760 - My GMAT experience - 29-01-2005, 05:01 PM

Hi PGites

My journey for cracking the MBA entrance scenario began six months back, when I started
preparing for CAT ... I would regularly visit this site and compare my Sim-CAT scores with others to
follow my progress ... But things did'nt go off too well for me on D-day ... My splits were -
Quant - 77 percentile
DI - 92 percentile
Verbal - 99 percentile

Could'nt make it through any of the IIMs, so decided to try my luck at GMAT ... Decided to take a
month to prepare for it and give it my best shot ...

Just gave GMAT yesterday ... And man! Am I relieved it's all over! ... The worst part about
preparing for GMAT was that, unlike CAT, I would know what my score is within minutes of giving
the test ... And the result of my hard work will either pay off or go down the drain ... And in the
end, it did pay off! ... I got a 760, and the world has just turned a shade of rosy pink! ...

I wanted to share my experience with PG ... Hopefully it might benefit a few others who are looking
to break into the 700s ...

What I studied

The Official Guide -

Absolutely essential ... Especially for Verbal ... I did only the last 100 questions or so for Quant ...
But solve each and every question in Verbal ... And don't simply solve the questions ... Understand
why or why not ...

Kaplan CD -
Tests are OK, though low scoring ... Lessons are good for review ... Good to practise Quant from
here, as the questions are above the OG level ... If you're aiming for above 700, get very
comfortable with toughies ... RC's are very bad! ... The lengthy psycho-abstract mumbo-jumbo they
give is nowhere near the standard of the actual GMAT ... They'll throw you off ...

Princeton -
Verbal is good ... especially SC ... The rules are very clearly laid out ... Too few problems to practice
in their Bins, though ... Quant isn't that good ... AWA explanation was also the best among all the
material I referred to ...

ARCO -
Did'nt observe anything extraordinary here ... Just solved all the questions for practice ...

What I did not study

Barrons -
Kindly abstain ... Words are not enough to describe the Barrons experience ...

The tests I took

While giving tests, it's very important that you give the whole thing in one sitting, under a
controlled environment ... The sooner you start giving essays with your tests, the better it is ... Get
used to the four hour environment ... And spend a respectable amount of time analysing your
results ... Not just the ones you got wrong, but also the ones you got right ... Find out if you got
them right for the right reasons ...

PowerPrep -
The accepted method to start your GMAT prep is with a PP test ... People told me that the score you
get here is what you will ultimately end up with ... I got 730 in the first one and 750 in the second
one ... Both Quant and Verbal were definitely much more simpler here than most of the questions I
encountered in the actual GMAT ... But be sure to finish the two tests before you start your OG, as
all questions are repeated ...

Kaplan -
Like I mentioned, scores are low here ... I got 640, 650 and 630 ... My accuracy was about 50% in
both RC and CR ... Just could'nt identify with most of the solutions they gave ... Refrain from taking
them a week before GMAT if low scores bring you down easily ... Very good analysis for results,
though ...

Princeton -
I was'nt very impressed with the tests they gave on the CD ... Well, I did not have a net connection
on the computer where I gave my tests, so I could not check my results for the two Princeton CATs
I took ... So I can't comment on their analysis ...

How I studied

Started off with a PP ... Then sat down to finish all the Non OG material ... Princeton, Arco, Kaplan
CD ... Took the other PP ... Finally sat down with OG during the last week and solved each and
every problem systematically ...

Here are some strategies I picked up during the course of my prep ...

Quant

Unlike in CAT, in GMAT it is not a good idea to try out the process of elimination in Quant ... If
you've got your basics right, you've got more than enough time to actually solve each and every
question ... Use your scratch pad generously ... Don't be shy to write down the process ... It pays to
be sure ... And practice as many short cuts as you can for the known problem types that you might
encounter ...

For example,
A does some work in x days
B does the same work in y days
Time taken for both to do the work is
x*y/(x+y) days

A serious CAT Quant Prep should be more than sufficient to see you through any problem in GMAT
Quant ... Just avoid silly mistakes, and double check DS questions ...

