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lafsg30
Joined: 08 Jan 2019
Last visit: 20 Mar 2024
Posts: 11
Given Kudos: 39
Location: India
Concentration: Strategy, Operations
Schools: Kellogg '26 (A$) HBS '26 (D) Wharton '26 (D) LBS '26 (A) Yale '26 (WL) Ross '26 (S) Booth '26 (WL) Sloan '26 (WL)
GMAT 1: 690 Q48 V35
GMAT 2: 750 Q49 V42
GPA: 3.5
WE:Supply Chain Management (Non-Profit and Government)
Schools: Kellogg '26 (A$) HBS '26 (D) Wharton '26 (D) LBS '26 (A) Yale '26 (WL) Ross '26 (S) Booth '26 (WL) Sloan '26 (WL)
GMAT 2: 750 Q49 V42
Posts: 11
12 Feb 2021, 05:56
Kudos
Bookmarks
"Once you succeed, people only see the success. If you fail, they see only the failure. Rarely do they see the turning points that could take you in a completely different direction. But it's at these inflection points that the most important lessons in business and life are learned" - Stephen A. Schwarzman
I was about a month away from my appointment when I began reading Schwarzman's "What It Takes", and read the above quote. The timing could not be any better. It had a palpable impact on my mindset and it strengthened my belief in crushing the GMAT. I hope this quote reinvigorates your spirits as well as you put in those hours.
First attempt : Feb 2020
I began my GMAT journey in early 2019 which coincided with the start of my first job after undergrad. I had my eyes set on an MBA and wanted to get the GMAT out of the way. The initial few months were spent on glossing over the OG and getting accustomed with GC. I took my first official mock GMATPREP#1 early on in the journey (April 2019) to set a baseline. I scored a 640 (Q48 V28). It was pretty clear that Verbal required some loving, while Quant needed some refinement. I had studied Engineering in undergrad, so the Quant proficiency was understandable.
Around this time I attended an MBA event and was told by an admission consultant that for my demographic (Indian male), I would need at least a 730 to get a foot in the door. So that's how I set my target.
Based on posts in GC, I began reading up on the Manhattan SC, which was the only resource I used for my SC preparation. I did some reading on RC and CR, but I did not have a structured process or particular resource. I then purchased the Mahtattan GMAT mocks in July and began doing mocks every other week. In between I continued doing questions on GC. Here are my MGMAT scores :
MGMAT 1 : 590 (Q38, V34)
MGMAT 2 : 620 (Q39, V36)
MGMAT 3 : 600 (Q41, V32)
MGMAT 4 : 650 (Q42, V37)
MGMAT 5 : 640 (Q42, V36)
MGMAT 6 : 670 (Q45, V36)
Over the ~2 months that I did the MGMAT mocks, I began reading the CR Powerscore Bible, and this helped bring my accuracy in CR up to 80%. The book is dense, but the reading provides dividends. I highly recommend it. While my Quant had progressed, my Verbal clearly plateaued ~35. I also took the GMATPREP 2 around October to measure where I was. I scored a 670 (Q45, V37). I was happy with the improvement in Verbal.
I got busy with work till around October 2019, and slacked around till about Jan 2020 (New Year New Me lol). In Jan after being pestered by my parents and light office work, I set myself to take the test by March. I skimmed through the MGMAT SC again, and began doing questions on GC. I also purchased the Veritas tests (7 for $30). Here are my Veritas results :
Veritas 1 : 650 (Q45, V36)
Veritas 2 : 680 (Q46, V38)
Veritas 3 : 690 (Q49, V36)
Veritas 4 : 700 (Q49, V37)
Veritas 5 : 700 (Q47, V39)
Veritas 6 : 710 (Q46, V41)
Veritas 7 : 690 (Q46, V39)
I was very content on seeing my Verbal in the high 30s, and this made me confident. I was nowhere near my ideal score, but somehow I felt I could just wing it in the actual GMAT and achieve a solid score. I set my date for late Feb 2020. I took the GMATPREP 3 leading into the test date. I scored a 700 (Q49, V37).
