A Journey of 2.75 years, and over 6 Attempts at GMAT - from 600 to 760

A brief background: Indian Male, IITian, background in financial services (5years WE), Analyst in Risk Management and Product manager in Fintech. I couldn't find many people from my function who are doing an MBA, so I knew that I needed to excel in GMAT (730+) to stand out. I knew that I wanted to do an MBA although there were some doubts in whether I should go for MS in Econ or MS in Finance. I decided that MBA is more practical, and would augment/improve my current skills with interpersonal skills and leadership skills. It would also be a catalyst to my entry in the desired career.

I gave my first gmat mock in October, 2016, and scored 680. That gave me a lot of confidence, since my target score was (720+) and I knew I had time. I decided to join a local GMAT classroom based tutoring crash course on verbal in Mumbai, the first one that came on my google search. I wanted a classroom experience to have a more engaging learning. Oh and I was so wrong!!! There were only 10 people in my class, but the syllabus was left incomplete! The tutor completely ignored intended meaning in SC, good RC practice and how to read a passage, and structure of CR. The practice problems were good, but of 740 level max. Not to mention my Verbal was very weak and Quant was strong (Engineer duhh!). My mocks were around 660 because I felt I was incorrectly trained, and I did not cover the entire breadth of syllabus of the GMAT.

My first GMAT exam was on 30th December, 2016, in which I scored a shockingly abysmal 600. I was depressed, and although I did spend new years eve because friends were calling, I knew I needed a second life.
In 2017 I moved from being a product manager to risk manager, that was good for my self esteem. However, risk manager is not as exciting as some client facing roles, and I was still motivated to apply for an MBA. I was simultaneously studying for GMAT on my own, answering questions on gmatclub, and learning on my new job. I also picked up guitar along the way!
Alright! Its 2018 and now the real GMAT struggle starts, till now I was just practicing. Here is a list of my attempts:
December,2016 - 600 - No structure in learning or studying. I followed too many different ways of solving problems.
March, 2018 - 690 - Studied for 10 continuous days for almost 13 hours a day. Took 5 days leave. My parents were stunned by the way I used to get up, lock myself and study. Realized RC was the weakest. Bought the ESR, and saw that I scored 17 in RC! thats about 30th percentile. Even then, I was happy, I didnt muddle around 600 atleast! Till now I had already completed almost 1500 questions for verbal; I was reasonably confident in quant.
August, 2018 - 660 (cancelled) - New venue was already uncomfortable, and didn't like the system and the center. It was substandard. Stick to the Goregaon's Pearson Testing center. This score still gave me confidence that my base score was 660, and not the 600 that I got. The 600 was just a blemish.
November, 2018 - 690 - Studied somewhat more, again too multiple days leave but didnt change my source material or strategy of exam taking. Verbal was still weak, hovering around 33-34. By this time around I had already exhausted all the resources many times. RC was the weakest, with scores about 17-22 (less than 50 percentile). I knew my reading was poor, and I had to do something for it. I had taken the trial version of e-gmat but I found it didnt help me much. The gmatclub posts by e-gmat were helpful though to understand the basics of SC.
August, 2019 - 690 (cancelled) - Again took a long leave to study. This time went back to the basics. Watched Thursday's with Ron (each video multiple times), read and completed Powerscore CR bible, watched Manhattan videos on RC on youtube, did about 2000 questions on gmatclub (all sources), and focused on the GMATPREP questions pdf available on gmatclub. I also bought Veritas Prep Tests this time. They are more closely related to the actual exam. I got 730 on the first mock, which helped my self-esteem. On the day of the exam, I had forgotten to carry my passport. One of my aunts who stayed near my house actually came rushing to the exam center to give me my passport, and I entered the center at exactly 15 minutes after the time the exam starts. I was sweating and mentally unprepared. Another mistake I did was take verbal first in that state. I knew I had to give another attempt after that.
September, 2019 - 760 - Studied only for 22 days, while working. I was working till 12 am on the Friday just before my exam. Each day was planned with questions only on my weak sections (RC and SC). Did all, I mean all, RC and SC official guide questions on gmatclub. Cross checked the explanation on Manhattanprep forum first, and not the gmatclub explanations! Made some detailed notes of even things that are not discussed in the exam from the Manhattan forum. I followed a strategy of crossing out all options that were wrong on the exam notepad. Verbal is about rejecting options, whereas Quant is about finding the right option. Just not rejecting the wrong option, but rejecting it for the right reasons is extremely important. Redundancy is a real problem in SC, and reading the passage by removing the fluff is important. I think the real difference was following the Manhattan strategy for SC and RC, not just the guides, but videos on youtube and the Manhattan forum. After the exam, it was the peak of my happiness, finally my gmat journey had come to an end with flying results! I couldn't stop smiling while I left the testing center. Gave a treat of Jameson to my friends .

