I promised myself that in case my GMAT score would be > 700, I would share my experience with the other members of GMATClub.
Like (As should be better?) they use to say, "if you are reading this, I beat the GMAT".
First of all, let me thank GMATClub, since I really believe that this site is the most powerful resource to go through the GMAT journey, without losing one's way.
My debrief: Italian Engineer (I don't want to hear a word about Berlusconi, please...), male, white, 28 years old, too short (1.63 m) to be taken seriously .
I started preparing three months ago, while working full time 60 hours/week. Therefore I started preparing 12 weekends ago, period.
I sat for the GMAT exam on 29th November and my results were 720 (Q47 V42).
I would like to share some thoughts with you, not because I feel I have gained some infinite wisdom, but because I feel this journey has taught me something which could, I hope, be useful to some of you. I followed study plans from GMATClub and they worked quite well, therefore I would like to just add some of my personal thought.
1) QUANT I feel the best way to get acquainted with the strategy for Quant are the Manhattan GMAT Strategy Guides. I feel that bb gmat pyramid
gmat-study-plan-how-to-start-your-gmat-prep-80727.html?fl=menu
is the best way to approach GMAT. Once you are familiar with the general knowledge of the GMAT quant beast (which is a peculiar one, but do not understimate its strength even if they do not test you on triple integrals in spherical coordinates), it is in my opinion better to start practicing with OG, to get a real feeling of gmat-like question. I used Manhattan GMAT CAT tests, and I must say I found their quant questions more time consuming than the real GMAT stuff and sometimes more involved than the real GMAT questions. That said, they are a great training and you can learn what your weaknesses are
2) VERBAL. As I said I am Italian, therefore probably one of the most distant life forms from a native English speaker. I started preparing with MGMAT SC/CR/RC guides. I strongly suggest to buy the latest edition of MGMAT CR guide, since I feel it is much better than the previous edition, which is a bit of a nightmare. I managed to reach 37 in verbal with this material. I think I have to credit e-GMAT SC course for much of my verbal score increase from 37 to 42. E-gmat has a tailored-to-needs approach for a non-native english speaker like me, that gives it big advantages over all the other materials for verbal I came across. Definitely worth trying!
More on this soon.....