Test Day 1 (Feb 2020)
I somehow convinced myself that by some stroke of luck I would be able to outperform all my mocks. I booked a time slot at 2pm. Arrived about an hour early and tried to de-stress. I ended up striking a conversation with another test taker while waiting, just to get my mind off the test. Thank you stranger for not being weirded out by me. I selected my usual sequence Q/V/IR/AWA.
I froze on the first Quant section. It was a simple looking algebra problem, but I just could not get through it and I must've easily spent 4 minutes on it. Not the best way to start the test. I somehow powered my way through the test, but deep inside knew that the damage was done. Took the 8 minute break, tried to dislodge my thoughts on Quant and began getting in the Verbal zone.
Verbal was a massacre. I had no idea what I was doing. First off, during practice I used to create a ABCDE grid and mark off incorrect choices, however the laminated paper at the center had these tiny boxes which made my grid confusing. This was all very foreign. Secondly, even though I had read through the CR Bible, and had an idea about Pre-Thinking, I had no question specific approach. I relied primarily on POE, which can be deadly when you eliminate a choice prematurely. As for RC, I had no plan at all. I simply read/skimmed through the passage and answered questions.
During IR and AWA (which I had not prepared for before, but scored a 6 in IR and 5.5 in AWA), I knew I had screwed up and began thinking about retaking the test. After I pressed submit on the AWA, 690 flashed. I was honestly a little surprised (in a good way), I had expected a much lower score. The breakup was Q48, V35. I called my parents on my way home, they were happy with my score, but I knew it was not going to take me anywhere.
I purchased the ESR, and found that I fought valiantly in Quant, the question difficulty was a steep curve going from Medium to the almost the upper edge of High. My Verbal was pretty consistent with my mocks. I scored around the 75th percentile for all 3 sub sections. I wasn't particularly weak or strong in either sub-section.
Second attempt : Apr 2020 - Jan 2021
Soon after my first attempt, I got put on a project and I set aside my GMAT aspirations. I was visiting my grandparents in Northern India for Holi, but due to the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown my trip got extended from a 4 day long weekend to an unforgettable 8 months with grandparents. I truly enjoyed the time as I got to spend a lot of time with my grandparents and cousins, it was priceless. However, this also meant that I did not have my passport on me and hence could not take the GMAT in the fall of 2020 as I had envisioned.
Once work became more manageable, I started doing SC questions on GC every day. However, I wasn't doing these randomly this time. I filtered out the SC questions by offical sources (OG, GMATPREP, GMAC Papet Test, GMAT Advanced, Verbal OG, etc.) and created a bookmark. Each day after work I would religiously do any new questions that would come up. I did this pretty much every day from June to December. The efforts paid and my accuracy in SC improved significantly. I was a lot more confident. I read through the MGMAT SC once more (this was my third time), and I was done. I just practiced my way to a higher score. During this pandemic, I also began reading for fun. I feel this helped me later in Verbal.
In September, I made a similar GC bookmark for CR and began doing questions daily. I ended up having a bookmark each for SC, CR, RC, PS, and DS. All I did for verbal was this practice. For Quant, I began taking the GC Quant tests when they became available on holidays. By simply doing these tests I was able to go from a Q44 to Q49/50s and even a Q51! I used to do atleast 3 Quant tests per day when they were made available. By the end of it I only had 3 Quant tests left. Though I did sense that GC Quant tests got easier at the end as the question pool for tough questions diminished.
I bid a tearful goodbye to my family in Northern India and came back home in December 2020. Early in December, I had a free one on one with Punit Joshi from Math Revolution. The session was incredible. In under 30 mins he set out a topic wise strategy for me, which consisted of doing 10-15 600-700 level questions per topic (I would split them 9 PS, and 6 DS), then read the theory (I referred to the GC Quant Book, and made a formula sheet), and then after a few hours doing 10 700 level questions of that topic (I would split them 6 PS, and 4 DS). This made me a lot more confident with the Quant. In the meantime I continued with my ritual of daily Verbal questions from Official Sources on GC.
