440 to 730: If I Can, You Can Too

I never thought that I would get the opportunity to write this post. I was planning to share my experience for last two months, but unfortunately, I got occupied by R2. Before I write anything, I want to thank the whole GmatClub team, specially Bunuel, bb, sayantanc2k, chetan2u, broall, carcass, AbdurRakib, hazelnut, and souvik101990 ; EmpowerGMAT, and eGMAT; and also Ron Purewal, and GMATGuruNY outside GmatClub. I owe my success in GMAT to these people. This is going to be a long post and request you to bear with me.

Background
I am a 34 years old Non-native (Indian) Male Engineer, with 10+ years of experience in ERP consulting. Here I like to mention, there are two categories in Indians. First, those, who throughout their life studied in English and English was their first language in schools since childhood. They have their ears trained like natives and can differentiate between the right and wrong idioms easily; and Second, those who studied in local languages and studied English as a second language. My parents could not afford an education for me in English medium and I belong to the second category (I was taught English alphabets in government school in 5th standard ).

First Attempt: After I decided to appear for GMAT, I set a 3-month timeline in October 2016. I collected some e-books and other study materials from my friend, and downloaded the GMATPrep software. I read some success stories and study plans and came to know how after 160 hours of preparation, people aced the GMAT. Further, I read that I should take my first GMATPrep CAT1 to access my current position. I was really charged up and excited and took my first CAT. After half an hour, I realised I am feeling tired and exhausted. I did not appear for any exam for almost 9 years, and it was really hard for me to concentrate. Somehow, I completed the Quant section. After one-hour break, I started the verbal section and the questions and English seemed too dense to me. After answering eight questions, I guessed the rest of the questions and completed the exam in 25 minutes. I got a score of 440 with V8! I have already read how people got 600 in their diagnostic test and improved their score to 700/720. Hence, 440 was way below my expectations. I thought that I got the low score possibly because I guessed most of the questions in verbal. Hence, I took the same exam again after 3 days, this time with full concentration and seriousness, and scored 510 with V16. I realised that this is not going to be easy to active 700+.

I collected some other e-books and study materials, and bought Magoosh Full course as suggested by my friend. I also bought the Manhattan SC and OG17. I found Magoosh quant tutorial good, but verbal section is not that detailed. May be it is okay for native speakers, but I think it is not very helpful for non-natives (specially 2nd type ). Nevertheless, I started my preparation in full swing, completed the MGMAT SC guide and Magoosh SC videos, and took notes whenever required. I read the GMAT experience of @Sayantan2k how he scored 780 at the 41 years of age. I set a goal of 760 and set 760 as my mobile wallpaper (YES! I did that!), so that it keeps me reminding my goal. But to be honest, it didn’t help much . I started reading the PowerScore CR Bible and really enjoyed it, though some of the tips was detrimental to my score (I’ll explain in later section). I started practicing questions from OG-17 and quickly finished the Quant section. It was easy and refreshing. Then I started practicing the verbal. I used to solve 10 SCs, 10 CRs, and 2 RCs every day. Initially my accuracy in CR was good - around 80 to 90%. I did not read any formal book for CR and used to solve most of the questions from my intuition and common sense (though it took me little more than 3 minutes on average to answer). However, later the accuracy started to drop. After two months of preparation, I took the Kaplan CAT and scored 620. Though it was far less than my target score, I was happy that at least I have some improvement in my score (510 to 620). Since then I took all Kaplan CATs and 4 MGMAT CATs and my score varied from 600-670. I didn’t even hit the 700. Hence, I postponed my plan to take GMAT in October 2016. After postponing couple of times, finally I took the GMAT on 18-December 2016, otherwise I would have missed the R2 deadline. I scored a dismal 620, 40 points lower than my last GMATPREP CAT2!

Second Attempt: After such a disaster performance, I decided to hold my horse and take my sweet time to prepare again. 2016-R2 is already over for me and now I targeted R1-2017. I planned to start my preparation after a month in January. But as usual, it did not happen. I knew I had almost 9 months in my hand to prepare, and this thought was holding me back. Nevertheless, In March, finally I realised that I should stay focused and I scolded myself. I again took GMATPrep CAT1 to check where I stand, and to my surprise, I scored 720! It is true that this was not a new CAT for me, but in last 3 months I didn’t even touch any book and I almost forgot all the questions from my previous attempt, so such a score was beyond my expectation and imagination. It really motivated me and I started my preparation again with full enthusiasm.

