Done - 730 (50Q, 38V) - thanks a lot guys

Hi Guys,

First of all I would like to say thanks to GMATClub and all the members on the forum . This forum has really helped me a lot in planning out my work, getting my queries resolved and providing extra practice material. I would certainly say that without help of all you guys, probably I couldn't have got this score.

Anyway, its time now that I should share my experience. I would feel really glad if this post of mine could be of some help to others.

Since there are already so many detailed write-ups, I will try to keep it brief

My Progress Report

Started with Kaplan Premier and then followed by Kaplan 800

• Kaplan CAT - 1st Attempt
  Test 1 : 560 (50Q, 23V)
  Test 2 : 590 (41Q, 30V)
  Test 3 : 550 (40Q, 23V)
  Test 4 : 590 (40Q, 32V)
  
  I was devastated with my above score. Went through the whole Kaplan Premier and Kaplan 800 once again, understanding each and every question and their explanations.
• Kaplan CAT - 2nd Attempt
  Test 1 : 620 (50Q, 31V)
  Test 2 : 660 (41Q, 37V)
  Test 3 : 610 (50Q, 30V)
  
  Started with the real stuff to get a feel of where I stand
• GMATPrep - 1st Attempt
  Test 1 : 680 (50Q, 32V)
  Test 2 : 600 (47Q, 27V)
  Problem area identified - Inequalities, coordinate geometry, statistics, probability, SC and reading speed.
  
  Completed OG 11, trying to understand each and every problem.
• GMATPrep - 2nd Attempt(1-2 questions repeated)
  Test 1 : 700 (50Q, 34V)
  Test 2 : 670 (48Q, 34V)
  Problem area identified - coordinate geometry, probability, SC and reading speed.
  
  Completed Manhattan SC guide, OG 11 SC section once again, OG Verbal review, and for quant went through my High School Mathematics book and practiced GMATClub Quant tests. Worked on improving verbal speed.
• GMATPrep - 3rd Attempt(10% questions repeated)
  Test 1 : 710 (50Q, 38V)
  Test 2 : 720 (50Q, 37V)
  This is just 2 days before the actual test.
  Problem area identified - DS and SC were still a problem. Keeping this in my mind, worked carefully on DS during actual test.

Preparation Time
Around 3 months, on an average 2 hrs daily (stretching to around 8 hrs in the last few days)

Study Material used
1. Kaplan Premier (nice book to start with)
2. Kaplan 800 (overall a good book, but certainly not of 800 level)
3. OG 11 (Must have book)
4. Manhattan SC Guide (Must have book)
5. OG Verbal Review (Must have book for additional practice)
6. Some high school Mathematics book (good for refreshing concepts and practice for selected topics)
7. GMATPrep tests (this is the real thing, questions similar to actual GMAT)
8. GMAT Club Quant tests (very good questions, though I could attempt only 6-7 tests)
9. GMAT Paper Tests (good for Verbal practice, quant questions are very-very easy)

Improving Speed in Verbal
* I started reading editorials in English daily news paper. One trick to improve speed is to scan the sentences rather then reading word by word. If you practice daily you would certainly feel the difference in 1 month.

* Solving GMAT Paper tests (Verbal section) in strict time condition. Each paper test has around 22 SC, 16 CR and 22 RC questions as separate sections, with 25 mins allocated for each section.

* While working on speed, don't bother much about the accuracy rate. If you are able to complete the entire section, than a lower accuracy rate would also give better results.

Time-scale
After attempting few tests, I realized I was not able to keep track of the time and towards the end I always had to guess in around 7-8 questions. I was getting frustrated, so I devised a Time-scale (which actually worked for me).



This may sound crazy, but before I started my test, I wrote down this time-scale on my notebook and strictly followed it till the end of exam.

As I promised I have kept my exp brief .

Last but not the least, try to solve questions posted by others on GMAT forums. And PLEASE do post your explanations as well everytime you post your answers. By providing explanations to others you'll learn a lot of new things and get your concepts clear.