In early Jan 2021, I wanted to assess myself, and I came across the e-GMAT Sigma X mock. I took that test and scored a 710 (Q46, V40). I could not care less about the Quant, but I was very happy on seeing that 90th percentile in Verbal. Scored a 50 in SC (99th percentile), 28 in CR (49th percentile), and 39 in RC (83rd percentile). All those SC questions had paid off. As luck would have it, e-GMAT was offering Strategy Consultation calls the following week. I quickly signed up with one for Anshul. Anshul went through my Sigma X mock and my ESR as well. He rightfully identified my issues in CR. Up till now, I was weary of taking outside help, and did not want to spend money on a test prep company. I had had a bad experience with a test prep company during my SAT days. At the same time I had seen so many videos of e-GMAT candidates rave about the platform. I ended up purchasing the Verbal course.
I instantly fell in love with the "Make a Plan" feature wherein you got to put in your current and target scores and your timing constraints, and the feature created a calendar for you along with milestones for score improvements. My plan showed that after a few weeks I could see myself in the 40s for Verbal, and that boosted my spirits tremendously. I began my e-GMAT preparation by going through the complete CR course, attempting all concept and application quizzes. During the same time DJ from e-GMAT reached out and we had a brief chat where we spoke about my earlier prep and SIGMA-X mock. He sent me a detailed plan soon after the call. I followed that plan by completing the CR course, taking the cementing quizzes, followed by SC cementing quizzes, and finally test readiness for SC and CR. Once I was done with RC, I reached out to him again, and he pointed out that I was taking too much time on CR. So I began working on my timing for CR.
I completed the course in late January and began taking Sigma X tests every 3-4 days. Strategically reviewing the tests. These were my scores :
SIGMA X 2 (1/24) : 700 (Q48, V37 : SC36, CR41, RC34)
SIGMA X 3 (1/28) : 730 (Q49, V40 : SC40, CR37, RC43)
SIGMA X 4 (1/31) : 700 (Q49, V36 : SC37, CR37, RC34)
SIGMA X 5 (2/04) : 720 (Q46, V42 : SC42, CR37, RC48)
The fourth SIGMA X mock was a blow. I was nauseated by seeing those consistent 30s across the Verbal sub-section. I booked my test date after the fifth SIGMA X mock.
I focused my last two weeks on doing Medium and Hard questions on Scholaranium. By the end of it I had no more Medium or Hard questions left in RC and CR. I split my time spent on CR:SC:RC:Quant as 3:1:1:2. I also began viewing Ron Purewal videos for CR, the videos were great. I really liked his concept of personalizing the argument, and not simply segregating CR questions by question type. In particular he spoke about breaking the CR question prompt down in your words to be absolutely clear on what the question asks. I reached out to DJ during my last week and he sent me a detailed plan, which was similar to what I already was doing. I took my GMATPREP 4 two days before the D-Day and scored a 760 (Q50, V42). This was the score I had my eyes set for, and I was on cloud nine. I spent the last day doing very little, I studied a bit, but spent most of my time watching cute dog videos on YouTube
Test Day 2 (Feb 2021)
We meet again after a year. My appointment this time was at 11 am. I had adapted a early to bed early to rise lifestyle over the past few months. This was mainly to squeeze in a lift session in the morning before work and I began to enjoy the quiet cool mornings.
As DJ has recommended, I had selected some warm up questions the night before which I attempted in the morning. I got them all right, and this lifted my spirits. I performed my morning routine, went for a walk and made myself a nice breakfast. I got in cab and arrived at the Test Center at 10am, a full hour in advance. I walked around the business park and finally sat down at a Starbucks and began listening to music. Around 10.30am I went to the Test Center suite. Unlike earlier, there was no one in lobby area. I recited a prayer. I then rang the bell to the suite and was led in. I kept cool and struck up a conversation with Test Center folks (I don't know what it is with me and small talk in nervous conditions). I started my test 10 minutes before 11am.