Reading Comprehension

You will get 4 passages of an average length of about 40 words each ... Get comfortable with topics
with technical jargon, social issues, gender inequality ... No arbid topics here ... And time spent in
reading the passages thoroughly is time well invested ... And COMPREHEND what you're reading ...
Develop a burning interest in what you're reading ... As you keep reading, it helps if you start
asking yourself what might come next ... Break the passage down to a skeletal structure, and
you're done ... Initial practice may require you to use a scratch pad to do this, but with enough
practice you'll be able to do it mentally ... Just get the main flow down, details can be referred to
later ...

Once you do this for a passage, the content will be so imprinted in your mind that you'll be ready to
answer the questions without the need to refer back to the passage ...

Critical Reasoning

Process of Elimination is the backbone of CR and SC type questions ... But, for CR, refrain from
looking at the options immediately after reading the argument ... First frame a general idea of what
the question wants you to find out ... Nothing beats the thrill of finding out your answer among the
options listed ... If not, you'll atleast hit upon the right idea ... And that should give you reasonable
confidence to mark the option as the right answer ...

Sentence Correction

Before starting my Prep for SC, I picked up an old grammer book of mine and reviewed certain key
concepts ... Knowing basic sentence structure is essential to cracking SC ... Find out about clauses,
both independent and subordinate, subjects, verbs and other important components of a
sentence ... Be comfortable with all forms of tenses ... And then of course there are the standard
rules like misplaced modifiers, parallel structure, subject-verb agreement ... Any GMAT prep book
should get you familiar with this stuff ...

Approach towards a problem is very similar to the CR approach ... Before jumping to the options,
ask yourself what is wrong with the statement itself ... If you're able to find atleast one mistake,
immediately eliminate all options containing that mistake (of course, you have to be sure that it IS
infact a mistake!) ... Once you get your options down to two, it should be easy enough ...

Last few days

I started with the Official Guide only one week before the GMAT ... Wanted to save the best for
last ... That way, the problems I solved and the errors I made would be fresh in my memory ...
Finished the quant first and focussed on verbal over the last couple of days ... Repeated a PP the
day before just to get comfortable with the testing process ... Also kept an error log of the questions
I got wrong in SC ... Solved all these questions again on the last day ...

D-day

Watched TV the whole day till the test in the afternoon ... Did not touch any book or study
material ... Just wanted to relax myself ... Got to the centre well in time and finished the minor
formalities ... They make you sign loads of confidentiality agreement docs ... The rules are pretty
strict out there, so come prepared ... Can you believe they made me take out my sweatshirt coz it
had a hood! ... Apparently anything with a cap is not allowed ... Make sure you shave, coz they take
a mugshot of yours too ...

Without warning, I was suddenly called from the waiting room outside and thrust into a small
cubicle with a computer ... Was'nt quite ready for it so early, so had to compose myself ... Lucky
thing it begins with the essay section ... Really helps to calm your nerves ... That's why it's much
better to practice atleast 10-12 essays before the D-day ... Since this is the first section you'll be
facing, it helps if you've got atleast certain things down pat, like structure and introduction lines.

Quant was of average difficulty ... Questions 5-20 were more difficult than the rest, so schedule
your time properly ... I divided up the 75 mins into 3 parts of 25 mins each, and aimed to solve
atleast 12 questions in each section (for verbal this was 14) ... Word problems are a favourite with
ETS, so get ready to convert them all quickly into equations ... Checked and rechecked all answers,
and so managed to finish it just in time ...

Verbal started with a shocker of an SC ... Stared at the question for sometime before things started
becoming clearer ... Third question was a relatively simple passage ... Got four passages totally, of
length 35, 40, 40 and 60 ... Questions in all were manageable ... CR started pretty late for me, at
the 7th or 8th question ... Did get a couple of boldfaces in the end ...

