630 to 710: My GMAT experience

Hi All, Few days back I took the exam and scored 710. Last year(november) I attempted GMAT only to manage 630. Though I expected a bigger score, I am satisfied with the current one. Wanted to share my experience so that people who are …

Hi All,

Few days back I took the exam and scored 710. Last year(november) I attempted GMAT only to manage 630.

Though I expected a bigger score, I am satisfied with the current one.
Wanted to share my experience so that people who are looking to improve their scores (especially verbal) may get some help from this post.

My score details:
Last Year:
----------
Math:48(84 percentile)
Verbal:28(48 percentile).
Total: 630(74 percentile).
AWA:5

This time:
----------
Math:48(83 percentile).
Verbal:40(89 percentile).
Total: 710(92 percentile).
AWA: waiting....

As you can see I did very bad in math.

GMAT previous attempt:
-----------------------
Last year when I got 630, I was terribly disappointed with my performance in verbal section. But I prepared for only a total of 4 weeks. I realized it was not enough. By the time I wanted to postpone it was already too late.
In my two practise tests with GMATPrep software I scored exactly 630 (math 48, verbal 2. There is no doubt that accuracy of scores indicated by GMATPrep software is great (I can say 95-100%).

Then I gave-up thoughts about GMAT for a few weeks. Started analysing my weak areas. One strong reason for my failure in verbal section was my weak reading ability. I was slow while reading a RC, CR or SC question. I wanted to attack this root cause rather than apply for gmat again in a month's time and come back with a disappointed face from the exam. I made it a habit to read the editorials, articles in various news papers, journals etc. Everyday in the office I used start my day by reading the editorial in Hindu (Not just reading, but reading it fast and trying to understand each and every line while doing so). I read wallstreetjournal, economist.com, scientificamerican.com(you may find this ridiculous ... but I have done it to make sure that I perform well on science passages). Unknowingly with in 2-3 months my reading skills were improved a lot.

Preparation for second attempt:
--------------------------------
I found following materials useful while preparing for GMAT.
Official Guide (I need not say this 😃 ).
Verbal review, Quantitative review.
Manhattan SC.
Kaplan 800.
Kaplan verbal workbook.
Princeton review.
Princeton verbal workout.

Strictly saying I did not find a good material for Math. Because on the exam day I got a completely new Geometry problem and I did not know how to solve it.

I will try to give my opinions on each section:
Problem solving;
This is very straigtforward. OG should be sufficient.

Data sufficiency:
This is the most dangerous section on GMAT. I used a lot of wrong answers in hurry in this section. I can say only one thing.. just double check your answer before proceeding to next question. Also practise the data sufficiency questions from Official guide and math review more than once and go through the answer explanations in detail.

Verbal:
For verbal section Manhattan, kaplan 800, kaplan verbal workbook, princeton verbal material.. all are very good sources.

Sentence correction:
The key here is the ability to eliminate wrong answer choices in case of difficult questions. Rather than looking for right answer you should eliminate wrong answers one by one (Of course you would not do that if it is a straight forward question of not only..but also.. ). For this you should be able read the answer choices quickly.

Reading comprehension:
Again ability to read and understand the passage faster should help. I did not write down the summary in my scratch booklet for each passage, as is suggested by a lot of materials. I just used to read the entire passage once carefully and refer back to it whenever required. Mostly it was not required.

Critical reasoning:
For this section, you should go through the answer explanations given in Official guide thoroughly. You also need to do a lot of practise. After doing this, you can easily recognize the answer choices out of scope.

I was under a lot of pressure on the exam day, which was partly the reason for my poor performance in math section. So try to be cool and calm on the exam day.

Coming to practise tests I have taken...

GMATPrep test 1:
-----------------
Math:48
Verbal:41
Total:730

GMATPrep test 2:
Math:49
Verbal:34
Total:690.

This second test has demotivated me a lot. But I convinced my self that I was not in a fresh mood while taking that test.

I uninstalled and installed GMATPrep again.
GMATPrep test 3:
Math:50
Verbal:40
Total:740.
This gave a little breath to me. But here around 6-8 questions got repeated from previous tests.

I have also taken one princeton practise test and I got a 680 in that. But it was during the begining of my preparation.

I suggest you take GMATPrep practise tests before you start reading Official guide as I found some question from OG came in the test.

That's all about my GMAT experience.
Hope it helps.