I used this time management strategy for the Quant section : https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... nt-part-3/
The first question appeared, and it was a dense word problem. I froze again, but this time I took a deep breath and got myself to solve the question. It took me 3-4 minutes, but I got the question right and it set me towards a good path. Quant overall was alright, nothing extraordinary. Mostly tough questions. I was pressed against time around Q20, and guessed a couple of questions. I was not super happy with Quant, but during the break I told myself that I could redeem myself in Verbal.
Verbal was again a blur, the SC was manageable but CR was dense with long paragraphs and RC had many tempting answer choices. Managed my time terribly and had less than 10 minutes for the last 10 questions. I was angry at myself during the break after Verbal. I sensed a repeat of my earlier attempt, and began thinking about retaking the test. IR was ok. I used chineseburned template for AWA. I finally pressed submit on the AWA and the score flashed.
I saw the 7 first (I was happy). I struggled to see the number after it, I got closer to the screen and saw the 5. I had smiling ear to ear. I could not believe it. 750 (Q49, V42) 98th percentile. Raised my hand, and the accepted the score. I was smiling all the way till I left the center.
Got out and called my father : "Dad I've done it!"
Tips and tricks
Quant : If you come from a quantitative background you should be aiming for at least a 49. Getting to a Q49/50 is all about avoiding silly mistakes.
Verbal SC : Understand the key areas such as parallelism, modifiers, verbs, etc., and apply them. Practice makes you perfect. Meaning helps as well.
Verbal RC : READ THE PASSAGE. Yes it sucks out your precious time, but you end up spending less than a minute on following questions if you've read the passage well.
Verbal CR : Okay so yes Pre-Thinking is great, but its not for everyone. I did not rely entirely on it. Personalize the questions. Think about it like your friend or enemy is making a argument and you need to strengthen it, break it, or evaluate it. Your plan A should be to just read the argument, understand it and solve it. Plan B is following a question specific strategy.Focus on the conclusion AND THE QUESTION STEM. Understand what the question really wants. And almost never eliminate an answer for Out of Scope/ Irrelevant - that's just lazy.
If you find yourself disappointing or in a tough phase, don't worry. Think of this as an inflection point. You will come out of this stronger than ever. Progress is not linear.
Thank you GMATCLUB (Brunnel, bb, Souvik, and all the members), e-GMAT (DJ and Anshul), and Math Revolution (Punit)
I was about a month away from my appointment when I began reading Schwarzman's "What It Takes", and read the above quote. The timing could not be any better. It had a palpable impact on my mindset and it strengthened my belief in crushing the GMAT. I hope this quote reinvigorates your spirits as well as you put in those hours.
First attempt : Feb 2020
I began my GMAT journey in early 2019 which coincided with the start of my first job after undergrad. I had my eyes set on an MBA and wanted to get the GMAT out of the way. The initial few months were spent on glossing over the OG and getting accustomed with GC. I took my first official mock GMATPREP#1 early on in the journey (April 2019) to set a baseline. I scored a 640 (Q48 V28). It was pretty clear that Verbal required some loving, while Quant needed some refinement. I had studied Engineering in undergrad, so the Quant proficiency was understandable.
Around this time I attended an MBA event and was told by an admission consultant that for my demographic (Indian male), I would need at least a 730 to get a foot in the door. So that's how I set my target.
Based on posts in GC, I began reading up on the Manhattan SC, which was the only resource I used for my SC preparation. I did some reading on RC and CR, but I did not have a structured process or particular resource. I then purchased the Mahtattan GMAT mocks in July and began doing mocks every other week. In between I continued doing questions on GC. Here are my MGMAT scores :
MGMAT 1 : 590 (Q38, V34)
MGMAT 2 : 620 (Q39, V36)
MGMAT 3 : 600 (Q41, V32)
MGMAT 4 : 650 (Q42, V37)
MGMAT 5 : 640 (Q42, V36)
MGMAT 6 : 670 (Q45, V36)
Over the ~2 months that I did the MGMAT mocks, I began reading the CR Powerscore Bible, and this helped bring my accuracy in CR up to 80%. The book is dense, but the reading provides dividends. I highly recommend it. While my Quant had progressed, my Verbal clearly plateaued ~35. I also took the GMATPREP 2 around October to measure where I was. I scored a 670 (Q45, V37). I was happy with the improvement in Verbal.
