BEAT the BEAST with Non-Native speaker.

Hello guys, I cannot say that i am new to this forum but i am new to the idea of sharing my experience with you all.

Last night whilst in flight to London, i decided that i will put my thoughts and experience out here on this forum. And the reason behind this is i want to put my plans, target and strategy for GMAT, which can help others, out here for others to scrutinise and to seek advice.

Here's my story so far.

I'm not a native-English speaker. I have been working in finance sector for past 7 years. Last year, i decided to pursue for MBA , and luckily i found this website, which helped me to put together my thoughts & plans into action.

I bought most of the GMAT study material by May2010, but opened it only after November2010. There were many reason why i delayed but that's something to discuss some other day.

20th December 2010

I Organised all the books and E-books i had bought over the period of 6 months. I logged back to GMATclub and start looking for THE BEST STUDY PLAN. I found many moving experiences, of GMATclub members, shared on this website. Those experiences opened my eyes that that this journey for 700+ will not be the easy one. I like the study plan mentioned by BB. As per that i decided to devote entire 4 weeks for Quantitative section, and to keep practising quantitative question till i succeed Q44, and keep a error log for all questions i attempt.

Once i achieve Q44 i will start with Verbal section for four weeks.

Quantitative Section

WeekQ1 - 20th Dec 2010
Material used: MGMAT books and GMATclubs Math book. I guess these are more than enough to brush up Math basics.
Week1 Breakdown: I felt comfortable with basic maths and along the way i picked up new techniques and strategies.
Also started doing 5-10 SC questions on this forum each day.

WeekQ2 - 27th Dec 2010

Material used: Diagnostic test and OG12
WeekQ2 Breakdown: My diagnostic test result was Q35 V32. Utterly disappointed i turned towards GMATclub's quantitative forum, as i was looking for any one with similar score or some one with similar agony. Also, i was looking for some advice and motivation from quant gurus out there. Few helped me and few didn't even bothered to answer.
To my surprise, i was doing really good at OG questions. My accuracy was almost 85% for PS and 80% for DS.

WeekQ3 - 3rd Jan 2011

Material used: GMAT hack's (Jeff Sackmann) 1000 questions. Bit pricey but worth it.
WeekQ3 Breakdown: After very disappointing week2, i decided to buy 1000 questions from GMAThack. as an Engineer i believe that one needs to know basics before locking horns with tough quant questions.
I started with GMAT hack's questions sets, which are in total 10, with 100 questions in each set. Details of these can be found on https://gmathacks.com/
I completed almost 6 sets. Four more to go

WeekQ4 - 10th Jan 2011

Material used: GMAT hack's (Jeff Sackmann) 1000 questions and GMATprep 1.
WeekQ4 Breakdown: By the end of this week, i have completed all the sets of GMAThack. And i was ready to put my knowledge to acid test, by taking GMATprep1's quantitative section. I was very nervous, as i really don't need any more setbacks.
I started good but soon i fell into the trap set up by GMAT. I spent too much time at few questions and that cost me dearly. My advice - Choose your battles. One cannot solve all the problems with getting into time problem. Jokes apart, please do not waste time on questions which are difficult to crack in 2 mins. MOVE ON.
I did verbal section half heartedly because i missed out on many quant questions and because i was bit too anxious to know my quant result.
At the end of the exam, with utter disgust, i clicked next. To my surprise i scored Q44 and V26.
In quant i attempted in total 23 questions within time and out of which i scored 21 correct. In remaining 16 question i simply clicked my way to the finish line, as i don't want to get penalised. I scored only 2 correct out of last 16Q. I was/am SUPER confused about my score. how one can get 44 after making so many mistakes.
I checked my mistakes and did the remaining 16 questions. I found the test was not that difficult.
Mistakes i made: Poor time management, Half-hearted attempt in verbal, and Failed to review verbal section. Lesson learnt - Practise practise practise till i get timing issue erased.
Well i congratulated myself to achieve my quant target, and decided to move on to Verbal section.



Verbal section - THE BEAST

Target: 40

WeekV1 - 17th Jan 2011
Material used: MGMAT books, Powerscore Sc & CR and GMATclubs Grammar book . I guess these are more than enough to beat the BEAST.
Week1 Breakdown: I started off with GMAT clubs grammar book and finished it by the end of the week.

WeekV2 - 24th Jan 2011
Material used: MGMAT books, Powerscore Sc & CR and GMATclubs Grammar book . I guess these are more than enough to beat the BEAST.
Week2 Breakdown: I have almost completed MGMAT SC & Powerscore SC book.
Accuracy for SC till date: 65% - questions from various source such as gmatclub forum, OG11/12, 1000s and mgmat online forum.
Accuracy for CR till date: 85% - questions from OG12 - did first 60 questions.
Accuracy for RC till date: 80% - questions from OG11. did first 4 RCs.
i did GMATclubs M01; i scored 29/37. I guess i am on right track.

Aim for this week:
To complete MGMAT SC & Powersocre - including all the OG12 questions mentioned in MGMAT.
To do GMATclubs test M02 & if possible redo all the error log questions for quant.
Sunday - do MGMAT 01. GOD help me.

Scared - Yes i am as i don't know my real level in CR & RC, as i was doing only OG questions in these two sections. OG questions are normally not that difficult, especially those in the beginning.

I will post my progress report almost daily on this thread. Also i will share any issue which i am sure i will face in this difficult and exciting journey.

I will appreciate it if you guys can provide some feedback or if you guys can share your experience and strategy so far.

Lets motivate each other and help each other to BEAT THE BEAST.

PS: I'm looking for a study group based in London. If someone interested then PM me.