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18 Sep 2021, 05:02
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Greetings to all GMAT Club Members!
After having been a spectator for many months now, reaping the benefits that this community confers, I am glad to have finally taken the real test. Though I believed somewhat during my preparation that I could get a great score, I ended up with a 740. I attribute this to the mistakes, some of them obvious and some of them unintentional, that I made during my preparations, and thought should list them out for GC Members who are starting out with the prep; Hopefully it will be helpful.
Some specifics about my preparation:
Duration: 9 months on and off, approximately 4.5 months
Source: Self-prep - OG 2019, GMAT Club Question Bank and Explanations, Manhattan SC, Powerscore CR Bible
GMAT Mode: Test Center
Proficiency prior to prep (self-assessed):
Quant – Above Average (75/100); Made tons of silly errors and assumptions, weak at visualizing certain aspects such as inequations, combinations, coordinate geometry
Verbal – Moderately above average (65/100); Not an avid reader, could understand most of material but had a hard time choosing between two good answers in CR and RC.
IR and AWA – Above Average (70/100)
Chronology of events during the prep: (refer to the end of the post, for what I think would be a better timeline)
1. OG 2019 + Verbal Review and Quant Review (modest accuracy rates – 80% for Quant and 70% for verbal)
2. Question banks on GMAT Club (GMAT Prep <BIGGEST MISTAKE>) for all sections except CR – I brushed up concepts for each section before I attempted questions pertaining to those sections.
3. Wanted a feel for IR so did IR Butler questions.
4. Thought I needed more work on SC and CR so went through Manhattan SC and Powerscore CR and then solved questions from CR butler and SC butler on Gmat Club. To even things out, I went ahead and did many questions from PS, DS and RC Butlers as well.
5. AWA Practice
6. Free Mock Tests - GMAT Prep 1 (770), Veritas Prep (730), Kaplan (720), Manhattan (720), GMAT Prep 2 (780), Jamboree (750), Experts Global (750)
7. After I took the Veritas Prep test, went through and solved their free question bank as well.
8. Booked test date
9. Went through OG and GMAT Prep questions again to review errors. Watched a few GMATNinja youtube videos.
10. Since I had already ruined GMAT Prep for myself, went ahead and did CR questions as well.
11. Reset and retook the GMAT Prep 2 to get into the test mindset (790)
12. Took the test and got way below what I had hoped for.
As you can see, my test prep was filled with unwise decisions and looking back it, I feel I should have done a lot less but in the right order. I realized the GMAT prep thing quite late into solving the question banks and the damage was already done.
Following are the other errors I believe test takers should avoid:
1. Use the material wisely: Since OG and GMAT Prep questions are a limited non-renewable resource, try these out only once you are confident of solving these questions. Even though I took the GMAT Prep tests a couple of months after solving the question banks, I could still recognize some of those questions. This definitely inflated my score and gave me a false sense of pride. For Quant, recommend going through the many question banks available on GC. For Verbal, I would highly recommend staying away from un-official questions. Perhaps try out the LSAT questions first. Whatever you do on GMAT Club, keep a close eye on the question tags and stay away from GMAT Prep questions.
2. Do not try to do EVERYTHING: The number of questions I solved during my prep was most definitely an overkill. I did approximately 6000 questions including everything. The problem that I have is that I get FOMO if I skip some question bank or a book if I feel it will give me a better understanding of the topic, especially if those materials come highly recommended. But, there is so much information available online that it is impossible and unnecessary to do every single thing. I probably shouldn’t have spent time on Manhattan SC or Powerscore CR Bible because, even though they were great reads and very useful, I feel they clouded my judgement somewhat by giving me a lot more to think about. If, however, you are weak in a topic then by all means go ahead and solve as many questions as you think will make you confident.
