790 Gmat (q51 V51) 6.0 Awa

[CaliforniaKid]

I made another post which was basically asking for help as to why I didn't get an 800, but I didn't really do much debriefing and I had a few people ask so I figured I'd start another thread.

 

I don't really know how much I can help in terms of math or verbal, since I just sort of have a natural aptitude for standardized tests: I got a 1400 on the SAT in 8th grade to get into the CTY program run by John's Hopkins and a 1540 as a Junior without any prep at all, but I think I can help with attitude, which is vastly underrated in terms of importance.

 

Here goes:

 

I had about 3 weeks this summer without much to do so I figured I would take the GMAT. I signed up for 15 hours of private tutoring with PR in Berkeley. It was pretty good, my instructor was extremely knowledgeable, but we went through the material pretty quickly and I only ended up using about 11 hours of class time. I got frustrated at times, because I was missing so few questions that it seemed like more than half the questions that I missed were incorrectly written. The Orange GMAT book has a bunch of questions that are pretty shoddily written and at least for our five that are flat out wrong. It seems like when they try to make hard questions, instead of actually making good, difficult questions, they just make crappy questions that are ambiguous.

 

I took a the CAT tests online and got 720, 750, 780, 780, but I was finishing each section with 20+ minutes left on the clock so I wasn't really trying my best. I took one of the tests from that they give you from MBA.com and got another 780.

 

I figured I was set for at least a 780, and I went to take the test for the first time.

 

I went to the test center, pumped myself up, ran around, stretched (as an ex athlete, I prepare for tests like this just as I would prepare to focus for a football game or a track meet) and started the test.

 

I hadn't done any practice whatsoever for the AWA since I'm a pretty good writer and got an 800 on my SATII Writing and can write essays in my sleep (at least my Political Science major is good for something!) and I found both questions to be pretty easy.

 

I started the math section and ran into trouble immediately - I couldn't do the third problem! I sat there for about eight minutes, and I couldn't think straight... I kept trying to solve it quickly instead of doing it slowly, and got more and more frustrated.

 

Finally I figured it out, but I felt like I was "behind" (since, keep in mind, I had been finishing tests really early) and absolutely blitzed through about the next ten questions, failing to check my answers. By this point, I realized that I had gotten one wrong, and got even more frustrated. I slowed way down, and took my time, but then had to speed up again and barely finished on time. (I actually took about a 6 minute break in the middle to collect myself)

 

I was pissed off when I took the verbal, and rushed through it to the end, and I was pretty surprised when I saw that my score was a 760 (Q50 V45).

 

 

 

 

I made up my mind to retake the test right then and there, because if I could do that poorly and get a 760, with a little bit of effort and calm, and armed with the knowledge of what the testing environment was like, I figured I could get an 800 no sweat if I actually applied myself.

 

Unfortunately, I had to wait at least a month, and so I went off being my usual college self fratting it up and partying and going to all the games and stuff. I eventually set my date for the week after Cal's bye week so I could study for about 10 days uninterrupted by football etc.

 

 

I should note that I party pretty hard in college, and I went sober for 3 weeks before I took the GMAT the first time, and I think that it actually hurt me. While you don't want to be drinking the night before the test, I think that totally changing my lifestyle had an adverse effect and put too much pressure on me.

 

Anyway, I studied a good hour or two a day, and only took one practice exam. I bought the Kaplan 800 book, which I found to be fantastically written, very thorough and clear, and great especially for verbal. (It's a book of all difficult questions.)

 

When I got problems wrong, I found myself saying, "oh THAT'S how you do that" or "Oh, I never knew that xyz was an idiom, now I understand," or "That's a great example of a tricky sentence structure, I'm glad I understand that now." I felt like every time I missed a Q, I was arming myself with knowledge - this was totally unlike my experience with the Orange GMAT book where I would miss questions and read the answer and say, "What the hell are they talking about? I disagree strongly - I still think my answer is better... they didn't consider x or y or z possibilities, and this is not very well written, it could easily be interpreted differently." I was learning and getting more confident, rather than more frustrated.

 

The second thing that I did was DEMAND perfection from myself. The first time I studied for the test, I would go through the questions hastily, and get 90% right and then look at the ones I got wrong and say, "oh yeah, dumb mistake - that was an easy question, if I were taking the test for real, I would read it more carefully and get it right."

