710 Q50 V36

[devp]

Hi Everyone
I took the test last Thursday. Got a 710, not entirely happy with the verbal score though. I started preparing only in May 2008 and so considering the time put in alongside my work I will take this score.

My preparations:

Quantitative:
I thought I was good in Maths until I took the Kaplan test about a week before the exams. I scored a pathetic 40 and overall 580. I took another test the same day and scored even more pathetic 570. I guess they still have a bit archaic scoring pattern which is no where close to GMAT. Do not get discouraged by Kaplan scores.
After the shock it was time for introspection. I found that I was making way too many silly mistakes as I was getting worked up about the timings. I also found that most of the problems which I got wrong were not because I did not understand the problem, but because I made a simple calculation mistake. So I sat down with a stopwatch and timed a few problems as I worked those out at my normal pace. I made sure I was extremely attentive towards not making mistakes. To my surprise the problems with medium difficulty took about 1:40 secs on an average.
The DS problems took even lesser. So I learned that being attentive is what is required. I think the silly mistakes do hurt a lot, so make sure you do not make silly mistakes. This is important in multiple choice type questions where the examiner cannot see if your approach was alright but you just made a stupid mistake in the last step. Do not worry about the time if you are able to work out the problems at your normal pace within two minutes. There will be few which are difficult; do not worry even if those take 3-5 mins. You can easily make up for that.
The real thing was far more easier than GMATPrep. Yes I took GMATPrep 1 and got a Q48 and 700 overall.

Verbal:
Well from the score I have, there is hardly much I can advise. I think what did me in was SC. I started off with 1000CRs and was usually scoring 15 out of 20 in each of those. This was not good and then I started looking at various posts in the forums. That gave me some idea as to how one can approach CRs. Again I found that the gist is reading the stem very carefully and understanding the stem properly. Rest is easy. I also found that the answers were actually hidden behind complicated language more often than not. So I decided to ensure I would read slowly and carefully each answer choice. To my surprise I got all the CRs correct in GMATPrep.

I was also ok with RC I started with 3000 RC and solved a few. I found that I could read and solve about 7 questions in 10 mins. Again I found that reading slowly and carefully helps. My speed was 150+ word per min !!! I thought it was pathetically slow but I seldom had to re-read and I understood the passage fairly well. After I found that I could solve 7 questions correctly within 10 mins I was confident about RC as well. I got a few wrong in GMATPrep but I thought it was ok because I found I was able to catch the drift of the author pretty well.

Coming to SC, well I fared badly in GMATPrep as well as Kaplan I tried very hard but could not help much, but I learnt a quite a few 'types' and could apply them well. I got hold of Manhattan SC guide but it was rather late. This is an excellent guide. I was never confident on SC, though. This is something I want to improve on.

Test Day Preparation:
Well I read various postings suggesting that one should just relax on the day before the test. I took that advice and did not study, I just took a brief look at the 800Score AWA and got accustomed to the templates.
My test was at 9:00 AM and I reached there at 8:00 and we were admitted before 9:00 I guess. I scheduled my test for the morning as I thought it is easier to take the field and face the heat rather than sit and watch the game. Schedule your test according to your comfort. Make sure you are your absolute best while you take the test. I found that the real thing to be easier than the preps. In conclusion, relax just the right amount on the test day and the day before and stay focussed.
Good Luck to all of you with both the test and the apllications.

Best Regards
devp

[krovvidy]

Well done devp. With about a month's prep, 710 is a pretty good result.

Good luck with your apps.

[russty]

Congrats!

What material did you refer to...?

[devp]

Hey Thanks. I used materials from the 1000SCs and 1000CRs. For maths I generally relied on the posts in the forums and I made sure I had all the formulas at my fingertips. I did not have too much time for tests and so I was normally studied various problems on the forums and tried to solve them myself before looking at the solutions. Good thing is in the forums people typically put hard questions and so you get a good prctise. For verbal I used Kaplan material. The RC topics in Kaplan tests were pretty good, a bit obscure but that really prepares you well. Make sure you read it with complete concentration. Slow reading might help, it helped me a lot. DO NOT skim that is a bad mistake and you will simply lose track. CR too requires effective reading. Most of the times you will see that the answers are hidden behind twisted language. So reading effectively helps. Another trick is to look for extreme words like 'only', 'always', 'never' etc. These normally signals wrong answers. For SC if your grammar is good already there is nothing to fear, use Manhattan guide. If your grammar concepts are weak, as is mine, make sure you learn the basics. Wren and Martin with the key is very effective. Also study the forum questions, you can figure out certain 'types' easily. All the best !! cheers devp

[ameetsingh]

CONGRATS !!!