Hi evrybdy......
First of all i wud like to thank all pagal guys adn girls for their valuable posts.......
Frankly speaking, this forum and scoretop have helped me out to touch 700 mark.....
Before posting my experiences and pieces of advice i wud like to say that this wud be no different or extra-ordinary post.
I wud like to address the points that wud be helpful for the people who are not so called (safely ) killers of GMAT ( i mean those who can crack GMat with only 3-4 weeks of prep or soo and still manage to touch the killer mark 750) ....
Note : this gone be a very big post , so be prepared for it.
Abt me :
Iam software guy with 2 yrs experience in one of the leading software companies in india ... did my BTech from one of the reputed colleges of Andhra.....
Right from my school days i had this allergy or some discomfot for English....
I hated studying english in my school days or in my college days... though i love to watch English movies....
I am stressing this to clear off all those false beliefs that one can cross 700 only if one is very strong in Verbal right from school days or soooo...
But there is a catch to this , we need to give extra effort to match all the proficiencies that we might have achieved had we concentrated or had strong zeal towards english......
Preparation :::::
I made up my mind the day i joined my company that i have to join MBA , but don't know how to......
Just gave CAT last year to get the feel of it : got some 64 %
so felt that to get seat through CAT i need to improve atleast 34% with solid preparation.
THen i made a quick decision to try my chances on GMAT...
My PREPARATION IS A KIND OF TEST CRICKET MATCH.
i wanted to give max time for the exam so that in the end i sudn't feel that had i got few more weeks i wud have done -kind of excuses..........
applied for the exam in the mid of Feb ..... D-day 10 Aug...
1st month just went like that without much work...
i spent time collecting materil( even i didn't havea single book on GMAT till Mid March)
One day i started to fell that i am loosing the whole purpose of giving ample time to prewpare , as i wasted 1 month ...
believe me even the feeling of sitting down and trying to study for 1/2 hr was a kind of great achievement... lot the practise of studying right from my college days....
started with princeton: studied and wrote two exams : 680 and 660 ( some of the questions i faced them while practising individual sections)
then in the meantime i got hold of OG11 practised most of the questions ...but not all
I was failing m
iserably in SC , and for RC & CR was able to solve with more time.... Then i started studying Kaplan (may be by the first week of May) Kaplan 1 : 560 kaplan 2 : 600 kaplan 3 : 580 These scores made me to think that my aim sud n't be to cross 720 but rather it sud be to cross 650... then i took Princeton : 590 , (end of June), Now u people can imagine how i would have felt abt my GMAT prep... I felt i was really unfit for this GMAT , this was the time when Maverick and some of the posts here helped me to regain my lost confidence.... Got hold of Kaplan 800 ( let me stress this point ... whatever u may aim for ,it's the best book to study before u feel u r done with the prep)... After solving Kaplan 8000 i felt i can solve the GMAT... Gmatprep - 640 ( old feelings again started to haunt me ..) But one obsevration that i made was : my accuracy was not the real problem but it was the speed which was the real spoilsport ( last 8-10 i never used to solve in verbal section) , Now i was left out with only 2 options : either increase the speed with more or less same accuracy or live with these kinds of scores.... But i have to improve my speed within 16 days.. which i couldn't achieve in last 3 months... Reduced my time durations while solving individual sections.... just before a week i gave Gmatprep 2 : 720 ( this time i was able to reach 35-36 questions ,but cudn't even give flukes to last 40 & 41 questions) This made me feel for the first time that i am near my target.... Solved Gmatpepr again and again individual section wise.... ONE SUD ALWAYS SOLVE AS MANY TIMES AS POSSIBLE . Now i was confident that if it's my day i can touch 720 + , but about my lower limit i had no idea( i still remember 590 Princeton score) D-DAY
To make sure i don't add any new surprises from my side ,i checked the exam centre and made sure i have all the things that i need to carry....
Reached the centre in time 8:35 Am
satrted the exam around 9:00 , uwud be asked to furnish info abt ur choice to apply for univs...
i don't understand why they don't reserve this to the end of the exam who wud be interested to fill the univs at that time so finally i satrted to write essays...
Argument was gud but couldn't really write well the issue.Got 10 mins as break... i don't know when this break duration got changed...
But that's it ,Sarted Math test after 10 mins... Did face some REALLY TRICKY BUT NOT TOUGH questions in the first 10 questions .....Was mainatinig the tempo when i noticed that i saolved 17 odd questions in 30 mins... ....
MY FIRST MISTAKE :::: lost the concentration and was a bit over confident .....
solved just 6 in the next 15 mins.. in the end left out with 2 questions 20 secs
took the break....10 mins and ready for verbal section :
Started little cautiously... but was able to mqaintain my speed till 25 questions wherer again i started feeling the samedevil hauting me again...
MY SECOND BIG MISTAKE::
Beleiev me i was soo out of my mind that i felt i shud just guess few 3-4 questions adn finish off this exam as soon as possible.... ( i repent even now for those thoughts)... actually iawas looking at the time to see when it wud be over....
Don't know what got into my brain ....all this slowed me a bit and i was left with 4 questions and 65 secs ...
But whatever be the reasons and results of these mistakes i am satisfied that atleast i touched 700 ,for if had i got 690 i would have cursed myself for all those weird ideas and mistakes....
To conclude : the gist of my this long post is .the key to succeed is
1) Faith ( no matter whatever test scores u get.... EASY TO SAY BUT MOST DIFFICULT)
2) Concentration ( again difficult to maintain especially when u have to be alert for abt 4 hrs)
3) Continue hard work... ( u need to be smart enough to atleast gauge ur mistakes adn try hard not to repeat them )
So, before now that i have to move on to next stage : applcation
Please give me advice on how to start and how to approach and other related stuff.....
Finally cracked GMAT elusive target: 700 (49- Math, 35- Verb) -
11-08-2006, 04:40 PM
Re: Finally cracked GMAT elusive target: 700 (49- Math, 35- Verb) -
11-08-2006, 06:08 PM
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