3. Understand early on if you need help: I personally am a stickler for self-study, but if you feel a course would help you get there, make that decision early on. In retrospect, I should have at least taken advice on how to structure my prep (Months later I saw a GMATNinja Video with exactly that advice). As for the prep courses, I can’t say which ones are the best but I felt from the quality of prep material (mock test/question bank) that Experts Global or Veritas Prep may be good. Perhaps try out free trials to gauge the quality of their material, which I also think is definitely a much more reliable indicator than reviews.
4. Take answer explanations with a pinch of salt: GMAT Club, being a forum, also has that little drawback where you can’t entirely trust the explanations unless they come from an expert. On questions where the OE is not provided, I felt the explanations were sometimes debatable or in many cases did not address the actual reasons why an answer was correct or incorrect. So, use your judgement in those cases. With that said, I found the OG explanations to be subpar in many cases, in which GMAT Club had a better take.
5. Ration your mock tests: Figure out how many tests you have available early on, including the free and paid ones, to plan out your mock test dates counting backwards from the test date. I took several full-length free mock tests and would rank them in the order of preference as follows. Apart from GMAT Prep 3 to 6, if you need more practice, then maybe try Experts Global or Veritas Prep.
a. GMAT Prep 1&2 (obviously, but alas have very little to offer in terms of analytics – they also marked some of my correct answers as incorrect!)
b. Experts Global (Good Questions and Analytics)
c. VeritasPrep (Good Questions)
d. Manhattan (I found Manhattan Quant insanely hard)
e. Kaplan (Not the best out there – use if you have exhausted others)
f. Jamboree (Based on gmat prep so nothing new to offer)
6. Read the fineprint: Take your time to read every question and prompt properly. Do not skim or be intimidated by the question while that clock is running. You may overshoot the time limit in the early stages but it will gradually improve. I had always timed myself from the beginning, which affected my accuracy level a bit. And, reading the fine print goes not only for questions during the prep but also for the material you have available. I only wish I had read the fineprint before solving GMAT prep questions (the question bank clearly stated don’t try these unless done with GMAT Prep 1&2, but I disregarded because I did not understand what GMAT prep was in the beginning (dumb, I know!)).
In conclusion, take the time in the beginning to think about how best you can use available resources before jumping in with both feet. Because there is a large amount of info, plan to not go much beyond official material.
If I had to do it all over again with a fresh mind, I would have used the following strategy:
1. Go through the OG instructions to check what the questions entail. Clarify concepts and fill gaps in knowledge before attempting questions. Watch introductory vids from GMATNinja.
2. Take the OG diagnostic test and assess areas for improvement.
3. Use resources to build up the weak areas (Anything except GMAT Prep or OG)
[a.] GMAT Club question banks (for quant)
[b.] LSAT verbal questions for RC and CR. (People who want to go the extra mile could read the Powerscore CR Bible before starting with the questions, I probably wouldn’t do it again)
[c.] Manhattan SC and SC Butler questions
[d.] IR Butler
[e.] Get some AWA practice
4. Once confident of skills, go ahead with OG. Either buy the books or use the GMAT Club question banks. Keep track of time, but do not be dictated by the clock.
5. Take Veritas Prep free mock and review
6. Review OG error log and mistakes
7. Take Experts Global free mock and review
8. Build up any remaining weak areas
9. Take free GMAT preps. If I had enough time before the test, could have purchased more tests. Some people say use one test before the prep and one after but I think otherwise.
10. Review whatever I learned during the prep.
11. Take the test.
Before I close, I would like to thank GMAT Club stalwarts – GMATNinja Bunuel VeritasKarishma and generis for their outstanding explanations. I know it is probably the millionth time someone would have credited you, but I can’t not express my gratitude. Also, thank you Sajjad1994 for the various question collections and butlers – it was of great help to me.
As for my results, I think I have a score that I could use for a couple of first round applications (for which the deadlines still remain) but I am strongly leaning towards retaking the test sometime before the second round to see if I can really achieve a 770+ and aim for a great college. Else I will defer my plan to next year. Problem is, since I have exhausted much of the official content, I don’t know how to improve. Anyway, if anyone had other questions, would be happy to answer!