Overall was expecting 750, so was pleasantly surprised to see 760 ... Breakup was 51 (99 perc) in
Quant and 41 (93 perc) in Verbal ... Took some time for the whole thing to sink in ... After a long
walk for half an hour, during which I made loads of calls to my family and friends, I finally settled
down ... The suspense was finally over ...
But the journey has just begun ... I have just a couple of years work-ex under my belt currently, so
I'll be applying for 2006, by when I'll have three ... Gives me plenty of time to start my research on
B-schools and work on my applications ... Since I'm very new to the US B-School applying process,
I would appreciate if someone can start me off in a broad direction ... What range of B-Schools can
I aim for with this kind of a score? ... And since Financial Aid is also a huge consideration for me,
can anyone confirm which schools might be willing to take me in with a full/partial fee waiver? ...

I hope knowing about my experience was useful to atleast a few of you ... I'll gladly answer any
specific queries you might have about preparing for GMAT ...

Best of luck!!
I wrote the GMAT exam last week and my results are in:
Verbal: 47 (99th Percentile)
Quant: 50 (95th Percentile)
Total: 770/800 (99th Percentile)
Writing Assesment: 5.5/6

First, HERE (760 - My GMAT experience) is a pointer to a post by babayaga at the pagalguy.com
forum. I took his advice on studying for the GMAT. Its a good read.

Now onto my own experience.

I used the following material to study:

* GMAC software: I took both the tests and took one test twice. The questions are not static so you
will have a different test each time (till it finally runs out of questions).
* Official Guides 11th Edition - Quantitative(green), Verbal(purple) and the Verbal+Quant books
(orange). These are indispensible. Purchase the books and complete them. If you are short on time
these are the only books you should use. I went through the Sentence Correction sections twice. I
kept track of the difficult Quant problems and did them again before the exam.
* Kaplan 2007 Premier Edition + CD: Questions are harder than the actual GMAT. Verbal is tough
and Reading Comprehension is really difficult. I scored 630, 650, 640 on the tests on the CD.
* Manhattan Sentence Correction book: The Manhattan books on other topics were not as helpful.
* GMAT Sentence Correction Blog: In the last two weeks, I spent a lot of time on this page, just
solving SC questions. It really helped me.
* Google and GMAT forums: I didn't use a grammar text, if I had a question I googled it or asked it
at a forum. I learnt a lot by answering questions at forums too.

Used but not recommended:

* Kaplan 800: Questions are difficult but I didn't see much value in using this book.
* Tata McGraw Hill: I read some quant basics from here and then did a test. It wasn't really
necessary.

I started with a Diagnostic test from the GMAC Software. I scored a 720 but I felt the score was
incorrect because I had answered quite a few questions wrong. I later realized that this was
because of a number of factors - some aren't scored and difficulty level increases as you get
questions right, some questions weigh more.

Next I went onto the Manhattan Sentence correction book. Unlike the GRE, the GMAT follows
patterns. You don't need to be proficient in English to do well. Most SC questions can be broken
down into a few categories. The trick is to identify the problem and this book will help you do so.

After this I got into solving questions from the Kaplan and the Official Guide(OG) books. As I
mentioned above, Kaplan is a lot harder than the usual GMAT so solve this for practice to improve
your speed but refrain from using this when you get close to the exam. The Official Guides are the
most IMPORTANT.

I used a small diary to keep track of some grammar quirks, the more challenging Quant problems
and the weird sentence correction sentences I came across.

I practiced actual tests using the Kaplan CD and the GMAC software. I also took a few paper tests
from GMAC. I tried to take a test every week but it wasn't always possible. The day before the test,
I took a test from the GMAC software again. Its very important to simulate the actual test
experience as many times as possible before taking the actual test.

For the writing assessment, I used the Official Guide again. There are two sample essays in the
Orange book and it lists all the writing topics used. I wrote around 4 Argument essays and 4 Issue
essays. I started with this a week before the test and was not too confident about this when I
appeared for the test. I should have done this earlier. I used the introduction and conclusion from
the essays in the OG book for all my essays. Don't reinvent the wheel!

I spent close to 3 months studying for it but it was only the second month that I was really serious.
I couldn't spend too much time in the last month since I had some issues at work that I was trying
to figure out. I took the date pretty late and only after my cousin insisted. In retrospect, I would
have focussed more on the test I had taken the date earlier. In the end, my test got rescheduled to
a few days later at a different test center because there was some construction going on at my
original test center. The important point here is that its important for your preparation to peak just
before you take the test.

