I Beat the GMAT! 710 (Q47 V41)

Question

Took the GMAT yesterday and rocked it! I was suuuuper nervous the entire time and really felt like I bombed the Quant. Ironically, I thought I did really well on verbal but it turned out the opposite way. Since I haven't been in school in 7 years, I gave myself 4-ish months to reacquaint myself with the material. I spent a lot of time preparing, trying to study 2-ish hours a day 4 days a week and then taking a diagnostic on the weekends.

While the Kaplan CATs are poorly written, the one good thing about the Kaplan course is that it kept me on pace and they have a relationship with Pearson Vue where you can take one of the CATs in the actual testing center. That helped a bit with nerves on the actual day of.

Here are my CAT scores:

Feb 4, 2007: Kaplan Diagnostic: 590 (Q33, V39) 
Mar 11, 2007: Kaplan CAT 1: 580 (Q35, V34) 
Mar 18, 2007: Kaplan CAT 2: 580 (Q34, V35) 
Apr 2, 2007: Kaplan CAT 5: 630 (Q40, V37) 
Apr 21, 2007: Kaplan CAT 3: 610 (Q40, V 33) 
Apr 29, 2007: Kaplan CAT 4: 670 (Q45, V38) 
May 14, 2007: PowerPrep 1: 680 (Q45, V38) 
May 20, 2007: GMATPrep 1: 700 (Q42, V44)
May 27, 2007: GMATPrep2: 720 (Q45, V44)

As many people mentioned, GMATPrep was a pretty accurate indicator.

One thing of note: don't let crazy people on forums make you panic! Trust in your preparation.

Thanks to everyone for their stories, challenges, and support throughout my preparation. Now...on to applications!

plaguerabbit · Answer

hey man, great job and good luck on your apps.

just a side question about the kaplan CATs: a poster has mentioned before that he thinks thta the kaplan CATs are designed so that the first one is the hardest and the later ones are easier to make you feel like you're improving. did you get that sense at all?

Ive only taken Kaplan CAT I and it was really hard, so I dont know if I should bother with the rest. 

Anyways, congrats again on your score =)

buffett76 · Answer

what is kaplan CAT? is it sell with any book or sold separately? 

thank you

baer · Answer

Did a Q47, V41 really yield a 710? Seems low..

 I scored a Q44, V41 on my GMAT Prep last week and it gave 700 for the total.

mba2010 · Answer

baer: That's what the computer screen and my printout told me! I'm not going to question it. :lol:

buffett: I took the Kaplan GMAT prep course. Most of the homework is online and they give you something like 10 CATs (I didn't take them all). plaguerabbit: I think I really did improve as I progressed. When I took my first test, I hadn't studied math concepts since my sophomore year in college, so everything was very rough. After some diligent studying, my scores definitely improved. The good thing about the CATs are that they help you figure out timing and endurance. Save the GMATPreps for when you really think you're ready. Random note on nutrition: I'm a runner, and I realized that the length of the GMAT was about how long it takes me to run a full marathon (26.2 miles). Throughout my CATs, by the time I got to the verbal section, I had a hard time focusing and was incredibly fatigued. On my first GMATPrep, I figured I would try to nourish/water myself as I would for a marathon. This included coffee & a PowerBar for breakfast (about two hours before the actual test), 10 practice problems to get my brain warmed up, and then Clif Shot Bloks or a Gu and a sip of water during every break. This definitely helped with my fatigue--especially because the flavor I like for the Shot Bloks also contains a little bit of caffeine. Finally, I didn't practice the writing very much in my preparation as I've always been a pretty good writer. During the CATs, I think I only wrote full essays out twice. I probably should have done the writing pieces more than that, but I just couldn't deal with them! I love that I don't have to fly with these heavy GMAT books anymore! Today I flew on business to Rhode Island...and I got to read Montauk's "How to Get into a Top Business School" instead. At least its a little lighter than the OG :-D

csgreen · Answer

You should enter your Kaplan scores into the Score Estimator database:  https://www.gmatclub.com/content/resources/estimator/index.php

mba2010 · Answer

I've entered my practice exams into the estimator. However, someone needs to update it so that it has both PowerPrep and GMATPrep...and allows for multiple scores.

Got my AWA score back (a lot sooner than I expected). 5.0
I was kind of expecting higher since I pride myself on my writing skills. However, I didn't practice on the AWAs at all and didn't want to lose all my brainpower on writing a good AWA so I just did cursory essays. 

MY AWAs:

something about AVIA airlines not improving customer service because less than 1% of their customer base filed formal complaints

The other was based on the statement "A citizen's primary responsibility is to obey its nation's rules and laws."

I keep thinking had I done better on the verbal portion, I could have had a slightly higher score...but there's really no point in looking backwards. I'm done with the GMAT and it is time to start my essays!

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