Background: 27yrs, BSc. Stats (Hons), MCA IMT, working as a IT consultant since 2004. Had been thinking of doing am MBA since grad days and also gave CAT at that time, prepared really well (which really helped in my Math prep now). Didn’t get…
Background: 27yrs, BSc. Stats (Hons), MCA IMT, working as a IT consultant since 2004.
Had been thinking of doing am MBA since grad days and also gave CAT at that time, prepared really well (which really helped in my Math prep now). Didn't get into the IIMs so went for an MCA instead.
Had been thinking about the GMAT and CAT for the last one year, but with hectic work hours never really did anything about it. In Aug this year filled up the CAT form but never got around to preparing for it.
One day at office, a colleague was doing one of the SC tests available on a forum, I sat down with him and we finished the test, and we had about 80% accuracy. This got me thinking about the GMAT.
As the work hours were still a problem, decided to take a long leave from office. Started preparing in second week of Oct, but somehow wasn't too regular with it. Joined ********, in Del, from the 18th of Oct which at least brought some amount of regularity to my prep. Did the material that they provide, which I think covers a lot of the OG 10 questions. I was targeting a 770 - 780 score and was doing pretty well in the class.
Since I was doing pretty well in the class there got really overconfident, which lead to a much more relaxed form of preparation. Till about 1st week of nov had given about 3-4 ETS retired paper tests and was consistently getting 48-49 in quant and about 40 - 44 in verbal.
ETS test code 42- 700
ETS test code 37- 720
ETS test code 14- 710
ETS test code 25- 730
ETS test code 28- 700
Around the mid of Nov gave my first comp based test, Princeton 1. That really brought me back to earth, and was actually shocked to see a score of 630. I think this shock had more to do with my present score than anything else. Had the CAT next day (by the way got a score of 110, according to the answer key provided by CL and IMS), gave Princeton 2 and 3 on the following days and recovered a bit from the shock by getting
Princeton 2 (21st nov) 680
Princeton 3 (22st nov) 740.
Got the 6 pack from Manhattan and started with SC and CR and a bit of maths, till now maths had dipped below 45 only in the shocker.
Then gave:
powerprep 1 720 (nov 23rd)
powerprep 2 760 (nov 24th).
By this time I had also started going through PG and ScoreTop looking for challenging questions. Wasn't disappointed in this, cause these seemed to be too challenging at timesJ. Was also doing Kaplan 800 at about this time. Did sets 30 and 31 got 2-3 math and 7-8 verbal wrong in both. After that:
Kaplan 1 680 nov 26th
Kaplan 2 720 nov 27th
When I gave the Kaplan tests a lot of people told me that these tests are really tough and that these scores are awesome, which again got me a little overconfident. I finally installed the gmatprep and did the first one, and this time to test my stamina also did the AWA section completely.
GmatPrep 1 760 Nov 28th
However by this time I was in a situation where even sitting on the comp for 10 minutes at a time seemed like a Herculean effort.
What you could probably learn from my experience is that "Don't burn yourself out" in the last couple of days.
Test Exp:
Reached the test center nice and early, although had trouble finding a parking slot, a note to test takers from Del, parking can be tough at the center, so if you can get someone to drop you or get a cab, it could save you at least 10 - 15 minutes, which is about the time it took me to find a parking space. Spent these 10 minutes enjoying a Red Bull.
Finally started the test after the sign in, did the 2 AWAs, fortunately got topics where I didn't have to think too hard to come up with points (as opposed to the ones I got in Kaplan, where, the harder I tried, the more my mind pretended it was either a sieve with big holes or one that had previously belonged to a dinosaur).
Took the break, had some water and tried to stretch a bit. Then started to attack the math section, here I would like to mention that my biggest weakness in maths throughout my prep had been silly mistakes, eg, equations given for x and y, had to find value of y, somehow solved the equations first for x and marked that value as the final answer, and this is just one of the many many goofs that I had made during my prep. So had decided to read each question twice, and try to solve questions in 2 separate ways if possible. This really helped me with a probability question, which had been one of my other weaknesses.
Finished the quant section in about 66 or 67 minutes, took another break, had one more red bull, got back inside and put on my earplugs.
