How I scored in the top 1% (GMAT 760)

Hello! Finally Ive made some time apart to write about my prep. Im Anurag, nice to meet you if its the first time you hear about me. I recently scored in the top 1% in the GMAT CAT Exam (scored a 760). I decided to take the GMAT because one of my …

Hello! Finally Ive made some time apart to write about my prep. Im Anurag, nice to meet you if its the first time you hear about me. I recently scored in the top 1% in the GMAT CAT Exam (scored a 760). I decided to take the GMAT because one of my goals has always been an MBA in the US, although I am not sure from where (I am looking at Yale School of Management right now.)

I went into a bank the other day and began talking to my banker about the GMAT. He is trying to take the exam because he dreams of an MBA as well, but he had no idea where to start. I thought to share how I was able to improve my score from a 580 to 760. I couldn't afford to pay for a class so I studied all on my own.

In order for you to follow my advice I should tell you that those 16 weeks where hell. no friends or family for 12 weeks, and an average of 10 to 12 hours a day of studying.

now for the exam...
just remember that this is my own personal experience, and it's only meant to be a guideline.

1. Remember; the exam is doable.
2. definitely easier than Manhattan GMAT or Princeton Review Questions
3. The first thing I did was buy the official GMAT book and take a practice test. I didn't do well but at least I knew what it was like.
4. There are 300 questions in the official guide and I did them all and review. remember to review.
4. q's evenly distributed, i can't say that they concentrated on a certain topic
5. Go to the GMAC website and download 2 exams. I found some very similar questions on the actual test
6. the so-called experimental q's: i think there was only 1 q that i thought to myself: what the heck
7. Try to find the Kaplan 800 review book or Manhattan GMAT books. I thought these were the best books
8. keep fighting through, my scores went from 580 to 650 back down to 610. I think I took around 20 practice exams.
9. Good blog for english is GMAT Grammar
10. For practice questions I signed up for 2minuteGMAT; they sent me questions every day which helped
11. A friend gave me his username for 800score. I didn't like the exams as much as Princeton Review, but it had more questions.
12. for math they did put a few "tricks", where they try to lead u to the wrong answer, and it actually worked a few times, but when i would read the question
13. finally, it took me 3hrs in bed to get to sleep, so i only slept 4 hrs, but still the stress of the exam is enough to get u through and make u concentrate fully... so no need for sleeping tablets

The most important thing that helped me was PRACTICE. After a while you see the same questions over and over.

message me if you want more tips/advice.

so what about the banker then ? how much did he/she score ?

77anurag77 Says
Hello! Finally Ive made some time apart to write about my prep. Im Anurag, nice to meet you if its the first time you hear about me. I recently scored in the top 1% in the GMAT CAT Exam (scored a 760).



please don't start new threads....

kindly post in GMAT section...
GMAT and Related Discussions - PaGaLGuY.com - The Everything of MBA in India and Abroad, CAT 2009, GMAT, XAT, MAT

Best of luck for apping...

Mods kindly close the thread

thread moved to the gmat section.
and title name changed a bit.

Hi Mr. Kat,

The banker took his first test and didn't do well (480). I reviewed the review questions with him and on his last practice exam (from knewton.com) he scored a 560. He's worked hard and I am proud of him.

His dream is to get an mba from Yale, so I am helping him reach at least a 700.

Hi Anurag,

Congrats for such a good score,I have just started my preparation for GMAT.I am targetting Aug'10 for Exam.
I am worried about my Verbal part ,can you suggest any specific book for SC and RC.
For SC ,I am planning to buy Manhattan SC.

Also I am going through official guide 12 ,then I will be going through other books ,do you have any suggestions for me ,as i am in very initial stages of my preparation.
I am targetting score of 700+.

Regards,
Sandeep

Hi Sandeep,

Thanks for your comment! Good luck in your studying.

Here is my advice for verbal;I know a lot of people have trouble with it:

1. For books, I really recommend Manhattan GMAT (I think they have 8 books, and I would read them all.) They only downside is they are kind of expensive.

