740 (Q47, V44, IR7, AWA 6.0) - 2 months preparation debrief

Contents
1. Background
2. Materials Used
3. Baseline tests
4. Two Months of Practice Tests
5. Test Day
6. Tips for Success
6.1 Material Reviews
6.2 Section Tips
6.3 General Tips

I want to say Thank you to all members of the GMAT club – it is a priceless source of information, and though I wasn’t an active member, maybe my 50c will be useful for some people and serve as a token of appreciation for the efforts of others.

I used this template to write my debrief [url]670-to-760-q49-v44-ir-8-awa-6-0-no-stone-unturned-for-8-months-200051.html[/url] – thanks!

1. Background

I come from an engineering background, though I'm weak at quant and never saw myself working in this field. So after graduating i pursued a degree in economics and entered the financial field in 2010 by joining a well-known Russian investment company (asset management division). I found out that in finance as a whole your soft skills play a huge role and this suited me fine. I'm not a native speaker as you can see from my writing, but I've always loved watching movies and TV shows in English, as well as reading books. Learning foreign languages as a whole has been one of my hobbies and I consider it a good exercise for your brain and memory. I passed CFA Level 1 a few years back and intend to take L2 in 2017.
It was 3 years ago when I first thought about getting an MBA, but at the time I didn’t do anything about it except attending an annual MBA fair. So 3 months ago suddenly i made up my mind and this is where my GMAT journey started.


2. Materials Used

Official Guide (15,17)
OG Quant
Pocket GMAT app (iOS)

3. Baseline Tests
The 1st thing I did in mid-October was to find a free test on a B-school's website and do the micro-,mini-, and full tests one-by-one. I had no idea what Data Sufficiency was at a time, I didn't want to read all the recommended strategies and methods, but rather was anxious to begin practicing as soon as possible. The website test gave the score of something like 740-770 – it was clearly way off. I have no idea how they rate those tests, but the results are clearly incorrect. My result must have been around 600-640. This neither discouraged nor pleased me – I knew I needed at least 680 to enter a decent B-school and I thought I would be able to achieve it.


4. Two Months of Practice

GMAT Prep 1 - 640 (Nov 6th 2016)
GMAT Prep 2 – 730 (Dec 16 2016)
GMAT Prep 3 – 690 (Dec 18 2016)