 

This time, I went through and did questions in small blocks of 10 or 15. I would say, "I am going to get every single one of these right, missing one is unacceptable." If I wasn't sure about a question, or I thought it was poorly written, I would keep re-reading it until I would catch myself missing a "not" or a "all" or something that would all of a sudden totally change the question. (You would be surprised how you can read a question 4 times, and on the 5th time notice something you didn't see before).

 

I would say, "I don't care if it takes me ten minutes, I AM GETTING THIS RIGHT," and eventually I would. This isn't a good strategy for someone trying to improve a 600 to a 650, but if you are like me and have time to burn, then you might as well get in the habit of being comfortable USING it!

 

 

I went to take the test confident that I was going to get an 800. I had a streak of about a hundred questions in a row without missing a single one, and I knew that even if I blew it I still had a 760 in my back pocket. My whole life, in sports, leadership, school or whatever, I have been most successful when I walk with a swagger and talk the talk and force myself to back it up. I went into that test knowing that I was going to do well, unlike the first time when I was nervous.

 

I pounded out the essays again no problem, and used them to get myself into a rhythm. Again, I ran into problems early with the math, but I stayed calm, solved the problems, tripple checked, and moved on. I paced myself much better the second time, didn't take any breaks and finished with 4 minutes left. I felt like I had missed 2 or 3 questions, but I used my confidence to convince myself that I had missed sample questions (since there were a few that I had never seen before) and that I was still on track for an 800 if I could do well on Verbal.

 

Holy crap, the verbal was easy. I don't know if I was just in a grove, or if Kaplan 800 really helped me that much, or what, but I was absolutely killing it. I would see each question, get the answer, eliminate all the others and every time I clicked the button I was absolutely certain that I was correct. The more I got questions right, the more confident I got, and I was practically yelling (silently) at my computer screen, "come on, is that the best you've got??? Give me some real questions!" Alas, they never came, and instead of rushing to the finish out of excitement like I did during practice tests, I really slowwwed down at the end. I said to myself, "I have plenty of time, GET EVERY QUESTION RIGHT and don't click next until you are absolutely positive you've got it" just like I had practiced over and over the previous week.

 

 

I clicked through the screens and I started to get a little nervous about the math section... I knew I had murdered the verbal, but I also knew I had missed a few math Q's and I was banking on them being sample questions. I kind of got a funny-sick feeling in my stomach as I was clicking through that I was going to get a 790, and sure enough that's what popped up.

 

I had really mixed feelings. The night before I had told myself that I would be thrilled with a 780 or a 790, and that a 770 was also acceptable, but deep down I knew my goal was really 800. Furthermore, I was confused because I got a 51/51 split and thus assumed I should have gotten an 80, and I am still confused to tell you the truth. Nonetheless, I feel like I did my best, and so I'm happy. I wasn't disappointed with my 760 because it was low, but rather because I left the test knowing that I didn't do my best. I left the 790 saying, "well I don't know what the deal is, but that was about as well as I could do... definitely above what might be my average."

 

 

To me, there is a HUGE difference between 800 and 790, they are like two different worlds. If someone gets an 800, then you don't know how good they are... for all you know they are the smartest person ever to be born, and the 800 was child's play. Obviously that's not the case for me, since even if I had gotten an 800 it would've been by the skin of my teeth, but the point is that YOU JUST DON'T KNOW how good someone is when they get an 800, because you can't do any better.

 

It's always frustrating to fall short of your goals, but I am not an idiot and I have a sense of perspective and I understand that I did very well, and for all real world intents and purposes, there's little difference to anyone on the planet if I got a 790 or an 800... a test score is not who you are, and when applying to jobs and schools, I want to stand on my merits as a leader, an entrepreneur, as a people person and as a communicator and test scores are just background 'evidence' that I have analytical skills. I honestly only studied less than 40 hours combined for both tests, but to me that is a lot, and it was worth it.

 

What I've learned, in bullet form:

 

1. QUALITY of study is much more important than QUANTITY. Practice perfection. Practice for an hour, focusing as hard as you can.

 

2. IMPROVE. Don't do problems just to do more problems and feel good about yourself that you are studying hard. Focus on your weakest areas, even if you hate them. When you do problems, concentrate on LEARNING why you are getting them wrong. Refuse to chalk up a loss and say "well I am just bad at x." Make 'x' your STRENGTH.

