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texas2904 · 07-18-2008, 07:37 AM

I benefited a lot from this forum, so hopefully this debrief will help some of you. I am still hopped up on caffeine, so this will be long. I won't answer any questions about specific test content, but am happy to answer general questions.

730, Q48, V41

I. How it Went
II. Preparation
III. Advice
IV. Best Prep by subject

How it Went

Just got back from the test. My score is fine, but today was not my best performance. My goal was to score above 750, and with the amount of preparation I put in, I should have. My recent prep test scores were all above 750 but for whatever reason, it wasn't my day.

The test for me was mentally exhausting. I had built up a lot of endurance but the real exam seemed a lot longer than practice tests, and towards the end my brain was tired.

The test center was fine. They had earplugs and except for someone sneezing, it was as if I was the only person there. My only complaint is that the lights and my computer screen were dim and this effected my alertness. They turned away a guy who didn't have proper ID, so if you're not a US citizen, make sure you bring your passport!

My analysis of an argument topic wasn't too bad and I wrote a decent critique of it. I really didn't like my analysis of an issue topic, and I had trouble taking a side. I know the essay was written well, but I'm not sure how the reader will take to examples I used to support my view.

Quant was pretty much what I expected. I'd say it was slightly harder than the GMATPrep test that I took, but not by much. The biggest difference between the two seemed to be that the calculations on the real test are slightly more difficult. The concepts tested are pretty much identical. I had to finish the last 3-4 in under a minute and realized during my break that I had gotten at least 2 of them wrong. I still thought I could get higher than a 48 because on my practice test, I got a 50 without answering the last few questions.

The verbal section was especially difficult for me today. It was one of those days where you read something but don't absorb any of it and have to read it again. During it I managed my time so poorly that I was unable to remain calm during the second half of the section. As a result I neglected to approach the problems the way I had practiced, and probably screwed up a bunch of CR and RC. I ended up having to guess on the last RC passage without reading it and do the same on 1-2 CR. That killed me because I know I was doing fine otherwise. As for content, the SC was pretty easy except for one question that really confused me. The CR was right on par with the stuff from the prep test but I know I got a few wrong. The RC was absolutely brutal. Its never been my strong point but towards the end of my prep I had been doing very well. The topics of both long passages were incredibly complex and I was simply unable to understand the main point of one of them, which also had an unusual structure. My short passage resembled a cross between a tongue twister and a limerick. I lost a lot of time on both of them and it did me in.

Preparation

I worked incredibly hard for this, and truly believe that GMAT scores are a better reflection of preparation than they are of intelligence. I started preparing towards the end of April, and excluding 2 one week vacations, I studied about 20 hours a week. 2 weeks before the test I stepped it up a lot.

I took a Manhattan GMAT course, which overall was very good. From looking at other courses, I can say I think MGMAT is the best. The class itself was great, but I benefited the most from the extras that were included: the 6 CATs, the "OG stopwatch", the problem sets, and the assessment tools.

Books (all free with the course):

OG11
GMAT Quantitative Review
GMAT Verbal Review
All the Manhattan GMAT Guides

The first 2 months of my studying involved following the syllabus of the 9 week course. Basically I would read a guide, and complete the OG problems which had been broken down by topic. Then go to a lecture once a week and essentially review the homework, go over some strategies etc. I ended up falling behind and not doing all the OG problems, but overall it provided a good overview of critical concepts, especially in quant. Towards the end of the course I was at the 700 level but still having problems in certain areas.

After the course I shifted my focus more towards 700+ level quant questions and areas where I needed improvement, which were CR and RC. I focused on questions that I had gotten wrong rather than attempting more OG questions. My accuracy in my weak areas improved a lot. I also took 4 MGMAT Practice tests during this time. I waited until less than 48 hours before the test to take the GMATPrep test which was a horrible mistake.

With a few days left I crammed. I studied pretty much all day and went over some of my notes. The day before the test I did a fair amount of practice problems but in the afternoon I relaxed by the beach, went to the gym, had a jacuzzi/steam etc. I didn't feel burnt out going into the exam.

Practice Scores:

MGMAT 1: 620, 39, 35 (4/15/08)
MGMAT 2: 710, 45, 41 (6/16/08)
MGMAT 3: 700, 47, 38 (7/4/08)
MGMAT 4: 750, 48, 45 (7/10/08)
MGMAT 5: 750, 48, 45 (7/15/08)

GMAT PREP 1: 760, 50, 44 (7/16/08)

Advice
1) The first thing you should do when preparing is take one of the GMATPREP practice tests. It is the best score predictor and it gives you a better feel for the test than any of the prep companies. If you take it at the beginning of your preparation you will know where you stand. If you take it again 2 months later I can assure you that you won't remember any of the questions, so it will be good as new.