2. For reading comprehension, what you have to do is begin to recognize patterns. In Math problems, I focus on the right solution, on verbal problems, I focus on finding the wrong solutions so I can cross them off. After practice you will begin to see the same wrong problems over and over. When I took the exam, I did so well on the verbal because every question I could usually immediately narrow the question to 2 answers because I recognized the wrong answers right away. Then the only trouble was finding out which was one of the 2 answers was right.

3. For reading comprehension, it can be harder than the other verbal sections because the rules are not as clearly written out.

Here was my strategy for Reading Comprehension:

1. Make sure to write out a brief summary; and ALWAYS focus on the first sentence of the paragraph
2. The most importance part of the sections are almost always on the first line of each new paragraph
3. Also, it is so critical that you find out right away what is the conclusion of the section.
4. After you find the conclusion, you can find the support and the assumptions for the conclusion

Never forget the message the section is trying to get across to the reader.

For practice, start off with the Official GMAT questions. When you run out, I would use Manhattan GMAT, princeton review, or Knewton. After that, 2minuteGMAT and 800score will give you more questions.

Good Luck Sandeep. Please let me know if I can help any more.

I think this is a fake post i.e the poster is not to be believed on his scores. May I subject the following points for your perusal:

1. In the last week or so he has opened 3 new threads and just sample the posts there

Hi, What GMAT score do you need to go to a top MBA in England or in the US?

How does everyone compare the reputations of schools in England (Oxford, London School of Economics) to schools in the US (Stanford, Harvard, Wharton.) Do you think they are pretty equal, or that one is better than the other?

Hi everyone, Does anyone hear know anyone who has been accepted into top US programs: Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia.
Did they have any advice on how they did it? Did they have exceptional scores and stats or were they just pretty good.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.


2. His English clearly belies his GMAT score. Sample this "finally, it took me 3hrs in bed to get to sleep, so i only slept 4 hrs, but still the stress of the exam is enough......."

3. Anyone who has a score of 760 would have given the V/Q split up. I am sure this poster is not even aware what it means.

4. "In order for you to follow my advice I should tell you that those 16 weeks where hell. no friends or family for 12 weeks, and an average of 10 to 12 hours a day of studying." :shock: WTF. I have never seen anyone score 760 by studying 10-12 hours a day for 16 weeks.

The poster is a kid out to make an impression. Mods please take note.

Arun

Hi Sandeep,

Thanks for your comment! Good luck in your studying.

Here is my advice for verbal;I know a lot of people have trouble with it:

1. For books, I really recommend Manhattan GMAT (I think they have 8 books, and I would read them all.) They only downside is they are kind of expensive.

2. For reading comprehension, what you have to do is begin to recognize patterns. In Math problems, I focus on the right solution, on verbal problems, I focus on finding the wrong solutions so I can cross them off. After practice you will begin to see the same wrong problems over and over. When I took the exam, I did so well on the verbal because every question I could usually immediately narrow the question to 2 answers because I recognized the wrong answers right away. Then the only trouble was finding out which was one of the 2 answers was right.

3. For reading comprehension, it can be harder than the other verbal sections because the rules are not as clearly written out.

Here was my strategy for Reading Comprehension:

1. Make sure to write out a brief summary; and ALWAYS focus on the first sentence of the paragraph
2. The most importance part of the sections are almost always on the first line of each new paragraph
3. Also, it is so critical that you find out right away what is the conclusion of the section.
4. After you find the conclusion, you can find the support and the assumptions for the conclusion

Never forget the message the section is trying to get across to the reader.

For practice, start off with the Official GMAT questions. When you run out, I would use Manhattan GMAT, princeton review, or Knewton. After that, 2minuteGMAT and 800score will give you more questions.

Good Luck Sandeep. Please let me know if I can help any more.


Please stop this guy from BS-ing. He has no clue about the GMAT.

I have been in the forums for 7 years now and I can smell a rat from a mile away

Arun

Hi Arun,

To respond, I want to begin by saying that you are wrong and I am offended at your statements.

When I asked those questions earlier, what I had meant to imply was, "Does anyone have any personal friends who have been accepted into these universities, and can give more inside information."

I know the average GMAT score of Harvard is a 707, yet most people who score a 707 are not going to be accepted. I wanted to know more information from people who had interviewed/known people who were accepted.

