印度 NIU 人

sdcar2010 · 发表于 2011-1-17 23:25:48

The following is a post found at an India MBA forum

GMAT Experience 750 (Q50 V42) - 01-09-2010, 05:09 PM

Hello Everyone,

I would like to share my experiences in GMAT preparation and hope that it would be helpful to at least some of the aspirants.

For the sake of background, this is my second attempt at GMAT. The first time I scored 710 (Q50, V36) AWA 4.5, but was not happy with my preparation as well as the score and decided to write GMAT again.

Books referred (I would say that all three books are a must) : I am a strong advocate of refering only very limited material but doing it thoroughly

1) OG 12
2) OG Verbal
3) Manhattan SC : Very helpful in developing concepts in Sentence Correction (the biggest pain area for me)

Some important learnings for me in the process:

Solve only the official material, i.e. OGs. I realized that most other material is nowhere near the original GMAT. Besides solving questions from other sources confuses you even more and affects your concepts negatively as one starts thinking a lot even for simple questions.

Since for many aspirants, the OG material may not be enough. I would suggest solving the same material twice, it helps in testing and reinforcing the concepts.

Tests taken:

GMATPrep 1: 710 (before starting preparation)
GMATPrep 2: 760 and 770 (with a few repeat questions)

Again, I believe that one shouldn't solve any other tests as most others are not true reflection of actual GMAT. Infact poor scores in these exams negatively affect the confidence of the student.

Class Attended:

CrackVerbal

I was looking for a verbal only class, which was comprehensive, short duration and focused on improving the concepts. Crackverbal fit the bill and was very helpful in improving my verbal score.

Some important pointers (in a nutshell):All this is common knowledge and most of us already know it, but still I would like to re-emphasize:

1) Solve OGs thoroughly, so that you understand all the concepts in detail. If needed, solve it twice for topics you are weak at. (This includes OG Verbal too)

2) Manhattan SC is must for developing concepts of sentence correction

3) Solve only the Official GMATPrep tests or atleast consider only GMATPrep scores as true indicator of your performance in actual GMAT. Don't get demotivated by poor scores in Manhattan/Kaplan/Princeton etc.

4) Remember confidence is very important: And confidence comes from practice

5) Don't solve unnecessarily complicated questions, because A) they would never come and B) They negatively impact the concepts that you have built

6) Clearly understand what are your strengths and weaknesses (even before you begin your preparation) The strength/weakness may not only be in terms of content but can also be in applying concepts or examination temperament). Always understand your weak point and work on it to maximize results

7) Remember that not all questions are tough in GMAT. You will receive very simple questions if you are in 30s in Verbal, so you need to access what your target score is and then prepare accordingly. There is no need to get panicked if you cannot answer questions from a huge RC about some Latin American tradition. Remember (unless you are targeting 780), you will make mistakes and it's ok to do the toughest questions wrong. What is important is not to do silly mistakes in simple questions. Make sure that doesn't happen and you can easily score 700+. Accuracy therefore is the key.

Don't get panicked if you start feeling that you did poorly in Quant and don't let it affect your Verbal. Focus on the question you are solving with the clear aim of solving it correctly, nothing else should come to your mind

9) After finishing the test, I felt that I did worse than my first attempt and I was almost about to cancel my score but thankfully I didn't. So at times you feel that you have done badly but you don't. So don't think about how much you score, just go ahead and solve every question in its own merit (this is a slight repetition of the previous point, but is very important)

10) Don't try to analyze basis the question as to how well you are doing in the exam. At times you receive some very simple questions in the middle of the exam, that doesn't mean that you are doing poorly. There would be simple questions even when you do extremely well and solve 10s of questions correctly in succession

11) Focus more on the initial questions to ensure that they are not wrong so that the algorithm sets you at a higher level. However, try to map time after 35 minutes. You do not want to encounter a situation when you have to solve 10 questions in 10 minutes

12) Do not panic if you are not able to understand what the answer to any particular question would be, just guess and go ahead. It's ok to guess if you are stuck rather than to waste lots of time. Not only does it wastes time but also causes frustration and you find it extremely difficult to concentrate on further questions and ultimately causing you to panic. So don't get stuck on any question, just guess

13) Keep track of the time during the 8 minute break. I didn't and lost 1 minute from my verbal section

14) Eat light and maybe have a chocolate before the exam. That helps de-stress you

15) Sleep sufficiently long a night before so that you have the mental stamina to take the 4 hour long exam

16) Last but not the least, don't consider GMAT as a life and death issue. As every bschool website say (which is true as well), GMAT is just one of the factors in your Bschool application, so don't kill yourself too much on it. Chill and take it easy.

Apart from this, I would be happy to answer any questions which you may have.

All the Very Best!

P.S: Please excuse me for the typos

Last edited by lostphoton111; 04-09-2010 at 01:57 AM.

sdcar2010 · 发表于 2011-1-17 23:27:44

This lostphoton was admitted to Harvard ! !

The following is another post by him:

@chocolat23: Thanks! My AWA was 5.5. Will certainly take out some time to pen a few lines on the application process later this month.

@cracb365:Thanks! As for my profile: 3 Years Fulltime workex (on matriculation) - 2 years in a top tier management consulting firm and 1 year in a high growth startup, B.Tech from IITB, started a venture while in college (which won various awards across the country and is one of the leading portal in its space), Independent Director in another technology startup, lots of business plan competition wins, 99.92% percentile in CAT 2007 (with an admission offer from IIMC), Got through Maths and Physics Olympiads at various levels.

I guess this is pretty much it. Regarding your other questions on recos etc. Will try to answer them in a separate post later this month. AWA is not very important - but try to get 4.5 or more

@nami_sharma: Thanks! It's a combination of hardwork and luck. MBA application process is very subjective.

@chandani13: I didn't really get your question. Graduates : Bachelors degree or masters? Nevertheless, you can get admissions as a fresher too, but A) It's very difficult and B) You won't really learn that much from your MBA. So it's better to be a bit patient and get some 2-3 years of workex and then apply. However you should give GMAT right away, as it's easier to score high if you are still in the "student mode"

Hope it was helpful.

Cheers!

wyqmg2011 · 发表于 2011-1-20 13:08:58

His suggestion is very practical. Dont be panicked, not all questions in GMAT are tough. Focus on simple questions and do them right, we may achieve our goals if we ensure all simple questions right as possible as we can.

AnttiZhang · 发表于 2011-1-20 13:10:22

太老了..前年就有的东西啦

印度 NIU 人

所属分类: 商学院申请

正在浏览此版块的会员 ()

浏览过的版块