GMAT 740 (q49, v42) debrief

MBA
1

Took the GMAT on 19th of july scores =740 (q49:-(, v42:) ) I know there are many 750+ scorers on this forums, and 740 is not really a terrific score. Still, I would like to share my preparation strategy and my own lists of DOs and mostly DO…

2

Took the GMAT on 19th of july
scores =740 (q49:-(, v42:) )

I know there are many 750+ scorers on this forums, and 740 is not really a terrific score. Still, I would like to share my preparation strategy and my own lists of DOs and mostly DONTs for the benefit of others.

Background:
Yet another engineer(from a NIT). After consistently scoring in 98s and 99+ percentile in mocks, and solving 57 out of the 58 'solvable' questions in the online CAT, I have been rejected for reasons I am still not sure about. Have already written about it in other posts, so will refrain from digressing from the topic.
I am one among those lesser mortals who do not have a 'consistent academic record' right from LKG to Graduation; something which the IIMs expects its propective students to have this year onwards(my acads 10th=87%, 12th=67%, Grad=8.34 CGPA NIT).

I had lost all hopes of getting into a good b school, when my boss Abhishek Awasthi, who incidentally is from the ISB co2008, encouraged me to 'think beyond IIMs' and apply to ISB. Another source of inspiration was this post by Reachmonil (Monil), who himself is a CAT veteran and a moderator at this forum. Currently, he is a student at ISB
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/2933-all-i-wanted-speak-about-20.html#post679980

This is how the idea of taking the GMAT came into picture. On 13th march 2010, I decided to take the GMAT. got some idea about GMAT pattern through posts on PG and www.mba.com.
two days later, i.e. on the 15th of march, i took GMAT prep test #1, and scored 730 in it without any preparation(now you know why i am unhappy with my GMAT score). This score was very encouraging. Prepared for GMAT while preparing for CAT at the same time the next 4 months. During this time, my focus was mostly on CAT. Besides, there was also a gap on one month in my preparation due to workload. (2-3 months, I believe, is sufficient for GMAT)

Reference Material
read these books:
-Powerscore CR Bible (take notes while going thru this the first time, so that you can revise it quickly the next time. the book is very lenghty)
-OG

Avoid these:
- Kaplan 800 verbal: has some really good (tough) questions, but they never appear on GMAT (unless your verbal score fall into 46-50 category).

Quants: I did nothing for quants. If you have prepared for the CAT, GMAT quant should be a cakewalk (unless you commit stupid mistakes like I did)

Practise Tests
Take these tests:
-Knewton D-cat:it's free
-GMAT prep: i re-installed the s/w and re-took each test

avoid these tests:
-kaplan

I have uploaded all my mock scores in the attached document.

Forums:
-Pagalguy: do I even need to mention PG?? I am really thankful to fellow puys for helping me at every stage of my preparation.There are experts on PG like Psychodementia (Arun), reachmonil (monil), neo2000 who are always ready to help others. Follow their advice. A word of caution: 50% of the stuff posted on PG, or on any forum for that matter, is garbage. that's why i say, follow only the experts' advice.
Take for example the 'myth' that 'red-bull' is the key to high scores. Infact it had the exact opposite effect in my case as I am not in habit of taking coffee or sugary drinks (red-bull is very high in caffine & glucose content. I was feeling dizzy during the maths section after i gulped one can). You need not blindly follow everything and anything that is posted here.

Test taking strategies:
I have already said i did nothing for quant except the usual CAT prep. this mistake did me big-time on the test day. I completely ignored statistics, thinking that finding out mean or median is no big deal. on the test day, however, I got a question (the second ques itself) on standard deviation. I had no idea what std. dev was(shit!!:nono:) later i found out that the question was a sitter:-( The 5th question again was from statistics

I practiced a bit less on data sufficiency part (as it is not very common in CAT). I consider this my badluck that most of the DS and Stats questions that i was getting in mocks very really easy, so I never felt the need to even look at the stats formula or practise a few DS from the OG.

considering what has been happening to me in the last two CATs and XATs, the GMAT score I got makes me feel good.

Cheers!

Vivek Sinha

3

Congrats on the great score, Vivek!

btw, there is no document attached.

4
Congrats on the great score, Vivek!

btw, there is no document attached.


Thanks!
I am trying to attach that document, but i guess there's some problem with the uploader. can som1 from PG help me with it?
5
Congrats on the great score, Vivek!

btw, there is no document attached.

Thanks!
I am trying to attach that document, but i guess there's some problem with the uploader. can som1 from PG help me with it?


document uploaded. an excel sheet in the original post
6

congrats for the great score bhai :)

you can post the content of the excel sheet in a seperate post so that people who are not able to see the attachment can see that.

7

Hey Vivek,

Great score buddy. M preping for GMAT as well but haven't given the GMATprep so far. But gave a MGMAT(the free one on their website) and scored 650 (without preparation).

Now, coming to your scoring, it has put me in a fix. Last night, i gave a PR test, scored a pathetic 620 (Q 45, V31) but when i looked at your scores and the distribution, doubts started creeping in. Let me explain:

Q - got 33 C, 4 W -- Still the score is 45, (Wrong q at 13, 17, 32, 34)
V - Got 30 C, 11 W -- Score 31, Understandable coz i got wrongs upfront and in clusters but still 31 is too low 😞 (Wrong at 2,3, 5,6, 19,20,25, 31, 35, 36, 41)

M real down on morale, vivek or anyone reading this...i desperately need help!!!!:-(

8

Great score Vivek....

