I'm a college senior from India, graduating with a degree in Engineering in April 2008.
I made the decision to apply this year in R1 pretty late - in end August. This gave me a little over a month to get done with the TOEFL, GMAT, essays etc. Was encouraged by Paul's comments.
I prepared almost exclusively for Verbal for the GMAT.
Took about a week off from college work to work on Verbal basics. Used Princeton Review Cracking the GMAT 2008 and
The Official Guide 11 (Accuracy: ~81%).
Then, took few mock GMATs:
Powerprep 1: 760 (Q51, V41)
Princeton Review 1: 750 (Q51, V43)
Powerprep 2: 760 (Q49, V44)
My initial target score was around 710-720. These scores gave me the confidence to gun for something higher. Of course, PowerPrep scores are bloated because of questions repeated from the
OG.
Somebody on this forum pointed out that GmatPrep might give me a better measure of where I stand.
GmatPrep 1: 770 (Q51, V42)
After this, I had to move away from GMAT prep for a few weeks because of the TOEFL and midterm exams at college. Also, had to speak to 3 recommenders.
Moved back to the GMAT in mid-September. For each Verbal section, I used Kaplan 800 (Accuracy: Ouch) followed by
The Official Guide Verbal Supplement (Accuracy: ~91%).
Also, did
OG 11 Math section. Did not want to take the GMAT without any Math prep.
This is where my scores began to dip!
Princeton Review 2: 730 (Q51, V41)
Princeton Review 3: 730 (Q51, V40)
Princeton Review 4: 720 (Q50, V40)
[Probably should have done GmatPrep 2 - instead]
With 2 days left, traveled to the state of Kerala for my exam.
Used the last day to relax (the train timings were unearthly!) - and read about the AWA section, and flip through Manhattan SC. Had a tough time getting to sleep the previous night!
Scored 770 (Q50, V45) -> Sept 27
Few thoughts:
1. The most useful advice I got? Princeton Review suggested spending the first 25 minutes (Verbal) on the first 13 questions. I used to complete each Section well before time - which didn't carry any extra credit!
Also, remember to read every option for every question! I found a great correlation between my mistakes and questions where I jumped at the first option I liked.
2. The books?
Happy with the books I used. Spent USD 95 on the whole set.
Found Princeton Review Cracking the GMAT 2008 fun to read - though it probably works best for an initial reading or for a target score of ~600.
The Official Guide (with the Verbal supplement) is the Bible alright!
Found Kaplan 800 fairly overrated (Of course, I used only the Verbal section)
3. The exam:
-Made fullest use of every scheduled break.
-Essays went off well.
-Thought Math went off pretty well - except for one "word" question I could not understand! Was disappointed with the Q50 in Math. Math is my strength!
-Began at a slow pace in Verbal. Somewhere in the middle, I was not sure if I'll be able to complete in time! Had to increase my speed for the middle 1/3rd of questions - and then finished in time! Did not get especially difficult questions - or 3 RCs back-to-back (the kind described on this forum as a sign of a good score!) Fortunately, the Verbal section went off much better than I expected! Q45.
In retrospect, I probably could have prepared better, but was broadly satisfied with my score.
Caveat: This is almost certainly not the best prep style - Please use what works best for you!
I used to frequently visit GmatClub.com for the
Share your GMAT Experience and
Ask Accepted.com sections. Thank you so much!