750 (q50, V42)

[singhBULLA]

Thnx buddy ..
I had some more queries regrding GMAT at this link .. but I guess noone got the time to hava a look at them ...

http://www.pagalguy.com/cat/showthre...2&page=6&pp=25 (Gmat....)

Can u give some of ur valuable time to solve these ..!!

thnks in advance ..

[singhBULLA]

hey thnx anand .. pls answer this one also ..

" Can someone advice as to shld I join the MBA Pro course being offered by IMS for joint CAT/GMAT prep. (will get some % fee waiver on this also but will hav to pay sth neverthless) or join only CAT coaching. Will only CAT prep suffice for GMAT. Also can someone advise what wud be a good time to appear for GMAT - immediately after CAT in nov/dec or later/before CAT. "

wats ur take on this .. shld I join IMS for a CAT-GMAT consolidated MBA Pro course .. for abt 11k .. it includes all the GMAT related appln n consulting stuff ...

or I shld prepare on my own for GMAT n then look out for consulting .. is GMAT consulting avalbl in the mkt ... if yes then how much approx is it goin to cost me ..

[Pravi]

Originally Posted by anandjain

No man, it's not.
Can u please copy the contents in a file and attach the file with ur reply.

Thanks,
Anand

u can use this also: http://daveformba.blogspot.com/


cheers!

[rajsharma]

Hi Everybody!
Just to be part of the grouppp!!!

[chsnmurthy]

Hi Have GMAT in 2 days

I am gettin 640 (q42, v32) in kaplan despite making 10 mistakes in math and 20 in verbal in both cat 2 and cat 3
are my scores accurate??
I have the older KAPALN with 1 diagnostic and 3 full tests
Is it similar to the new one with 1 diagnostic and 4 full

is the real gmat as tough as kaplan???

thanks PGs
Murthy

[paki]

HI, congrats ! Could you pls. share the math exercises you had on the test? Many tks.

Originally Posted by obelixous

I gave my GMAT on May 4. Althuogh I have not been an active contributor but have read most of the posts made and have benefitted from most of them.

750 - 99%ile

Q - 50 - 95%ile
V - 42 - 96%ile

Materials that I used
1. OG
2. Kaplan 2004
3. Powerprep software
4. Kaplan workshop
5. Kaplan Higher Score CD

Preparation
My preparation is broken into two distinct parts:
1. Jan 2005 till March 2005
2. April 16 onwards

1. Jan 2005 till March 2005
Here Although I was sure that I wanted to take the GMAT, but neither did I form a study plan, nor did I study regularly. I studied on and off in January and early part of February and then stopped studying. During this time:

Tests taken:
Princeton Diagnostic (Online)
Quant 29 out of 37
Verbal 21 out of 41

Kaplan Diagnostic (Online)-
Overall - 620
Quant 29 / 37 (Scaled score 42)
Verbal 28 / 41 (Scaled score 37)

The learning from the results was:
1. Lot of silly mistakes in Quant.
2. Understand of DS questions not good
3. Did very badly on SC

Subsequently, I started studying from Kaplan GMAT 2004 edition. I bought a second hand copy of the book; the worst part was that I did not get the CD along with the book. Subsequently I used Kaplan Higher score CD.

Kaplan Diagnostic (from Higher Score CD)
Scores
Overall - 680
Quant - 47
Verbal - 37

2. April 16 onwards
I fixed the date for May 4 and registered for the test on April 2. I took leave from work from April 16 till May 4; this was the period in which I studied seriously. I made a plan which contained the following:

1. Items to be studied. Along with the time required to study the item.
2. Number of days available and within each day the number of hours available
3. Based on 1 and 2, I made a plan for each day.

Major highlights of my study plan
1. Intention to do all questions of OG, especially Verbal. Even though I had not studied mathematics for a while (around 8 years), I remembered a lot of the information, formulae and tricks that are required for GMAT. This does not mean to say that I did not study for Quant section, but I did not devote a lot of time to it.
2. Monitor mistakes made, both careless errors and concept errors
3. Redo all questions on which mistakes were made
4. One day before the test I redid all questions which I had categorized as concept errors
6. http://daveformba.bravehost.com/GMAT_Study_Strategy.htm this link contains great information. Go through it thoroughly.
7. While practicing questions from OG, I studied in 75 minute blocks. As I was short of time, I typically attempted 50 to 60 questions in this 75 minute slot. I took this approach because I was short of time and I wanted to complete the OG thoroughly (not simply complete it, but do questions thoroughly). Although there are some benefits in following this approach, I would not recommend it to others.
8. One major thing that troubled me in the last couple of days before the test was that I had never attempted essays for AWA. I wrote the essays for the first time during the actual GMAT. Again I would not recommend this to others, but I was short of time and wanted to focus on Verbal I chose to do this.