2) When it comes to practice problems, the OG11 is your best friend. There are a lot of other practice problems available, but the OG11 is the best representation of test material in terms of both content and difficulty. After you finish the OG problems, move on to the Quant and Verbal Review books. What they say on the cover is true: "The only GMAT guide with real GMAT questions."

I emphasize these 2 points because my biggest mistake during preparation was overly relying on MGMAT materials, especially the practice tests. They are great and the scoring algorithm seems to be pretty accurate, but there are a few crucial differences that I wasn't aware of until I took the GMATPrep test, which was less than 48 hours before the exam. (I'm an idiot and the software doesn't work on a Mac) The MGMAT quant section is MUCH harder than the real test, but your score won't necessarily be different. The concepts tested are the same, but the difficulty level of real GMAT seems to escalate a lot slower. On the MGMAT quant, if you get the first 2 questions right, the 3rd-37th ones will be 600-800 level questions. So basically I thought that the real test would be the same way. As a result I spent 3 weeks obsessing over the incredibly difficult quant problems from the MGMAT practice tests that I had gotten wrong, and took an advanced quant class. I would say that this helped me on maybe 5 questions on the real exam, whereas simply perfecting the OG problems would have prepared me for 90% of the questions on the real test.

3) Time yourself when you practice. You have 2 minutes for each quant problem. If you aren't able to solve one in that amount of time, you are probably overlooking a shortcut.

4) Find a balance between working on your weak areas and reviewing your strong areas. I was better at SC a month ago because I didn't practice as much in the last few weeks.

5) Use practice tests to build endurance, develop a timing strategy, and see where you take too long. The 6 MGMAT tests are second only to the GMATprep ones in my opinion.

6) Have a clear game plan and stick to it. I went into the test knowing that in order for me to do well on verbal, I have to not spend too much time on CR and take notes paragraph by paragraph on RC. Maybe I was nervous, but I ended up spending way too much time on the first few CR and after also blowing a lot of time on the first RC, didn't have time to take notes on the other ones. Not sticking to my game plan messed up my verbal score.

7) Unless you need to take the exam on a Saturday, I don't recommend scheduling you exam until you have a good idea of when you will "peak." There were plenty of appointments available 2 weeks in advance in my case, and I live in Southern California.

Best Preparation by Subject

Quant: OG11, and this forum. Also the MGMAT number properties guide is good. If you struggle with math a lot and can't understand the answer explanations in the OG11, I recommend a prep course.

SC: MGMAT SC Guide. It covers every topic you need to know and explains them well. Also OG Problems.

CR: The MGMAT guide offers some good strategies, but they should only be used as a compliment to the OG problems.

RC: If English isn't your first language, your best bet is to read everything you can. Read the news in English, watch TV in English. This is an area where its hard to improve and I wish you luck. Try to learn the RC question types and know when you are supposed to refer to specifics in the passage.

For native speakers, just do OG problems. You might also benefit from reading academic papers on subjects you know little about and really trying to understand what they are saying. Maybe I was just unlucky, but the passages I had on the real test were harder than anything I had seen in OG or the MGMAT guide.

Overall I'm very happy with my score, but feel I didn't do as well as I could have. I don't think its worth $250 to retake it though. Good luck everybody.

Gmater-1 · 07-18-2008, 01:37 PM

Congrats !! Great feat and nice debrief.

lurkman · 07-18-2008, 11:43 PM

texas2904,

Congratulations! Excellent score--most likely, you have a 750+ in you, and you had an off day.

Good luck w ith your apps and beyond.

lurkman

texas2904 · 07-22-2008, 12:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lurkman

texas2904,

Congratulations! Excellent score--most likely, you have a 750+ in you, and you had an off day.

Good luck w ith your apps and beyond.

lurkman

Thanks, lurkman. Good luck to you as well.

mgg · 07-24-2008, 09:35 PM

A good score and a very nice debrief.. the do's and don't s mentioned by you would definitely help .
All the very best for your future.

Alpha800 · 07-25-2008, 06:44 AM

Congrats on a very nice score. I especially appreciated the detailed debriefing. Thanks! Good luck with the school of your choice!

from the mountains · 07-25-2008, 07:24 AM

texas 2904,
congrats...thats an amazing score... .. thanks for the advice...i m sure your advices wld be of a great help for everyone...

MCapri · 08-06-2008, 10:53 AM

Congrats!! grt score!!