After having been a spectator for many months now, reaping the benefits that this community confers, I am glad to have finally taken the real test. Though I believed somewhat during my preparation that I could get a great score, I ended up with a 740. I attribute this to the mistakes, some of them obvious and some of them unintentional, that I made during my preparations, and thought should list them out for GC Members who are starting out with the prep; Hopefully it will be helpful.
Some specifics about my preparation:
Duration: 9 months on and off, approximately 4.5 months
Source: Self-prep - OG 2019, GMAT Club Question Bank and Explanations, Manhattan SC, Powerscore CR Bible
GMAT Mode: Test Center
Proficiency prior to prep (self-assessed):
Quant – Above Average (75/100); Made tons of silly errors and assumptions, weak at visualizing certain aspects such as inequations, combinations, coordinate geometry
Verbal – Moderately above average (65/100); Not an avid reader, could understand most of material but had a hard time choosing between two good answers in CR and RC.
IR and AWA – Above Average (70/100)
Chronology of events during the prep: (refer to the end of the post, for what I think would be a better timeline)
1. OG 2019 + Verbal Review and Quant Review (modest accuracy rates – 80% for Quant and 70% for verbal)
2. Question banks on GMAT Club (GMAT Prep <BIGGEST MISTAKE>) for all sections except CR – I brushed up concepts for each section before I attempted questions pertaining to those sections.
3. Wanted a feel for IR so did IR Butler questions.
4. Thought I needed more work on SC and CR so went through Manhattan SC and Powerscore CR and then solved questions from CR butler and SC butler on Gmat Club. To even things out, I went ahead and did many questions from PS, DS and RC Butlers as well.
5. AWA Practice
6. Free Mock Tests - GMAT Prep 1 (770), Veritas Prep (730), Kaplan (720), Manhattan (720), GMAT Prep 2 (780), Jamboree (750), Experts Global (750)
7. After I took the Veritas Prep test, went through and solved their free question bank as well.
8. Booked test date
9. Went through OG and GMAT Prep questions again to review errors. Watched a few GMATNinja youtube videos.
10. Since I had already ruined GMAT Prep for myself, went ahead and did CR questions as well.
11. Reset and retook the GMAT Prep 2 to get into the test mindset (790)
12. Took the test and got way below what I had hoped for.
As you can see, my test prep was filled with unwise decisions and looking back it, I feel I should have done a lot less but in the right order. I realized the GMAT prep thing quite late into solving the question banks and the damage was already done.
Following are the other errors I believe test takers should avoid:
1. Use the material wisely: Since OG and GMAT Prep questions are a limited non-renewable resource, try these out only once you are confident of solving these questions. Even though I took the GMAT Prep tests a couple of months after solving the question banks, I could still recognize some of those questions. This definitely inflated my score and gave me a false sense of pride. For Quant, recommend going through the many question banks available on GC. For Verbal, I would highly recommend staying away from un-official questions. Perhaps try out the LSAT questions first. Whatever you do on GMAT Club, keep a close eye on the question tags and stay away from GMAT Prep questions.
2. Do not try to do EVERYTHING: The number of questions I solved during my prep was most definitely an overkill. I did approximately 6000 questions including everything. The problem that I have is that I get FOMO if I skip some question bank or a book if I feel it will give me a better understanding of the topic, especially if those materials come highly recommended. But, there is so much information available online that it is impossible and unnecessary to do every single thing. I probably shouldn’t have spent time on Manhattan SC or Powerscore CR Bible because, even though they were great reads and very useful, I feel they clouded my judgement somewhat by giving me a lot more to think about. If, however, you are weak in a topic then by all means go ahead and solve as many questions as you think will make you confident.
