660 Debrief: Q38 V40 (What you probably should not do)

Hey everyone, just got done with my GMAT on the 4th of September and I thought I'd write out a quick summary of how it went, along with some thoughts about my preparation experience. I'm writing this for catharsis, but hopefully you guys will learn from some of my screw ups. Please note that this is mainly a quant heavy review. I don't have much info/advice on verbal as I barely touched it.

I had actually taken my first GMAT way back in March but went i blind. I had no idea about the format, and when I saw a calculator pop up on IR, I was exultant, thinking i'd have it for the entire test. Ended up with a 590 on that. I think it was something like 30Q and 38V.

I spent the next 5? months 'studying', and by that i mean, browsing facebook and playing battlefield with my study material long forgotten in the background. I only bucked up in the last 2 months. This is how it went...

Materials used

i) MGMAT quant books (8/10 rating) - These are probably a staple for most GMAT takers and I think they're good too. They cover all the topics, from a basic to a high level, and if you're looking for a place to start, pick these up. They also come with 6 MGMAT mock tests which are invaluable (more on these later). The only problem I had with the books is that the practice questions framed were not very 'GMAT esque' but rather meant to target a core understanding of the concept. This is actually better in many ways, because if you really understand the basics, you should be able to apply the knowledge to any question. However, since I have a mental block against quant, I have a hard time recalling and applying knowledge, so for me, being 'spoonfed' practice questions which mimic real questions to a t are probably better (this is where I am probably wrong).

In any case, I sort of skimmed over these books and didn't get a true understanding of the basics. I will be re-taking the GMAT and plan to devote a good month to these books. Master the basics. Always.

ii) EMPOWERGMAT (9/10 rating) - Rich Cohen's tactics were the only things that enabled me to make any progress on quant. Sure, I knew the rudimentary basics and the formulae, but whenever I encountered a quant question, my brain would completely fall apart. Rich's way of breaking down problems into small pieces and applying as little 'math' as possible gave me at least some confidence during my mocks. I think, that if one has very strong understanding of the basics, they should then pickup the Empower course, because the two would synergize reallllly well in my opinion. I am looking forward to mastering the basics, and augmenting them with Empower tactics to hit a super score in my next attempt at quant. Max's verbal section is good too, but since verbal was never a problem, I really didn't watch more than a couple of videos. In any case, I highly recommend this course. Empower also has a tie up with the OG and Rich and MAX explain each OG problem in their own way. So this is a HUGEEEEE Plus point)

iii) TargetTestPrep (8.99/10 rating) - I only used this for about 3 weeks (5 day free trial and then a 2 week extension), but wished I had found them earlier. If you don't want to read MGMAT books, then do TargetTestprep. They will whip you into shape and REALLY make sure you understand the math. And unlike MGMAT, every problem of theirs, even while you're still learning the concepts, mimics GMAT type questions. I think it is a great platform and if you can go through all their chapters, and then even score say, a 60% plus accuracy on their 'medium' level review tests, you'd be good to hit at least a Q46. If you can get say 60% on their 'difficult' level tests? Q 51. No questions asked.

Unfortunately since i did not have sufficient time, i did not get enough value out of these guys.

In my opinion, TTP and Empower are two very different ways of studying for this test. While the former really drills the 'math' aspect of quant into you, the latter gives you an out of the box approach. Choose whichever you like, or choose both to became a GMAT zen master and score an 800.

iv) GMATCLUB forums (questions sorted by difficulty)(8.5/10) - Great for practice, but only AFTER you have gone through a course, or after you have the basics mastered. Only drawback is that this obviously isn't 'structured' so don't do what I did and end up randomly clicking questions, solving (or failing to solve them), and then telling myself mentally that I'd remember how to do them if I saw them again. WRITE everything down. Structure your study and structure the way in which you're going to hit the questions on the forum. Buunel and his gang of merry men are always there to clear a doubt and jeez, these guys are smart. If you have the basics down, come to the forums and start working on the problems in a STRUCTURED way. I plan on utilizing them a whole bunch before my next attempt.

v) OG 2016 - (8/10) Well its the official guide, so the questions are as official as they're going to get. I think the first half of the quant questions are ridiculously easy and shouldn't be gone over more than once. The second half are tougher and those are the ones you'll want to tackle. Verbal wise, you won't find any problems as good as these. Period.

Mock Tests

MGMAT TESTS
1) MGMAT I - 620 (Q32 V45)
2) MGMAT II - 520 (lol wtf) (Q30 V 31)
3) MGMAT III - 590 (Q40 V 32)
4) MGMAT IV - 620 (Q39 V 35)
5) MGMAT V - 630 (Q38 V 37)
6) MGMAT VI (done three days before D-day) - 710 (Q42 V 45)

GMAT prep (two free tests)

1) GMAT prep I: 580 (Done two days before D-day. I don't remember the breakup, just the number that torpedoed my stomach
2) GMAT prep II: 710 (Done the day before D-day. I know its not advisable to do a test the day before the exam, but I had to get my confidence up after the previous day's bomb) (Q 48 <--- WTF??? V 40)

Those are my test scores. Notice that they're all over the damn place? Wonder why? Its because they reflect the way i studied. The way I approached my studying - haphazard and all over the place. DO not do what I did. The first thing you want to do, is plan out your 3 months and ensure that you're following a structure. Don't be cocksure and confident (like I was), and think you know better than the experts because you don't.

I do want to note that MGMAT quant is harder than GMAT prep math, and that its verbal is very funky (not bad, just weird). They're good quant practice, and 'okay' verbal practice. For verbal stick to the OG.


D-Day

I went into the exam after studying about 12-13 hours a day for the past 2 and a half weeks. I used to take something called Modalert (modafinil) hoping that it would let me focus more, and sure, it did. It also kept me up into the nights and didn't let me sleep. In the end, I had information clogging up my brain. I couldn't process it, couldn't put it together, and on the very first question i froze. I froze because my core fundamentals weren't strong. Make sure your core is strong. Don't try and memorize questions like I did, because the moment you see even the slightest twist in that type of question, your brain is going to get tangled up.

I tried to answer the rest of the quant to the best of my ability, but as the questions got easier and easier my heart sank. I pretty much guessed the verbal section because I was so disheartened and wanted it to be over as quickly as possible. Randomly picked IR answers, wrote a half baked essay and when 660 popped out (Q38 V 40) i didn't flinch. I knew I'd screwed up, not only in the exam, but in my prep.

The key thing to take away from this is: PLAN your preparation, and FOCUS on the basics. I know everyone says that, and I know, you might think you're smarter than you were in 9th grade. But don't leave it up to chance. Go back and check on you knowledge, just to make sure.

I'm writing the exam again on Nov 8th and I am aiming at a 740+.

I plan on doing all the MGMAT books again in detail, a week for each book, and then move on to the forum questions. I want to get my verbal up in the 45-50 range, so instead of thinking that i'm 'too good' to study for verbal, I'm going to go sit down and dedicate a good portion of my study to it.

OH AND CONCENTRATE ON DS TOO!!! I barely paid DS much attention thinking that if I could master problem solving, the DS would just 'fall into place'

I got destroyed by DS. Don't be like me. Practice them too! Thursdays with Ron has some nice vids that I plan on watching for the next retake.

Sorry for the long post. Its probably quite winding and at times, incomprehensible. Anyhow, thought I'd share. Best of luck to all!