BigGameJames

If you can, I would apply in R1. First, you never know what could happen. This year, Chicago GSB came out with a number 1 ranking in B-week after their R1 deadline. As a result, they received the highest number of applications in the second round than in any other previous round. Second, if you get flat out rejected in the second round, that doesn't mean you would've been rejected in the first round. You could've been waitlisted in the first round allowing you to send in more recommendations and updates. Since they don't know how the application profiles look like, you are more likely to be waitlisted in the first round. Third, it's better to know your fate ahead of time allowing you to plan vacation/apartment/and everything else you need. The only advantage round 2 has over round 1 is the fact that some companies have their year-end review after R1 and before R2. If you're expecting some big things to happen (at work or wherever) after R1 but before R2, then apply in R2. Otherwise save your heartache and apply R1. One of the hardest parts of this whole process is the anxiety of waiting. Most candidates think that right after they hit submit, it's time to chill. That's not the case. Waiting is like slowly dying.

I think it will help you. How much depends on your profile. For instance , if you're in MC or general mgmt. and want to switch to IM after B school, the CFA level 1 will show you're dedicated to these goals. Or if your quant on the GMAT is not too good, the CFA level 1 will help mitigate this score.

Wow, you killed the Quant. 720's a great score. I would start on the apps now and if you have extra time before you have to submit the app, then I would retake if you can repeat the Quant performance.

Man, I can feel your pain. If I scored 40 points below what I know I can score I'd be pretty disappointed. But like others have said, if you take it again and manage 780, the adcomm will look at your application with a more critical eye. You're basically telling them, "I don't think a 740 is good enough for me to get in."

Yeah, I heard that too. I also heard that the test was basically a number properties test. I got a good mix of the questions, although most of the DS questions were number properties. Overall, the test was just as difficult as Gprep. But the first 3-5 questions on my real Gmat were easier than the beginning 3-5 questions on my Gprep. The verbal is just like Gprep. I think the CR is a notch above the OG. The RC is a notch below the the OG. The SC was right around the OG. Only thing is I didn't get SC questions with only 1 or 2 words underlined. Longer phrases were underlined. I think each different question (RC, CR, SC) in verbal requires you to have a certain mindset. Practice tests are good to help you switch question types quickly. My strategy for CR is to read the question first. When I first started doing practice tests, I usually forgot to read the question first in CR. I'd already read 3-5 words by the time I realized I forgot to read the question. RC: Before each passage, I think to myself, "Yay"[banana]What am I going to learn this time. I've actually learned a lot from reading these passages. I also ask myself, "what is this fool trying to say"? I read slowly and even reread certain parts. I also practiced finding key words in the passages. Pick a key word and practice finding the key word in the passage as fast as you can. CR: Most of the CRs in the OG give you an, "Aha" :idea: experience. In the exam, I had to eliminate 2-3 "out of scope" answers and then really brainstorm the remaining answers. SC: My SC was bad. I don't really have any tips except practice. I kept learning new rules, new rules that could be broken only if x happened, etc. I kept learning 3 hours before my exam. In one of my gprep verbal exams, I got a boldface CR on the first question. I wasn't surprised, but as I was reading the question, I kept thinking about what boldface CRs mean in the actual exam. You don't want any surprises on test day. So when I got back from the break and I had a minute before I had to click next, I went over my gameplan. I'll get an SC, RC, CR assumption, weaken, strengthen, boldface, etc. If I get x, I'll do y. If I get g, I'll do z.

If you can get a Q49 or higher (it seems like you can), then I would retake it. That would put you 750+ with the 44V. But if you lose points in verbal, you might not gain many points in the gmat.

During the last week of the prep, I mainly concentrated on GmatPrep. Even though you get the same questions if you retake the practice tests, the important thing is that you get some new ones as well. I knew my math ability was 48-50 (at best) and I knew 1 week wouldn't really do much so I concentrated on SC about 65 % of my time. I felt confident going into the test. The only thing that could stop me was if I had really bad luck with the question mix.

1 more thing about this site. I didn't know about this little section until the last 3 weeks of my prep. It has some good SC threads... http://www.www.urch.com/forums/faqs/

Congratulations!

Yeah! Congratulations! 4th language, wow. It might help you if you somehow played that into your application.

Congratulations!

I graduated on '03 with a BA in Economics at UCLA. I crammed my way through school. At the most, I probably studied 3-4 days before any midterm or final. But for this GMAT, I was determined to do this the right way and take it only once. I probably went overboard in my studies, but it's okay. I have skewed views. My first Gprep math score was 48 and I thought that math portion was harder than the real gmat math. I also don't agree with most test takers that said the gmat has a high proportion of number property questions. I saw a good mix of everything. I think the real gmat verbal is right on with the Gprep verbal (except of course that ridiculously hard RC passage I mentioned earlier). I see on the unofficial report, it says a 730 is a 97th percentile. When I get the official report, will this percentile change?

