[ankitgarg20]

Hi puys,

I took GMAT yesterday. Scored a 700 (Q50,V34,AWA 6.0) in it. Im not quite satisfied with my score. I was expecting at least 720. But I guess I screwed my verbal section big time. Im writing this post to share my exp with the fellow puys. If nothing else, at least I can share what is NOT supposed to be done while preparing for GMAT.


First of all, a little about my prep. I started preparing for GMAT about 2 months back. Took the G-day date on 18th July and booked it for 6th Sept. I have classified my post under various heads.


Books

1) OG10-Verbal Review
2) OG11
3) Kaplan Premier Edition
4) Manhattan SC
5) Kaplan 800(did only CR from it as there wasn’t much time left)


One mistake that I repent now is that I started manhattan SC pretty late. Hardly 3 weeks were left when I picked up this book. By that time, I had formed many misconceptions about the SC and it took a lot of time to revert those false notions. I would recommend all the fellow puys, who are a little weak at verbal or SC, to go through manhattan SC as first book. You can read the guidelines given in the book and then simultaneously practice from OG. I was never able to practice the techniques mentioned in Manhattan and thus, practically never used it to its full capacity.

Kaplan Premier is also a good book and with it you get a CD which has many sectional tests and 4 full length tests. One paper based test is available in the book and one is available online for free.


Mock CATs

I took several mock cats, which were spread throughout my preparation time. Except for 2 weekends during my 2 month prep, I took at least one mock during each weekend. I took the tests in the following order :

GMATprep1 :: 730 (Q49,V40)
POWERprep1 :: 700 (Q49,V36)
MGMATfree:: 650 (Q50,V31)(I took this test in office…DUMB)
POWERprep2 :: 680 (Q49,V33)
GMATprep2 :: 720 (Q49,V38 )
KAPLAN1 :: 620 (Q50,V32)
MGMAT1 :: 740 (Q50,V41)
MGMAT2 :: 700 (Q49,V36)
GMATprep3 :: 710 (Q50,V33)
MGMAT3 :: 710 (Q48,V38 )
MGMAT4 :: 700 (Q51,V35)
GMATprep4 :: 730 (Q50,V38 )
MGMAT5 :: 720 (Q51,V37)

As you can see 34 in Verbal was almost towards the end of my verbal score and I finally ended up with 34 in GMAT.

Manhattan has a good set of tests available online. If you are doing Manhattan SC, you must try n solve at least one MGMAT. The explanations these tests have are quite good. Also, their scoring algo is pretty close to real GMAT.
GMATprep and POWERprep are available free of cost online. I reinstalled GMATprep to make the total number of tests available to me as 4 and they didn’t had many repeated questions. However, with powerprep the questions start repeating even in the third attempt. So, that didn’t work for me.
I had 6 tests of Kaplan,but took only 1 of them. Their algo is pretty skewed and you shud use the tests only as a barometer to measure ur accuracy,without relying too much on the total score the tests give you.


I would also like to point one more thing to fellow puys that happened to me. While I used to practice Vebral from various books, my accuracy used to be around 80-85% with 90% in CR. It happened with almost all the books I practiced. But, while attempting the same questions on a PC/Comp screen meant a whole different world for me. Its not that I have some sort of phobia of wrkn on comps or nething. Im a comp enggr and currently trade forex for one of da largest banks in India. In a nutshell, I spend almost half of my day in front of a PC. Even then, it happened to me. In case that happens to you guys, I would only advice that you take as many mocks as you can. Get some soft copies of various books, practice the content on a PC. Because, that’s the only way out to get accustomed to solving questions on a PC.







G-day

In the end I would only like to say that GMAT HASN’T CHANGED AT ALL. Not even for a moment I felt that im writing an alien test. The level of difficulty is same as for any of ur GMATprep tests. The reason that I feel why many ppl mistake GMATprep scores is that the software has questions from OG. Thus, in case u have practiced OG, you will definitely get at least 10-15 questions that are repeated and this wud skew ur score.
Everything was as per the perceived notions. Only that, I screwed my verbal big time and probably had a bad day. But, that’s not the end of the road. The journey has just begun.



I think I have shared almost everything that I had to share as far as my prep is concerned. But, there might be some things that I might have skipped. And thus, all puys are welcomed to shoot any queries they have. I also have some material in soft with me, in case neone needs it, please let me know. In case I can help in some other way, I’ll be more than happy to do so.

I would continue posting my answers to the various thread, even though my gmat is over and im sure my accuracy wouldn’t be al that great(in verbal).

[ashu_m25]

Thanks for such a valuable information.

Regards,

Ashu

[GoGmatPragya]

Hey, thanks for sharing your valuable experience. I was looking for some insight into preparing Essays . Also, if you could share your material.. I am a new GMAT aspirant..

[ankitgarg20]

Originally Posted by GoGmatPragya

Hey, thanks for sharing your valuable experience. I was looking for some insight into preparing Essays . Also, if you could share your material.. I am a new GMAT aspirant..

In case you are talking about writing application essays, let me tell you, I havent startd with them yet.
For GMAT AWA essays, you can refer ARCO. It is a complete book on GMAT essays.
PM me ur email address and I wud send u the prep material accross.

My AWA experience is posted in reply 18th of this forum on page 2. Hope that helps you

Regards,
Ankit

[Dopa]

Thanks Ankit for sharing your enriching experience, I am sure a lot many puys will get enlightened. Best of luck for apping process!!

Do you have a soft copy of Arco's AWA, if yes, could you please e-mail it to me.

