A detailed Debrief Of my GMAT from Real 360 to Real 700

Hi all,

I am posting my detailed debrief,to give an idea of how actually all this happened.

As indicated by GMAT pill,yes i did a hard 4 month preparation as every one.I did study Kaplan,Mahattan,OG and all GMAT books that were available in market.Towards the end i didnt have any books left to do questions on.

On Dec 14th when i gave my first gmat i found many questions to be simple from the first,i didnt get any doubt,as i had prepared more vigorously i thought these are simple to me now(At that time).

During my first preparation of GMAT i had score pretty good in all practice test i took,
GMat prep test-700,680 (include 2 tests)
Gmat power prep- 700,710(include 2 tests).
Kaplan Free test-680.
Princeton Review-700

But on the day of my exam i was destined to see such scores(one way i feel good for that instance now).

After getting such a horrible score i was not able to touch GMAT for next 3-4 days,then later i decided to come out of my shell and post in GMAT club and from where i got help from Sanatanu76 and GMATLa,Vailad.

Moreover i met with accident on Dec 15th and got my left wrist fractured(my days were bad)I was told not to strain much and pressure,but this has got nothing to do with my second preparation,anyways its just left wrist.I didnt want to put myself into sympathy phase and postpone things.So decided to take my next GMAT Asap.

SECOND GMAT PREPARATION

Initially when i started my Second Preparation,i had hatred towards GMAT,cos i really worked very hard for my first test.

Days Past and it was already jan 25,its hard time i start my second preparation(cos after preparing for 4 months i got only 360,i have to try more hard to get at least 600)of course 600-650 sounded a huge score for me.

I started from base,fundamentals.I want to give up my thoughts that i have don everything already so i know the basic,cos 360 is not good.NOT AT ALL.That means i have to understand more about GMAT.

As my verbal score in first test was too low,i started with verbal first.

RC-the worst performance of my first GMAT.I read GMATClub options on how to read RC,10 Tips to GMAT,then many had mentioned GMAT Pill is good for RC.

I first learned how to attempt RC from GMAT pill(didnt sign up for full course,just went through the free video that they have for RC)having that strategy,did 8 passage from OG daily,every day before i start doing RC i will first listen to GMAT Pill video,no shame in reading some thing you really like(i liked their explanation on how to proceed RC).
After a week of practice in RC i started to have stop watch to see how fast i do.

Mean while after 8passage in the morning,i read Manhattan SC Strategy for Concepts in SC and did 30 SC from GMAT Club,also, CR BIBLE and did 20 CR from gmat club question.

All this has to be done with breaks in between,as i was not a full time worker,it was simple for me to schedule my time and preparation.

I continued doing this till i finish all OG questions of CR,RC and SC.

I had no other book choice cos i had done everything already for my first GMAT.I had those notes in which i practiced for 1st GMAT and went through each wen i get time.

So on the whole books used,

Manhattan Strategy
OG 10,11,12
Critical Reasoning Bible
Brutal(GMAT CLUB)
Whiplash(GMAT CLUB)
Platinum GMAT

Quans Section

I am an Indian from Computer Science background,so i had no problem with doing Quans,but managing time.Especially my problem was,if i manage time well i will get max wrong in DS,else i would get all correct if i leave time. a very peculiar problem

Maths i was strong in concept,in order to be strong in basic i read formula on daily basis and used manhattan strategy for DS basic.

After reading these two daily,i workout problem,as for verbal for the first three days worked out problem without any time limit and slowly started to use stop watch.

Every question i do i analyzed my mistake,what i lack,what i have to improve,and time.I made a note of everything and every night before going to bed,i re-did all problem that i got wrong.By this way i improved.

Though i didnt get many wrong,as i had prepared well for first GMAT,i didnt want to take advantage of myself,be lethargic and do less for second GMAT.

BOOKS for Quants :

OG-10,11,12
GMAT CLUB questions
Manhattan Strategy
Platinum GMAT

ON THE TEST DAY:

As mentioned earlier i was free the day before exam,being my husbands bday we enjoyed.Slept well for the next day.I was in thought that i have given my best preparing,i am not bothered about how much i score but to give up my best in test.As santanu76 said,i was not worried about GMAT Scores.

AWA : It was a good essay and i wrote five paragraph,introduction,three supporting paragraph and a conclusion.
Quants : As i managed time in my preparation,i was quite simple,though questions were relatively tough this time more that my first GMAT.I was able to finish quants in time.After completing,i didnt want to think about it or analyze how i did! was it easy or tough etc.,all i want next is concentrate in verbal.
Verbal: RC was bit tough for me,as i am slow reader and CR and SC were O.K.

In the end,when i saw first "7" in the score i was very very very happy.At last i am paid for my hard work.

My advice to Friends here:

Be Confident,concentration,remain calm,Please don't let your heart come down and put your self into a complex situation.Every one has a strategy to study,find your's and plan accordingly.Analyze your mistake and over come those,do not repeat same mistake again.More importantly,be honest to yourself(santanu76 advised me,this words helped me a lot),do not think i know this and i don have to read this again,its waste of time.Even if you read as many times its not waste,it will help you.

Hope this Debrief will help you all.Thanks again for GMAT CLUB and GMAT PILL.

ALL THE BEST For future GMAT takers.I wish for your success.