GMAT Help

Seems strange to score that low... I've always been a good test taker and did really well on the GMAT from day one.

I would encourage you to take a prep course/practice problems for the data sufficiency questions. The other math questions are pretty trivial, IMO.

What was your Q/V breakdown?

Veritas's free test has an artificially hard curve to trick you into paying for their service. I did 30 points worse on their free test than I did on the actual exam.

Ok, so that would mean 520 for both tests.

Breakdown was pretty even with something like 32/30? Not sure exactly, I was too mad to pay much attention to it.

I would take a prep course and check out gmatclub.com

The GMAT really isn't very hard, so there must be something fixable that is throwing you off.

Do you understand why you got certain questions wrong?

Data sufficiency is definitely throwing me off. As are just general quant problems that are things I don't remember how to do. Will the mgmat guides help a bunch?

The same thing happened to me... don't worry about it. As you've seen, the GMAT doesn't ask you to solve problems, they ask you the problems wrapped up in the Data sufficiency format. The problems can get very confusing if you don't know the correct strategy for approaching the questions (sentence splitting, finding the easy answer, eliminating several choices right away, quick factoring), etc.

You really need a GMAT strategy guide to do well on the test, because you need to be able to do more than just answer questions, unlike taking classes and academics.

I'm studying for the GMAT right now, and I'm using Manhattan GMAT... Plug for them... everything you need is provided through the workbooks and the videos.

manhattan gmat has good books as well as the official guides.. once u get a decent score on a real gmat go for the knewton prep package for 350 -- youre guaranteed a 50 pt boost or money back

buy the official book/take tests online. Those are good. If you need extra prep, try isolating a section and tackling that. For exmaple, if you have trouble on sentence completion, try review the rules (they list out all the possible problems) in the official book and then doing extra prep in like manhattan or wahtever

+1 on Manhattan GMAT. Co-sign on gmatclub.com as well and take a look at beatthegmat.com too. I usually grab a few difficult questions from those sites and add them to my practice tests if I need to amp-up my studying.

GoIllini:

Hey guys,

So I am going into my senior year of college and have decided to take the GMAT in order to get it out of the way. I just ordered Princeton Review's Crack the GMAT and the Official GMAT Review Book.

For my score I want to shoot for 700 + so that in a few years when it comes time to apply to b-school I can have a shot at getting into Booth, Kellogg, and Ross. Ross is my favorite of the 3 so I know that a 690 or so may suffice.

However, I just took one of Princeton Review's free practice tests and scored way too low. I got a 520 yesterday and was really shocked. I took a Veritas free test today and got a 490 which just pissed me off even more. Granted I'm at work in an office so there are some people talking, but it is minimal and I would think that would only set me back 50 points at MOST.

I'm someone who has always been able to score in the 90th percentile on standardized tests.(31 ACT, 4s & 5s on APs) I figured that I would score in the low to mid 600s on my first try. Is this normal to score this low before you start studying/prepping for the exam? How much/what do I need to do in order to be ready to kick the shit out of the GMAT?

Do I need to or should I take a prep course?

Hello Juggling between work and studies is tough so you need to define a significant time for your GMAT preparation. Sometimes taking few days off work for preparing for the GMAT can help a person tremendously. If you have time this may not be a bad idea. Take practise GMAT tests to see how you are doing. If you cannot do that don’t worry. What might work instead is to set aside 1-2 hours at night on weekdays and major part of your weekend to study and prepare for GMAT- in this case we will suggest a good 2-3 months preparation. However we recommend you to keep taking practise tests to gauge your performance. It will help you in identifying your weak areas and you can focus on them accordingly.

There are various ways you can use to practise for your GMAT. You might need to change your practise style and try this combination to provide you flexibility and different styles to practise so it doesn’t get monotonous.

It could be combination of-

1-Books- Books like- The Official Guide for GMAT Review, The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review, The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review etc could be used.

2-Online Study Guide: Websites like Knewton, Grockit etc provide you with practise questions online.

3-Smart phone applications- Kaplan, Veritas etc offer applications to prepare for GMAT on your smart phones.

Find out where you stand with our Free Assessment Test or drop your resume at [email protected]

Thanks

Kavita Singh FutureWorks Consulting