my gmat endeavour(710 Q49 V37)

MBA
1

Hi every1, i gave my gmat today. scored 710(q49 v37). was my second attempt. aiming for isb,duke,kenan flagler,darden and emory. will post my prep and dday experience later.

2

Hi every1,

i gave my gmat today. scored 710(q49 v37). was my second attempt. aiming for isb,duke,kenan flagler,darden and emory. will post my prep and dday experience later.

3

at last i have some free time to write about my travails for GMAT. first a brief abt my background.

  1. ICSE 86%
  2. ISC 78%
  3. BE Mechanical from VTU Belgaum (74.9% 2003 passout)
  4. Work Ex 5 yrs(teaching+manufacturing+CAE)
  5. Extra curriculars decent

I had decided to take up gmat last december and had booked date for April 26th which got postponed to June 12th. FIrst attempt i made 650(Q50 V2. I decided to retake it. Today was my second attempt.

Lots has been written about the books and their pros and cons. I would like to stress on the fact that practice is the key. The mistakes i made in the first attempt was that i had saturated myself with the questions and had the answers byhearted. because of which i ended up scoring 760 in GMAT prep before my first attempt. I also had a notion(very foolish one) that some questions of OG would throw up in real GMAT. i learnt my lesson with the first attempt score. Then i took up Score top 31 sets(not from the website but from esnips) and solved all the SC and CR questions. I gained a lot from those sets).

CR i used to get lost in the options. there was no reasoning on my side. i used to read passively and answer. this brought my downfall in the first attempt. Then in the last one month i used to reason out the answer and search for it in the options. Selection by elimination helped a lot.

SC practice as much as possible Manhattan is pretty good. I think it covers all the key areas of SC. i dint do 1000SC. Even GMAT 800 is pretty good.

RC. i tried read in between lines. all details skipped. concentrating on authors opinions or conclusions helped. i feel i could have done better.
4

HI,

First of all congratulations on your score and for your strong resilience.Somewhow i am able to relate my experience with yours.I gave the GMAT on 31st July i got a score of 650 (q49 v29) which has been a big let down for me as i was planning to apply in top 20 universities.

Even i had a foolish assumption that same type of questions would appear on GMAT especially for CR.But when i started solving CR questions i was lost and confused.Also i believe i screwed up big time in SC Questions.

Now i am planning to give the GMAT again in Oct or Nov'08.Can u pls suggest how to proceed....

Waiting for your reply.

Thanks and Regards
VS

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HI,

First of all congratulations on your score and for your strong resilience.Somewhow i am able to relate my experience with yours.I gave the GMAT on 31st July i got a score of 650 (q49 v29) which has been a big let down for me as i was planning to apply in top 20 universities.

Even i had a foolish assumption that same type of questions would appear on GMAT especially for CR.But when i started solving CR questions i was lost and confused.Also i believe i screwed up big time in SC Questions.

Now i am planning to give the GMAT again in Oct or Nov'08.Can u pls suggest how to proceed....

Waiting for your reply.

Thanks and Regards
VS


Hey VS

thanks for the wishes. I was determined to improve my performance. even now i want to give to score around 750. but i guess it will be after one month and too late for ISB and other schools.

The key is to understand the logic of CR questions. as they are reasoning based. i gained a lot from the score top sets which i got from esnips. after my first attempt i took up those sets and solved for 3 weeks(only CR and SC). these sets dont have explanations. so u get wrong, u try to figure why an answer is correct. Read every word in CR questions loudly till ur accuracy improves. dont miss any of them. All of them contribute to the answer. then after reading the statements and the question think for some time the possibilities of the answer. and then go to the options. first glance u can remove atleast 2 options. little bit thinking and rereading the options u can eliminate one more. it now boils down to only 2. read the argument again. for assumption questions do the denial test for these two.for other questions also try to put the options next to the question and see whether they fit the bill. it will take some time to get used to get the accuracy to 90%.

