Baby Steps - 750 Q48 V45

[ChanduChick]

GMAT is done. 13th July 2007, Friday. Along with the privilege to start my own thread, comes the responsibility to help others ace the GMAT. So, here goes.

First, I’ll start with the disaster. I’ve always lived in Mumbai and had taken the GRE a long time ago. I remembered my GRE centre and happily assumed that GMAT will be held there itself. So, I strolled into the building, even checked-in at the gate. Found it a little weird that everyone before me had checked-in for Prometric, whereas I had to check-in for Pearson. That’s when the alarm bells started ringing. I almost ran to the Prometric attendant and asked him whether GMAT is held there. I had reached the wrong centre!!!! The attendant told me the way to the GMAT Pearson centre. I had No idea whatsoever about the place. He said it’ll take me 45 minutes to get there. I made it in 20. Thanks to my dad, who always pushes me out of home much earlier than I need to, I reached the correct centre with half an hour to spare. Luckily, I don’t panic easily. So I wasn’t really stirred by all this frenzy. So, in the end, I reached. And this was just the beginning!

The staff at the centre is very friendly. They help you with whatever u want. I got finger-printed, got my snap clicked, kept my stuff in a drawer and was directed to the examination room. I didn’t carry anything to eat or drink and I didn’t feel the need for it. There’s a water cooler at the centre and you can drink a little water in the breaks. I got NO pencils and NO paper. I got a marker and an erasable notepad for the rough work. I asked for pencils and paper but they’re not allowed. The marker and the notepad were unfamiliar territory but there wasn’t any option.

The attendant directed me to my terminal and I began with all the tutorials and the directions. Had seen them on the GMATPrep tests and I just hurried through them. Oh yes, I also entered 5 colleges to which I wanted my scores sent. And then the test begins.

The Essay Sections
Argument, Issue…..wrote something. In each of these, I spent all of the first 10 minutes writing down points in the notepad and thinking of the flow of the essay. Then, I typed away for 20 minutes. My suggestion is to think for a while, write down whatever comes to you, and only then start typing. U have 30 minutes. Use each minute carefully. There’s nothing to celebrate in finishing it in 15-20 mins. Ok, so the scores aren’t that important, but that doesn’t mean u don’t take it seriously. I don’t know what my score will be, but I’m happy about what I wrote.

The Math Section
I’m mathematically challenged. Not that I’m bad at it or anything, but I’m a little slow at it. My approach to solving a problem is correct and I can analyse a problem and find out how to solve it, but the additions, subtractions, multiplications and divisions take time. The questions weren’t anything out of the ordinary. They were like the questions in OG and GMATPrep tests. I finished the section in time. Not too soon and not too hurried. I wanted to get a better score in Math, but I couldn’t. End of the section. Sigh of relief.

The Verbal Section
Verbal, I’m happy about. I have never been too bad at it. And I love the subject. Studying it had been fun and I was looking forward to this section. It wasn’t too bad. Ok, so I didn’t get it all correct but I reached 98%ile. And I had fun doing it. I had 4 RCs. All the subjects were already handled in the OG. Not the actual RCs, but the subjects. Men-women rights, science, industrial revolution. No jarring subject. I reached the last question of the section with 14 minutes to spare. I wished I could revise all the questions. But obviously, I couldn’t do that. I spent ALL the 14 minutes on the last question. It wasn’t too difficult but I wanted to end the section in the last minute. Verbal Section done. I suddenly realized that the entire exam was done. It really didn’t feel very taxing. But I was happy. No matter what score I would get, I was happy that it was over.

Hurried through all the info screens. Carefully checked that I had selected “report scores” and not “cancel scores” and went ahead! Honestly, when I saw 750, I thought that was my upper limit of the exam and somewhere they would mention my lower limit and then give my actual score. I rechecked and realized that that was my actual score. I didn’t feel anything. I just looked at the screen and kind of blanked out and didn’t know what to do next. I know it’s not a stellar score, I mean, it’s not like I scored an 800, but still, this is what happened to me. Anyways, I came to my senses, walked out, collected my score print-out and rechecked my final score. NOW I was convinced that I’d got a 750. Phew!

My scorecard
Math : Score- 48; %ile- 86
Verbal : Score- 45; %ile- 98
Total : Score- 750; %ile- 98

The preparation
I prepared for about 3 months. I read the following books –
1. Official guide – 11th edition completely, 10th edition-as much as I could.
2. Kaplan GMAT
3. Princeton Review
4. Manhattan SC – MUST read - twice
5. Manhattan CR – can avoid – nothing new in it
6. Manhattan RC – can avoid – nothing new in it
7. Kaplan Verbal
8. OG Verbal ability or maybe it’s known by some other name.
9. Kaplan 800

I also read the verbal notes by Spidey, Sahil, rajat_nda.

