rachmak1

I was just browsing EBAY and found this deal. Can I say WOW! I got a 740 studying using the manhattan GMAT guides. The Manhattan GMAT Complete Prep Set 11 books + 7 extra - eBay (item 320240621661 end time Apr-22-08 23:05:20 PDT)

I'm never worked on the Kaplan Premier. Kaplan 800 was pretty good but I think you should be fine with just the OGs and MGMAT

Does anyone have any low GPA/alternative transcript stories to share? Has anyone taken any of the online courses from UCLA? Just wondering if they are hard or not.

GMAT12345 You've showed through your practice test results that you can score a 700. I think youo definetly have the content in your head. Don't stop learning and reviewing the content but when you take your practice tests make sure to incorporate a test taking game plan. Meaning: Practice your timing, use a timing grid to stay on track (so you don't end up guessing blindly towards the end) Use a grid to eliminate wrong answers You are almost there!

I had to guess on the last few questions as well. Don't worry about that, they are definetly harder and take longer to interpret. Just try your best to complete the problems in time and make sure you understand the questions you got wrong or guessed on in your reviews. If you can get your speed up in MGMAT, then your speed will be fine for actual gmat.

I agree with Lhomme's comments above. MGMAT's Quant was definetly harder than the actual Quant on the GMAT in my opinion. The questions were longer and required you to overcome various tricks. During the actual GMAT, the questions were quite similar in content but less time consuming. For me, even though I scored lower in MGMAT on verbal, I made it a point to understand the concept behind each of problems, why I got them wrong, and to write down the concepts. It doesn't matter that you memorize that the answer is A,B,C,or D. Don't let the score matter. Re-do each problem over and over again. As for my actual scores, on the actual GMAT, I received a 49. In the MGMAT, I can't remember but they were typically in the high 39-42. Big difference as you can tell. Finally, I can't stress to you, a week prior to your test, don't do any big studying or cramming sessions. Go over notes, review the concepts, review som SC sentences....but make sure you are VERY well rested. If you aren't rested, you won't be focused to catch many of the tricks that you observed and learned about while studying. If you have access on to the manhattan GMAT online center, i'd review the Timing online lab. It addresses some things which were very helpful: - If you can't understand the concept of a question within 1 minute, go to strategic guessing. Just because you have an extra 2 minutes doesn't mean you'll get this problem. The actual gmat's problems are not meant to take a long time to solve. I know for a fact that there were many problems which I had to make "strategic guesses" by eliminating obviously wrong answers and making a blind guess between the final two or three. This applies for verbal as well. - Also, write down a timing guide on your notepad. I did this religously on each piece on my notepad paper (while I was filling out the administrative stuff). This was the only way I could stay on track. On previous tests, I ended up guessing on the last 5 questions which was very detrimental to my score.

