My GMAT Experience

[milinjc]

Hi,

I recently took GMAT two days ago. My experience with the test was amazing and troubling at the same time. MGMAT Forums guided me throughout 4 months of my preparations and I would like to express my gratitude to the entire MGMAT team.

My unofficial score breakup is Q49 V30. I guess I could have done better in Verbal section, at least with SC and RC sections.

GMAT prep scores:
Q48 V39 (710)
Q49 V36 (710)

I am not sure if you guys are the right person to share because I am not your student but a couple of things I would like to share and ask:

1. My performance in Verbal was very poor and I think I should retake the test. At this point of time I have exhausted every GMAT official materials such as 13th edition, Verbal Review and GMAT Prep and have not followed any unofficial free materials available on internet.

2. I did not have anyone who could coach me in Verbal and as from non-English background I now see my mistake that I should have someone. I know there are a lot of people out there who would take GMAT without any coaching and still get 700+ score but any suggestion?

3. I feel the real GMAT exam was more like taking GMAT Prep exam. Except the software fonts were unreasonably big for me. I am not sure if this is just me or a common thing, because I recently got my glasses and I have been pretty much comfortable with normal sized fonts.

4. Any MGMAT blog you would recommend that I should check before I start prepping for retake?

Thanks,
Milin

[StaceyKoprince]

Nice job on the quant! Re: verbal, if you do want to get some outside help, then I would suggest taking a class. (There's also private tutoring, which can be very effective - but it is very expensive.)

There are all kinds of programs out there - of course, I think that my company's program is the best, but I'm biased. :) I'd recommend that you identify 2 or 3 companies that you think are good and take advantage of whatever free offerings they have. Use this to help you decide which class to take.

You can sit in on any of our class 1 sessions for free - just sign up on our website.

Re: the official materials, you may have done them, but you are not done with them. :) If you don't yet have the score you want, then you haven't learned what you needed to learn from that material (even if you have memorized the answers).

The biggest thing is to make sure you were studying in the right way in the first place, so I recommend reading this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

(There are additional links in that article - follow them!)

And, of course, follow whatever your teacher tells you for whatever class you take. :)

If you would like to get some more specific advice about the verbal section, use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour):
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as what you think you should do based on that analysis. Then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

Also, were there any stamina issues going on? Did you do essay and IR on practice exams? If not, then the drop in verbal score might have been due to mental fatigue (because the real exam would have been longer than your practice exams, and verbal is the last section).