660 to 740 (Q49,V41, IR 8, and AWA 6.0) - Matter over Mind

I've daydreamed (multiple times) about posting my GMAT experience on this forum - to share my experience and learning with fellow GMATers. I can't express my thanks enough to every member on this forum, including you for reading this, for his/her contribution: from kind words of encouragement to new techniques for the trickiest Quant and Verbal problems.

Some background on myself: I'm a 27 year-old male from India, 5 years work-experience (3 yrs as an M&A banker with a tier-1 investment bank in Hong Kong, 2 yrs in international development with a US-based organization). I made up my mind to apply to an MBA program on December 2012. Took the test for the first time on January 5, 2013 and got a 660 (Q48, V33) with little or no prep. I want to share my takeaways + resources and tools that I used to tackle the GMAT.

1. Don't underestimate the GMAT, yet don't make it significant:
This may sound contradictory, and to an extent, it is. However, this is highly important. My first attempt was after 1 month of prep and the results showed. I was arrogant about my aptitude (both quant and verbal) and my first experience humbled me. It's an important lesson that I will never forget. Yet, as I pursued the elusive 80-80 split I taught myself to not give the GMAT too much significance. As an Indian, I've inherited an obsession with RESULTS (not unlike a lot of you reading this today). Due to this, I believe we have a tendency to OBSESS over GMAT scores and percentiles and rankings and so forth. Let it go. Pick a score you want (based on the programs you are aiming for), hit it (take as much time as you HAVE) and MOVE ON. When you obsess over the GMAT, you make it LARGER than life and funnily enough, this will hurt your performance on the test itself! (i've heard things like "nowadays SO MANY people get a 680-720 score. I need that too or MORE." ->statistically speaking, this makes no sense. In the end, the GMAT is a means to an end.

2. Develop good habits
Build a sustainable study-schedule over a sufficient period of time (3 months MAX). Dedicate an hour or 2 (if possible) every day. TAKE a diagnostic at the outset and identify weakness areas. Focus efforts on strengthening these weakness areas. As working people, our time is precious. Don't cram millions of problems. Do small-sets on problem areas and take each problem apart after each session. Redo them once, twice, thrice if need be. But get so good at it that your brain automatically recognizes the right approach the next time it sees a similar problem (however tired or nervous you are!)
a. PS and DS - focus your efforts on quant in areas you are least comfortable with - these are areas where you are either 1. Low on accuracy 2. Taking too much time 3. Both 1 & 2. Develop a good process. I urge people who are weak in quant to recognize that it's hardly a test of mathematical concepts as it is a test of your ability to think. Stacey (from MGMAT) wrote an article on this (the read, glance, ponder approach) - this is super helpful. Once you recognize that every problem has a ceiling of difficulty / conceptual knowledge - no problem will seem un-doable. The question boils down to whether you can recognize what approach is required within the time limit (learn to observe approaches and problem-types). You don't need to be a quant-guy / engineer to kill it on quant. I got a Q50/51 consistently on practice tests just following the process above (on test-day I had some unexpected interruptions at the center that threw me off temporarily). Your mental state / anxiety level can seriously impact your quant score.
b. SC - if you must practice repetition - it has to be in SC. Build a process that you are comfortable with and practice it thoroughly. Analyze every question and every answer choice till you can tell SPECIFICALLY why each option is wrong. Choose the right answer for the right reasons. Repeat. repeat. repeat. Do the OG 13 and Verbal Review book multiple times. SC is as close to a 'sure thing' you can get on the verbal section. Don't lose out here. See below for what resources worked for me.
c. CR - 1. build a process 2. learn different approaches and OUTs for each problem type (OUT = how will I improve my odds by elimination) 3. Practice 4. Do not overdo CR practice (if mental fatigue affects anything - it is your ability to reason)
d. RC - if you have even 2 weeks left for your exam, try to develop a reading habit. Buy the Economist or some other magazine that's equally well written. Read a paragraph, paraphrase, organize in your head. Read actively, visualizing the words. It barely takes 10 minutes to read an article. Do it religiously (subway to work, car ride, waiting for a call / meeting, just before bed - whatever). This is tremendously useful for both RC and CR (and helps SC too)


3. Spend time relaxing, chilling out with family / friends
This is of tremendous help. I have a tendency to get intense with my preparation. Too intense (to the extent that I barely go out on weekends, skip meals or put in every spare minute on prep). While this has its rewards, the benefit is marginal (at best). You have way more to gain by maintaining a relaxed state of mind while prepping than by cramming in an extra 10 grammar rules. Trust me. Intensity breeds anxiety and anxiety is a killer of your true potential. For all you eager-beavers, this is a must do. If you're blessed with a state of ZEN, good for you! Otherwise, turn the GMAT into a fun game. You cannot underestimate the importance of the right context - the right frame of mind. The mind is a powerful tool. It can make the GMAT look like a monster or turn the test center into this ominous do-or-die place. Neither of these statements is true. GMAC wants the test to be intimidating - purely because it's testing your ability to make decisions in a stressful environment. The beauty of the mind is that you can relate to the GMAT the way YOU want. I chose to approach it as a game. A series of puzzles I was solving across a coffee-table with a friend. Or a cricket match, where you're batting and the GMAT is bowling at you. Some deliveries are great, let them go. Some are bouncers, duck under them. Hammer the rest. Make it fun and this will change your testing experience.

