720 - Q51V36 - Long Debrief

Hello Folks..!!!

A lot of high scorers out there have inspired me on these very forums with the intricacies of their preperations for the GMAT exam and I would like to ‘pay it forward’.

I am a Mechanical Engineer presently working in an automobile company (2.5 years work experience). My job is pretty tiring which involves a lot of travelling and unplanned trips. I used to cut corners to save whatever time I could to prepare.

I started my GMAT preparation with the diagnostic test and pretty much nailed it. This led me to believe that GMAT was an easy exam. However, as I delved further into the exam patterns I found out that it was an altogether different ball-game. I saw a lot of misconceptions floating around on these very forums and will like to clear them here. I will do so while I present to you guys how I went around preparing for each section.

Time Frame – Wanted to start the preparations in Feb, but the procrastinator that I am..!! Started the preparations in mid May. Completed OG in 2 weeks. Was mighty impressed with CR as the questions were not only good but also interesting, with every question giving a beautiful insight on its own. Quant was easy and verbal was selectively good (around 80% of the times ). Bought an e-gmat verbal live prep course in the last week of May. I had planned to be ready for my GMAT by August end; in the worst case scenario, that is, but couldn't. I finished my course by July 1st week. Planned to take my GMAT by 15th August but I was unable to get sufficient time for studies. Got delayed by a month and gave the exam on 18th Sep, 2013.

Schedule – Since my job has ‘n’ number of unplanned trips, sometimes, I used to be back at home by 7PM, and at others, not even until 11PM. I thought of making a consistent schedule for myself. I would sleep till 9 PM (whatever be the time I was coming before 9) and then start my preparation at around 10:30PM, ensuring that I was giving atleast 2.5 to 3 hours daily of peaceful time. Weekends were invariably highly variable owing to some stuck-up work, either home or job. Moreover, weekends were devoted to some TV series (Family Guy helped a lot) or movies.
I also decided on taking one mock every week after July 1st week. Overall, I ended up taking over 25 mocks by the end of my preparation. Most of them being taken in the last 2 weeks.

MOCKS – Got 6 MGMAT mocks free with the MGMAT Numbers book that was bought for this very purpose. Got Grockit and 800score tests with e-gmat course. The MGMAT mocks are good to start with. The Quant is tough but good to practice DS. It helps to build a resistance and protects you from being outwitted by the GMAT questions. The verbal is as good as the real GMAT stuff. Overall, add 3 points to your quant score and you get your real score. 800score test are easy but they demand higher accuracy of you. The quant is of the same level as the GMAT but Verbal is easier. The Grockit tests are nearest to real GMAT. Initially, I hated them but by the end had changed my opinion of them. The Quant is a notch higher than the real thing and the verbal is a notch lower but still they are as close as you can get. Though their scoring is wrong and even a few of their questions are marked wrongly - which can be very frustrating at times, they are a good practice because they give you the same feel of urgency that the GMAT delivers. Their user interface is very poor and they should change it immediately. The way the test answers are displayed without any time analysis doesn't help a candidate’s cause.

Quant – Well, I was pretty over-confident here, but was wrong. I didn’t care much for Maths until I started taking my mocks. In my initial mocks I used to get only 60% accuracy and all thanks to DS. After a few MGMAT mocks I realized that I needed to target DS specifically. I downloaded some 700 level DS questions from Gmatclub and started solving them for an hour daily, twice a week. I never prepared thoroughly for Quant until my 1st GMAT prep.

Verbal– I completed OG with almost 80% accuracy in CR and RC, and 75% accuracy in SC. That is where e-gmat came in. SC was always a patchy area for me. Since I am an avid reader, I was able to make out which sentence was wrong and which was right. But I didn’t know the reason for the same. This led me taking close to 2 minutes even for SC questions. After the verbal sessions I could see significant improvement in both time and accuracy. For me the most important thing was the ‘Meaning Approach’ of e-gmat that changed the way I looked at SC questions. It helped till the very end.
CR was never much of a red area, atleast not in the beginning. Though I learnt the e-gmat approach, but never used it much. Though it’s a pretty good way to approach CR questions, but overall, for me, CR has always been about reasoning and it should come naturally.
RC – This section was a big black eye for me in all my MGMAT mocks. Comprehension is not supposed to be difficult once you have understood the passage but for some reason I could never cross 60% accuracy in MGMAT mocks (except in one test). But by the end of my preparation I was pretty confident in RC as well (only to be fooled on the day of test). OG questions on RC are the real deal and can be easily solved if you understand the passage well, but the only issue that one encounters is the fight with the clock.