Regards,
Krish

congratulations on ur great score !! 😃 u r a lucky guy !!

i just want to know the quantity of permutation probab or combination questions u got into ur exam . how many questions regarding the mentioned opics did u get ??? were they hard?? and which topic was very much repeated and tested !?

thanks !

great journey krishh..It shows that perseverance and hardwork pay off. improvement in Verbal is motivation for everyone here.
Congratulations!..

congratulations on ur great score !! 😃 u r a lucky guy !!

i just want to know the quantity of permutation probab or combination questions u got into ur exam . how many questions regarding the mentioned opics did u get ??? were they hard?? and which topic was very much repeated and tested !?

thanks !

thank you...

I got one question on combinations and one on probability. Both were easy. However I can say that I did not manage my time well on the Math section. Because of that at the end of math section I had to choose some answer choice blindly even though it was easy to solve. Because I got only 48 I did not get much difficult questions even towards the end of the math section. You know the reason why :). The better you perform the harder questions you will get. I was very eager and tense to attempt verbal section and screwed up my math section due to lack of focus. I am sure that you can easily reach a score of 50 in Math section if you keep your mind cool in the exam. It is difficult to say which topic is repeated more.. because I think all most all the topics are tested equally. For example you might solve a medium question on prime numbers then immediately you may get a hard question on Geometry. So to conclude.. can't say much about the distribution of questions. You should be prepared equally in all the areas.

Coming to verbal section..
My practise helped me in answering sentence correction and critical reasoning questions carefully. One advice in sentence correction is before going to next question be sure that you have found an error in the remaining 4 answer choices. Regarding RCs I got one difficult RC towards the end of the section. But I did not panic and answered by mostly trying to eliminate the wrong answer choices.
thank you...

I got one question on combinations and one on probability. Both were easy. However I can say that I did not manage my time well on the Math section. Because of that at the end of math section I had to choose some answer choice blindly even though it was easy to solve. Because I got only 48 I did not get much difficult questions even towards the end of the math section. You know the reason why :). The better you perform the harder questions you will get. I was very eager and tense to attempt verbal section and screwed up my math section due to lack of focus. I am sure that you can easily reach a score of 50 in Math section if you keep your mind cool in the exam. It is difficult to say which topic is repeated more.. because I think all most all the topics are tested equally. For example you might solve a medium question on prime numbers then immediately you may get a hard question on Geometry. So to conclude.. can't say much about the distribution of questions. You should be prepared equally in all the areas.

Coming to verbal section..
My practise helped me in answering sentence correction and critical reasoning questions carefully. One advice in sentence correction is before going to next question be sure that you have found an error in the remaining 4 answer choices. Regarding RCs I got one difficult RC towards the end of the section. But I did not panic and answered by mostly trying to eliminate the wrong answer choices.

Hi All,

Few days back I took the exam and scored 710. Last year(november) I attempted GMAT only to manage 630.

Though I expected a bigger score, I am satisfied with the current one.
Wanted to share my experience so that people who are looking to improve their scores (especially verbal) may get some help from this post.

My score details:
Last Year:
----------
Math:48(84 percentile)
Verbal:28(48 percentile).
Total: 630(74 percentile).
AWA:5

This time:
----------
Math:48(83 percentile).
Verbal:40(89 percentile).
Total: 710(92 percentile).
AWA: waiting....

As you can see I did very bad in math.

GMAT previous attempt:
-----------------------
Last year when I got 630, I was terribly disappointed with my performance in verbal section. But I prepared for only a total of 4 weeks. I realized it was not enough. By the time I wanted to postpone it was already too late.
In my two practise tests with GMATPrep software I scored exactly 630 (math 48, verbal 2. There is no doubt that accuracy of scores indicated by GMATPrep software is great (I can say 95-100%).

Then I gave-up thoughts about GMAT for a few weeks. Started analysing my weak areas. One strong reason for my failure in verbal section was my weak reading ability. I was slow while reading a RC, CR or SC question. I wanted to attack this root cause rather than apply for gmat again in a month's time and come back with a disappointed face from the exam. I made it a habit to read the editorials, articles in various news papers, journals etc. Everyday in the office I used start my day by reading the editorial in Hindu (Not just reading, but reading it fast and trying to understand each and every line while doing so). I read wallstreetjournal, economist.com, scientificamerican.com(you may find this ridiculous ... but I have done it to make sure that I perform well on science passages). Unknowingly with in 2-3 months my reading skills were improved a lot.

Preparation for second attempt:
--------------------------------
I found following materials useful while preparing for GMAT.
Official Guide (I need not say this 😃 ).
Verbal review, Quantitative review.
Manhattan SC.
Kaplan 800.
Kaplan verbal workbook.
Princeton review.
Princeton verbal workout.

Strictly saying I did not find a good material for Math. Because on the exam day I got a completely new Geometry problem and I did not know how to solve it.