Thanks for all the encouragement, friends. I might not make much sense because I'm going to free write all my thoughts about the GMAT. I'm also at work and have to write this up in blocks. Everyone is different, so take what you need from my words. Days leading up to the test: I took Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off of work so that I could study hardcore. Every 2-3 months I take a week off from the gym for some rest and recovery. So I planned my workouts ahead of time so that I could do nothing but GMAT problems in the days leading up to the test. The day before the test, I must've studied 8-10 hours. I couldn't sleep the night before because of all the thoughts racing through my head. I don't think it fazed me though because I had plenty of sleep the days before. Test Day: I woke up and immediately did some problems on TM. I'm also a VIP at ScoreTop and redid the August Math JJs. I probably saw at least 7 JJs! If you can I suggest you do the the JJs in the month you are taking the test. I was skeptical at first about the JJs, but I'm a believer now. I got to the test center an hour before my scheduled time and immediately took the test. AWA: I was jittery while I was doing the AWA section, but I soon calmed down. I hated how you have to write the essays before the quant and verbal. It seemed to make more sense to write the essays after math and verbal. But the essays are very good for getting you warmed up. I think it's a good thing that the essays are first. I took 4-5 full length practice tests so I felt pretty confident with the essays. Even though the schools don't really look at the essay scores, I think it's the most underrated part of the exam. It's so important to start strong. The argument came first. I couldn't find any gaping holes in the argument so I just wrote down 3 relatively weak points. I had my template in my head so I wrote down the intro and conclusion first. I finished with 10 seconds to spare. The issue was okay. I was still writing with 10 seconds to spare. I finished with 3 seconds on the clock and clicked next and confirm. I raised my hand to take my first break. The proctor was not in the same room as the test takers. She sat outside in front of a window, so it took at least half a minute for her to come and lock my computer. I was thinking that this was a really bad design because if you needed a new board, it would take precious time off the clock. Anyway, I went and ate a Cliff Energy bar and went to the bathroom. Math: I came back for round 2 and sat down and prepared mentally. I went through my gameplan in my head. After the proctor logs you in, the program gives you a minute before you have to click next and start. During this time, I wrote down all the primes up to 50 and some miscellaneous formulas. I took the math portion of the gprep 6 times and in 3 of the tests, I was challenged by the first question. I clicked next and the first question was easy. The next 3 were pretty easy. It was actually easier than the first questions of the gprep exam. It was getting progressively more difficult. By the ~15th question, I was thinking I had a shot at a Q50. I was also ahead of time by at least 3-4 minutes. I was in control. But then I got hit with about 3-4 hard questions. 1 question was from the JJ. I noticed the question, but the wording was different. It was a lot more difficult. So when you do the JJs, don't just memorize the answer. You have to know the concepts. And then at about question ~22 I got hit with the easiest question of them all. 2/3 of the circumference is given and the question asks for the radius of the circle. I rechecked 3-4 times to make sure the problem wasn't trying to trick me. The 3rd to last question was a probability question. At this point I had 4 minutes left on the clock. I felt I had enough time to do this question and the last 2. I rechecked the probability question and had 2 min. left to do 2 problems. The second to last question was fairly easy. I plugged away and 1 minute into the problem I noticed that I did a calculation wrong because it asked for the number of females and I got a fraction. No time to do it again, so I just guessed on the last 2. Took my break and came back. Verbal: Before I clicked next to start the verbal, I went through the game plan again. I went through my head that I would do this or that if I saw an RC, SC, or CR. 4 SC's in a row and then a short RC about historians focusing too much on the race relations between blacks and whites in the rural south in the 60s and 70s. The author said that not enough focus was on the black people directly. It was so short I read it twice in ~2 minutes. I answered the questions and then came a mix of SC and CR. I got hit with the most longest, most dense passage ever in my test prep. It was worse than anything in Kaplan. It was a review on a book. I couldn't make out how the author felt about the book. Even worse, most of the qeustions were based on how the author felt about the book. He was wavering 49/51. I noticed it was an expermental (or hoped it was) passage and just plugged away. My stamina was pretty high because of all my previous practice tests, so I did not feel fatigued at all. At about Q 22 in verbal I was so anxious to see my score that it was hard concentrating on the questions. I got 2 bold face CRs. I think Bold face CRs are just another type of CR question. Having it show up does not mean anything. The first one showed up in question 5 and it was easy. The other one showed later in 20-30 and it was also easy. Another RC was about the solar system and exterterrestial life and how scientists hypothesize that there is a high liklihood of life on other planets. I don't remember the other RC passage. My prep: I started out with Kaplan and then moved on to the OG 11th Edition. I did the verbal part of OG twice. After that I moved on to Kaplan 800 and then Kaplan verbal workbook, and then finally OG verbal. It's so sad that the best material to study are bootlegged questions (gmat sets, JJs). All of the prep companies are horrible. Not one did a good job of simulating the real questions. When I first started out, I only read the debriefs from people who scored 750+. After I went through all of those posts, I started reading other debriefs from people who scored less. I think I've learned more from the people who didn't score high. I'm attaching my test scores just for reference. I did a lot of practice tests and scored much lower in my Kaplan and Manhattan tests.

Good luck to all the August test takers!!!

I just took my Gmat and I have a lot of books for sale and a boatload of electronic resources (questions and tutorials). I'd like to sell all of my books to one person. I will also give all the electronic resources for free. I will also write up a detailed study plan depending on your strengths/weaknesses/time available. All of the books I have are the latest editions. I bought all of them new and they are in perfect condition. There are no markings in any of the books. 1. Official Guide (OG) 11th Edition 2. Official Guide Verbal Supplement 3. Official Guide Math Supplement 4. Manhattan Sentence Correction Guide 5. Kaplan Verbal Workbood 6. Kaplan 800 7. Replica noteboard and pen used in the GMAT exam (it was very helpful. When I used the board the first time, it sucked. But after doing hundreds of math problems with the boards, I actually liked them better than paper.) http://www.www.urch.com/forums/gmat/48348-noteboards.html?highlight=noteboard http://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=26934&highlight=noteboard $120 To give you an idea of the electronic resources I have. There's too many to list all of them. 1. 9 official ETS paper tests 2. Kaplan Score Higher Tutorial (Questions, CAT tests, quizzes, games, tutorials, etc) 3. Kaplan Software 4. 5 800Score Computer Adaptive Tests 5. Official Guide 10th Edition (electronic copy) 6. Vstudy 7. Gmat Plus 8. ... and more.... jamesk415@yahoo.com