720 - Happy with 720! (Q50, V38)

[smashingdon]

Finally the GMAT is over and I am sighing and smiling with relief.. I hope I did my awa well and can get at least 4.5.. I hardly prepared for it other than reading what the guidelines were in the textbooks. I took the GMAT Today on (17th September)

I could not sleep properly the night before the test.. awoke at 3:15 Am and was not able to sleep after that.. just turned and tossed around in bed But luckily lack of sleep did not affect my concentration. The test was at 1:15 in the afternoon. And I reached the test center almost 2 hours earlier because I had to travel from one city to another and I travelled only in the morning. so I arrived quite early and had food from a nearby restaurant. Then I went to the test and got a slot about half an hour earlier. I was not tensed but relaxed and the pleasant lady at the test center made me feel more at ease

Well, 720 was a pleasant surprise for me.. As usual its the verbal which got me.. but overall I am happy with my score knowing the kind of preparation I did. Though I spent enough time i never scheduled my time properly and was reluctant in doing many practice questions. And I did not do most of the tests in one stretch. Used to pause the tests and take breaks in between. So I used to wonder how I would really hold myself and write a test for 4 hours.. but I never felt tired while doing the test, thanks to God.

well, about the test.. AWA went okay I guess.. the scores should tell once they come, Quant went on fine and I was hopeful of crossing the 700 barrier.. I took all the breaks and washed my face and drank some water.. Once I started with my Verbal I was uncertain of most of the answers.. My weak point was CR.. I feel that SC was my strong point and thats what gave me at least this score.. Even my RC is also weak. And this time I was worried even about SC because I remember choosing E for at least 5 SC questions in a row. but those were the answers which I felt were right and so I went on with my choice. And I was slower than normal on Verbal. but I managed to finish in time. But I was afraid of how low my score would. I was even worried if it would go under 600 . And I hardly expected to score above 700. So the score came as a very pleasant surprise.

And about my preparation I had rescheduled my exam earlier because I was terribly weak in SC. Manhattan GMAT SC was the real helper in this and it improved my SC and I always would get only max of 2 SCs wrong.. but I was struggling with CR and RC.. I did not spend enough time for these.. unfortunately.. but if I would have to recommend a book I'd recommend Kaplan 800 for CR and RC.

And for good practice in quant I'd suggest the tests of 800score. Their tests were quite tough and I never used to finish the sections.. Overall I might have done more than 10 practice tests.. Started off with 540 without studying anything.. then again got 2 more in the same range.. Then I crossed into the 600 range. in Kaplan tests I used to get around 640. got a max of 690 once. In power prep on the first attempt my scores were only in the early 600s, but in the second attempt I managed to get 710 once. And that was the highest score that i had got before I wrote the GMAT. And that was the only time I crossed 700. Still I believed I could do better in the real GMAT because I never used to concentrate to my full extent in the tests, So ultimately my highest score was in the real GMAT of 720 So I am really happy. I could have done better if I'd really studied harder, but I know that this is more than enough for the way U've studied and that even this is by God's grace. so I'll sigh with relief and look forward to my next step . Ask me if anyone needs more help from me.

And finally am really thankful to this site because I've done a lot of reading from here and more than practice questions I feel that the advice which people have given (those who have taken the test) were helpful as to what kind of pitfalls I could avoid while preparing and while giving the real exam.. so once again, thanks to everyone !!

[Prawler]

Hello,
Happy to see that you have performed great on the test.
I am running the same race in 28 th September and I am really nervous and very unhappy about my situation.

The reason?
Ok, I have been preparing for 3 months, studying nearly all kind material. Unfortunately, I couldn't improve very much...Especially in verbal...