Mocks (before GMAT Prep)
1) MGMAT 3 – 660 (Q45V35)
2) 800score 2 – 660 (Q45V37)
3) Grockit 2 – 680 (Q49V37)
4) 800score 3 – 720
5) MGMAT 4 – 700 (Q43V41)
6) Grockit 3 – 690 (Q51V36)
7) GMAT Prep – 690 (Q48V37) {10th August)

I wanted to decide my test date based on my GMAT prep score. The GMAT prep score disappointed me a bit. After all I was getting a consistent 690 on MGMAT and the GMATprep was supposed to be easier.
The reality check for me was Quant. I doubled my focus on DS. Downloaded PS 700 files from Gmatclub. Solved them thrice a week. Downloaded 100 SC and 700 level CR questions as well. Great Help..!! Solved SC with close to 80% accuracy and this had me more than delighted because the questions were actually very good. I improved on my timing as well. CR started on wavy note but by the end of August I was more than confident with CR as well. Though I was able to solve 8/10 questions correctly in the CR700 files, I was unable to score CR with a higher accuracy during actual mocks. I was missing either one point or the other that was impacting my performance. Then I decided on reviewing my e-gmat concepts on CR once again. And this time, got a solid grip on Negation test and Variance analysis. This did actually help a lot. It was here that I realized that all the questions (CR ad RC) are easily solvable but the most important thing is solve them under duress (read exam/mock pressure) and in time.
RC remained, as usual, elusive, atleast in MGMAT mocks. However, what I noticed was that MGMAT questions specifically put awkward inference questions to fool you. The actual GMAT questions are much more straight-forward and easy going, as are there in the OG.

Last 2 weeks– I had to face a lot of unnecessary trouble in this period. My laptop which was having the GMAT prep s/w crashed. I had a 2 week long Broadband issue. A close relative was admitted to hospital and I had to visit regularly. It was like everything was conspiring against me. I used to get 15-20 work related calls daily even though I was on leave for the last week. Nevertheless, my preparation was going strong. Gave GMAT prep and the score were as follows –

1) Grockit 4 – 690 (Q50V37) {22nd Aug}
2) Kaplan Free Practice – 740 {1st Sep}
3) MGMAT 6 – 690 (Q47V35)
4) MGMAT R1 – 740 (Q47V45)
5) MGMAT R2 – 720
6) Grockit 5 – 710 (Q52V37) {9th Sep)
GMAT Prep1 – 760 (Q50V42) Wrongs – Q-8, V-9 {12th Sep}
GMAT Prep2 – 690(Q50V32) – Wrongs – Q-4, V-11 {14th Sep}
GMAT Prep1A – 780(Q51V46) – Wrongs – Q-3, V-5 {15th Sep)

The prep questions were good. Math was variable – some good some medium, and verbal was doable. I got 90% accuracy in all SC questions. Fumbled on a few CR’s . Surprisingly, I got only 2 wrong in RC in each of the Prep.
1st prep was OK. I had seen 2 CR question and 1 RC passage in the forum pdfs and thus my 1st GMAT prep score was a little inflated. The 2nd had all new questions. Moreover, since I gave my last prep a month earlier, I remembered none of the questions from that test. However, the 2nd was a shocker. I never got lower than V36 anywhere, not even on MGMAT’s and here was a V32. I posted a question on GMATClub forum as to what could be the reason that I got a 10 point verbal score drop just because of 2 more wrongs. bb did reply but it disheartened me further; the reply was more of a reprimand. Maybe, he was having one of his bad days.

Anyhow, I reset the tests again and gave a GMAT Prep 1A. This time the quant had a few new questions. Similarly, in verbal, 2 RC’s were new and a few SC’s were new. Still worth it! I also got a GMAT Kaplan Premier CD from one of my friend and did 4 practice test from it in my last week. The scores were between 590 and 640 but the questions were really tough. It was a 2010 CD. The verbal questions were very stupid and tough at the same time but doing them was a lot of fun and good for practice. I knew my score were low but never got disheartened for I knew that the level of questions was far away from the real GMAT.
Anyhow, I was scoring well on my other mocks and was confident of my verbal abilities. Day before the exam I just revised my stuff, gave a verbal test (got 34/41) and calmed my nerves. Exercised for half an hour and went to sleep early.

