I took the GMAT in Dec 2013 and my score was 750(Q48+V46+IR4+AWA5). I know it took me a very long time to write this debrief, but I had to focus on my PhD applications immediately after the GMAT. Moreover, I was quite bummed with the score. I wrote about my frustration with low quant score here. This one is a fairer cousin of that post. I received an interesting comment on that post- “To start, a 750/Q48 is a score combo that most Test Takers will NEVER score in their lives, so you should have a bit more pride in your accomplishment. Calling your Q48 "very poor" makes you sound silly.” As encouraging as this remark is, I don’t have as fancy notion as that comment suggests. I firmly believe that if I can score 46(99%) on verbal, absolutely anyone can get that score.
I think for me it is an amazing achievement against the backdrop of my background. I am not only a non-native speaker but also was born and grew up in small towns. I studied in my native language Marathi (मराठी) throughout until I went to highschool. So at the age of 16, for the first time, Bhumiti (भूमिती) became Geometry and Bijganit (बीजगणित) became Algerba for me etc etc. The point I am driving here is that I started with a pretty low base and thus want to give optimism to everyone that it does not matter where you start, you can still get an elite score. Lupita Nyong'o this year’s Oscar winner for best supporting actress for ‘12 Years a Slave’ says it the best in her acceptance speech, “No Matter Where You Are From, Your Dreams Are Valid”
That comment also made me realize that even though this score was not enough for me, there must be others who could easily make it to whichever program they dream of with 750. And thus I must share my experience in the hope that it will serve to benefit others in whatever small possible way.
How long I studied?I studied about 4 weeks exclusive for GMAT. But right before this I studied for the GRE for about 1.5 months. So if you include this then total of 2.5 months.
What Material I used?1.
OG 13: Do I really have to talk about its importance.
2. Manhattan MGRE (GMAT and GRE, RC and CR are quite similar. So since I had already studied RC and CR using MGRE, I didn’t read
MGMAT RC and CR books)
3. Manhattan SC: Since SC is unique to GMAT, I gave a thorough read to
MGMAT’s SC guide. Manhattan’s SC guide is indispensable.
I think Manhattan is gold standard in the industry and your preparation is incomplete without its study guides. Having said that, I did not do many practice questions. I have a general dislike for any practice questions that are not from official sources.
4. GMATPrepNow: Brent is a GMAT genius. His style is crisp and lessons are incisive.
5.
Magoosh: It is probably the best in terms of value for money not to say that quality of lessons is great. Its email support is amazing too. they are really passionate about their students' success. I solved every single SC question from
Magoosh's database.
Section Specific Tips:RC: This section is the most difficult to improve. I think what helped me was I read at least a couple of articles from NYTimes/Economist/Atlantic etc. each day for three months leading up to the exam. Also, like I mentioned, I did
OG GRE RC passages also. They tend to be more difficult but will provide you excellent practice if you run out of GMAT
OG material. Moreover, I think vocabulary is really important. Your facility with words will go long way in improving your comprehension. For instance, if you run into words such as totalitarian, right/left wing and you know the meaning of those words you will instantly know what the author is going for. I would highly recommend you create your own wordlist of tough words from
OG passages on quizlet. I never take notes for RC. I think it is a waste of time. What I do instead is – read the first paragraph and first couple of lines of each paragraph really carefully, sometimes even read multiple times. Vladimir Nabokov once said, “A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader.” I don’t disagree. Once I’m finished reading I go back to passages only for specific details questions that too only to cross check my answer. I think this strategy saved a lot of time.
SC: This section is the easiest to improve. Initially I never timed myself. Instead I gave myself ample time to understand why a particular choice was right/wrong. I spent insane amount of time on learning from questions I got wrong. I read comments from experts such as Ron very carefully.
Microstrategy: I never try to anticipate a correct answer. Why waste your time and energy anticipating a correct answer when GMAT gives choices? There are thousands of ways in which you can correct a wrong sentence. Are we going to run all those scenarios w/o reading the answer choices? I think it is just inefficient use of your time.
CR: Again I don’t read a question stem before reading the passage. I essentially treat CR as mini RC. I read the passage really carefully and use Process Of Elimination to get at a right choice. Especially if you are at 99%ile POE will be immensely helpful for those tough passages.
Food, Exercise, and Sleep: Food- We all have our own unique bio-chemical identities i.e. we all know what foods give us sustained release of energy w/o making us full. I think it is best to avoid processed food, caffeine (red bull), processed sugar during the exam. I carried simple dal-rice with me for exam.
Exercise: There is tremendous body of evidence suggesting benefits of exercise on brain function. I almost never missed daily 30 min brisk walks. I used to listen to wordlist or math tables during those 30 min.
Sleep: I think data on positive effect of sleep on brain function is quite conclusive too. Here is a great TED talk on neuroscience of sleep
https://www.ted.com/talks/russell_foster_why_do_we_sleep if you are still not convinced. Consequently, I never cheated on sleep in those 2.5 months, however tempted I was. I’d highly recommend a 9-10 hours of sleep before the exam day.
It is a long post so thanks for reading. I will be happy answer any questions you may have for me. Good Luck!
Its really amazing.. I am also aiming for 700+ in my second attempt. Your post is really motivating. Now I can hope to score decent in Verbal which is very challenging to me.
close
Updated on: 17 Nov 2022, 17:26
. It's really a tremendous achievement. I scored a 34 in my first attempt and I am aiming for a 45 in verbal in next one. Debriefs like these are very motivating.
