Hi,
This is the first time I am writing in this forum. I wote my GMAT yesterday and got a score of 730 (Quant 50, Verbal 40). I dont know if it will be helpful for other GMAT takers but I would like to share my experience. I started around first week of June with my preparations with a tentative date of July end in mind. I was preparing leisurely till I wrote a free diagnostic test conducted by
Kaplan on June 16th. I got 630 in that test with 35 questions correct out of 37 in quant and 24 correct out of 41 in verbal. I was shocked at my performance as I always thought I could get in the range of 700+. This is what triggered the preparation. I am in highly demanding job in US with whole day spent in office and nights, I have to take calls for around an hour. So I timed my study time for 6:00 pm to 9:30 pm in the evenings as I dont get up very early in the mornings. I followed this schedule for a month and half with occasional late night movies. I also used to jog for around 20 minutes daily at night after the study.
The books I referred were
Kaplan premiere program,
Kaplan Verbal Workbook (as verbal was weak for me) and Official guide. I also solved questions from
Princeton Review. I wrote online tests from
Kaplan CD and OG CD. I got scores ranging from 540 to 760 in these tests due to mood variations or other factors.
I also focussed mainly on Sentence Correction and Critical Reasoning as I was not able to help RC too much.
As for the week before the exam, I wrote tests daily and till 2 days before my GMAT and analysed them. I had the test on Monday morning. So, I just revised everything over the weekend and relaxed. The monday morning, I followed all the tips by
Kaplan of not panicking and taking it easy, stretching and they helped.
I was excited to see my score of 730. I did quant well but made few mistakes in verbal out of anxiety and shortage of time in the end though I finished both the sections with a minute or two to spare.
My tip to aspirants - keep the morale high even if you are not faring very well in the mock tests. Work on weak areas with occasional workout in strong ares and leave the rest to God. Good luck!!!
Vijay.
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