KAPLAN Diagnostic 610 -20.05.2007
POWERPREP #1 – (Q 42 V 13) 460 – 03.07.2007
POWERPREP #2 (Q44 V 23) 560 – 04.07.2007

MGPrep
[Q 47 - V 35] 680 – 18.08..2007
[Q 42 - V 39] 670 – 27.08.2007
[Q 48 - V 35] 680 – 09.09.2007
[Q 43 - V 33] 630 – 11.09.2007
GMAT PREP
[Q 47 - V 20] 560 – 31.07.2007
[Q 48 – V 27] 610- 25.08.2007
[Q 49- V30] 650 - 12.09.2007
[Q 48- V28] 630 – 13.09.2007
You see these scores?
Gmatters usually get higher scores in GMAT Prep when compared with Manhattan CATs, but I am the one taking the lowest scores in GMAT Prep.
This is really absurd. I don't know the reason..

I have done everything to improve my verbal...
RC is average, SC is good but CR is weak
But I can see no way out...
Nervous, nervous very nervous I am...

What have you scored in Manhattan CATs?
You have any suggestions for Verbal part, my appointment is in 28 th September...

Thanks and congrats again...

[aru4912]

Congrats smashingdon. Your debrief is highly inspiring !! Good luck for apps.

[aru4912]

Can you please share with us your study strategy for the last 2 weeks before your exam.It will help guys like me, Prawler and some others who are taking their tests in a few days.

[smashingdon]

Hey Prawler,

You still have 10 more days to go.. As far as I saw the GMAT is most Similar to the powerprep.. I felt the verbal was a bit tougher than in powerprep. Since you have done the tests in the powerprep already.. Study the mistakes you made in those very carefully. try to find what really went wrong? If you do have Manhattan SC just go through it.. it will really change the way you look at SC. In my case also I found the GMAT prep more difficult that Kaplan.. i never did Manhattan GMAT exams because I did not have them. So I can't comment on how similar they are to the real GMAT. I used to do well on the CRs of Kaplan. but I felt that the CRs in GMAT were of a different style. But Kaplan 800 CRs were tougher.. So I would say that do the verbal in GMAT prep. Thats a key thing.. try to improve your verbal score in the GMAT Prep. As far as I find the RCs were not that tough. Its CR and SC which you will have to target. Try to do some of the difficult Official Guide Questions. You can try the forums in manhattan GMAT, I feel they do a great job in explaining things. And one more thing.. if you are not at all confident about the exam.. move it ahead unless you are tired of studying.. I had rescheduled my exam earlier because I was not at all confident in verbal and my SC sucked like anything. This time I was in no mood to reschedule my exam because I was tired of studying. But even if you move it ahead do it not more than 2 weeks. when I moved i moved it ahead by 1.5 months which was too much.. But if you are weak only in one area then one week is enough to make up on that. So make up your mind first whether you are really confident because lack of confidence can affect your result.

And well, if you want a study strategy for your last couple of weeks. I'd say practice a little bit of everything. Don't get too discouraged by bad performances if you have indeed had good performances previously. Concentrate more on areas where you are weak and try to build up quick on them and finally don't over stress yourself.. do take time to relax once in a while.. and especially don't overstress yourself the couple of days before the exam.

hope it helped at least somewhat..

[aru4912]

thanks for the response, smashingdon !!

[Prawler]

Hi Smashingdon,
I did the Official Guide twice, we can say, just skipped some questions...
When we come to GMAT Prep, I can exhaust the verbal part of the GMAT Prep by retaking exam for several times.

I am trying to improve my weakest part, especially CR, by studying some concepts. I am doing some drills at the end of each section and look at he answers of these drills no matter my answers are right or wrong. I examine every question...

I am now concerned with Kaplan Verbal Work book... Started this morning and planning to finish by midnight... 16:43 now in here...

Thanks for suggestions...
Hope you best for your admissions...

[rs123]

Hi Prawler,

I think you are overdoing it. Give some time for the brain to digest things. Would be better if you do not work on a book at a stretch.
Don't take it otherwise, just my 2 cents. In case u r comfortable with the approach, no problem.

[smashingdon]

Finally got to know my AWA scores and again got lucky.. got 6 in awa ...

[Prawler]

Great Awa score...
You used any template during the exam?