I got busy with work till around October 2019, and slacked around till about Jan 2020 (New Year New Me lol). In Jan after being pestered by my parents and light office work, I set myself to take the test by March. I skimmed through the MGMAT SC again, and began doing questions on GC. I also purchased the Veritas tests (7 for $30). Here are my Veritas results :
Veritas 1 : 650 (Q45, V36)
Veritas 2 : 680 (Q46, V38)
Veritas 3 : 690 (Q49, V36)
Veritas 4 : 700 (Q49, V37)
Veritas 5 : 700 (Q47, V39)
Veritas 6 : 710 (Q46, V41)
Veritas 7 : 690 (Q46, V39)
I was very content on seeing my Verbal in the high 30s, and this made me confident. I was nowhere near my ideal score, but somehow I felt I could just wing it in the actual GMAT and achieve a solid score. I set my date for late Feb 2020. I took the GMATPREP 3 leading into the test date. I scored a 700 (Q49, V37).
Test Day 1 (Feb 2020)
I somehow convinced myself that by some stroke of luck I would be able to outperform all my mocks. I booked a time slot at 2pm. Arrived about an hour early and tried to de-stress. I ended up striking a conversation with another test taker while waiting, just to get my mind off the test. Thank you stranger for not being weirded out by me. I selected my usual sequence Q/V/IR/AWA.
I froze on the first Quant section. It was a simple looking algebra problem, but I just could not get through it and I must've easily spent 4 minutes on it. Not the best way to start the test. I somehow powered my way through the test, but deep inside knew that the damage was done. Took the 8 minute break, tried to dislodge my thoughts on Quant and began getting in the Verbal zone.
Verbal was a massacre. I had no idea what I was doing. First off, during practice I used to create a ABCDE grid and mark off incorrect choices, however the laminated paper at the center had these tiny boxes which made my grid confusing. This was all very foreign. Secondly, even though I had read through the CR Bible, and had an idea about Pre-Thinking, I had no question specific approach. I relied primarily on POE, which can be deadly when you eliminate a choice prematurely. As for RC, I had no plan at all. I simply read/skimmed through the passage and answered questions.
During IR and AWA (which I had not prepared for before, but scored a 6 in IR and 5.5 in AWA), I knew I had screwed up and began thinking about retaking the test. After I pressed submit on the AWA, 690 flashed. I was honestly a little surprised (in a good way), I had expected a much lower score. The breakup was Q48, V35. I called my parents on my way home, they were happy with my score, but I knew it was not going to take me anywhere.
I purchased the ESR, and found that I fought valiantly in Quant, the question difficulty was a steep curve going from Medium to the almost the upper edge of High. My Verbal was pretty consistent with my mocks. I scored around the 75th percentile for all 3 sub sections. I wasn't particularly weak or strong in either sub-section.
Second attempt : Apr 2020 - Jan 2021
Soon after my first attempt, I got put on a project and I set aside my GMAT aspirations. I was visiting my grandparents in Northern India for Holi, but due to the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown my trip got extended from a 4 day long weekend to an unforgettable 8 months with grandparents. I truly enjoyed the time as I got to spend a lot of time with my grandparents and cousins, it was priceless. However, this also meant that I did not have my passport on me and hence could not take the GMAT in the fall of 2020 as I had envisioned.
Once work became more manageable, I started doing SC questions on GC every day. However, I wasn't doing these randomly this time. I filtered out the SC questions by offical sources (OG, GMATPREP, GMAC Papet Test, GMAT Advanced, Verbal OG, etc.) and created a bookmark. Each day after work I would religiously do any new questions that would come up. I did this pretty much every day from June to December. The efforts paid and my accuracy in SC improved significantly. I was a lot more confident. I read through the MGMAT SC once more (this was my third time), and I was done. I just practiced my way to a higher score. During this pandemic, I also began reading for fun. I feel this helped me later in Verbal.
