I didn't know where to get practice to really LEARN math. my answer came in the form a website: bellcurves.com. This was the key. I told myself that I was only taking the test 3 times and that I was going all out on this last attempt. To increase the pressure, I scheduled my test for 30 days later. The pressure forced me to step up to the plate. I used this site everyday. I saw over 1500 questions and I learned how to attack the GMAT problems. The site stores every question that you get wrong during homework sets or drills, and allows you to go back and create reviews later on to see whether you have actually learned the concepts. On this final attempt, I wasn't really active on TM. I also didn't do GPREP too many times. I took a practice test a week into my prep and I scored bery well. I could tell that what I was learning on bellcurves was helping (I scored Q50 on that test, but I saw 3-4 repeats). I went through the sections reviews on the website during the last week of my prep. This time around was unlike the two previous ones. I was actually calm last night. I actually didn't study much of anything last night. I was actually confident (although I was little nervous because I didn't work as hard on my verbal). I woke up and looked over a bellcurves formula list, studied a few idioms and left for the center. I was in complete control of both sections from the beginning. Around question 7 on quant, I could no longer hear my heart beating. I didn't hear my heart until question 38 on verbal (I was ready for this thing to be over!!!) The result? 720!!! I know my score isn't near the best, but it's damn good. Any of you on this site can cross the 700 mark. The question you should ask yourselves is: Am I willing to do whatever it takes, even after falling 3 times, to get the score that I want? If your answer is no, that's fine. If you're answer is yes, I look forward to reading your debrief once you cross that hurdle. It's a great feeling to see all of the hard work and sacrafice pay off. Continue to work hard becuase if you don't, there will be someone like me steadily gaining ground on you. We have the potential to knock this test, but sometimes it takes a person who began at the very bottom to succeed for us to realize it. Go after your dreams TMians. Your favorite son, TBAY Last edited by TBAY : 2007 July 18th at 05:13 AM.

2007 July 18th, 03:08 AM	#6 (permalink)
surya167 TestMagic Guru Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 1,203	Congratulatiuons TBAY....Well.. my lsat score was 660 too.. and after reading your post... it seems i can cross 700... Thanks man.. and all the best for your next phase.. Do let us know where you landed up! _ _ _ _ SIG _ _ _ _ Some people Succeed because they are Destined to But, most people Succeed because they are Determined to!

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2007 July 17th, 10:45 PM	#2 (permalink)
fitness-freak Eager! Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 42	Congratulations. Can you please compare the difficulty of CR and RC of the current GMAT with that of ETS based Powerprep ?

2007 July 17th, 11:04 PM	#3 (permalink)
jaybird Within my grasp! Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 320	That's exactly what I needed to hear. You're the man, baby. You're the man!!!

2007 July 18th, 02:26 AM	#5 (permalink)
harrydnyc Banned Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: New York City Posts: 90	Congrats TBAY. Reading your post has given me inspiration. Great debrief as well. I am sure you could not wait to write it after all of your hard work. Hope to write my own soon. Good luck with your B-School apps.

2007 July 18th, 03:25 AM	#8 (permalink)
Clintonn Within my grasp! Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 395	CONGRATS!!! Really was rooting for you. Today I received a PM from Erin and he said he was shutting down my thread because GMAC wrote him abut copyright violations. Well, I'm glad I had the opportunity to help so many. Good luck on those app.

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