Key Takeaways:
1. Keep persevering everyone, and always stick to try to find the right explanation! There are several explanations given by many people, but the right explanation I have generally found is by a few members on gmatclub, and the manhattanprep tutors. Sources that help are: Manhattanforum explanations for SC, youtube videos for RC by Manhattan, New York times articles, Thursdays with Ron, Manhattan SC guide for basics of SC, Powerscore CR bible for basics of CR, GMAT Exam pack 3-6, and Veritas Prep Mock tests. For questions I would suggest stick to official guide questions - from OG 2010 to OG 2020 - these should be sufficient, and GMAT prep Exam questions.
Secondary sources: Aristotle SC book, Aristotle RC collection, Verita's CR questions, Manhattan SC questions, Kaplan's GMAT prep book for the basics, e-gmat course (Take the trial package first and see!).

2. Know the syllabus through gmatclub, and then join any tutors/classes,if that's what you prefer. Ask the tutors what they will teach. Although in my experience, no classroom GMAT tutors are good enough to learn verbal. Its much better to learn it yourself. I wish I had spent the money on GMAT books than on tutors.

3. Know the importance of the exam. Its not just an exam, but it will help you in your MBA (and career). SC helps to write correct, non-redundant reports, RC helps you read reports logically and quickly, and CR helps you to build arguments. Quant is important for courses in finance and generally anywhere you go, but most schools have a prep course before the start of the program. So dont dishearten if your quant score is not excellent. Another reason why I think lower quant score could result in not getting selected.

4. If you are consistently getting a low score in one particular section, check your strategy. I never scored higher than 27 in RC before my last attempt. I did questions from every possible source (MGMAT, Veritas, Princeton etc) , a mistake if you ask me. Stick with official gmat source always! Practice those RCs and see what did you miss in your preliminary readings that caused you to mark a wrong answer. There is no strategy I feel to RC. There is a strategy to reading a passage though. It could be a word you missed, or a misinterpretation of a sentence. I realized this in my last attempt that I wasnt focusing on the adjectives for detail questions, and that did improve my score somewhat I think. Similarly, for SC dont blindly follow explanations by anyone, I would suggest just stick with Manhattan Prep forum wherever you can, and reject only on the basis of the explanations of those tutors. Some aphorisms are: Conciseness is not really an issue, redundancy is. Parallelism is a beauty contest, not a syntactic one. Intended meaning should be first aspect you should look for in a sentence.

5. Don't be hungry in the test center . Carry protein bars, and what you desire. Also don't drink too much water before your exam and always remember to carry your passport. I believe in making notes, either on paper, or on word. The notes I made included questions that I had done wrong, and what I learned from those questions. These notes were designed for me; similarly, your notes should be designed for you. Do not underestimate the exam, that is the biggest mistake we can make.

Alas, I had completed my GMAT journey, and I will be starting my school this fall. I am really excited about my studies, and hopeful for a bright career ahead. I struggled a lot just by giving this beast of an exam, but I finally ended up realizing how wonderful it is in the things it can teach us. Keep trying for it everyone, and don't give up. The fruits it bears are amazing. Thank you all for reading and Good Luck!!!
Feel free to reach out to me if you want to ask anything.

Thank you all for reading till here.

Kind Regards and Best of luck all of you!