07-18-2008, 07:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
texas2904 Eager! Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 96	730 (q48, V41) I benefited a lot from this forum, so hopefully this debrief will help some of you. I am still hopped up on caffeine, so this will be long. I won't answer any questions about specific test content, but am happy to answer general questions. 730, Q48, V41 I. How it Went II. Preparation III. Advice IV. Best Prep by subject How it Went Just got back from the test. My score is fine, but today was not my best performance. My goal was to score above 750, and with the amount of preparation I put in, I should have. My recent prep test scores were all above 750 but for whatever reason, it wasn't my day. The test for me was mentally exhausting. I had built up a lot of endurance but the real exam seemed a lot longer than practice tests, and towards the end my brain was tired. The test center was fine. They had earplugs and except for someone sneezing, it was as if I was the only person there. My only complaint is that the lights and my computer screen were dim and this effected my alertness. They turned away a guy who didn't have proper ID, so if you're not a US citizen, make sure you bring your passport! My analysis of an argument topic wasn't too bad and I wrote a decent critique of it. I really didn't like my analysis of an issue topic, and I had trouble taking a side. I know the essay was written well, but I'm not sure how the reader will take to examples I used to support my view. Quant was pretty much what I expected. I'd say it was slightly harder than the GMATPrep test that I took, but not by much. The biggest difference between the two seemed to be that the calculations on the real test are slightly more difficult. The concepts tested are pretty much identical. I had to finish the last 3-4 in under a minute and realized during my break that I had gotten at least 2 of them wrong. I still thought I could get higher than a 48 because on my practice test, I got a 50 without answering the last few questions. The verbal section was especially difficult for me today. It was one of those days where you read something but don't absorb any of it and have to read it again. During it I managed my time so poorly that I was unable to remain calm during the second half of the section. As a result I neglected to approach the problems the way I had practiced, and probably screwed up a bunch of CR and RC. I ended up having to guess on the last RC passage without reading it and do the same on 1-2 CR. That killed me because I know I was doing fine otherwise. As for content, the SC was pretty easy except for one question that really confused me. The CR was right on par with the stuff from the prep test but I know I got a few wrong. The RC was absolutely brutal. Its never been my strong point but towards the end of my prep I had been doing very well. The topics of both long passages were incredibly complex and I was simply unable to understand the main point of one of them, which also had an unusual structure. My short passage resembled a cross between a tongue twister and a limerick. I lost a lot of time on both of them and it did me in. Preparation I worked incredibly hard for this, and truly believe that GMAT scores are a better reflection of preparation than they are of intelligence. I started preparing towards the end of April, and excluding 2 one week vacations, I studied about 20 hours a week. 2 weeks before the test I stepped it up a lot. I took a Manhattan GMAT course, which overall was very good. From looking at other courses, I can say I think MGMAT is the best. The class itself was great, but I benefited the most from the extras that were included: the 6 CATs, the "OG stopwatch", the problem sets, and the assessment tools. Books (all free with the course): OG11 GMAT Quantitative Review GMAT Verbal Review All the Manhattan GMAT Guides The first 2 months of my studying involved following the syllabus of the 9 week course. Basically I would read a guide, and complete the OG problems which had been broken down by topic. Then go to a lecture once a week and essentially review the homework, go over some strategies etc. I ended up falling behind and not doing all the OG problems, but overall it provided a good overview of critical concepts, especially in quant. Towards the end of the course I was at the 700 level but still having problems in certain areas. After the course I shifted my focus more towards 700+ level quant questions and areas where I needed improvement, which were CR and RC. I focused on questions that I had gotten wrong rather than attempting more OG questions. My accuracy in my weak areas improved a lot. I also took 4 MGMAT Practice tests during this time. I waited until less than 48 hours before the test to take the GMATPrep test which was a horrible mistake. With a few days left I crammed. I studied pretty much all day and went over some of my notes. The day before the test I did a fair amount of practice problems but in the afternoon I relaxed by the beach, went to the gym, had a jacuzzi/steam etc. I didn't feel burnt out going into the exam. Practice Scores: MGMAT 1: 620, 39, 35 (4/15/08) MGMAT 2: 710, 45, 41 (6/16/08) MGMAT 3: 700, 47, 38 (7/4/08) MGMAT 4: 750, 48, 45 (7/10/08) MGMAT 5: 750, 48, 45 (7/15/08) GMAT PREP 1: 760, 50, 44 (7/16/08) Advice 1) The first thing you should do when preparing is take one of the GMATPREP practice tests. It is the best score predictor and it gives you a better feel for the test than any of the prep companies. If you take it at the beginning of your preparation you