680 to 710 (Q47, V40)

Hi,

Took my GMAT for the second time this morning and scored 710. I took it once last February and got 680 (Q47, V36).

After the first GMAT exam, there was a long period where I am not studying GMAT due to other commitment and laziness (NOT advisable!). I found that after this 'break', it was harder to pick up the pace and the will to study GMAT again.

Anyway, here is the debrief.
When I took GMAT for the first time in February, I had only done GMATPrep twice. Scoring 660 and 700.

After the first exam and having read through some of the debrief that other members wrote that it is advisable to do the GMATPrep as many times as possible, I duly followed. Not surprising that after 8th attempt, I was scoring 780 in GMATPrep due to the many repeat questions. However, it also showed many questions that I would not have known if I had only done the GMATPrep once or twice. I had also bought manhattan GMAT verbal books (all three) to supplement the GMAT official guide that I already had. Having said so, I hardly touched the Manhattan GMAT books and they were only gathering dust.

In summary, here is the books that I find useful for my studies
OG11
GMAT Quantitative
GMAT Verbal
Princeton review 2007 - GMAT

The one thing that I can recommend is to do as many GMAT tests as possible, it does not matter which publisher supplies the tests. You can do GMATPrep, Manhattan GMAT or any other GMAT tests. But the main point is to do as many as possible. This does help with my second exam. As I mentioned earlier, in the first exam, I have only done 2 GMATPrep. By the time I took my second exam, I must have done at least 20 such tests (GMATPrep + Manhattan GMAT). When attempting these tests, it is probably best to skip the essays part and only do the essays part 2-3 days before your actual GMAT exam. This is because the essay part is normally the easiest (to some people anyway) as well as the least important one.

Also, I do think that if you are scoring 780 in GMATPrep, it does boost your confidence even though it is mainly due to repeat questions. I find that in the second exam, I was more confident and comfortable compared to the first one. I was somewhat confident that I can score 700+ may be because I keep on telling myself that I have scored 780 (talking about deceiving oneself ).

Anyway, sufficient to say that I am glad that I do not have to touch the GMAT books again.

Good luck with your endeavour.