RNAMAN

My prediction is that if you keep your nerve, you`ll score between 730 and 750.

Hi!! The pp results after [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] should not be too different from your actual GMAT scores. Here`s what I got. pp1 (before OG) - 700 pp2 after [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] - 750 Real GMAT - 740 My logic - Seeing [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] may give you a bias but sometimes the bias is the fact that you recognize your own mistakes. Since the real GMAT is so similar to the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip], part of that bias also pushes up your GMAT score.

Congratulations Alakshma!! I was a silent admirer of your math skills even before your GMAT test, just looking at the way you systematically took apart and made even apparently tough questions look so easy (That sentence may not be acceptable GMAT english). I should say I benefited a lot from your explanations. Congrats again!! Vishwas

You are all correct!! Dont worry. I got only 570 in my first Kaplan CAT and scored 740 in the real GMAT. I hope that gives you the confidence. Study from the official guide. Vishwas

Dear Niranjan Soni, Sorry to hear about your disappointment, but here is what I would do to improve SC. When you went through the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] SC questions, did you mark down your mistakes and go through explanations? Every SC question on the GMAT can be closely compared to a prototype sentence in the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] SC pool. Oftentimes I observed myself ruling out certain answer choices just becasue they dint sound right to me. However these choices sometimes turned out to be correct. So I had to learn those types of sentence constructions that I thought were not right but that turn out to be typical GMAT usages. I think if you adopt a scientific strategy, you can win the SC challenge although you are not a native speaker. I`m an Indian who never inculcated the habit of reading books as a kid, so I thought it would be a handicap. Fortunately, it turns out that we can do this by sheer logic and observation. So dont lose hope. Just concentrate on this bit. Since you have a nice quant score, I`m sure you`ll hit your goal with some practice. Vishwas

Thanks a lot!!

Thank you. If you find the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] questions easy, you will find the real GMAT easy. I dont think that the real GMAT is harder than the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] in math. However, I think the CAT kind of probes your level in the first 6 or 10 questions-some of which are kind of harder. I took about 6 minutes for the second question - a combinations question because I was nervous and not thinking clearly, but I knew I cant afford to make a mistake that early in the section. The 11th question onwards the difficulty is constant (actually very easy - some easier than OG). I tend to make silly mistakes in DS and I knew I had done so just when I hit the confirm key for a couple of DS questions. So may be I got pulled into an easy pool. I had a good 11 minutes remaining after finishing math. With the CR, I thought some arguments were long and verbose but not that intellectually challenging. Usually 3 of the 5 choices are ridiculous and can be ruled out immediately. Also, time yourself well so that you neither lag behind too much nor hurry up too much. With me what happened was when I reached my 30th question or so, there was an RC passage and I thought I was not going fast enough to reach the end. so I clicked C for all the answers for the passage. This I did because I knew I can answer the following CR and SC questions correctly if I had the time for them. Unfortunately, when I finished there were 8 minutes remaining. In retrospect, had I not hurried that much, may be I could have gotten those too. I dont have much to complain coz I`m happy with the score. But this could be useful info for the future. Hope this helps!! All the best - You`ve probably heard this a zillion tims but nevertheles - YOU WILL DO AS WELL IF NOT BETTER IN THE REAL TEST THAN IN THE PP

Like many others, I`ve been a silent observer mainly due to lack of confidence in myself. I am extremely grateful to this forum for its inputs. Preparation time - Three weeks Kaplan and [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip]. Kaplan CATs - 580,560, 580 and 600 PP1 - 700 PP2 - 750 Official guide was the most useful (next only to this forum because only here did I learn that [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] is the bible). Initially I became very nervous after the math started. Questions got very tough around the 6th or 7th Q and then got easier. In fact the 12th question onwards it was so easy that I thought I made early mistakes. Couple of those mistakes, I realized just after hitting the confirm key and they were DS type. The second question was the only probability question - simple logic. Verbal - no drama - standard irritating back to back passages around the 12th question or so - the women society types. SCS and CR were easy after [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip]. Since my work experience is only two years now, I`ll apply to B-schools after another couple of years.

Real GMAT - 740 (49Q, 41V) PP1 - 700 PP2 - 750 (after [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] except DS) Kaplan CAT - 570, 580, 560, 600

THanks a lot Mercedes for sharing your experience!! I can totally relate to the feeling when the answer comes to mind as soon as you step out of the test. I do that all the time. All the best for your application to B-schools!! Rnaman

Hi Erin, I`m new to this site. First of all thank you very much for maintaining this. I had no clue about the best ways to prepare for the GMAT. Getting to know everyone`s experience is really helpful and inspiring. I have a couple of weeks of prep time (of course with full-time work) but I think following this site will make a difference in my score. Rnaman

Hi Var4U, You can create an account when you register at PrincetonReview.com Just go to that website and just follow the instructions to register (near the login box). Once the account is created, you can use that username and password to authenticate and upload your test results on to the website. The you can review your test results on the web itself. HTH RNAman