Dear Friends, (and yes, I do consider you all my friends as the people on this forum were who inspired me to never give up on the gmat and to give me inspiration that this is possible). I have spent the last two years studying and worrying about the GMAT. It's been a long and painful journey for me but I believe it's finally over. I discovered testmagic a while ago but until now have been lurker. First off, thanks to all the wonderful people. The fact that you shared all your failures and successes just shows that there are people out there who still care about others and do not expect anything in return for time and efforts. I'll try to give a debrief but if you have any specific question, just PM me. It all started two years ago. I decided that I would want to go to business school and took a kaplan course. My first few months of studying weren't focused at all. I didn't know how challenging of a test this would be. After two years, and 4 actual GMAT examinations (yes 4!), I finally realized my potential and scored a 740. Background: I'm a 28 year old IT consultant working for one of the big 5 consulting firms. I have a BS from University of California, San Diego and have ~6 years of work experience. I only got serious about going to B-school a few years ago and have made the GMAT my priority, wait...MY LIFE. However, I travel quite a lot of work (every week) I pretty much have two hours to study each night, which I find challenging because I work almost 12 hour days. However, I dedicate my weekends to studying. For my final stretch, I committed about 4 weeks of no weekend activities. It's really been quite a journey, but this is one thing I never gave up on and I am so proud that i have some results to show for my efforts. Prepration: I tried everything....Kaplan tutor, 800GMAT, Kaplan 800 and of course the OG guides. Obviously the OG guides were the best resources, however the problem I had was that after a while I was remembering the answers to all the questions. I wouldn't have to need to solve the question to know what the answer was. Fear not, if you are having this problem (at least in verbal) it always helps to understand the wrong answers. This helped me tremendously on the test. Knowing what wrong answers looked like and why the GMAC would select them as wrong. Anyways, for my final phase of preparation, I used mainly MGMAT and the OG Guides. I feel the Manhattan GMAT guides are excellent as they explain the theory and structure behind each topic. These are definetly a must for anyone who's not a genius like me. Seriously, get these and do all the practice questions over and over. They will help. Additionally manhattan gmat incorporates harder questions than the actual gmat. Don't get discouraged if you get these wrong. Just make sure you undertstand why you got them wrong and the theory behind each answer. I wrote down all my mistakes and notes in a binder and would review them whenever I get a chance. Anyways, I don't need to say it but the OG guides are the best. Some people say they are easy in comparison with the real test, but just try doing them under test conditions. You'll see that the harder question are quite challenging. Nevertheless, make sure you understand all your mistakes. For the verbal, make sure you undertand all the incorrect answers as well! I also used the manhattan gmat online practice center. The question banks and resources were quite helpful, especially the online lab regarding timing. Speaking of timing, acing the gmat relies on knowing the content but that's just 70% of it in my opinion. There is a lot of gamesmanship involved as well. You really need to master the skills of making confident strategic guesses and managing your time. The manhattan gmat has some excellent strategies for doing so. In conclusion, to prepare fo the gmat, i used the OG guides, GMATprep, and all the MGMAT resources. As some others mention, you don't need tons of material. It's more important to understand 10 problems completely then to simply fill out 100 problems. Enough said! Here are a sample of my practice scores MGMAT - 680 MGMAT - 690 MGMAT - 670 ACTUAL - 740. Of course I've taken the test a few times as well as dabbled with other practices tests as well. The MGMAT, are the only worthwhile ones I feel. As other say, the Quant is harder and the verbal is pretty similar to the actual tests. Nevertheless, no matter what material you use, in the end, all that matters is that you understand the concepts and are able to quickly apply them to problems. Pre-Test- The day before my test, I didn't do much. Just lounged around, went to the gym and relaxed my mind. That's very important. Don't try to learn any last minute concepts. If you haven't learned the concept by the last day, you probably won't learn it! In the last few days, it's more important to prepare yourself so that you'll be awake and 100% focused for the test. Test Day - Had a hearty breakfast and did some quant problems. Also went over the parts I highlighted in the MGMAT sentence correction book and looked over some of my personal notes. I arrived at the test center early and they let me start test early. Test - Since i've taken the test before, I used all the time to read through the instructions to fill out my test sheet. This includes putting down answer grids in each page of my notepad. Also, more importantly, i put down my timing grid. THIS WAS CRITICAL as it helped me stay on track during the test. I honestly feel I did so much better on this test because I didn't waste precious time on 1 singles question. Instead, I moved on when I knew I didn't have a good chance of answering the question completely. AWA - nothing too challenging. i actually finished early and used the remaing time to write down quant formulas and tips on my notepad. Quant - Felt pretty good. Was getting some difficult questions. Saw some combination problems, probabilitiy questions. Unless you are getting to the harder bin questions, I wouldn't worry too much about these. I got two work and rates questions. Overall, I used MGMAT's techniques for the DS questions which were pretty helpful. For the DS questions, it's important to pre-phrase so you know exactly what you are looking for. Verbal - I actually didn't think I did so good but ended up scoring in the 95th percentile. Unlike quant, I didn't feel like I was able to be 100% sure of my answers. But again, I think for critical reasoning, I had so many practice problems under my belt that I knew which type of responses were automatically wrong. 20% of the time, I didn't even have to be sure of the answer, I just had a feel of what the answer would feel like and was able to make an eduacated guess. SC was OK though I thought I was getting some easy ones. For me, eliminating the obviously wrong answers usually left me with two answers and I used my gut to answer pick between the two. For RC, I took notes. I think taking notes helps you comphrehend the passage. Even if you make a bunch of scribbles and abbreviations; writing something down will help you comphrehend the passage. Though most of the times, I never even referred back to my notes and scribbles ( I couldn't read them anyways) I would know the general idea of each paragraph and be able to reference a specific area. I ended the Verbal section with some easy SC which worried me. Towards the end, i was actually quite worried. Some easy verbal questions towards the end got me worried but I just said to myself f&%k it, let's just see what I got. When i got my score and saw 740, i couldn't believe it. I did some mini fist pumps and left the test center as soon as possible to call my girlfriend and all my buddies who knew I was taking it. Honestly, like i said before, it's been a two year journey for me and I wouldnt' wish this upon anyone. There were times when I took my previous tests and got a *gasp* 590 on the test before this. I thought, well shit, i'm just stupid, getting a good GMAT score just isn't in my cards. But for whatever reason, I always picked myself up and said "one more time." Another thing, it's not about studying a ton, it's about studying smart. Learn the concept, understand your mistakes, and take practices tests under real conditions (including essays!). Finally, you must have faith in yourself. This test can be beaten with enough practice and confidence. I promise you this. You just need to make the commitment and never give up on yourself. Heck, even if I never go to business school, I'll always feel accomplished for beating this test. Do not make any excuses for you. I travel for work every week and work 12 hours a day. By the time I get back to my hotel room at night, I just want drink beer and watch Family Guy, but you just gotta force yourself to open that darn GMAT book. The GMAT does not care that you travel for work, have a child to care for, have an ******* boss. The GMAT doesn't care! I've waited a long time to write a successful debrief. I only hope that you all won't have to wait as long as me to get the GMAT monkey off your back. Again, never give up. NEVER GIVE UP!!

I just sat for the test after taking MGMAT Tests: MGMAT - 680 MGMAT - 690 MGMAT - 670 ACTUAL - 740 The MGMAT is a must do. The math is definetly harder and the verbal is comparable. It's a definite must to understand all the problems and use it to practice your timing.

I sat and took a test for 740 today. Been semi-lurking for the last six months. Will debrief later. DO NOT GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS!!!!! DO NOT GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS!!!! If I can do it, I assure you can do it. Actual GMAT Scores 620, 660, 650, 590, 740... Will debrief more later!