GMAT - 720 (Q51, V36)

[hitender.ar]

I have given GMAT today. Scored 720 (Q51, V36).

Here is my story.

Started Preparation in October, 09.

Referred following materials
1) OG
2) Manhattan SC Book (Must Read)
3) 800 Score Material for AWA
4) Just browsed Manhattan Quant, RC and CR books (not much useful)
5) Also browsed 800 Score material for Quant (especially Probability, P & C)

Test Scores in chronological order
1) GMAT Prep 1 (Before Starting Prep) - 620 (Q48, V27)
2) GMAT Prep 2 (After prep) - 730 (Not attempted AWA here) (Q50, V39)
3) 800 Score Practice Test 1 - 660 (Q44, V35)
4) MGMAT Test 1 - 650 (Q43, V36)
5) MGMAT Test 2 - 720 (Q50, V38)
6) MGMAT Test 3 - 710 (Q47, V40)
7) MGMAT Test 4 - 730 (Q49, V41)
8) Kaplan Test 1 - 600 (Q50, V29)
9) 800 Score Practice Test 2 - 600 (Q41, V31)
9) Kaplan Test 2 - 600 (Q42, V31)
10) Kaplan Test 3 - 620 (Q50, V31)
11) MGMAT Test 5 - 710 (Q50, V36)
12) MGMAT Test 6 - 730 (Q51, V38)
13) GMAT Prep 2 Repeat - 740 (Q51, V38)

I really want to thanks Manhattan Group. The Manhattan SC was simply superb. And Manhattan Tests were very close to real GMAT. After doing Quant Questions on Manhattan Tests, GMAT Test Quant was quite a cake walk.

Also Kaplan Tests were quite far from actual GMAT. Good to give them for experience however their scores are really screwed.

Let me know if anyone need any further insights from my experience

[terlium101]

hi, congrats on your score!

i wanted to know how many hours (on an average) did you devote daily to your preparation?

Also, if time is really short do you think it is beneficial to give as many tests as possible or it might be more relevant to comprehensively prepare strategies and theory from guides?

did you get any percentile ranking yet?

[hitender.ar]

I took approximately 4 months for preparation which may seems pretty long time to everyone. I also thought at later stages that I should have got the appointment for slightly earlier date than 23rd Jan. However everything worked out well at end.

I tried devoting 2 hours every day on weekdays to GMAT and approximately 6-8 hours during one day on weekend during initial couple of months. However was not able to study every day because of some office work.

Preparation Time depends totally on two things, I guess
1) Your initial level before starting prep. I scored 620 in my pre-prep GMAT Prep so was at slight decent level, especially in Quant. If you score poorly then you need to study more and vice versa.
2) Your available bandwidth. If you can commit to study 2-3 hours daily on weekdays and 6-7 hours daily on weekends then you might be good for GMAT after 2-2.5 months of prep.

Most important things is to study consistently, with no 5-10 days break in between, and to keep track of your progress.

If time is short then you should first get your basics right (both concepts and speed) and then focus on tests. You should definitely give GMAT Prep and Manhattan Tests. I found those to be really useful. 800 score and Kaplan Tests are good to give if you have enough time. Also please do attempt AWA section in all of your practice tests as those help in building your stamina.

I got 94 percentile.

Let me know if you have further questions.

[Viswanathan.harsha]

Did you find the Manhattan GMAT math more difficult than the actual gmat? Also, how did you find the verbal compared to the MGMAT exam, as well?

[hitender.ar]

Manhattan Test Maths is quite similar to Actual GMAT Maths. I got similar type of questions in Actual GMAT exam.

Same for Verbal. One point over here is that I didn't got even a single Bold Faced Question. This is probably as I didn't scored well in Verbal.

There were not much surprises in terms of type and difficulty of Questions to me.