The day has come, and I am more than proud to write my 740 debrief.
Writing a successful GMAT debrief on GMATClub forums is the dream goal, that every GMATter is day-dreaming about in any minute of its' studies.
I'm writing this debrief not for some super effective insights, but for making the pasimists believe.
This is my story, but first - a warning. I got 94% precentile on verbal, and you are going to read a horrible english debrief. As I previously said - miracles do happen.
---
I'm 28, non-native, married+2, full-time job. I have an average GPA (3.4) B.Sc. (and in the midway of my M.Sc.) in computer science.
I studied alone, except of a single hour of private-tutoring lesson.
Material, 1st attempt:
OG 13th edition.
I studied from May to August, on and off, solving all
OG questions from cover to cover.
On August I decided to register for the test, taking 14 days off-work beforehand.
on these 14 days i've made 8 (!) mocks (CATs, simulations...) before.
BIG MISTAKE - It made me super stresses, and mostly super-tired by the time of the GMAT.
But the mocks began pretty fine-
Although I got 610 on veritas, it had followed 710 in the economist and 710 in my first GMATPrep.
But then - a disaster:
570 (!) veritas second attempt
630 manhattan
640 princeton review
660 on the second, final GMATPrep.
I hoped for a miracle, but I got only 660 on the official exam (q47,v34).
The exam took place at Sep 2nd.
I knew i'm not going to give up, but I put the material asside for a while.
I didn't have any days off left.
A few weeks ago, by the end of september - I registered for my second attempt - Oct 19th.
I had, back then, about 3-4 weeks to study at nights.
I knew that SC was my weakness, so I downloaded the free version of manahattan SC, and started to solve the whole 250 SC's, carefuly marking errors.
After finishing this set of questions, I tried my mistakenly answered questions once again.
And again.
until I had no more questions left - I understood my errors and felt much more confident.
That was just a week ago.
I forgot to mention that on the halfway of my studies I gave the GMATPrep another shot. The 660 have increased to 680.
not bad, not good. I aimed 710.
So about a week before the exam, I finished with my SC studied.
Took a gmatclub fee verbal test - and got only 30.
Well, I still got time to get over RC and CR strategies, and practice some quants.
But, plans aside.
My right wisdom tooth (third molar) started to hurt so bad. All the surrounding tissue just seemed horrible.
I whatsapped my dentist a photo of the tooth - and she scheduled an emergency extraction.
This blew up a whole week of studies. The most important week of all :'(
I'm still on pain killers, by the way.
I took a mock last friday - gmatprep (the one I got 710 in), and got 660.
Terrible.
Everything got wrong. What a waste of 250$.
I felt heart broken.
I googled for "GMAT miracles". Hoped for the best, but expected the worst.
The semester is about to begin, I won't have a third chance.
And then today came by.
I was nervous but cool. Didn't expect anything.
Had a great AWA (I wondered how much I got. I memorized CHINESEBURNED template, easy stuff.)
IR was average.
Went out on the break, washed my face at the toilet and said - I'm going up to the boxing arena. It's now or never. I'm gonna give the fight of my life.
Q part started great! Difficult questions! yeah!!!
After 25 questions I noticed that I'm running out of time - but I recalled your research about the importance of each part. I better focus the 20-30 questions, and just skip the last, less impotant questions.
Evantually, I got the last three questions.
So, in overall - I knew I was going to get 49 at least.
Another break, another motivating talks to myself.
To get a score of 700, the sum of Q+V scores should be 85 at least. I maybe never got more than 37 on verbal, but in a given day - everything is possible.
Went on like a tiger. Didn't feal anything special though. I had to pee during this part, so I rushed over it a little.
Oh my god. 3 more questions.
2 more.
1 left.
Finito.
Next, next, next.
Covering the score with the notebook.
q - 49. not the best, but not bad. I need at least 36 on verbal.
I lowered the notebook and uncovered an astonishing 41 (!!!), and 740 overall.
It's better than my dreams!!! I was thrilled, then started to cry out of joy.
Went out jumping.
Miracles really do happen.
I gave a mandicate on the street 15$, It sure made her day.
Thanks gmatclub on this amazing platform.
Here are my conclusions:
1) I had good intuition in SC. Studying rules just didn't work for me. What made the deiffrence was a massive pratcice. Only after 200 senteces I've learned that "predicted" is not a kind of subjunctive mood... new things appear all the time. Practice a lot, and know your errors.
2) Do not rush. You should know that the last 10 questions are the least important of the section. Do your best at the begining of the secion.
3) chineseburned AWA template simply made this part worthless. It feels like cheating.
4) Believe in yourself - on a given day, anything can happed. Never say never.
I am going to sleep like a baby tonight