I bought the QP1 and EP1 from GMATCLUB. I again reviewed the MGMAT SC book, PowerScore CR, and my notes. After completing each concepts in SC and CR, I solved the related OG problems. I felt confident in SC and RC. Then I took GMATPrep CAT2 and got a score 690. I was a little upset that the score came down, but I thought 30 points +/- is okay. I ordered the newly realised OG-V-18 and completed all the sections around 80-85% accuracy. I reviewed the MGMAT SC chapters again and again. However, as suggested by risys82, I only read the fundamental chapters and ignored the advanced ones. I was pretty satisfied with my progress. I only focused on OG questions and ignored other resources. I took more time to review each of the five options and to identify the errors with wrong options. I used to search GMATCLUB, Google, and MGMAT forum until I was satisfied with the explanation for the wrong options. Sometimes it took me 15-20 mins to go through all the forums and grab the concept for a single SC or RC-inference question. Once I did all the reviews, I started taking CAT from EP1, I took both the CATs multiple times and my scores are as followed:
GMATPREP FREE CAT1 – 720, 760, 760
GMATPREP FREE CAT1 – 690, 730, 730
GMATPREP EP1 CAT1 – 660, 710, 720
GMATPREP EP1 CAT2 – 760, 800



Yes, I scored 800 once, but that does not mean I am an 800 material. I reviewed both the CATs so many times that I became familiar with each and every questions, and what concept it was testing. However, in my first attempt of every CAT, I always struggled to complete Verbal section in time. Further, I noticed that I scored less whenever I made a mistake in first 20 questions. Clearly, I had a time management issue from beginning, especially in Verbal, and in addition, I started spending much more time in first 20 questions and was struggling in last 10. However, I didn’t realise that and was confident that I’d achieve my desired score.

Finally, I appeared for GMAT on 04 September 2017 and choose Verbal - Quant sequence. I had a good sleep previous night and I was really focused and confident. I answered the first 20 questions very slowly and confidently. When I was on 25th Question, I checked the time and I was running little behind. I guessed couple of CR questions and moved on. Suddenly when I was on 32nd question, the internet connection broke and my screen became unresponsive. The same happened with other test takers. We raised our hands and the instructor told us to quickly restart the computer using the power button. When the exam started, I checked the clock and I already lost around 2.5 mins. After answering couple of questions, the connection broke again and we had to restart the system again! This time we had to wait for long, and after around 40 mins the connection again established. When I started again, I checked that I already lost 5 mins. Hence, I got even lesser time to answer the remaining questions and had to guess the 4 questions in last. During the break, we complained that we lost 5 mins in verbal and the instructor told that if we want, we can cancel the exam now and reschedule it again free of cost. I was in dilemma and could not decide what to do. I answered first 20 questions confidently but in last 10 I guessed and answered hastily. Finally, I decided to cancel. Next day I rescheduled the exam again a week later, on 11 September. However, in this one week, my momentum broke and I was not able to concentrate much on study. The night before the exam, I could not sleep and was literally awake whole night. At last, I slept for only 4 hours from 5 to 9 in morning. I scheduled my exam in 2nd half. When I appeared for exam, I was feeling dizzy and my brain was simply not working. Again, I selected verbal-quant sequence. During the first half an hour, I could not think anything. I was not able to understand even the meaning of a simple SC. I realised my GMAT was over for the day. I just decided to complete my exam somehow. This relinquishment released my anxiety and at the end of verbal section, I realised I am getting back my sense of reasoning. But by that time, the damage was already done. I scored 640 with V27. Later I checked in my ESR, I answered more than half of the questions wrong in first half of verbal, while I answered average 87% questions correctly in second half. Further, I scored 19 in CR!