The Verbal section, got about 3 SC's in the first 5 questions where none of the answers seemed to make sense, and there were slight grammatical mistakes in all choices. (right now my brain is again in its dino mood so will give an example of this later) But since I had to choose the best possible ones, I chose. These took up a huge amount of time, and at the end of the 5th ques I had about 59 minutes remaining. Hit the first RC at around 7th or 8th, second RC at 13-14, 3rd at 21-22 and the last one at 33. 3 of these RCs did not have scrolling screens, but some of them were so interesting that they got me thinking about god knows what.
Started getting a bit tired about the late 20s early 30s, and my mind started to wander a bit. First I would have a vision of getting a 630 (guess that earlier mentioned shock never did wear off) and then one of 780. Had to really concentrate here and guess this must have been the time when I got most of the Verbal questions wrong.
For anyone reading this I would really suggest giving more tests to build your stamina, (and also do the 2 AWAs essays as that would be a good prep and also to get the right feel for the real deal), the last week that I did not give any test must have lead to a decrease in mine.
Finally somehow managed to finish the section, for a second was tempted to cancel the score (my mind, showing its sense of humor, had just given me a flashback of the shocker), but fortunately better senses prevailed, got through the questions at the end of the test and closed my eyes. The computer, maybe inspired from all the reality show hosts, or the juries from courtroom dramas, took a long pause before delivering the verdict. I had closed my eyes fearing the worst during the long pause (I can empathize with those who have to wait for the long pauses). Finally opened my eyes and I guess most of all was relieved at first. Then it started to sink in.
I guess now the tougher phase starts, thinking of 4 apps in US (Stanford is my dream) and 2 in Singapore for now
Some final experiences and learning's that I can share are:
Don't tell too many people about the test, as it creates unnecessary pressure to perform. I had told all and sundry about the test and sometimes used to have nightmares about what I would do if I had a really low score. So best keep extra pressure away. Also know that a low score is not the end of the world, and there can be another day another time when lady luck will smile, god will be on your side and your mind will not behave like a sieve. At least this what I used to repeatedly tell myself when I had these bad feelings or had butterflies along with all the other kinds of flies going for their evening strolls in my stomach.
Schedule the test at the time of the day when you are most active.
Many times in verbal we come across questions where we are really stumped between 2 choices (happens a lot with me), at times like this don't spend too much time, pick one that sounds good (have faith in your ear) and move on, cause even after spending a lot of time chances for correct or wrong would be probably even, so might as well save time.
Great post... man... thanks for the insight... you really got me thinking about GMAT in the near future...
cheers... :):):)
Hi Bro,
Congrats on the score.
How many hours did you prepare and
how many months do you think you actially spent on GMAT
also whats your view on princeton tests and princeton material. are they any good??? I only have them with ,me and am very scared as no one is giving is good report on those.
Whats your view on permutations and combinations and probablity type questions. Did you got any/many???
Hi Bro,
Congrats on the score.
How many hours did you prepare and
how many months do you think you actially spent on GMAT
also whats your view on princeton tests and princeton material. are they any good??? I only have them with ,me and am very scared as no one is giving is good report on those.
Whats your view on permutations and combinations and probablity type questions. Did you got any/many???
thanks pavan, my prep started in about mid oct. before that had done a little bit of maths from one of the cat books. I would say i used to study for about 4-5 hours a day, and when i started giving tests, tried to study for at least 3 hours in addition to the time spent giving and analyzing them. I had joined ********, and each day one topic was covered there, so just followed their schedule, which brought about a regularity in my studies.
Also a very important thing is to analyze each test that you give, and identify strengths and weaknesses.
Princeton was not too bad, however i used it mostly to get used to the concept of giving a test on the computer and see my stamina level. It wasnt too easy or too difficult, but it gave me a good idea of the structure of the test. Another thing is please give time to the AWA sections in these online test, as they notonly help build your stamina but also start you thinking on this line :)
One thing that i did was took a printout of about 20 issues and arguments, and whenever i was free or bored from studies, i wold read a couple of these. Also constructing in my mind the template for the answers that i would have to give.
I saw 2 questions from prob and one or 2 from permutation & comb.
Congratulations on your score!!
Just wanted to know whether the paper tests that you are talking about are available on the net?
"Around the 15th or 16th questions saw a couple of ones from the VIP section, so had a feeling wasnt doing too bad since have heard that most of these questions are 90% + ones"
WHAT DOES VIP MEAN??
Thanks,
Anu
Thanks anu,
The paper tests are available on the net, pm me your email add if you cant find them. I'll mail em to you.