 

3. Get competitive. Beat the test like it is an opponent trying to beat you. Challenge it, get arrogant. If you are terrible at sentence correction, then learn it until it becomes your best section. When the test gives you sentence correction say to yourself, 'HA! You think that measly little problem can stop me? I DOMINATE sentence correction." I know this sounds corny as hell, but really getting into an arrogant mindset that the test was like a person trying to trick me, and that I just couldn't be beaten was critical to my success. People are wired differently, and maybe this won't work for you, but I feel like too many people say, "oh no not sentence correction! I am so bad at these, jeez I bet this is going to be hard" and doom themselves from the beginning. To tell you the truth, every time a new question popped up, I would say to myself, "HA! Problem solving/data suff/critical reasoning/reading comp/sentence correction! This is my STRONGEST area! You can't beat me with this type of question!"

 

If you take the test scared and frustrated like I did the first time, you will get beaten, you will fill yourself with self doubt, and you will not perform your best.

 

4. Don't allow questions you might have missed to bother you. Focus on what is in front of you. Go ahead and assume that you are lucky and EVERY question you missed was a sample question that doesn't count. After all, if you missed it, it must be because you were unfamiliar, and if you were unfamiliar, then it's a sample.

 

5. If a question doesn't make sense, re-read it. Actively assume you are misreading it, and look for what you are missing. Too often people say "DAMN IT, I am reading this right, see look," and then re-read it again making the same mistake. Instead go, "That doesn't make sense, let me find where I am wrong," and find it!

 

6. Visualize success. If you know you are going to do well, then you are going to do well. If you are filled with self doubt, you are gonna blow it.

 

7. Use the Kaplan 800 book - at least in my experience, I found that it was far and away the best and most well written book, and I highly recommend it for people looking to bump up scores that are already in the 700s.

 

 

 

 

 

That's all for now, I might post more thoughts if I have them later. Sorry if I come off as arrogant or strange, and I assure you this is not how I talk or act in real life - I am not trying to boast or e-brag or whatever, I am just trying to share a part of my success.

 

If you walk in there, and ACT like you are going to destroy the test, then you will do it. Don't let the test intimidate you, and don't think of implications of the test other than the numbers on the page. Your goal is not to get into Harvard or Wharton or whatever, your goal is to go in there and answer a bunch of dumb questions about grammar and algebra. Your APPLICATION to schools is much more descriptive of WHO YOU ARE than little numbers on a page.

[sgmat]

that was really great post with huge info about the real test...

 

Do tell us how do you compare the real GMAT with the GMAT prep in terms of difficulty....best of luck..cheers!!! amit

[CaliforniaKid]

I thought that the GMAT was much harder in terms of the conceptual difficulty of the questions, but easier in the sense that all the questions were very precisely worded and very clear with what they wanted you to do.

 

Ergo, the math was tougher in general, and the verbal was easier in general.

 

(For me at least)

[sgmat]

thanx for ur prompt reply buddy...

 

what i was trying to find out that wot according to you one should follow to get in the 50+ bracked in quant i mean books n all..

 

also was verbal similar to OG or how wud u compare the difficulty for the same....

 

thanx Man...cheers!!

[scorer]

CaliforniaKid!! Congrats and Respect

[VikSharma]

wow!! what a post dude. One of the most unique ones I have read so far on the net. you definitely seem one of those gifted kids. wicked job.

 

btw, what's your plan for MBA apps etc? I assume you're still finishing up college?

[siri2gmat]

Hi Californiakid, this is a very different debrief...All the best and many congratulations to you

[Meoo]

Great post!

[mathdumber]

quality of study --> thats what i need

 

GREAT POST CALIFORNIAKID

 

WISH ALL THE BEST FOR YOU!

[sirlogic]

Holy smokes. So much for stereotypes. You play ball for Cal?!

 

In any case, thanks for the great debrief. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to gain very much, if anything at all, from your debrief when I clicked its link. Quite the contrary, I was more curious to see how high and mighty, even narcisstic, your perspective would be.

 

That being said, I found your post to be very down to earth and actually quite inspiring. Thank you for that. Like I said, so much for stereotypes.

 

Listen, I'm not even sure that an 800 score is even practically attainable. Though it may be a theoretically possible score, of all the time I've perused the web, I haven't found a single debrief or personal account of anyone who has scored a perfect 800 on the GMAT.

 

Heck, that may be the reason that Stanford Business boasts that they don't accept any students with an 800 GMAT score --- there aren't any out there!

 

Obviously my argument may be a little flawed -- just because I haven't personally found any accounts of a perfect score doesn't mean that the score can't be attained --- but despite that small disclaimer, keep this in mind: a 790 and an 800 are both in the same percentile anyways -- 99. The official score reports, which business schools see, only show percentiles up to the nearest percent.