First thing I did after the initial hectic and frantic search for all available materials (and there are lots of them!) was to tell myself that I have to limit the amount of books used to a minimum to be able to concentrate.
I was quite confident about my SC skills, however I learned quickly that I was far worse with SC than with CR and RC (judging by the number of correct answers)! I had to put quite a lot of stress on SC, but in the end, learning some tricks from free E-Gmat sessions and other sources, during the exam I felt quite confident about this part.
I started my prep with The Economist GMAT app as it was recommended by some girl describing her GMAT experience in a Youtube video. They give you a 7 days trial and though it may be a useful tool for someone who has sufficient time for their GMAT prep (to get a feel of what the exam is), it wasn’t that useful for me. I completed 11% of the course during the trial and it seemed too easy– but it may very well be that the difficult part comes later and I just didn’t have time to get to it. Anyway, if I had known, I wouldn’t have spent time on it.
At the same time while working on The Economist GMAT, I was doing GMAT Club forum problems (the free ones that are provided on the website as tests), then after going through them (they seemed very tough to me!) I switched to the general OG 17, then added OG15 and a separate OG Quant book.
For the Quant section in OG, I quickly discovered that a more optimal strategy would be not solving everything from the easiest to the hardest but rather going the other way – there is no point in solving easy problems that you can do in your head. On the other hand, it’s the medium and hard difficulty problems that matter. First I just noted the correct/incorrect answers in my notepad, then tried to mark them in the much recommended Error log. However, it didn’t work for me – it took too much time and I stopped maintaining an error log completely. I’m not saying it’s useless – it just didn’t work for me.
Then I discovered that the mobile GMAT club app has the option of timing and marking your OG answers – I upgraded to the premium version and it was the best way I ever spent 30 bucks. I started timing my OG answers with the built-in timer and solving a few of them at a time. Whenever I was doubtful and needed to see if I got the answer right, I would stop the timer and look up the correct solution.
I can’t reiterate enough how useful the GMAT Club mobile app was for me – just by using it on-the-go wherever you are (subway, café, when pouring tea in the kitchen, while walking across the office building), it allows you to save time by solving actual problems wherever you are. I actually used it while soaking in the tub every night! Of course, you can’t really do complex Quant on the go, but for CR and SC the app was invaluable help for me.
By studying whenever I had a free minute during the day I was able to free up a couple of hours every other night to just relax and devote time to my girlfriend (and also play some Battlefield 1). I couldn’t really study for 8 hours every weekend day because of simply being lazy (I usually studied for around 4 hours on Sat and Sun each), so I made a pact with myself that I would make up for it by not wasting time during the lunch break etc. Of course, if I had actually devoted more time to studying I feel I would have been able to improve my final score by another 20-30 points.
The bad decision I made was doing practice tests too late in the game – i did 2 tests within one last week. If I had to take the test once again, I would do the mock tests regularly – not too early but certainly not the last week, so that I could observe my progress and focus on the weak areas.
While doing all the above, I attended free online sessions by E-GMAT, they seemed very useful to me. I especially remember the Inequalities webinar, that hurt my self-confidence regarding this section of the Quants. If you have enough time, I really recommend these free webinars.
Other free web videos I used were ones by Veritas prep, which I thought were incredibly valuable – I watched the CR webinars, as well as general tips videos.
Finally, I didn’t prepare for IR at all – I mean separately from practice tests. I really bombed it the 1st time, but I reviewed each problem one-by-one and did much better the 2nd time. The problems are quite simple, so if you deal with charts at work, I wouldn’t spend too much time on this part.
For AWA, last two weeks of my prep, I wrote around 4 essays for practice. I wrote down all the standard phrases that everyone knows by now and made sure to memorize them to be able to swiftly outline my essay template during the exam.
5. Test Day
My test day was initially scheduled for Dec 6th 2016, but in the end of November I felt I lacked the preparation so I spent 50$ and moved it to Dec 20th. I didn’t follow the advice of not studying the day before and just relaxing because I didn’t feel much fatigue. However I decided not to do the whole practice test, but rather studying as usual for a few hours. I had a hearty dinner late at night and drank a glass of wine, went to bed but couldn’t sleep for a while (maybe partly from the anxiety although I didn’t feel really nervous). In the end I fell asleep around 3 am and woke up at 9 am (my test was scheduled for 12 pm). I went to the test center and before going in had a breakfast of oatmeal with berries and nuts at a cafe, had some tea (decided to skip my usual morning coffee to feel calmer), then went inside. The registration was smooth, the supervisors were totally professional and the whole process was organized really well. Each break they would give you a timer, setting it at 5 minutes instead of 8 so that you have enough time to finish whatever you are doing.
I was led to the desk as soon as one of 8 people occupying them was finished with his test. The AWA part went smoothly, I was able to identify 3 flaws 30 seconds after I saw the text. The IR section was harder, I did the usual (for me) mistake of spending too much time on the first 6 problems and then having to do the rest quickly and hoping I wouldn’t screw up.
Then came the break, I peeled a banana, poured some water and enjoyed a view on a congested road. The Quant section didn’t bring any surprises, but again I made the same mistake and didn’t have enough time to think over last 6 or so problems, so I had to practically guess them.
The Verbal section was much easier for me as always, even though I actually had to think harder and make more difficult decisions compared to Quant. Anyway, I managed to solve everything in time, even having over 3 minutes to deal with the last SC problem.
I was really worried as I didn’t feel I did too well (considering I had to guess a few problems during Quant). Then I saw the 740 (Q47, V44, IR7) in the end and shouted a war cry. I got my 6.0 AWA score a couple of weeks afterwards.