Exam Day– My appointment was scheduled for afternoon. I reached my exam center around an hour early. Bought myself a B’lue - a great drink. Helped me replenish my energy in-between breaks.

AWA - The essay topic was easy. The topic was very similar to one of the RC I had done the previous day - something related to link between IT infrastructure and productivity. I had so much to write that I ended up writing up until only 2 minutes were left – a wrong strategy. Could only revise half the essay before the time ended.
ADVICE – Finish in time. Don’t overdo even if you have more than the requisite knowledge of the topic.

IR- I was always scared of IR, majorly because of MGMAT mocks. The only thing I would ask my friends who had given the exam was the LOD of IR and everyone told me that its very easy. WRONG..!! The questions were the same as those 50 free IR questions you get with OG. Not doable within the 30 minutes considering the exam atmosphere. Since I was not expecting tough IR, I was so badly confused. Took 3 minutes even to solve a simple question that required of me to find a number and 1/4th of that number. Took blind guesses on 2-3 questions. Took my 8 minute break. Drank some B’lue. Told myself - its all over, you have soiled the peripherals, don’t spoil the main section. GO..!!
ADVICE - Be ready for tough questions.

QA– The first two questions were the tough nuts. My experience with GMATPrep was also similar. The 1st two questions are tough. One can spend even 5 minutes but do ensure they are correct. After that there are a number of easy questions so you can catch up easily. I got a lot of power based questions. Got 2 Probability questions as well. Overall, the questions were easy. Surprisingly, even DS questions were pretty straight-forward. Since I was running too ahead of time, I started re-checking all my questions. The last 2-3 questions required smart work and I could see that. Last question was a very good factorial based question. Finished the section with 4 minutes to spare.
ADVICE – Give more time to first 3-4 questions. They might be tough but do ensure you get them correct. They will be tough but later questions will be easy enough to make up for lost time.

VA – I knew I had done well and now it was verbal that was all there was between a good score and myself (the IR was a foregone conclusion). The initial questions were easy. The SC questions were good but the options gave them away. The CR questions were much easier than even the OG CR questions. The RC was of the same level and fathomable. Till 26th questions I was getting full sentence underlined SC questions and I knew I was doing well. I was left with 32 minutes and was riding a glory wave. Then came a long RC passage and everything started to fall apart. It was a 5 para never-ending RC and was very ambiguous. I wasted a lot of time there. Rushed with the questions and since I knew I had wasted a lot of time, I didn’t bother to spot the answers in the passage; I went ahead with whatever I remembered of the passage. Got a big Method of Reasoning question, but due to paucity of time I simply marked any wishful choice. This was immediately followed by another 2 para RC which was an even tougher not to crack. This passage was really weird and difficult to understand – something about evolution of travelogues over the ages. It was either this passage or the exam timer that got the better of me and got me to mark a few wrong choices. By the time I reached the 34th questions I was left with only 10 minutes. I solved a flurry of SC questions, but the level was a bit lower as was evident from the length of underline on the sentences. When I reached the 40th question I was left with 3 minutes. The 40th question was boldface and I was delighted – maybe I wasn’t performing that bad. Inspite of all this, so tensed was I because of the ticking clock that I read the 1st option and it seemed correct, didn’t read any other choice and marked it so that I may reach the last question in time. However, the last question was the only ambiguous SC in the entire test. It was a one word SC question and atleast 3 choices appeared to me as the correct choice. Now I regretted not doing the BF question properly. Because not only did I spoil my BF question, but also had to take a blind guess here.

After looking at my results I was relieved and sad at the same time. 720 is a good score, but V36 is much lower than my GMAT prep scores. I might have got a 740 easily had I not been so tensed up by the timer.

Now I am in a dilemma, whether to re-take the exam or to go ahead and apply with this score.
The problem is that once rejected with this score, it will be difficult to get accepted in the same college. And, since I don’t have the time to re-appear again with all the deadlines approaching, I might as well have to apply soon.

Any suggestions are most welcome and so are any queries.