For SC practice. instead of solving, find the errors first and start fixing them one by one based on the gmat rules.read manhattan SC atleast 10 times. get all the rules in ur mind. use the rules to pin point errors. and fix them one by one. hope this helps
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My Gday experience

i had a 9 am slot at pearson bangalore(dickenson road). I reached the center by 8 am. to my surprise i found that the center had already opened. i went in and started the formalities. to the unknowns the formalities are
1. submitting passport
2. thumb impression
3 digital signature
4 digital snap
my signature dint match with the one in passport. i tried 10 times to get it close to the one in passport. i found the digital signature process a bit harrowing .

then i was taken to the test room . i started with selecting schools. i picked ISB(first choice) and other four in US(Duke,Emory,Virginia and North Carolina). i proceed towards AWA. the first one was an argument. i tried to figure out lot of assumptions in the argument. and started attacking them. i had template in mind. just followed that blindly. then i proceeded towards issue. the topic was a bit difficult to digest. but somehow managed to write 5 paras.

took the first break. drank a minute maid(no the whole bottle). went back to test seat in 4 minutes. started with quant. first couple of the questions were PS. in one problem(Q6) i got stuck badly. i just kept doing it and could not get the correct answer. i lost lot of time in that question. then the flurry of DS qs started. they started getting tougher. i dread inequalities in DS. i got couple of them. then after Q20 i think the questions eased out a bit. could complete the 37 qs with 10 seconds left.
Dont neglect quant for guys who think they are strong(i am one of them)
for the second attempt i dint revise quant at all and i payed the price.i slipped from 50 to 49.

then i took the second break. this time finished the minute maid. and went back again. before starting i told myself that i need to remain in the scope of question for CR.also for SC i had made up my mind that i would read the whole sentence, list the errors and try to fix them one by one.
first 2 to 3(in my keyboard the hyphen key is not working) were easy SCs. had practiced some with similar errors. then my nightmares started the CR.
first one was an assumption. i eliminated 3 and was left with two. here also i was reading passively. then like a lighting struck and i realized that the option which ws not in the contention was the actual answer. then i told myself again that to get verbal right i need to stay doubly awake and cautious. then around Q9 i got a BF question. solved it with relative ease as i had practiced them a lot from the sets of ST. the passages were also pretty tricky. i tried to map each para to the purpose of the passage and then answer. after 30 i realized that the qs had eased out a bit till at 35 got another RC. finished the section with no time to spare. completed the post test formalities and closed my eyes to see the score. then when i opened i saw 710. was neutral as i had expected 740+.

btw i have gmat stuff with me. books,online tests,notes.
Books

  1. Kaplan GMAT 800
  2. Kaplan Premier Edition
  3. OG 11 ed
  4. OG quant
  5. OG verbal
  6. Manhattan SC

Tests

  1. Kaplan CD 4 Tests
  2. Manhattan Online 6 tests

frankly i havenot thought abt what to do with these prep material. if somebody wants it , i can sell at a reduced price or just give it. let me know
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Hi Vivek,

I would like to take the ONLINE Gmat stuff from you. Let me know how to go further.

Wish you all d best.

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Hello

Firstly Congratulations for 710...Tats a amazing score.. Well done..

I am looking for the MAnhattan Gmat SC guide. CAn you help?

psd6300

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Congratulations to you buddy!!!

I am going to start my preparations for GMAT soon. Looking at various study options - from instructor-led coaching institutes (Career Launcher, Career Forum,IMS,T.I.M.E) to online courses.

- Any tips on how one should get started with? Did you join any of those institutes or did you self-study?

Thanks and congrats once more,

Roy

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Congratulations to you buddy!!!

I am going to start my preparations for GMAT soon. Looking at various study options - from instructor-led coaching institutes (Career Launcher, Career Forum,IMS,T.I.M.E) to online courses.

- Any tips on how one should get started with? Did you join any of those institutes or did you self-study?

Thanks and congrats once more,

Roy


Hey Roy,

thanks for the wishes. ATB 4 ur prep. I dint join any insti. they are not worth it. its sheer waste of money and time. thats my personal opinion. the best thing is to get to know the content of the test and collect some material and do that meticulously. understanding the mechanism behind the questions is important. quant doesnt need much attention. try to spend maximum time on verbal. for any more suggestions let me know
11
Hey Roy,

thanks for the wishes. ATB 4 ur prep. I dint join any insti. they are not worth it. its sheer waste of money and time. thats my personal opinion. the best thing is to get to know the content of the test and collect some material and do that meticulously. understanding the mechanism behind the questions is important. quant doesnt need much attention. try to spend maximum time on verbal. for any more suggestions let me know


Thanks for the useful info. I guess I will get started with the OG 11, OG-V and OG-Q. I also have the Kaplan 800 and Manhattan -SC. I haven't had time to look into these because of my work schedule. By the way:

- How good are Manhattan guides? Is it worth to purchase them all?
- Did you refer any specific English Grammer books?
- How much time did you contribute on a daily basis for your prep?
- Did you refer the past OG 10?
- Which all online tests did you purchase?