Test Date: The test center is 50 miles away from where I live and my test was at 8:00am so I work
up pretty early to beat traffic and get there early. The center was quiet, they gave me a pair of ear
plugs to eliminate noise. My Argument essay went well but my Issue essay did not. I took too much
time to answer it and I didn't get time to proofread the essay. A little upset, I started the Quant
section. IMPORTANT: You have to use an erasable clipboard that you write on with a sketchpen for
scratch work. I didn't know this before hand and I had a VERY difficult time. On the page, I couldn't
tell the difference between my 7's and 4's while doing my calculations. If you can, please purchase
the erasable sheet and marker for practice before the test. As I progressed through the quant, the
questions started to get difficult and the erasable sheet didn't help. There was a point of time when
I almost decided that I had answered too many incorrect and that I should cancel my score. I'm
glad I didn't . The Verbal section on the other hand was much better.

Thats about all I can remember about my preparation right now. If I do remember something else I
will update this post. If you have any questions, leave a comment below and I will respond.

The next step is to decide which MBA program to apply to, whom to ask for recommendations etc.
Right now I'm looking for ways to improve my application.
I'll be spending a lot of time on this forum. Guys, give me some feedback, here's my profile:
Years of Experience: 4+ (India 2, US 2)
Profession: Engineer at a Systems Company (I've been with this company since I graduated)
Education:
* Undergraduate: Computer Engineering at an IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) (my GPA is
average at best).
* I've started to take weekend MBA classes at a public university. I plan to complete a Certificate
Program in Management before I apply for my MBA.
Extra Curricular Activities:
* I was involved in a few activities in college - Music and Dramatics Society, organizer for a few
Technical events, etc
* At work I'm involved with some volunteer activities and organizing some technical events.

GMAT Tips and Debrief

I’m done. All the studying is over with. And I got a 740 (48 Q, 44 V). I couldn’t have
asked for more.

Now I can relax (yeah, right - I've got applications to do) and start working on this site
so hopefully I can afford an MBA without going into too much debt (although MBA
school is a big step in my future plans, so I will still earn one even if I don’t make a dime
from this site). I am going to start with a debrief on what I did to prepare for the
GMAT. Maybe it will help somebody; maybe it will only show you how not to study.
But, it worked out for me. Be prepared, this might get long.

Resources
When I decided to start studying, I went to the bookstore and looked for a book would
give me a good overview of the math concepts. I have a job that deals a lot with
numbers, but not the kind of math that is on the GMAT. I came out of the store with
The GMAT for Dummies. Yes, you know, one of those big yellow books. Probably
not the best choice. Luckily, though, I soon found the website www.beatthegmat.com
which set me straight. I then purchased the Kaplan Premier Program, The Original
Guide (OG) 11th Edition, and both of the supplements that go with the OG. I would rank
my resources in order of importance:

The Original Guide

The Original Guide – Quantitative Supp.
The Original Guide – Verbal Supp.
www.beatthegmat.com (BTG) – Maybe higher, because this is where I learned about the
OGs.

Somewhere down here the Kaplan book.

You HAVE to get and thoroughly study the Original Guides. A lot of people use the
Kaplan books and have good success. But, if I had to do it again, I would
just stick to the OGs and BTG.

Amount of Time to Study

I decided to give myself 3 months to study. However, I took a lot longer because I kept
pushing it back. Don’t do that. Set a date, schedule it, and get to work. I waited until a
felt I had a good grasp on topics before I scheduled the test. Then I gave myself seven
more weeks to study. When I got down to the last week, I was burned out. I wished I
had taken it earlier. My confidence took some hits being burned out like that and I was
worried that I couldn’t get a good score on the test. I think that everyone can prepare for
the GMAT in 3 months if they make a plan and stick to it.

Studying
Now the good stuff: how I actually studied. When I started, I had all intentions to set up
a good plan, study for several hours a night and all weekend, keep meticulous records
and all of that good stuff. It didn’t happen. So, I just started out doing some reviews of
quant topics. Then, I started working on problems.