I did NOT do the 1000 SC, CR, RC and whatever else. I tried reading a few SC but they did not look like the ones in OG. They were not in keeping with the “common GMAT errors”. I didn’t like them and so I didn’t do them. If u have time to either re-do the OG or do the 1000 series, re-do the OG. I had time to do both but…well, I didn’t like the 1000 series. To add, I was never too bad at Verbal, so I could afford to skip the series. If, solving them, clears your concepts and gives you confidence, please do them. You have to find your own comfort level.

I want to thank IT_Sucks, Sandy_Venkat and Nalin for some of the Study Material. Hope you guys are doing good!! I want to thank all those people with posts on PG about their GMAT experience. It helps to get a feel of the exam and guidance for the study plan. PG is better than ANY classroom teaching or counseling that might exist for GMAT.

Almost everyone before me has said this, and I’ll reiterate for emphasis, OG is key. Do it, mark the ones you got wrong, go through them again and again. Practise standard questions from standard books. While looking for material, you might get loads of it. Maths and English are unlimited subjects. There is no dearth of study material. Don’t get bogged down by it. Do the standard stuff. Practise as much as you can.

For the study methodology, mark all the questions that you got incorrect or those you found to be difficult. Come back to them after a few weeks so that u’ve studied some other material in between. Solve them again. Once, again mark the ones you got incorrect. Try to understand how to alter your thinking process to get those questions right. Getting THAT question right isn’t important. Understanding the thinking process is important.

During my preparation, I attempted only 2 practice tests. GMATPrep 1 and GMATPrep 2. One without the essays and one with the essays. The language of the questions, the ‘feel’ of the questions is just like the actual GMAT questions. I can’t really explain the ‘feel’ of a question – but it’s there. As for more tests, I felt bored to sit for that long. Solving more tests might have improved my score, and then again, maybe not. I’ll never know.

Now, the application process starts. I’m trying to talk to myself and know me better. Am trying to ask myself what I want from my life, family, career, MBA. GMAT is a small baby step to reach the final goal. It’s just the beginning.

[sachin_h]

Congrats Chandni..
Are you saying that u used only the powerprep tests and no other practice tests...
thats gr8...
BTW, did the list of colleges help u?

[ChanduChick]

Originally Posted by sachin_h

Congrats Chandni..
Are you saying that u used only the powerprep tests and no other practice tests...
thats gr8...
BTW, did the list of colleges help u?

thanks!
great to pata nahi....but yes, i did only 2 practice tests. The tests sent by the GMAT ppl....they're not powerprep i think....they're GPrep....it used to be powerprep earlier.
yeah, the list helped. I finally went with the old formula - 1 dream college, 1 safe college and 3 'i would like to get into them' kinda colleges.

[sachin_h]

Kaplan 800 & Kaplan Verbal...Do they have different questions....or do the questions repeat?
Also, which is the better one? Both these books & the OG 11 book is out of stock in most shops in Mumbai

[nikhilkulk]

Amazing Score
Congrats Chandni
Now we know who's sponsoring the next meet
All the best with your applications

Congratulations once again

[ChanduChick]

Originally Posted by sachin_h

Kaplan 800 & Kaplan Verbal...Do they have different questions....or do the questions repeat?
Also, which is the better one? Both these books & the OG 11 book is out of stock in most shops in Mumbai

Both these books are different. And they're both very nice. Try to do both if you can.
Hmmm....which is better? The standard of both the books is different. Kaplan 800 is tougher. They cannot be compared as they're not at the same 'level'. If you MUST choose, because of time constraints or whatever, go for Kaplan 800. The level is higher. It'll open you to a whole new level of GMAT verbal questions. But u have to already be comfortable with the usual GMAT questions to do this higher level. Do it after the OG and the other basic level books.

The books are out of stock? U're not even getting the photocopies? PM me your mail id.

[HarshaRocks]

What a thread Title

Congrats Chandni. ATB with apping

[sid_dharth]

Hello Chandni

Congratulations for the gr8 score!!!

When I saw the thread title, I thought what will it contain???

Then I read your post!!!

ATB for the application process!!!

Cheers!!!
Siddharth

[catapult]

Can you give us some links to the material you used from PG?

[akx_4_u]

Congrats Chandini...
All d best with your application process..