I will try to give my opinions on each section:
Problem solving;
This is very straigtforward. OG should be sufficient.

Data sufficiency:
This is the most dangerous section on GMAT. I used a lot of wrong answers in hurry in this section. I can say only one thing.. just double check your answer before proceeding to next question. Also practise the data sufficiency questions from Official guide and math review more than once and go through the answer explanations in detail.

Verbal:
For verbal section Manhattan, kaplan 800, kaplan verbal workbook, princeton verbal material.. all are very good sources.

Sentence correction:
The key here is the ability to eliminate wrong answer choices in case of difficult questions. Rather than looking for right answer you should eliminate wrong answers one by one (Of course you would not do that if it is a straight forward question of not only..but also.. ). For this you should be able read the answer choices quickly.

Reading comprehension:
Again ability to read and understand the passage faster should help. I did not write down the summary in my scratch booklet for each passage, as is suggested by a lot of materials. I just used to read the entire passage once carefully and refer back to it whenever required. Mostly it was not required.

Critical reasoning:
For this section, you should go through the answer explanations given in Official guide thoroughly. You also need to do a lot of practise. After doing this, you can easily recognize the answer choices out of scope.

I was under a lot of pressure on the exam day, which was partly the reason for my poor performance in math section. So try to be cool and calm on the exam day.

Coming to practise tests I have taken...

GMATPrep test 1:
-----------------
Math:48
Verbal:41
Total:730

GMATPrep test 2:
Math:49
Verbal:34
Total:690.

This second test has demotivated me a lot. But I convinced my self that I was not in a fresh mood while taking that test.

I uninstalled and installed GMATPrep again.
GMATPrep test 3:
Math:50
Verbal:40
Total:740.
This gave a little breath to me. But here around 6-8 questions got repeated from previous tests.

I have also taken one princeton practise test and I got a 680 in that. But it was during the begining of my preparation.

I suggest you take GMATPrep practise tests before you start reading Official guide as I found some question from OG came in the test.

That's all about my GMAT experience.
Hope it helps.

Regards,
Krish


Hey Krish,
Kudos man for banging it !
Gr8 effort and thanks for sharing your expereince !

Congrads!!!

The improvement is verbal is very impressive.

Manhattan SC vs. Kaplan verbal workbook? Thoughts?

Congrads!!!

The improvement is verbal is very impressive.

Manhattan SC vs. Kaplan verbal workbook? Thoughts?

When it comes to SC, no other material can beat Manhattan.

Kaplan verbal workbook is a great material to practise difficult questions.

If you practise Kaplan verbal workbook on regular basis, you will find the actual verbal section in GMAT relatively easy (Especially RCs).

So don't finish kaplan at one go. Use it to practise the difficult questions through out your preparation period.

But important point is that you should not get disappointed when you don't do well on Kalpan material.

Well done buddy. You got a nice score .Efforts did paid up at last.God bless!!!

My AWA score is 5.0

I forgot to update the thread after I received the score.

It is the score that I expected.

I prepared for less than 2 hours for AWA section.

I looked into princeton review material on AWA. It was sufficient for me to get 5.

If you are looking at a 6 then may be you need more preparation.

Some more tips on GMAT that I forgot to mention.

1) When you are preparing Official Guide, do the following.

Take first 10 questions of Problem solving and last 10 questions (Because last set of question are difficult).
Take first 10 questions of data sufficiency and last 10 questions.
Do the same for all verbal sections also.

Now answer all of them at once (May be you can take a break after you have answered math).

If you do this every day, it gives you a lot of practise on a mix of questions.

*Most Important: Review the answer explanations thoroughly even for right answers.

My AWA score is 5.0

I forgot to update the thread after I received the score.

It is the score that I expected.

I prepared for less than 2 hours for AWA section.

I looked into princeton review material on AWA. It was sufficient for me to get 5.

If you are looking at a 6 then may be you need more preparation.

Some more tips on GMAT that I forgot to mention.

1) When you are preparing Official Guide, do the following.

Take first 10 questions of Problem solving and last 10 questions (Because last set of question are difficult).
Take first 10 questions of data sufficiency and last 10 questions.
Do the same for all verbal sections also.

Now answer all of them at once (May be you can take a break after you have answered math).

If you do this every day, it gives you a lot of practise on a mix of questions.

*Most Important: Review the answer explanations thoroughly even for right answers.

Hey Dude..congo!!! u did it..and thanks for sharing ur experience...
i dont have good hand in AWA, should i practice thoroughly, i am giving tests without AWA. will it affect in the exam hall. i am going to write gmat on 6th jan 2011.
pls suggest!!!!