In September, I made a similar GC bookmark for CR and began doing questions daily. I ended up having a bookmark each for SC, CR, RC, PS, and DS. All I did for verbal was this practice. For Quant, I began taking the GC Quant tests when they became available on holidays. By simply doing these tests I was able to go from a Q44 to Q49/50s and even a Q51! I used to do atleast 3 Quant tests per day when they were made available. By the end of it I only had 3 Quant tests left. Though I did sense that GC Quant tests got easier at the end as the question pool for tough questions diminished.
I bid a tearful goodbye to my family in Northern India and came back home in December 2020. Early in December, I had a free one on one with Punit Joshi from Math Revolution. The session was incredible. In under 30 mins he set out a topic wise strategy for me, which consisted of doing 10-15 600-700 level questions per topic (I would split them 9 PS, and 6 DS), then read the theory (I referred to the GC Quant Book, and made a formula sheet), and then after a few hours doing 10 700 level questions of that topic (I would split them 6 PS, and 4 DS). This made me a lot more confident with the Quant. In the meantime I continued with my ritual of daily Verbal questions from Official Sources on GC.
In early Jan 2021, I wanted to assess myself, and I came across the e-GMAT Sigma X mock. I took that test and scored a 710 (Q46, V40). I could not care less about the Quant, but I was very happy on seeing that 90th percentile in Verbal. Scored a 50 in SC (99th percentile), 28 in CR (49th percentile), and 39 in RC (83rd percentile). All those SC questions had paid off. As luck would have it, e-GMAT was offering Strategy Consultation calls the following week. I quickly signed up with one for Anshul. Anshul went through my Sigma X mock and my ESR as well. He rightfully identified my issues in CR. Up till now, I was weary of taking outside help, and did not want to spend money on a test prep company. I had had a bad experience with a test prep company during my SAT days. At the same time I had seen so many videos of e-GMAT candidates rave about the platform. I ended up purchasing the Verbal course.
I instantly fell in love with the "Make a Plan" feature wherein you got to put in your current and target scores and your timing constraints, and the feature created a calendar for you along with milestones for score improvements. My plan showed that after a few weeks I could see myself in the 40s for Verbal, and that boosted my spirits tremendously. I began my e-GMAT preparation by going through the complete CR course, attempting all concept and application quizzes. During the same time DJ from e-GMAT reached out and we had a brief chat where we spoke about my earlier prep and SIGMA-X mock. He sent me a detailed plan soon after the call. I followed that plan by completing the CR course, taking the cementing quizzes, followed by SC cementing quizzes, and finally test readiness for SC and CR. Once I was done with RC, I reached out to him again, and he pointed out that I was taking too much time on CR. So I began working on my timing for CR.
I completed the course in late January and began taking Sigma X tests every 3-4 days. Strategically reviewing the tests. These were my scores :
SIGMA X 2 (1/24) : 700 (Q48, V37 : SC36, CR41, RC34)
SIGMA X 3 (1/28) : 730 (Q49, V40 : SC40, CR37, RC43)
SIGMA X 4 (1/31) : 700 (Q49, V36 : SC37, CR37, RC34)
SIGMA X 5 (2/04) : 720 (Q46, V42 : SC42, CR37, RC48)
The fourth SIGMA X mock was a blow. I was nauseated by seeing those consistent 30s across the Verbal sub-section. I booked my test date after the fifth SIGMA X mock.