Thanks,

Roy
12
Thanks for the useful info. I guess I will get started with the OG 11, OG-V and OG-Q. I also have the Kaplan 800 and Manhattan -SC. I haven't had time to look into these because of my work schedule. By the way:

- How good are Manhattan guides? Is it worth to purchase them all?
- Did you refer any specific English Grammer books?
- How much time did you contribute on a daily basis for your prep?
- Did you refer the past OG 10?
- Which all online tests did you purchase?

Thanks,

Roy


Hey Roy,
Manhattan SC is the only guide of the pack. Rest are not worth buying.Along with SC Book u get 6 online tests.
I dint touch any english grammar book. But i guess going thru Wren & Martin would boost ur Verbal artillery.
I used to spend roughly 4 hours a day. towards the end around 6 may be.
I dint refer OG10.
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Hi ..
Thanks for sharing your experience ..its reallly helpful , m plannign for Oct.
Can I have your gtalk or yahoo ID where I can ping you , wanna discuss with u something , wont take much of your time.

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Hi ..
Thanks for sharing your experience ..its reallly helpful , m plannign for Oct.
Can I have your gtalk or yahoo ID where I can ping you , wanna discuss with u something , wont take much of your time.


Gtalk- nvivek81
Yahoo [email protected]
15
Hey Roy,
Manhattan SC is the only guide of the pack. Rest are not worth buying.Along with SC Book u get 6 online tests.
I dint touch any english grammar book. But i guess going thru Wren & Martin would boost ur Verbal artillery.
I used to spend roughly 4 hours a day. towards the end around 6 may be.
I dint refer OG10.


Thanks for sharing your experience. All the very best with the college applications. Do post in when you join in.

Cheers!!
Roy
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Thanks for sharing your experience. All the very best with the college applications. Do post in when you join in.

Cheers!!
Roy

let me know if u need any assistance in terms of preparation,material or anything related to gmat.
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today a friend of mine screwed her gmat.this has triggered me to share some more insights into gmat prep. most guys(including me till the first attempt) get carried away by the amount of material they can garner and complete it. for the second attempt ,as i have mentioned i just did couple of questions of
good standard but got the concepts right. in the first attempt i dont remember anything of the verbal section because all i remember is that i was possessed by the answers and not by the questions. for the second attempt i reached the answers by solving questions and not fitting answer to question. i had miserable accuracy when it came to CR,SC especially. just focussing on SC wont guarantee a gud score even though the contribution of SC is highest in Verbal section.

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i thought i wud dissect the Quant section a bit.thought for engineers it would look relatively simple, the quant section isnt so if you want to score 50+. i think the DS questions are difficult to handle and consume a lot of time. In DS especially the questions based on inequality are tough nuts to crack. PS questions are relatively formula based. they dont need the reasoning aptitude to solve. so the bottom line is that for quant prep, the focus has to be on DS. personally i prepared for quant only 15% of the total time. that too i dint practice a single question. i just browsed thru the formulas. for formulas Quantitative aptitude by Abhijit Guha came quite handy. there are loads of formulae in this book. the OG books,Kaplan 800 and any other book dont paint quant picture accurately. the GMAT quant is comparatively tougher than all these put together. this is my personal opinion. in the first attempt i managed 50 but in the second i managed only 49. so guys , dont take quant lightly.

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Hey any body has OG 10 soft copy as well as full length gmat practice tests...
pls help me..

and wot is this pm..
sombdy wrote in one post that dont give email ids but post it on pm..
woths this
i v recently joined intending to take gmat in sept.
dont knw more pg terms... pls pls help me
if u have pls reply so i ll give my mail id or "pm"(pls let me knw woths this)

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Hey any body has OG 10 soft copy as well as full length gmat practice tests...
pls help me..

and wot is this pm..
sombdy wrote in one post that dont give email ids but post it on pm..
woths this
i v recently joined intending to take gmat in sept.
dont knw more pg terms... pls pls help me
if u have pls reply so i ll give my mail id or "pm"(pls let me knw woths this)

Hey Rimi,
search esnips.com for OG 10th ed. for sure you will get a soft copy. and regarding full length gmat tests i have Kaplan and Manhattan. u can download GMAT prep from mba.com. It has two full length tests. pm is private message. give ur mail id. i will get in touch in with u for further info

cheers,
vivek