6. Tips for success
6.1 Material Reviews
OG - A must have. Better to solve difficult problems and not waste time on easy ones.
OG Quant and Verbal – Another must have. Gives a good approximation of the real test, especially if you time the problems to get used to this main constraint.
Pocket GMAT app (iOS) – For me it was on par with OG materials. Incredibly useful and though I’m all for free stuff, this app is WORTH the money. The best thing about this app is that you can actually practice whenever you are.
GMAT Prep w/ Question Pack 1 and Exam Pack 1 – If you are really efficient, you can just get the 2 free tests and do them closer to the end of your prep. It’s a must for everyone – turn off all your comms and simulate a real exam with these tests. I bought a 2nd pack of tests and though I only did one of them, I don’t feel sorry for the money spent.

6.2 Section Tips

AWA – you can find a free collection of essays on the GMAT club and elsewhere. The first thing you should do is to memorize the much appraised ChineseBurned’s template and practice at least 3 essays just to remember all the phrases/sentences used. Don’t spend much time on this part of GMAT unless you are really uncomfortable with writing in English and you feel you may get a below average score.

IR – I wouldn’t put much accent on this part. Do a practice test and dissect every problem you solved incorrectly and learn why. If you are short on time, don’t waste it on other sources.

PS – To put it shortly, try solving problems that are more difficult than your level of comfort. Time them from the beginning, except for really difficult ones, that may take you as long as 30 mins to solve.

DS – I didn’t use any specific strategy recommended by the providers (however I got some good tips from Veritas). As soon as I started solving, I tried to understand what the authors want from me and how they want to screw me. Remember, you don’t have to actually solve the problem – in many cases you can see the catch (if any) and pick the right answer quickly and without solving any equations. Another good thing about DS is that you can make an educated guess with 50% of success if you’re short on time. The OG guide gives you full solutions to all DS problems without giving you tips and useful shortcuts, this is definitely not the way you should go. You should make a habit of noting all the assumptions given (e.g. People = Integer), or vice versa, when you don’t assume you have an integer unless it’s explicitly stated. Veritas Prep has good (and free) videos on this.

SC – This part really depends on your initial command of English. If you feel more or less confident, you should read about parallelism and a few other basic rules you absolutely have to know. Otherwise you should attend webinars and maybe purchase some courses – after watching a few webinars by E-gmat I am sure they are worth it. I did most of my SC learning from the GMAT club app while soaking in a hot tub. This section can give you quick and easy points, so I wouldn’t underestimate its importance. Learn to solve each SC problem in under 1 minute.

CR - I started with the “hardest CR questions” presented on GMAT club, so I had some initial shock but after that I practiced hundreds of problems it was not that scary. Again, no particular strategy here – I just did a lot of practice with OG & GMAT club app and I made sure to get back to each problem I solved incorrectly and find out if I understood it and could solve it correctly and explain why it. I watched a few Veritas Prep videos – they are really useful.

RC – In the end I would recommend to stick to the strategy of outlining the main idea of the passage (in 15 words or so) in the beginning, so that you can keep it in your mind and not be perplexed with its length and complexity. The OG guide was particularly useful for me here.


6.3 General Tips
GMAT does not require you to be a really smart person. If you devote enough time to it, you can get a high score. It’s important to understand it and believe in yourself. It may sound beat, but it’s really so.
Motivation – I would say, DO NOT spend too much time on the preparation. I couldn’t imagine studying for it for a year. A good idea would be to set an exam date and pay for it in the very beginning. Even if you don’t feel prepared (like in my case), you can always change the date. Be in the loop – read success stories, read the forum - not only the problem explanations, but also the general discussion.
Study every day. Even if you just have 20 minutes before going to bed and you are just dying after a 12 hour day at work, spend them on solving problems. Listen you Youtube videos while walking in the street / driving / relaxing.
Focus on your weak areas and practice difficult questions in your strong ones.
Do GMAT prep tests - not the last week before your exam.
Use your time effectively doing the practice/real exam. Don’t be like me – have enough time to think over each problem, even if you have to guess it in the end.
Get enough sleep before the exam, don’t be nervous – you can always retake it the following month. Be sure to stay healthy and do physical activities to keep your body and brain in shape.