Third Attempt: After two failures, I decided to try once again. I was confident that I had all the knowledge and skills to achieve 700, but it’s the test-day performance that let me down. Next weekend I took a fresh CAT from Veritas to check whether I was right, and I scored 700. By that time, I already realised that my main issue is time management and I was spending more time in beginning and struggling in the end, in both mocks and real GMAT. First, I decided to take a two-week complete break. After 2 weeks, I tried to analyse how to improve verbal score and read many inspiring GMAT experiences. I noticed my SC time is below average and if I can improve it, I can invest the extra time in CR and RC. In addition, I always struggled with comparisons questions. I created my trial account in eGMAT and started practicing SC from Scholaranium. I found the questions good. I requested eGMAT only for SC course, and I am grateful that they provided me only SC course by taking special approval from their management(eGMAT stopped selling individual courses). I went through only Pronoun, Parallelism, Comparison and Idiom section and I must mention that the course is really good and through, and it improved my accuracy considerably. Besides SC, I had to focus on my weakest area, CR, an area that is difficult to improve, and there is no formula for it. But I needed to improve my CR performance from 19 to atleast 35. For CR I started watching Ron’s videos. Surprisingly, I noticed how read the question stem first, and pre-thinking improved my accuracy and timing. One day I read the debrief of souvik101990. I read how EMPOWERGmat helped him to ace RC and CR. I checked its one-hour free trial and I found the strategies nice. I decided to go for it. I bought a one-month subscription with my GMATCLUB points. RICH’s explanations helped me bypass many GMAT myths and his strategy really helped me to improve my time management and concentration. This time I was much more organized and focused. I also bought the EP2 from EMPOWERGmat in a discounted rate. I reviewed all the SCs again and again. Every day in morning, I used to solve 20 SC, 4 large RC and 10-15 CRs (only strengthen, Weaken and assumption), and developed a habit to study at the same time of the day I was planning to take the GMAT. I studied like this for a month and I also took 2 new CATs (EP2) in this month and surprisingly my scores were 660 and 650 in both the CATs.

But somehow I was confident from inside that the scores were not the true reflection of my ability and I can achieve 700+. This time I also trained my mind and body for better time and stress management. I tried to hit the gym 3-4 days per week and also did some breathing yoga (from Headspace) 10 mins in morning and 10 mins in evening everyday. Finally, I decided to go for the 3rd attempt in December.

The Previous Day and the D-Day: This time I scheduled my GMAT in morning. I spent the previous day as I planned. It was a complete rest day for me. I went to gym in morning, spent some good time with friends, and in evening watched an action comedy. On the day before previous day, I intentionally slept less and thought it will help me fall asleep on previous day. I went to bed at 10.00 pm, kept my mobile in airplane mode, and tried to sleep early. I was feeling sleepy but was not able to sleep. I checked the time in my mobile and it was 11.40 pm. Again I tried to sleep. Again, checked my mobile after sometime, 12.30 am. Checked the mobile couple of more times and last it was 3.20 am. By that time, I already realised that the GMAT was over for me. Somehow, the sense of surrender eased the stress and finally I fell asleep.
The alarm rang at 7 in the morning. I took a hot shower, had my breakfast and took a cab to the center, which is 1.5 hour from my home. I knew I had very less sleep and my brain was not working. Therefore, I tried to practice some warm up questions. On my way, I attempted the first 5 SC in OG-15 in my mobile and I answered two easy questions wrong. Immediately I stopped practicing! When I reached the center, the other candidates were already there. The instructor asked whether everyone wants to start. We still had 10 mins. I told him I need 10 mins to settle down.

I knew my brain was not working and I needed to trigger blood flow to my brain to make it active. I had a banana and around 200 ml of Gatorade and BCAA mixture. Then I went to washroom. I quickly did 3 sets of squat, pushup and jumping jack of 15 reps. Then I washed my face and came out. I was panting, and the instructor gave me a strange look . I quietly went to my seat and started my exam. I told myself, spend the time evenly in each question throughout the verbal section and just try to complete all the 41 verbal questions within time. As usual, I chose the Verbal-quant sequence. This time I answered all CR questions with pre-thinking and to my surprise, they seemed quite easier this time than my previous two attempts. I received few tricky SC questions for which I was down to two options but then could not decide which one to choose. However, I made educated guess and moved on instead of spending more time. This time, the hardest part was the RC. To my surprise, I received three large passages and one medium passage! There was no short passage and it was really unusual for me from my previous experiences! Finally, I finished my verbal section with 20 secs in hand without any random guessing!

During the break, I again had one banana, some Gatorade + BCAA, and then again did 2 sets of pushup and squat. Then started my quant section. I cruised in the first 20 questions. Then I received a tricky time and distance question. I spent around 4 mins until I realised that the question was actually easy and I was not thinking properly. I felt fatigued and my brain was slowing down. I think I really messed up in last 15 questions. Otherwise, I would have a better quant score. I completed the IR and AWA half-heartedly and finished my exam. I was praying that atleast show me 700 or 690! The screen flashed - its 730! I quickly accepted the score!

On my way home, I checked my scorecard couple of times. I was feeling very calm and restful. I was happy but at the same time sad. I developed a soft corner for the exam. I really loved the exam, and it was not love at first sight, it came from my long association with the exam, more like an old couple. I know I may sound funny, but it was hell of a journey and now when it was over, it created a vacuum in my life!

