How to take the GMAT
It made me
relieved 
"an intense return to the books with great satisfaction at the end"
How I did it: This is a repost from a post I made right after getting it:
Some background information, majored in management (information systems) two years ago. I basically never studied nor attended classes and crammed all my exams. It seems the only way I can study is to cram it. My original plan was to study for three months until I "internalized" the GMAT (BECOME THE GMAT), but due to my work (Consultant), I could not sustain the study.
TODAY, I just did the GMAT and received a 680, the score was not a surprise since the tests I did (with their averages) predicted between 580 and 720: (I kind of wished to get 720 true score with a reported 750 due to standard error but hey...)
GMATPrep #1 = 680
Kaplan #1 = 550
MGMAT = 630 (Q42 V34)
GMATPrep #2 = 610 (Q36 V38)
GMAT = 680 (Q49 V34) (true score 650 to 710 due to standard error from what I read)
The thing is, I only started studying serious about 10 days ago!! Before that I knew OF the GMAT and its format but it was about 6 months ago. (yes, procrastination ended costing me USD$100 more...)
Having worked in Consulting for two years made me feel that my verbal was stronger (showed by 3 practice test). The surprise was that verbal section the official was much tougher than anything I've seen in the book. The critical reasoning were quite complex compared to what I have studied.
The quant. section was much easier, in all my preparation tests, I ran out of time for the last 10 questions (GMAT Prep) or could not solve them because they were too difficult (Kaplan and MGMAT). But on the test day, taking everything one step at the time allowed me to solve most math problems. Note that I did run out of time on question 37 and had only enough time to skim it and press Confirm! (I solved question 36)
Your opinions? comments? feedback?
TODAY, I just did the GMAT and received a 680, the score was not a surprise since the tests I did (with their averages) predicted between 580 and 720: (I kind of wished to get 720 true score with a reported 750 due to standard error but hey...)
GMATPrep #1 = 680
Kaplan #1 = 550
MGMAT = 630 (Q42 V34)
GMATPrep #2 = 610 (Q36 V38)
GMAT = 680 (Q49 V34) (true score 650 to 710 due to standard error from what I read)
The thing is, I only started studying serious about 10 days ago!! Before that I knew OF the GMAT and its format but it was about 6 months ago. (yes, procrastination ended costing me USD$100 more...)
Having worked in Consulting for two years made me feel that my verbal was stronger (showed by 3 practice test). The surprise was that verbal section the official was much tougher than anything I've seen in the book. The critical reasoning were quite complex compared to what I have studied.
The quant. section was much easier, in all my preparation tests, I ran out of time for the last 10 questions (GMAT Prep) or could not solve them because they were too difficult (Kaplan and MGMAT). But on the test day, taking everything one step at the time allowed me to solve most math problems. Note that I did run out of time on question 37 and had only enough time to skim it and press Confirm! (I solved question 36)
Your opinions? comments? feedback?
Lessons & tips: Know yourself and your study style, set yourself realistic expectations.
Resources: Studied:
- OG11 Quantt heory to get frustrated at the poor explanation and mistakes and switched to
- Princeton Review (Q and V) book as a ramp-up
- OG11 Verbal Review
- Manhattan GMAT Sentece Correction (half of the book, only discovered it two days before the test)
- Looked up faster and better way of doing math online (e.g.: prime factoring, short division, geometry shortcuts)
I discovered Beat The GMAT three days before the test and found the MGMAT Sentence Correction Reference to be of great help! Mainly, the community reassured me that people were people, not everyone gets 740+. And think of all the people who take the tests unprepared, I mean, 50% gets under 550?
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