720 + dare = 760

Thanks for the motivation dude....I admire u.I am done with the Manhattan Q bank and OG SC and will revise them 2 or 3 days before D day as u did.
The 700 thread question pool is indeed a good practice for CR and SC.Well today this site is offering its tests free so I will try to make maximum use of it, any comments on these tests ??

hey.. yes, labor day bonus, I forgot. I gave gmatclub verbal tests, and they were good practice. They may not be as adaptive as GMAT, but the questions are challenging.

Mayank, thanks a lot for sharing your story with us.

Could you please shed some light on how you practiced and compiled/attacked/analyzed practice questions? Did you take one book and did questions from it and then moved on to another source?

Thanks a lot.

Hello noname,

For areas in which I was strong, I practiced problems from one book, then moved on to other books. eg., I would do GMAT OG DS for 3-4 days, then take a MGMAT/800 score quant test.

For areas in which I was weak, I studied theory and practiced problems together. eg., in verbal, I would study 1-2 chapters from MGMAT SC, then solve 10-15 problems from GMAT verbal handbook, and then repeat this cycle. I would not mix two theory books or two problem books in one single day. Every book has got a set of strategies to solve questions, and has a set of questions based on these strategies. hence I would aim at mastering these strategies before moving on to other books.
hope that answered your question.

Mayank, thanks for your reply.

Don't you think that there is a shortage of questions, especially if you need to concentrate on particular areas? How did you deal with that?

Also, can you please explain how you worked on your weak areas and how you analyzed your practice sessions/questions?

You mentioned that you were running out of time at the end of your preparation. How did you organize your preparation? Did you have something like practice sessions or did you just study randomly whenever you had time?

hello noname,

your question is valid. even I initially faced the problem while deciding "How much is enough preparation". I think your goals can define that. You can judge your potential and hence plan out a schedule for yourself. eg., if you are scoring 30-35 in verbal, you can expect to increase to 35-40 in one to two months, but not miraculously to 45-50 in the same time period (for most of the GMAT aspirants).

if you refer to standard books for GMAT, then I do not think there is a shortage of questions, as each question is a learning in itself. Whenever I felt that I needed more practice, I would solve gmatclub questions.

Regarding improving your weak areas, different people have different approach. I gain confidence by reading more theory, so I read verbal grammar books to improve my SC. You can stick to an approach that has worked for you in the past.

I had a study plan and I mostly stuck to it. I would usually study 1-2 hours on weekdays and 8-10 hours during weekends. But again I feel it is not the number of questions one solves or the number of hours one has studied, but rather the quality of efforts one has put in and the learning one has obtained during the process that matter on the D day.

hope that helped!

Mayank, thanks a lot for your answers. They are very helpful.

congrats man
best of luck

Mayank, one final question: When would you recommend to take the first GMAT Prep test?

Awesome debrief! I dont know how I missed this! The timing calculation is very good. I never really check this while taking practice tests. I'll definitely check this in next test. Thank you very much!

GMAT prep 1 is supposed to be diagnostic test and GMAT prep 2 is a bit difficult (or the "real deal" if you may say.) generally people take gmat prep 1 before beginning their gmat preparation in order to gauge their performance in various areas of quant and verbal. then they take gmat prep 2 around 1 week before actual Gmat day.

I took Gmat prep-1 one month before D day, and Gmat prep-2 one week before D day. remember gmat prep is as close as you can get to actual gmat. also many (including me) have found it useful to attempt gmat prep tests multiple times.

"I would be fool to back out without challenging my limits."

Inspirational statement, absolutely loved it, to be applied in other aspects of life as well.