A lesson to all the GMAT aspirants! Got smoked!

Let this be a lesson to all the aspirants....


Just took my GMAT an hour ago.. I'm telling this with a very heavy heart...scored 680 (Q48 V35)..

About me: Mechanical Engineer
Experience: 3.5 years

Preparation: I had taken the GMAT last year in the month of December..Scored 610.. I was ignorant and overconfident..paid the price.. I scored badly in the verbal part in the earlier GMAT test (V28). Decided to improve my score at any cost. Found out that my weak areas were SC and RC. I started with MGMAT SC guide. For the RC part, I decided to improve my reading skills. For this reason, I started to borrow books from my company's library especially Old novels (have to thank BB for this.. he suggested reading novels so that one gets familiarized with the language in the exam)


General strategy: for SC- MGMAT SC- Nothing beats this!!! Followed this book religiously.
RC: I think approach to this section depends on the individual.I followed my own method of reading the passage thoroughly. I used to finish reading the passge for about 4 min(shorter ones) and 6 minutes(longer ones). I read the passage three times. Once you read a passage thoroughly, questions about the passage seem to be simpler.

CR: Nothing is better than the powerscore CR bible.

Math: Concentrated on the topics GMAT focuses the best. Especially Number properties and inequalities. Problems solved on this forum with their explanations are enough in my opinion.

AWA: Chinese burned AWA guide. This dude's template rocks.

Another important aspect of the preparation was to concentrate on quality of the question than on the quantity. I always made a point to solve questions which had proper explanations. This is especially important for the verbal part.


Practice tests: Bought the MGMAT CATs.

Scores: MGMAT 1: 630 -
MGMAT 2: 660
MGMAT 3: 690
MGMAT 4: 700
MGMAT 5: 710
MGMAT 6: 750
GMATPrep 1: 680 - power failure and no subsequent lappy backup.
GMATPrep 2: 760

The last three CATs were given in the space of 3 days. Interestingly, I chose to hurt myself by taking both the GMATprep CATs one day before the exam.Was totally exhausted at the end of the day.

Deciding my D-Day: I read on this forum that one should schedule his GMAT only when he reaches his target score. After realizing my target score in the last MGMAT(previous sunday), I decided to book my GMAT date on wednesday. The reason to do so was that I had a big project coming up and wanted to finish up with the exam as soon as possible.

After scheduling my exam, I could not sleep well on monday night and subsequently on Tuesday night too. To make matters worse, our area had a complete black out on tuesday night. I was overtly anxious for some unknown reason. Once I missed my regular day's sleep, I knew I was about to be busted.

D-Day: I had the 1 pm appointment. I went to the test center trying to avoid all the fatigue and the strain caused by the lack of sleep and the continous CAT's I took the day before. Finished up all the formalities and entered the test center. Finished the AWA's. I always took my CATs with AWA only. Took the break. Splashed water on my face and went on with the MATH part. During the math section, the effects of the fatigue started to come in. I was unable to concentrate and was having cramps in my legs. Finished the math part with a minute to spare. I knew I din do well but I couldnt pay the penalty of leaving few questions in the end. For the verbal part, the situation was even abysmal. I was soon turning blanks on many SC's. I was unable to concentrate on many questions. I finally reached a point where I just wanted to finish my exam and leave the center.Finished my verbal. I din get any bold faced question on the exam. I guess its a reliable indicator for the verbal part, if one is dong well in the section.

I finished up all the requirements and was staring at the report my score screen. I prepared myself for the worst and pressed next.

SCORE: 680 Q 48 V35 90 percentile

I realized that 4 months of my hard work went down the drain!!!

TAKEAWAYS:
1.ALways and always have a good nights sleep before the exam. I would recommend a minimum of 8-10 hours of sleep.
2. Never stress out yourself the day before the exam. Just go out with your friends and have a good time.
3. Have a 3 day buffer before the exam.
4. NEVER take multiple CATs on the same day especially on the day before the exam.
5. Always prepare yourself for uncontrolled circumstances.

Phew, tat was a big debrief. I will in most probability not take the GMAT again. I apologise for any grammatical mistakes in the debrief above.

caio,
Nimrod.

PS. I would like to thank this forum for everything. Especially Bunuel, fluke, daagh for their awesome problem solving techniques.