I gave my gmat on May 19th and scored a 750. Just wanted to share my experience but have been busy with work for a while.
I started my prep in Mid-jan and joined CrackVerbal ( CV ) here in Bangalore. I gave the first gmat prep exam at the CV center as a diagnostic test and got a 690. I gave a couple of other tests in the first 2-3 weeks of my prep and scored 670 - 680. The mistakes I was making were very clear. In each of the exams , SC and DS were the problem.
While going through the verbal classes , I was doing whatever was done in classes plus the
OG and verbal review. Once I was done with the classes , I wanted to concentrate more on SC . So , i spent around 10 days just doing SC regularly. Went through the rules again and again. The verbal classes at CV helped me a lot.
Then I started with the Quant classes. The classes were wonderful and by the time I was done with the classes , I was quite confident with my quant. In this time , I had done the gmat math bible , the class work and the
OG/ Quant Review.
Now after the classes were done , SC was still my major concern . I started to do the advanced docs provided by CV. But I had been studying regularly for quite some time ( 3 months ) and had started to get very very Bored.
So instead of concentrating too much on the advanced docs , I started to give tests. I would analyse my mistakes in each exam that I gave. I gave all the free exams available. Gave a couple of the Manhattan Paid ones. Then I gave the 4 gmat prep exams. The last 7-8 exams , I scored above 700.
Now , I was getting good scores but hadn’t actually gone through the advanced docs ( only 20% maybe ). I had gotten too bored to go through them ( too many questions ! )
I booked the exam keeping 1 week in hand.
On the exam day , I was a little nervous initially . But once I started with the AWA , I became very comfortable. I had given too many practice exams and this felt like one of the exams that I had given at the CV centre( the experience of giving exams in their lab was very similar to the actual exam). I was completely in my comfort zone.
I found the difficulty level very close to the gmat prep exams. CR i felt was relatively easy.
To sum it all up , my advice would be to take out some time everyday. And keep giving the practice tests. In my 4 months of prep , I gave around 15-16 tests. That’s around one test every week. It really helped me.
For people looking for a coaching institute in Bangalore , I would strongly recommend CV. The teachers are really good and the support system is wonderful.