I scored a 710. Quant 49. Verbal 36.
I am happy with my score but I am not satisfied with 49 in quant. Since it was my strongest area, i aimed at 51, would have been happy with atleast a 50. I am very happy with my verbal score though.
Here is how my preparation went through:
1) Opened GMAT books/theory around Feb starting. This was like a very slow start phase during which i got used to the concepts of exam.
Time spent per week= 2-3 hours.
2) Around third week of March, I got to know that there is going to be a pattern change in GMAT. So is scheduled an appointment for 5th May.
3) From 23rd March to 20 th April, my preparation became serious. I spent nearly 3-4 hours a day after work during this time. I used to learn some theory and practice a lot and browse them over the internet. During this period, I caught flu and 1 week was effectively lost. And the pressure of exam has got to me that i my long lost insomnia was back. I realized two things. 1) I need to postpone my exam by 2 weeks. 2) I was lacking some direction in my preparation. I did not know what i lacked, but was not very impressed with myself practicing a few problems and browising them on the internet.
4) One afternoon, while i was in the elevator to get some lunch. I had an email from GMATClub with this story.
710-48q-40v-gmat-strategy-130784.html#p10760615) This person's experience has been the direction for me. I followed his directions. Heard classes from "Thursdays with Ron". These classes have made me to self introspect where i stand, especially with Data Sufficiency.
6) Daily routine: work from 9-5 P.M.. Relax for an hour or two and start study from 7 to 10 P.M. Apart from this i used to prepare during lunch breaks.
Most Satisfying Part:
My preparation is the most satisfying part.
I am not someone who targets scores. I just get my concepts right and do some warm ups before exams.
Yesterday i got thought-- what if i dont get a good score-- I had decided the itself that whatever score i get, my preparation and pleasure of working hard will stay with me. True guys, no weekends, no chill outs, no work outs and no basketball. Only GMAT Prep with one episode od"Psych" on Netflix a day and movie a week.
What is my preparation based on?
1) Lectures from Thursdays with Ron.
2) Gmat
OG.
3) 1000Series SC (not of much help though)
4) Manhattan Text Books. ( These books are great. It is good to invest in them).
Some tips and points to remember.
1) Believe in preparation and understading the concepts.
2) All those head strong guys who think Math is your area, introspect if you are still good at it( if not do some practice to get back in touch.)
3) Please dont waste money on buying useless material and by enrolling in classes ( Yes, i did not enroll in any class, everything was self prep).
4) Check out this site Grokit.com. You can choose the kind of questions you want to answer. When i study a particular topic, i used to select the hardest level questions from these topics.