All the best for ur application phase.....

9
Hey Vivek,

Great score buddy. M preping for GMAT as well but haven't given the GMATprep so far. But gave a MGMAT(the free one on their website) and scored 650 (without preparation).

Now, coming to your scoring, it has put me in a fix. Last night, i gave a PR test, scored a pathetic 620 (Q 45, V31) but when i looked at your scores and the distribution, doubts started creeping in. Let me explain:

Q - got 33 C, 4 W -- Still the score is 45, (Wrong q at 13, 17, 32, 34)
V - Got 30 C, 11 W -- Score 31, Understandable coz i got wrongs upfront and in clusters but still 31 is too low 😞 (Wrong at 2,3, 5,6, 19,20,25, 31, 35, 36, 41)

M real down on morale, vivek or anyone reading this...i desperately need help!!!!:-(

Hi sujith!
Your post reminds me of the day when, after scoring 620 and 710 in MGMATs, I was exactly in the same state of mind.

I will give you the same advice that pyschodementia (Arun) gave me that day. Don't read too much into mock scores. You cannot control the sequence in which you commit mistakes (yaar pata hota to galti karte hi kyu)
so dont worry about your scores in individual sections or the overall score. Its just a three digit number
Just focus on one thing. Try to restrict your mistakes to 6-7 questions in each section, and you will surely get a 750+

These tests mimic the actual GMAT, however none of them is exactly the same as GMAT algorithm(not even GMAT prep)

For instance, i got 49 in quant in the knewton test that i took, even though i committed only 3 mistakes. Overall score was 750. for the same break-up, I would have easily got 780 in MGMAT .

And do not worry about a 620. See my score in MGMAT #2 in the excel sheet and you will come to know why
10
Have seen you around 😃 I think you mean Monil.

That's a great score and rest assured your GMAT score will not be a hindrance to apply anywhere now. So now get the hard part right. Best of luck!

Cheers,
Rohit

Hi Rohit!
Thanks for the encouragement. Yes, I mean Monil. was a typo. rectified
11

sorry...repeat post

12
congrats for the great score bhai :)

you can post the content of the excel sheet in a seperate post so that people who are not able to see the attachment can see that.


Find attached my mock score with detailed analysis (excel sheet)
13

Vivek - happy for you!

All the best for your ISB apping - ensure you bring the same focus to your essays that you got to your GMAT prep

Arun

14
Vivek - happy for you!

All the best for your ISB apping - ensure you bring the same focus to your essays that you got to your GMAT prep

Arun


Thanks a lot Arun! I was about to send u a PM about my result. I owe a lot to you. Thank you for all the encoragement and support:)

I have another news for you. got my AWA score today. Its 5.5
I am really happy with this AWA as i went with zero preparation in this area. Just wrote one AWA before the test.

I will surely work hard for the application part.
15

Great score Vivek ! All the best with ur apps.

Cheers,
sF.

16

Thanks Vivek.

I was about to make the same mistakes that you did ! (RedBull / taking Maths lightly being an Engineer etc.) But good that I read your post !
I am scheduled for August. Hope I will now do a little better, by not repeating same mistakes.

BTW any particular reason to avoid Kaplan CD tests? I have bought the Kaplan Premier 2010-2011 book. It comes with 6 tests in a CD. I plan to take them, that's why was curious to know. Haven't taken any tests yet.

cheers 😃

17
Thanks Vivek.

I was about to make the same mistakes that you did ! (RedBull / taking Maths lightly being an Engineer etc.) But good that I read your post !
I am scheduled for August. Hope I will now do a little better, by not repeating same mistakes.

BTW any particular reason to avoid Kaplan CD tests? I have bought the Kaplan Premier 2010-2011 book. It comes with 6 tests in a CD. I plan to take them, that's why was curious to know. Haven't taken any tests yet.

cheers :)


those tests are very difficult, not anywhere near to the actual GMAT.
they are good if you are preparing for CAT or XAT, but you can safely avoid them for GMAT.
jokes apart, you can take them you want to practise tougher question. but dont read too much into your scores in kaplan tests. 650 in kaplan is a very good score
18

Hi Vivek..

Congrats on ur score n thanks for the post.. :)
Saw the excel attached about the progress in mock tests...it was really helpful !

Can u send me the MGMAT tests? Actually I have tried a lot but have not been able to find these tests anywhere!
(Hv PM u my mail id)

19
Hi Vivek..

Congrats on ur score n thanks for the post.. :)
Saw the excel attached about the progress in mock tests...it was really helpful !

Can u send me the MGMAT tests? Actually I have tried a lot but have not been able to find these tests anywhere!
(Hv PM u my mail id)


MGMATs are not available for free....you have to order it for USD 39 from Manhattan's website. Alternatively, you can get it for free with any of their prep book. replied to ur id
20

update: Puys, I have received the final admission offer from my dream school ISB. Thanks a lot for all your support and encouragement!

I am ready to donate my preparation material to puys in NCR. Do PM me

Vivek