Practice Tests
Use the Official Practice Tests strategically! I didn't even think about this and burned them at the beginning and early on. I used them as practice when they should be used as a gauge.
GMAT Club tests are good for practice and they're very hard.
Test 1 - 9/29 -
OG 1 Q36 V34 - 580 - Cold, no studying. What are these shapes on my screen? Since when did math use letters? I was rusty.
Test 2 - 11/24 -
OG 2 Q44 V36 - 650
Test 3 - 11/27 -
OG 1R Q45 V41 - 710
Test 4 - 12/5 -
OG 2R Q43 V37 - 650
Test 5 - 12/20 -
OG 4 Q47 V40 - 710
Test 6 - 12/21 -
EGMAT Q45 V29 - 610
Test 7 - 12/26 -
OG 5 Q42 V38 - 650
Test 8 - 1/2 -
OG 3 Q42 V40 - 670
Test 9 - 1/30 -
OG 6 Q44 V40 - 690
Real Deal
Test 10 2/4 - Q49 V41 - 730
With Practice Tests, simulate the test experience fully and keep your finger off the pause button! I fell into allowing myself to pause a test even just to take a bathroom break or take a quick breather in the middle of a section. While I stopped doing this for the last several practice tests, I still found myself looking for the pause button during the real thing when I would get mentally exhausted.
I also liked the
GMAT Club Tests. I got them for free with my
TTP subscription. I used these not to gauge my score, but to practice timing and see what topics I was underperforming in. They are very hard and the highest Quant I got was 40 and highest Verbal was 31. So don't pay too much attention to the scores.
Study Materials
I started studying with the
Magoosh. I used the 3 month quant focused program. I liked the video format, but it basically is a 1.5 month course and then has you repeat everything. While repetition is good, I didn't feel like finishing the entire 3 months was necessarily going to lead to the highest score possible, so I bailed at about the 2.5 month mark. I do give some credit to
Magoosh for my success. It was a good way to get back into it all, but I just felt like it wouldn't lead me to an elite score. After reading everyone rave about
TTP quant I make the switch.
I used
TTP for a little over 2 weeks. I logged about 100 hours and made it halfway through the quant section and did one section of sentence correction since that was my weakest portion of verbal. I wish I had found
TTP sooner.
Study Schedule
When using
Magoosh from Oct-Dec I studied 5 days a week for about 3 hours a day. One day a week off and one day for practice tests.
When using
TTP I was studying all day 6-7 days a week and threw in a full length practice test one week before.
Throw in some off time for a wedding/holiday travels. Those breaks are also good to refresh mentally and emotionally. I came back ready to jump back in.
I started winding down 3-4 days before the exam. 2 days before the exam was 4 hours of reviewing mistakes and formulas, day before the exam no studying just read over the
TTP formula sheet after dinner. Day of the exam read over the formulas before I drove to the center. Sat in the parking lot for 30 minutes and did some warm up exercises and to get the blood flowing.
My focus was just being relaxed and calm and having my body well prepared. I think this and 'cramming' with
TTP is why my real score was higher than practice tests. I would take the practice tests amongst work and all the studying with little thought to my sleep, nutrition, and hydration. For the real thing my brain and body were rested. I had put a focus on eating lots of brain foods in the days leading up. Salmon, oats, berries, nuts, etc. and I was well hydrated. I listened to a non gmat/mba podcast on the way to the center and also listened to some hype up music in my car before I went in.
If I was to do it over again I would use
TTP and go through GMAT Club to get their tests for free. Those two resources plus the offical tests are all you need to crush the quant section. Can't speak much to the verbal portion on
TTP. I'm dipping my toes in now. I plan to finish their quant section over the next two months and work on my verbal and retake in hopes of 750+
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14 Feb 2022, 17:30