Thanks,
Ashutosh

[ankitgarg20]

Originally Posted by Dopa

Thanks Ankit for sharing your enriching experience, I am sure a lot many puys will get enlightened. Best of luck for apping process!!

Do you have a soft copy of Arco's AWA, if yes, could you please e-mail it to me.

Thanks,
Ashutosh

Im sorry ashutosh, i dont have any soft copy of Arco's AWA. Though I have anoder file which has some essays, but they are not of good quality. If you want, I can mail u dat.

[ankitgarg20]

I got this in a PM. Im purposely posting it here so that my answers can help oder puys too. Also, I have held back the name of the sender so dat da sanity of PM remains intact.

"Dude,
Im eager to know your background of workex n u said that Manhatten SC is very imp to start with.
I like to attach an soft copy to it..plz can u tell me is this the book u were talking abut.
and dude..MATHS.i shivers if i hear it..dude what i shuld do to do well in this subject..

I want to be honest to u ..im appearing for CAT..but chance u know im bad at it..BUt in particualr for maths wat i shuld concenatre upon..is it hell tough..consider my case..my brain stops working when i see maths..help me dude..hey phobia kaise hataun..CAT mein suffer kiya to jelunga but GMAT mein nahin jhelna chahta..

plz guide dude..help me..
I just realised dude..i dont know how to attach a file..
plz correct me if m wrong..tits a blue coloured bok with 76 pages..writers are from CBS.. i got it from one of the PREP resources here in pg..it has basics in nouns n all then latter part of the book it has SC..is it the same bok...dude plz try solving my query..and lastly which oart of delhi u r..n wat u do..it woudl be great to share gyan..

cya.."

About my work ex...I presently have more dan an year's work ex wid Treasury of India's largest private bank. Im not looking for MBA as of now, but rather applying to Masters in Finance and allied courses.

Attaching a file at PG...well never tried dat...I have PMed u my email address, u can send me an email dere.

You said that you are appearing for CAT and writing GMAT too. I dont know how wise decision dis is as both the tests are completely tangible. i can say that now as I have written both of them wid considerable success(my cat scores have been 96.6 and 98.5). It would be better of you take dese tests one by one and prepare for dem accordingly.

As far as quant for GMAT is concerned, the only way out is practice. Practice as much as you can and you wud definately improve ur quant section. Quant for CAT is far tougher than for GMAT. But at the same time, GMAT has its uniqueness with DS questions,which are quite different from those appearing in CAT.

So, the only mantra for quant is practice,practice and practice.


I dont know which book you talkin about with that blue cover and all..please be a bit clearer.
for all ur books queries, u can refer Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more


N yea,I stay in vikaspuri and have office at lodhi road,if dat helps you.

I hope dis helps you and fellow puys,

regards,

Ankit

[ankitjain]

Quite well summarised bro!.. I guess i dint do much explanation of what not to do!..
Though one very important advice to everyone -
Take a test in the beginning... if u do not get above 32-33 in the verbals section, PLEASE TAKE OUT TIME TO PREPARE THE VERBALS AS WELL AS POSSIBLE. Say roughly 15 days to a month. RC concepts will not come overnight, and respect that fact! CR accuracy does not shoot up in a day or 2...

Overall, I would recommend 1 month of preps for the genius (most of the time going to Verbals in case u are an Indian). I am from one of the best schools in India, and have been one of the better students of English, but even I managed a 35, as I didn't prepare well. (Relied more on what I learned way back when I was in school).

For the decent - between 60 to 75 days, of preps shud be good, and for the not-so-good, I'd recommend 3 months.

Do chalk out schedules and deadlines, and try to abide by them

Cheers!
Ankit

[Dopa]

Hi Ankit J and G,

Thanks for your inputs. I have almost 2 months to go for GMAT and my quant level is fine, I got 47 in the 1 powerprep I gave, most of the wrong ones were silly blunders. I have to brush up the probability and P&C concepts again. Btw, how many questions you found in your GMAT exam from the same section ?

But the verbal is killing me especially SC. For RC and CR, accuracy is better when I give some more time to them so I think by more practice that should improve assuming the level of RC and CR in GMAT is same as OG11, is that right ?

For SC, I have gone through Manhattan SC but somehow when it comes to finding the mistakes and that too when I am pressed for time, it becomes really tough for me. I am planning to eat Manhattan SC again and then solve the OG 11 simultaneously, I hope that should help.
Besides this, do you guys have some suggestions for tackling SC and verbal as whole.

Any inputs will be really appreciated.

Thanks!!

[ankitgarg20]

Originally Posted by Dopa

Hi Ankit J and G,

Thanks for your inputs. I have almost 2 months to go for GMAT and my quant level is fine, I got 47 in the 1 powerprep I gave, most of the wrong ones were silly blunders. I have to brush up the probability and P&C concepts again. Btw, how many questions you found in your GMAT exam from the same section ?

But the verbal is killing me especially SC. For RC and CR, accuracy is better when I give some more time to them so I think by more practice that should improve assuming the level of RC and CR in GMAT is same as OG11, is that right ?

For SC, I have gone through Manhattan SC but somehow when it comes to finding the mistakes and that too when I am pressed for time, it becomes really tough for me. I am planning to eat Manhattan SC again and then solve the OG 11 simultaneously, I hope that should help.
Besides this, do you guys have some suggestions for tackling SC and verbal as whole.

Any inputs will be really appreciated.

Thanks!!

NONE....I didnt get even a single question from PnC or Stats during my test.Infact, after my quant section, I was worried coz of dat. I thought I hav screwed my quant section and wid the kind of verbal ability I had, it made me lot more uncomfy during the break.