I started in the Q Supplement from the beginning and worked myself through it. I really
enjoyed PS the most. I hated DS, so I didn’t to that much at the beginning. I also threw
in some Verbal here and there. But, mostly, at the beginning, I would just work on PS
problems and go over them. However, I told myself I would go over the questions in
depth, but I was usually too tired after doing the questions to spend enough time
reviewing them. That was a mistake. Reviewing right and wrong answers is the best
way to get a grasp on topics.

About the last month of studying, I made a study plan. Each day I focused on one
section by answering and reviewing 20 questions (I started at the back of the OGs with
the harder questions). I would also do 5 questions from the 2 sections that I had focused
on the previous 2 days. I liked this plan and stuck to it pretty well. If you’re stronger in
one area, you can focus on that section less than on the others.

I also learned a lot by browsing over the BTG forums most days. Maybe even more
importantly, the “I Beat the GMAT Section” has some great motivating stories of others
in your shoes that did well on the GMAT. As Zig Ziglar said, “People complain that
motivation never lasts. Well, neither do baths. That’s why I recommend both daily.”
Reading these stories helped me stay motivated throughout the process.

The timing on the test was never a huge problem for me. I’m pretty good at answering
enough of the Q problems quickly to give me extra time on the harder problems. Verbal
was even less of a problem. I read the question, read the answers to narrow down, then
answer. I finished the first 25 problems in about 30 minutes on the test, and finished the
whole V section with about 10 minutes to spare. So, I never did many timed problem
sets other than the 3 practice tests I took.

But, if you find timing to be an issue for you, I suggest doing a large portion of your
practice problems under timed conditions. You will also want to do more practice tests
to get used to the timing of the test. This will give you a feel for how fast you need to
work to finish the test in time.

I’m not a fan of long tests. Actually, I’m not even a friend or distant relative of them. I
can do them and do them well, but taking full-length tests is not a way that I like to
study. But, I did take five practice tests during my course of study. I started with
GMAT Prep 1. About half-way through the quant section, I got really sick (really odd, I
was even having trouble seeing) and hurried through the test. I got a 560 and thought I
was doomed. But, a week later I retook it and did much better.

GMAT Prep 1 – 1st time – 560

GMAT Prep 2 – 2nd time – 700
MGMAT Test – 680
GMAT Prep 2 – 1st time – 730
GMAT Prep 2 – reinstall – 730 (I saw a few repeats, but not too many)

Tracking Questions
I knew that reviewing questions would be very important, but I didn’t want to waste time
reviewing questions that I knew were right. So, I developed an easy little grading scale
that I used to rate every question that I answered.
1 - Question was easy, 99% positive it was correct.
2 - Pretty sure it was right, but a little iffy.
3 – Got an answer, but don’t feel confident at all.
4 – Comfortable with the concept, but can’t figure out the answer.
5 – No idea, don’t know concept or have any clue how to answer question.

Using this, I was able to quickly see how many I really needed to delve deep into the
answer, and how many were just careless errors. I would highly recommend using this
scale or coming up with a way to rate the questions you do.

Suggestions
If I were to do this again, I would focus more on reviewing answers and understanding
why a question was right or wrong. Not just until I think I know how to do it. But
understand the question, how to answer it, shortcuts, easy mistakes, etc.

Also, near the end of my studying, I started focusing on specific question types each
day. I would go to Beatthegmat.com and do a search on a topic, say rate, mixture,
probabilities, whatever it may be. Then I would work on those and learn all of the
different methods that a topic could be tested. I felt that I really started to understand the
different topics by using this method. BTG has many questions posted from the
GMATPrep tests and other sites, and I felt that there were plenty of questions for each
type.

Keep a log of lessons learned and review them. I didn’t start reviewing all of the notes I
had made until my last month. I found that I had been making lots of the same mistakes
that I could have gotten right if I had just reviewed and learned the notes that I had
made.

That's all for now. If I think of other things from my preparation I will add them. Stay
tuned. Next I will discuss the actual testing experience.