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Recently, I scored 740 on the GMAT test. I was truly shocked to score over 600 considering I had only spent 3 weeks on preparations. Several people asked me whether I did anything special to get such a good score. Rather than keep repeating the same thing over and over, I thought I'd create a permanent tutorial so everyone can benefit from it. The GMAT is divided into two sections: Math and Verbal. Since it's significantly hard to improve your English in a few weeks, I spent majority of my time working on the Math section. By spending a few hours a day for 2 weeks on solving mathematics problems, anyone can improve their math skills significantly. Its feasible to boost your verbal score too, and you can through a similar amount of effort, but it's a lot tougher since it is inherently a lot more boring. Preferably I suggest improving your spoken English(if it's not very good) by enjoying a lot of chick flicks and reading a lot of English books. Evidently this is not something you can achieve in 2 weeks so I advise you begin six months ahead of when you plan to take the GMAT test. But if you're like most of the people I know, your math skills could definitely need a certain amount of revision. Luckily, you actually can work on this in 3-4 weeks. I strongly advise you procure the Kaplan Premier book. It contains a CD that has actual computer based tests on it. These tests replicate a live testenvironment and are timed. They also estimate your score for you. The questions are definitely harder than the actual GMAT questions so don't be disappointed if you don't score well on these tests. I didn't score more than 615 in any of the tests(I gave about 6) and my average score was only 535 on these prep tests. I also completed the Kaplan 800 book which has a list of the most onerous questions and I certainly recommend solving it after you're done with the first book. However, if you're a non-math person and are finding the math tough, specifically the probability and combination problems, I certainly recommend going through Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences. You should be able to get it at your bookstore or buy it on Amazon for $5. It's an easy to read book that gets you thinking about using math in everyday situations. The one thing I certainly recommend is doing all the practice lessons and tests on the Kaplan CD. It will definitely assist you develop a strategy for quickly solving the questions in time. One of the things I concluded was that I was hurrying through questions in order to finish the test on time. This was causing me to make mistakes and dropping my score. In the exam, I took my time on the first 5-6 questions. In fact, for the first couple of questions,problems, I spent,took nearly 4 minutes on each one. The GMAT difficulty level adapts to your level of math and gets progressively more tougher. If you get the first dozen questions,problems right, you stand an excellent chance of getting, achieving a high score. Half way through the math section, the questions were so tough, I immediately knew I couldn't solve them. I skipped 2 such questions and thus made up for lost time without significantly impacting my score. Here is a complete list of the best GMAT prep books I used. I strongly recommend you use these books. If you're not planning on going to Stanford or Berkley, you might assume you can get by with a 550 score. However, one thing you might not be aware of is that with a 700+ score, even if you go to a 3rd rate college, you stand an excellent chance of 1. getting your application fee waived 2. getting a full-ride (a full-ride isn't a free car, it's a scholarship that pays all your fees!). So don't slack off on your preparation just because you want to go to a 3rd rate college.
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The author scored a 740 on the GMAT and maintains a blog dedicated to Investing & Passive Income.
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