 

Remember to keep your eye on the big picture: Entry into business school.

 

 

BTW, if you do play ball for Cal, what position do you play? Please don't say DT.

[Gmater-1]

Congrats dude...u matched another california kid..."twinsplitter" :)

[mojomover]

I do know a friend of mine who scored 800 last year- and yes, he was rejected from all the schools that he applied to (I think H and S only). But, he did agree that he took the essays lightly and did not spend a lot of time on that. So...there are guys who score 800 (I think around 50 a year), but dont think they need the help of forums such as these to "train" for GMAT- they are naturally gifted such as CaliforniaKid (awesome score- i think GMAT Scores tend to fluctuate even if 2 people have the same Q V split).

 

 

Holy smokes. So much for stereotypes. You play ball for Cal?!

 

In any case, thanks for the great debrief. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to gain very much, if anything at all, from your debrief when I clicked its link. Quite the contrary, I was more curious to see how high and mighty, even narcisstic, your perspective would be.

 

That being said, I found your post to be very down to earth and actually quite inspiring. Thank you for that. Like I said, so much for stereotypes.

 

Listen, I'm not even sure that an 800 score is even practically attainable. Though it may be a theoretically possible score, of all the time I've perused the web, I haven't found a single debrief or personal account of anyone who has scored a perfect 800 on the GMAT.

 

Heck, that may be the reason that Stanford Business boasts that they don't accept any students with an 800 GMAT score --- there aren't any out there!

 

Obviously my argument may be a little flawed -- just because I haven't personally found any accounts of a perfect score doesn't mean that the score can't be attained --- but despite that small disclaimer, keep this in mind: a 790 and an 800 are both in the same percentile anyways -- 99. The official score reports, which business schools see, only show percentiles up to the nearest percent.

 

Remember to keep your eye on the big picture: Entry into business school.

 

 

BTW, if you do play ball for Cal, what position do you play? Please don't say DT.

[CaliforniaKid]

Thanks for the feedback, glad I could help. Sorry for the misconception when I was referencing athletic pregames - I played football in high school, but I am just a regular dude in college, I am not on any teams. I'm obviously a die hard fan, and I try to travel to at least half of the away games, and I go to every home game so scheduling my studying over the bye week was necessary just to focus on it.

 

I actually got hammered Fri and Sat night before my second GMAT (on a Thurs) and honest to God I think it helped me. My body was so out of whack from leading a healthy lifestyle for 3 weeks before my first GMAT that I think it put extra pressure on me, and just keeping it normal the second time around, but still giving myself 4 good days was enough.

 

 

By the way, I was a WR/DB, not a DT - sorry to disappoint ;) I was probably just good enough to be a 4th or 5th string tackling dummy in college, so I wisely called it quits after high school.

 

 

Also, I am pretty sure business schools see your entire score, not just the #... if not, then that kind of sucks that I spent so much effort, since a 760 was already 99th percentile.

[Phlip]

They see the split, the final score, and the percentiles, as the official GMAT report states.

[Nick_AAPL]

Nice Post California Kid. Hope you get into the B School you aim for. I really liked the attitude to dominate and kill the test. I strongly believe that almost everything ..whether its work, a sport, or for that matter any kind of competition ..One can acheive success by being mentally strong and acting on it w/o fear !!!

[nitisara]

hey california kid,

 

Awesome score. your comments about quality vs. quantity is so true

 

congrats

[thegirl]

Awesome post and attitude...

Partying and Drinking before exam aka not breaking your regular routine is important...you proved it!

[samdamn]

Great stuff!!! I am sure you will be an inspiration to many of us here!!!

 

Cheers!

[p001]

Great score, contrats!

[soulasylum]

Outstanding post.. *bow* .. CaliforniaKid, way to go !.. [clap]

[dynamicdhiraj]

I need to acknowledge that the above post is one of the finest and most descriptive I have ever seen.

Your wrtiting oozes confidence and determination.

Thanks for the post.

[kaushikt]

awesome post dude... Congrats Kid...

[dynamicdhiraj]

I need to acknowledge that the above post is one of the finest and most descriptive I have ever seen.

Your wrtiting oozes confidence and determination.

Thanks for the post.

[ketank]

this is a too good score maan.... you'll be through HBS....

[v-rap]

Hey Kid,

 

Good score. If I were you I would focus on gambling, Probably not wasting my time on this gmat crap, I would make real money....:), based on what you mentioned on your gambling skills.

 

Well you are young and good luck with your apps.

 

V-