Additionally, I was curious about England, because most of my research has been on MBA programs in the US.

I think you are wrong with your statements. I studied for 4 months; most tutors (and I know them), recommend you study between 3-5 months. In fact, most GMAT prep books recommend that as well. People do not have time to study for 2 years to take the GMAT; perhaps it is just you who needs more time to study.

Lastly, Arun honestly, if you cannot improve you score to a 760 in 4 months, I think you are studying wrong. Most people don't study correctly.

You have to begin by reading expert strategies (Manhattan GMAT, Kaplan 800). Then you have to memorize the strategies for how to do each section.

Was I lucky that I scored a 760? I'm not sure; 1 week before I took the exam I retook the 2 GMAT practice exams on MBA.com and I scored a 740 on 1 and a 760 on the other. A lot of the questions (probably around 6) I found on the exam were very similar to the practice exams.

Anyway, I am offended that you are saying that I am lying. Message me if you want me to clarify anything else.

Also Arun, I scored a 5.5 on the AWA Section. So my English is pretty good.

I do hope I am wrong

What was your Q/V split?

Arun

Arun,

I scored a 51Q, 42 V. I scored a 5.5 AWA (I'm still kind of mad that I didn't get a perfect 6.) I don't think the AWA is looked at too much anyway.

Congrates...

Hi Mr. Kat,
hi,anurag .I just scored 440 in test.so depressed .give me some suggestion on gmat
Hi Mr. Kat,
hi,anurag .I just scored 440 in test.so depressed .give me some suggestion on GMAT on orkut.or mail me

Hi Rojans,

I thought it would be easiest for me to respond here. If anyone else has any other questions, please let me know:

1. Rojan, to begin: Do not feel depressed. I know I was also very sad after I took the GMAT practice test for the first time. Realize that in general, the score for the first time you take the test does not really matter. You've probably never seen any of the verbal or quantitative questions before. Don't worry about this.

2. The 1st thing you need to do is purchase the Official GMAT Book. You can find it online or at any bookstore. There are around 300 questions. Begin spending 30-60 minutes a night taking questions and then reviewing. DO NOT FORGET TO REVIEW EACH QUESTION; it's the most important part.

3. At the same time, purchase either the Manhattan GMAT review books, or the Kaplan 800 book. These books will teach you stategy (process of elimination, backsolving, etc..) Begin reviewing these strategies with the Official GMAT problems. Spend 30-60 minutes a night reviewing this book.

4. Continue doing this until you finish all of the books and all of the question.

5. What helped me was signing up the 2minuteGMAT, because it reminded me to study every day by sending me an email with 10 GMAT questions.

6. After you have completed the first part, take an official GMAT Exam (You can download 2 at www.MBA.com) Don't take them both; you want to save one for later.

7. At this point you should have improved your score and should have a better understanding of your strengths and weaknesses.

I think this should get you started for at least 1 month. When you are done with this, message me and I will explain strategy for Month 2.

Make sure to take questions from the Official GMAT Book. It's so critical. You also need to purchase a Strategy Prep Book; if you can't afford it then at least read 1 at the book store.

Good luck. Please let me know when I can help more.

Hi anurag,
Can u advise me that For SC, what should i do.

Hi Jignesh,

For sentence corrections, the first thing you need to do is realize that when you are taking an SC question, you should not try to find the right solution immediately.

What you need to do first is go through each question and find the wrong answers. After practicing, you will begin to see the same wrong answer choices. When you become experienced, you should be able to cross off 3 of the 5 answer choices, and be left with 2 choices to find the right answer. This dramatically increases your chances of getting the question right.

The best way to see the wrong answer choices, is to buy a Prep Book (Princeton Review, Kaplan, I like Manhattan GMAT the most.) Examples of certain wrong answer choices are "Parallelism" for example. I could explain all of the possible wrong answer choices here, but it would probably be better explained in a prep book.

Remember, there are only a certain number of items that you will be tested on.

After you read about the different wrong answer choices, begin taking practice problems (The makers of the GMAT say this is the best way to study.)

Buy the Official GMAT Book, sign up for 2minuteGMAT for extra questions, and take a lot of the free exams offered.

I hope this helped. Let me know if I can be of more help.