Hello everyone, I'm 22 years old and I took the GMAT today. My plan had always been to get into a job after college though the placement cell but there were no interesting offers. I have done my undergrad in commerce and I have always been pretty bad at math.
I decided to take the GMAT so it'd open up my options. I could either use it in 3-4 years for an MBA or in a year for a post grad program that would not require work experience. I knew it wasn't going to be a piece of cake, but I never expected it to be this challenging, demoralizing, uplifting or enthralling.
I'm from New Delhi, India. I took classes at Jamboree for 6 weeks then have been preparing myself since then. I’d say that I have been devoting about 4 hours a day since 1st August 2016. I have not been working in a job during this period.
Study materials -
Official Guide 17
Jamboree Study Materials
A host of random questions from GMATCLUB
I’ve taken about 10 mock tests and reviewed them thoroughly
My mock scores are as follows - 1st Sept 2106, ETS –1 - 600 (Q43 V30)
15th Sept 2016, ETS -1 retake – 710 (Q49 V38)
4th October Kaplan free mock - 650 (Q46 V33)
10th October Veritas 1 – 650 (Q45 V35)
13th October Veritas 2 – 650 (Q45 V34)
22nd October Veritas 3 – 650 (Q47 V 33)
3rd November Veritas 4 – 680 (Q47 V36)
7th November Veritas 5 – 630 (Q43 V32)
12th November GMATprep1 – 740 (Q49 V41) I had seen about 5 questions in quant before so that score may be a bit inflated.
16th November GMATprep 2 – 700 (Q48 V38)
What really changed in prep1 and prep2 was that I wasn’t making careless mistakes in Quant and was getting much better accuracy in RC. Also, I felt the scoring was more lenient than in Veritas.
However, 20th November GMAT first attempt – 630 (Q42, V35)
The actual exam experienceAWAI got a pretty straightforward AWA. I was nervy while starting it but I grew in confidence as its flaws became obvious.
IRI always skip the multi source reasoning questions in IR and those were my first 3 questions. I skipped them all but was confident that I got at least 6 right out of the 9 I attempted. My IR Score is 5.
QuantHere is where I really messed up. The first two questions were PS and they really threw me. One was on mixtures and weights and the other a convoluted median problem I could not fathom. I don't think I saw a DS question until the 6th Question. I didn't think I was doing too badly until I saw my 35th question asking me to calculate the area of a park by giving me all its dimensions. Such an easy question towards the end probably meant I had blown it. Number properties was the most commonly tested topic and I saw a fair few exponents questions and word problems. I didn't get even one work rate/speed,distance time problem.
Apart from 2-3 questions though, nothing really stumped me. Yes, I may have gotten many wrong but that's more down to my mistakes rather than the GMAT being exceptionally hard.
VerbalThe SC questions were quite easy. I was always confident in SC anyway. CR mainly had strengthen and complete the passage questions. I got only one assumption question and no boldface or inference ones. I knew I could have done better in CR.
Out of the 4 RCs, only one was 4 paragraphs long. The others were short. I struggled in RC the most.
My aim was to get at least 38 in Verbal and I would say the question structures were like the ones in Prep1 and Prep2. The content of each question is different though and this is why this section can never be taken for granted.
I’ve attached my ESR for you all to have a look.
What to do now?I feel quite burned out, I am thinking of taking GMATPrep3 and GMATPrep4 and then retaking the GMAT. I know a score of 630 isn’t reflective of my ability. On a good day, I can achieve 680+. Does this sound like a fine plan?
I can feel my will power dwindling fast. I am quite confounded after the 110 point drop in my scores from Prep1 to the actual exam.
If I have any tips to give -
1. In the actual exam, don't abandon the methods you've always been using!
2. In verbal, SC is probably the one that is easiest to master. By easiest I mean, there is a definite approach to mastering SC! Just learn the rules and keep applying them! If you're good at SC, you can get done with it quickly and leave a comfortable amount of time for CR and RC.
3. Don't study for too long! My biggest drawback maybe was not having a target date. As I've said, I'm really burned out, I've spent too much time. Apart from taking and reviewing mocks, I'm not being able to study. Set a target and set a routine you'll religiously follow!
4. If you know your concepts, nothing can stop you from achieving your score! Though I didn't do nearly as well as I wanted to, I can say that the GMAT questions won't be alien. Just concentrate and kill it!