I focused my last two weeks on doing Medium and Hard questions on Scholaranium. By the end of it I had no more Medium or Hard questions left in RC and CR. I split my time spent on CR:SC:RC:Quant as 3:1:1:2. I also began viewing Ron Purewal videos for CR, the videos were great. I really liked his concept of personalizing the argument, and not simply segregating CR questions by question type. In particular he spoke about breaking the CR question prompt down in your words to be absolutely clear on what the question asks. I reached out to DJ during my last week and he sent me a detailed plan, which was similar to what I already was doing. I took my GMATPREP 4 two days before the D-Day and scored a 760 (Q50, V42). This was the score I had my eyes set for, and I was on cloud nine. I spent the last day doing very little, I studied a bit, but spent most of my time watching cute dog videos on YouTube
Test Day 2 (Feb 2021)
We meet again after a year. My appointment this time was at 11 am. I had adapted a early to bed early to rise lifestyle over the past few months. This was mainly to squeeze in a lift session in the morning before work and I began to enjoy the quiet cool mornings.
As DJ has recommended, I had selected some warm up questions the night before which I attempted in the morning. I got them all right, and this lifted my spirits. I performed my morning routine, went for a walk and made myself a nice breakfast. I got in cab and arrived at the Test Center at 10am, a full hour in advance. I walked around the business park and finally sat down at a Starbucks and began listening to music. Around 10.30am I went to the Test Center suite. Unlike earlier, there was no one in lobby area. I recited a prayer. I then rang the bell to the suite and was led in. I kept cool and struck up a conversation with Test Center folks (I don't know what it is with me and small talk in nervous conditions). I started my test 10 minutes before 11am.
I used this time management strategy for the Quant section : https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... nt-part-3/
The first question appeared, and it was a dense word problem. I froze again, but this time I took a deep breath and got myself to solve the question. It took me 3-4 minutes, but I got the question right and it set me towards a good path. Quant overall was alright, nothing extraordinary. Mostly tough questions. I was pressed against time around Q20, and guessed a couple of questions. I was not super happy with Quant, but during the break I told myself that I could redeem myself in Verbal.
Verbal was again a blur, the SC was manageable but CR was dense with long paragraphs and RC had many tempting answer choices. Managed my time terribly and had less than 10 minutes for the last 10 questions. I was angry at myself during the break after Verbal. I sensed a repeat of my earlier attempt, and began thinking about retaking the test. IR was ok. I used chineseburned template for AWA. I finally pressed submit on the AWA and the score flashed.
I saw the 7 first (I was happy). I struggled to see the number after it, I got closer to the screen and saw the 5. I had smiling ear to ear. I could not believe it. 750 (Q49, V42) 98th percentile. Raised my hand, and the accepted the score. I was smiling all the way till I left the center.
Got out and called my father : "Dad I've done it!"
Tips and tricks
Quant : If you come from a quantitative background you should be aiming for at least a 49. Getting to a Q49/50 is all about avoiding silly mistakes.
Verbal SC : Understand the key areas such as parallelism, modifiers, verbs, etc., and apply them. Practice makes you perfect. Meaning helps as well.
Verbal RC : READ THE PASSAGE. Yes it sucks out your precious time, but you end up spending less than a minute on following questions if you've read the passage well.
Verbal CR : Okay so yes Pre-Thinking is great, but its not for everyone. I did not rely entirely on it. Personalize the questions. Think about it like your friend or enemy is making a argument and you need to strengthen it, break it, or evaluate it. Your plan A should be to just read the argument, understand it and solve it. Plan B is following a question specific strategy.Focus on the conclusion AND THE QUESTION STEM. Understand what the question really wants. And almost never eliminate an answer for Out of Scope/ Irrelevant - that's just lazy.
If you find yourself disappointing or in a tough phase, don't worry. Think of this as an inflection point. You will come out of this stronger than ever. Progress is not linear.
Thank you GMATCLUB (Brunnel, bb, Souvik, and all the members), e-GMAT (DJ and Anshul), and Math Revolution (Punit)
12 Feb 2021, 10:52
Kudos
Bookmarks
lafsg30
Congratulations on achieving an amazing 750. Hard work always pays off. Thanks for writing a detailed debrief. All the best for your applications.
Congratulations on achieving an amazing 750. Hard work always pays off. Thanks for writing a detailed debrief. All the best for your applications.
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