4. Timing
Do NOT under any circumstances, take this for granted. Timing is a game changer. Practice tests are great but towards the end, every practice session must be timed. During the home-stretch (i.e. the last one month or less) you must focus on timing. Again MGMAT (Stacey a big thank you to you) has amazing articles on timing. As Stacey says, make sure you're playing the right game. Train yourself to recognize that feeling (you know what im talking about - the one where you say "i know this one. I must know it. How can I not know this'). When that pops up, switch to a strategic guessing mode. Let the problem go. Come back to it AFTER your practice session. Take it apart then. This habit is not easy to cultivate. It needs work and this can be the difference between a 680 and a 750 (in my humble opinion)

RESOURCES

QUANT
1. MGMAT books - buy these (including the advanced quant book for some really cool strategies). These are tremendously useful. The level of detail in here is unmatched. These books teach you concepts inside out. I never got the chance to go through them completely. I used them for my weakness areas (Geometry, Word problems and PnCs) and they were a god-send. It will take time to go through all of them but it will be worth it (modify according to how much time you have left)
2. GMAT Club forum - amazing resource. Bunuel is a GMAT-quant king. If you want to learn how to think about GMAT quant problems, follow him. Follow the GMAT club problem-of-the day. Dissect these problems every day. If you want to move from a Q47 to the Q50-51 league, you must follow Bunuel and check out other forum-member solutions. This has been incredibly useful to me (despite me finishing only with a Q49)

VERBAL
1. SC: e-GMAT all the way. I am a native speaker of English. Before e-GMAT, my SC accuracy was in the 50-60% range. Post e-GMAT's verbal-live workshop and process-practice, I consistently hit 87-95% (under timed conditions). Timing averaged 1:30. I believe their (referring to the team members!) method is more thorough, and therefore not as quick as the conventional "split-method". However, with practice you will see both accuracy and speed increase. Big THANK YOU to Rajat Sadana for the personal attention prior to my retake. The e-GMAT team is clearly committed to making sure students kill it on verbal.
2. CR: e-GMAT or MGMAT - both great resources but I'd lean towards a mix. I like MGMAT's classification and approaches (in CR, less is truly more - i'd rather master principles than memorize 30 different problem types). I do like e-GMAT's focus on pre-thinking. Pre-thinking can truly impact your CR accuracy. Understanding the logical-structure and prethinking answer-choices are incredibly useful tools to boost your CR hit-rate. For practice problems - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stick to the OG and verbal-review / official problems only (or as much as possible)
3. RC: I didn't use any resources other than the OG here, but I do think that reading consistently and practicing paraphrasing helps greatly. I consistently hit a 95-100% accuracy on RC. It was my strength. I did have to work on my speed though, so I did do a passage a day for the last month. Repeating my process every single time. I would note the start time and be mindful of how much time I utilized (i would hit 2.5-4 min range for each passage consistently - i.e. reading time). Again, needless to say, timing is super important on the verbal section too (unless you are one of those people who finishes the verbal section with plenty of time to spare - NOT me unfortunately)

TESTS
1. GMAT prep - 4 tests (including the two new ones): absolutely golden for practice and by far the most accurate for scoring. My scores (1-710, 2-730, 1A-760, 2A-780, 3-740, 4, 750)
2. MGMAT Tests - Great for stamina building (the quant is definitely slightly higher than the average GMAT problem). I do, however, think that the quant questions here are not great practice for the real GMAT. MGMAT problems aren't particularly tough. They are just really time consuming. The tough problems rarely have an elegant solution (the GMAT, on the other hand, has problems where you can, more often than not, arrive at a solution fairly quickly with little calculation). Same goes for MGMAT's verbal section - I never crossed a 38 on the MGMAT quant. MGMAT tests, all said and done, are GREAT practice and you should definitely give them a shot (plus you get them free with the books). My scores ranged from 600 to 710 (I averaged about 660, so don't lose hope if you see a lowish score!)
3. GMAT club tests - absolutely brilliant (but only for Quant). I think the verbal questions are rather dodgy. The Quant is definitely tougher but it's fantastic training on how to think / how to spot traps that are common on the GMAT. A must do for people looking to hit 80 percentile and up on Quant

PREPPING FOR THE MENTAL SIDE OF THINGS
Now, this is slightly different from your typical 'test-day' experience. I'm not going to give you details on what to eat and what to drink and how to sleep well (because let's face it - there's a lot of advice out there already). If you're a nervous person - pick an afternoon / evening time-slot (this will ensure you sleep well, do some chores so the nerves settle before test time). Suffice to say - stay away from the stimulants (nicotene, alcohol, TOO much caffeine) in the run-up to the test. I abstained for about 2-weeks (no alcohol, smokes, very little coffee).
You must practice being COMPLETELY PRESENT to the current moment. On test-day you don't want to let your mind run away with conversations like - 'how am i doing? omg this is so tough? was the last one correct? i wonder whether I'll get a boldface question soon?". Unfortunately, our thoughts are automatic. We obsess over past and future. We're only human. However, you can practice being "in the moment" on a daily basis. When you are doing your next timed practice-set - catch yourself asking the questions above. Don't let your mind consume you. All that matters is your process. Follow it, trust it and trust yourself. Take each question as it comes. Trust me, I know - easier said than done. If you practice this (for e.g. next time you are in the subway pay attention to everything around you, notice things - colors, people, faces, sounds - get out of the conversation in your head). You will feel a certain peacefulness. On test day, this skill is powerful. Smile at other folks sitting in the center, notice the room, the carpet, the sounds - whatever. Just get out of your internal state. Be in the moment. One question at a time. You will get the score you will get! So have fun with each question. When I walked out of the test center, I caught myself thinking -"if only I had 20 more points I would officially be at 99 percentile, not 97", "If only I scored my usual 50-51 on quant". Then, I just smiled at my mind, thanked the dude at the test-center and caught up with friends for dinner and drinks. On to more meaningful things in life!

Apologies for the long post! Hopefully, this helps some of you relax a bit - be more excited, less anxious. Good luck to everyone! Trust me, if you want it, you can get it! Let me know if I can answer any other questions.

Cheers,
Sidvish