will know where you stand. If you take it again 2 months later I can assure you that you won't remember any of the questions, so it will be good as new. 2) When it comes to practice problems, the OG11 is your best friend. There are a lot of other practice problems available, but the OG11 is the best representation of test material in terms of both content and difficulty. After you finish the OG problems, move on to the Quant and Verbal Review books. What they say on the cover is true: "The only GMAT guide with real GMAT questions." I emphasize these 2 points because my biggest mistake during preparation was overly relying on MGMAT materials, especially the practice tests. They are great and the scoring algorithm seems to be pretty accurate, but there are a few crucial differences that I wasn't aware of until I took the GMATPrep test, which was less than 48 hours before the exam. (I'm an idiot and the software doesn't work on a Mac) The MGMAT quant section is MUCH harder than the real test, but your score won't necessarily be different. The concepts tested are the same, but the difficulty level of real GMAT seems to escalate a lot slower. On the MGMAT quant, if you get the first 2 questions right, the 3rd-37th ones will be 600-800 level questions. So basically I thought that the real test would be the same way. As a result I spent 3 weeks obsessing over the incredibly difficult quant problems from the MGMAT practice tests that I had gotten wrong, and took an advanced quant class. I would say that this helped me on maybe 5 questions on the real exam, whereas simply perfecting the OG problems would have prepared me for 90% of the questions on the real test. 3) Time yourself when you practice. You have 2 minutes for each quant problem. If you aren't able to solve one in that amount of time, you are probably overlooking a shortcut. 4) Find a balance between working on your weak areas and reviewing your strong areas. I was better at SC a month ago because I didn't practice as much in the last few weeks. 5) Use practice tests to build endurance, develop a timing strategy, and see where you take too long. The 6 MGMAT tests are second only to the GMATprep ones in my opinion. 6) Have a clear game plan and stick to it. I went into the test knowing that in order for me to do well on verbal, I have to not spend too much time on CR and take notes paragraph by paragraph on RC. Maybe I was nervous, but I ended up spending way too much time on the first few CR and after also blowing a lot of time on the first RC, didn't have time to take notes on the other ones. Not sticking to my game plan messed up my verbal score. 7) Unless you need to take the exam on a Saturday, I don't recommend scheduling you exam until you have a good idea of when you will "peak." There were plenty of appointments available 2 weeks in advance in my case, and I live in Southern California. Best Preparation by Subject Quant: OG11, and this forum. Also the MGMAT number properties guide is good. If you struggle with math a lot and can't understand the answer explanations in the OG11, I recommend a prep course. SC: MGMAT SC Guide. It covers every topic you need to know and explains them well. Also OG Problems. CR: The MGMAT guide offers some good strategies, but they should only be used as a compliment to the OG problems. RC: If English isn't your first language, your best bet is to read everything you can. Read the news in English, watch TV in English. This is an area where its hard to improve and I wish you luck. Try to learn the RC question types and know when you are supposed to refer to specifics in the passage. For native speakers, just do OG problems. You might also benefit from reading academic papers on subjects you know little about and really trying to understand what they are saying. Maybe I was just unlucky, but the passages I had on the real test were harder than anything I had seen in OG or the MGMAT guide. Overall I'm very happy with my score, but feel I didn't do as well as I could have. I don't think its worth $250 to retake it though. Good luck everybody. Last edited by texas2904 : 07-18-2008 at 08:22 AM.

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07-18-2008, 01:37 PM	#2 (permalink)
Gmater-1 TestMagic Guru-in-Training Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 508	Congrats !! Great feat and nice debrief.

07-18-2008, 11:43 PM	#3 (permalink)
lurkman Eager! Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 99	texas2904, Congratulations! Excellent score--most likely, you have a 750+ in you, and you had an off day. Good luck w ith your apps and beyond. lurkman

07-24-2008, 09:35 PM	#5 (permalink)
mgg Trying to make mom and pop proud Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 15	A good score and a very nice debrief.. the do's and don't s mentioned by you would definitely help . All the very best for your future.

07-25-2008, 06:44 AM	#6 (permalink)
Alpha800 Trying to make mom and pop proud Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Silicon Valley Posts: 6	Congrats on a very nice score. I especially appreciated the detailed debriefing. Thanks! Good luck with the school of your choice!

07-25-2008, 07:24 AM	#7 (permalink)
from the mountains Trying to make mom and pop proud Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 14	texas 2904, congrats...thats an amazing score... .. thanks for the advice...i m sure your advices wld be of a great help for everyone...

08-06-2008, 10:53 AM	#8 (permalink)
MCapri Within my grasp! Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 320	Congrats!! grt score!!

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