My study plan centered on the OG and taking full length tests. I made a reasonably detailed plan, but was not very rigid very following it, for e.g. attempting Powerprep 2 earlier instead of attempting in around May 1. In this period I had to go to office on 2 days, this disrupted my study plan slightly.

I think that this has been highlighted by a few others, but I would like to reiterate this point. Improving your scaled score in any section from 25 to 35 is not too hard to do (mind you it is not easy, but it not hard). But, from mid thirties to crossing the forties takes a lot of effort and a lot of attention, i.e. a lot of attention to the mistakes that one makes, lot of attention on the detail.

From April 16 till May 4 I took the following full length CATs

Test name Total Quant Verbal Date

Powerprep1 710 49 35 Apr 18 (Before OG)
Powerprep2 720 50 38 Apr 20 (Some part of OG done)
Kaplan CAT1 580 42 28 Apr 19
Kaplan CAT 2 630 50 32 Apr 25
Kaplan CAT 3 610 50 30 Apr 28
Kaplan CAT 4 640 42 38 May 2
Princeton CAT 1 690 45 41 May 3

Test Experience
AWA
Started off with Analysis of argument. Wrote my first GMAT essay. Followed by Analysis of an Issue. I am not sure how well I have done in the essays, but shall be keeping my fingers crosses (ouch they have already started hurting... can't keep them crossed for so long). I followed Kaplan’s approach of absorbing the question, finalizing on my points, for around 6 – 8 minutes. Wrote the essay for around 20 minutes and took around 2-3 minutes to review, proofread and final editing. This section went off fairly well.

Quant
During my preparation I had noted that even though I was never pressed for time, I still made careless mistakes. Before the start of this section I reminded myself of this point once again.

Started of an easy note, towards the 6th question or so, questions became tougher, and continued to be tough for a while. I was rereading the questions, and rechecking my calculations before confirming on answers to avoid mistakes. Despite of this I wasn't pressed for time. Questions covered a lot of areas, Arithmetic, Algebra, Mixture questions, Geometry, Coordinate Geometry and number properties. There were no statistics or probability questions. Only 1 question pertaining to permutations. Overall I was comfortable during the section, and knew I had done well. I finished with around 6 minutes left on the clock. Used a couple of minutes to relax, and then went for the break.

Verbal
I reminded myself that I had done well in Quant and needed to keep up the momentum in verbal. The test started with a couple of SC questions followed by couple of CR questions. I got my first RC package (around 40 lines). After 25 minutes I was on question 16, and was doing well on time, but also realized that I had only got one RC passage till now. Towards the 25 question, my concentration started to flag a little. I stretched a little and reminded myself of the importance of the remaining 15 or so questions. Around the 35th question I got my last RC passage (this was a monster with around 90 lines or so), at this point there were around 11 minutes on the clock and I was pressed for time. I guessed on a few of the questions of RC due to lack of time. Finished off with a few CR questions, and the last question was SC. Finished the test with around 20 seconds to spare. I was not very sure about my performance in this section, but had not lost hope.

I had no doubt in my mind that I want to see the result, so said a little prayer and chose to see the result. I was ecstatic to see the score that popped up.

Conclusions:
1. OG is great; use it as an effective tool. Apart from solving questions from it, review your mistakes (review of mistakes is important for all material that you use).
2. Powerprep tests, if taken before doing questions from the OG are a good indicator of your final scores. But, this does not mean that your actual GMAT score cannot be better than the scores that you got in the Powerprep tests. The increase in the verbal scores that I got are an indicator of this aspect.
3. Kaplan is good for practice, but don't get worked up about the scores.
4. Remain calm during the test. Forget about the question as soon as you confirm the answer, the challenge lies in the questions that remain, not in the questions that you have already answered.
5. Most importantly, believe in yourself.

This post has become very long. If there are points that I have rambled on about, but still have not been able to convey the idea, feel free to ask me.