My Three Cents:
Sentence Correction: As everyone says, SC is more like math and the easiest section to improve. Initially when I started my preparation, my accuracy was around 50-60%. I had good grip on Noun, Verbs, and Parallelism, but I always struggled with idioms and comparisons. The main problem is, for idioms there are no rules and you just have to memorise it and native speakers are really at advantage on this as they have their ears trained and can easily identify the wrong idiom. Before my last GMAT, I practiced idiom quiz every other day and it really helped me to improve in the area. Also Magoosh has a free idiom app which I found really great! For non-natives it is really crucial to practice idioms, and in many GMAT questions you can choose the correct answer only using idioms and can save considerable amount of time.

Also it’s important that you review each options of a question again and again and be 100% sure why the wrong options are incorrect. Sometimes it took me more than 20 minutes for a single SC question to search through different forums and get a satisfactory answer. Hence, whenever I found any question tricky or difficult, I noted the question and also noted the explanation, and later I used to review the questions and the explanations in every alternate day. I personally feel that the best available resources for SC are the MGMAT SC, Ron’s videos (especially Modifiers & Parallelism), and eGMAT SC course. I am attaching my SC notes here and hope it will help.
But a word of caution: Use the note only at the final stage of your preparation, and do not attempt the GMATPREP questions before you take the actual CAT as it may influence your CAT score.

Critical Reasoning: It was my strongest area when I started my preparation 1 year back, but became my weakest area when I appeared for GMAT for the 2nd time. Initially I didn’t read any book or guide, and I used to answer the questions from my common sense, and I used to solve the 700+ problems with 80-90% accuracy, however, my average time was more than 3 mins. But when I started reading books and strategies about CR, it became really detrimental for me. In fact, in my 2nd GMAT it’s the CR which brought my score down to 27. I scored 19 in CR!

From my experience I can say, there are only two strategies in CR: (1) read the question stem and Pre-think, (2) think with common sense. And also some books advocate to read the argument, question stem and the answer choices in sequence. But I think that’s a horrible idea. This single tip has almost destroyed my CR skill. Its really important that you read the question stem first and understand what the question is asking. Then read the argument and pre-think about the possible answer. I really advocate watching the Ron Purewal’s Pre-thinking videos. I think this single material is enough to ace the CR, and it also helped me to restore my CR ability within a short period of time. Also I must mention here, EMPOWERgmat’s CR strategy really helped me improve my CR accuracy. Their CR box concept is really great and it helps to develop a structured approach for CR questions. However, I am a slow reader and it took me around 3 mins to answer most of the questions using CR box and I personally felt that that it was not a viable approach for actual GMAT, at least for me. Again, that’s my personal experience and if you go through the reviews, the strategy worked for most of the students. Check out whether it works for you or not.

Reading Comprehension: It is the toughest area to improve. If you are planning to improve your RC skill in one month, let me be honest with you, “It will not work”. You have to take a subtle approach to improve your RC skill. You need to read quality stuffs to improve your RC skills. If you don’t like novels no problem, read business journals, science journals, sociology and humanity journals. Every night before sleeping, I used to read the editor’s Picks of The Economist, the NYtimes, Scientific Americans and New Scientists. Whenever you read an article, try to understand the author’s tone and after you read the article try to summarise the main point of the article in your mind. It will really improve your RC skills. Initially I always struggled with the passages about the feminist movement or the Afro-American revolution. Later I used to search and read those topics in NYtimes and I must say that I really started enjoying those articles and it helped me understand the historical background and connect with the passages better.

In RC, it is essential that you read and understand the passage. Skimming doesn’t work and you’re not likely to ace the exam if you plan to skim on actual test. It is really important that you read the passage slowly and understand the overall structure of the passage and the tone of the author. EMPOWERgmat has some great strategies and approaches for the RC and I feel that it is the clear winner here. Rich says that if you read slow and 150 words/minute you can easily finish all the RCs in time. However, for me 150w/min was way too high and my speed was around 100w/mins. Now you realise how slow I read! But the best part is, I can retain most of the ideas after reading and can answer questions in as less as 20-30 secs. If you are struggling with your reading speed, I suggest you copy the long passages in Microsoft Word, check how many words are there in each para, and check the time you take to read and summarise each para. e.g. suppose you are reading a para which has 150 words, you should read the para in 1.5 mins and understand the inner meaning (assuming your speed is 100w/min). Also try to practice passage from GC RC collection. It has great passages from different areas and difficulties.

In the end, I want to thank again the whole GMATCLUB team. I really love this community, and there are so many great people who are always tirelessly and selflessly willing to help people like me! For me, it was a journey worth remembering with GC until date and hope it will continue to be in future. Thank You.