3. Understand early on if you need help: I personally am a stickler for self-study, but if you feel a course would help you get there, make that decision early on. In retrospect, I should have at least taken advice on how to structure my prep (Months later I saw a GMATNinja Video with exactly that advice). As for the prep courses, I can’t say which ones are the best but I felt from the quality of prep material (mock test/question bank) that Experts Global or Veritas Prep may be good. Perhaps try out free trials to gauge the quality of their material, which I also think is definitely a much more reliable indicator than reviews.
4. Take answer explanations with a pinch of salt: GMAT Club, being a forum, also has that little drawback where you can’t entirely trust the explanations unless they come from an expert. On questions where the OE is not provided, I felt the explanations were sometimes debatable or in many cases did not address the actual reasons why an answer was correct or incorrect. So, use your judgement in those cases. With that said, I found the OG explanations to be subpar in many cases, in which GMAT Club had a better take.
5. Ration your mock tests: Figure out how many tests you have available early on, including the free and paid ones, to plan out your mock test dates counting backwards from the test date. I took several full-length free mock tests and would rank them in the order of preference as follows. Apart from GMAT Prep 3 to 6, if you need more practice, then maybe try Experts Global or Veritas Prep.
a. GMAT Prep 1&2 (obviously, but alas have very little to offer in terms of analytics – they also marked some of my correct answers as incorrect!)
b. Experts Global (Good Questions and Analytics)
c. VeritasPrep (Good Questions)
d. Manhattan (I found Manhattan Quant insanely hard)
e. Kaplan (Not the best out there – use if you have exhausted others)
f. Jamboree (Based on gmat prep so nothing new to offer)
6. Read the fineprint: Take your time to read every question and prompt properly. Do not skim or be intimidated by the question while that clock is running. You may overshoot the time limit in the early stages but it will gradually improve. I had always timed myself from the beginning, which affected my accuracy level a bit. And, reading the fine print goes not only for questions during the prep but also for the material you have available. I only wish I had read the fineprint before solving GMAT prep questions (the question bank clearly stated don’t try these unless done with GMAT Prep 1&2, but I disregarded because I did not understand what GMAT prep was in the beginning (dumb, I know!)).
In conclusion, take the time in the beginning to think about how best you can use available resources before jumping in with both feet. Because there is a large amount of info, plan to not go much beyond official material.
If I had to do it all over again with a fresh mind, I would have used the following strategy:
1. Go through the OG instructions to check what the questions entail. Clarify concepts and fill gaps in knowledge before attempting questions. Watch introductory vids from GMATNinja.
2. Take the OG diagnostic test and assess areas for improvement.
3. Use resources to build up the weak areas (Anything except GMAT Prep or OG)
[a.] GMAT Club question banks (for quant)
[b.] LSAT verbal questions for RC and CR. (People who want to go the extra mile could read the Powerscore CR Bible before starting with the questions, I probably wouldn’t do it again)
[c.] Manhattan SC and SC Butler questions
[d.] IR Butler
[e.] Get some AWA practice
4. Once confident of skills, go ahead with OG. Either buy the books or use the GMAT Club question banks. Keep track of time, but do not be dictated by the clock.
5. Take Veritas Prep free mock and review
6. Review OG error log and mistakes
7. Take Experts Global free mock and review
8. Build up any remaining weak areas
9. Take free GMAT preps. If I had enough time before the test, could have purchased more tests. Some people say use one test before the prep and one after but I think otherwise.
10. Review whatever I learned during the prep.
11. Take the test.
Before I close, I would like to thank GMAT Club stalwarts – GMATNinja Bunuel VeritasKarishma and generis for their outstanding explanations. I know it is probably the millionth time someone would have credited you, but I can’t not express my gratitude. Also, thank you Sajjad1994 for the various question collections and butlers – it was of great help to me.
As for my results, I think I have a score that I could use for a couple of first round applications (for which the deadlines still remain) but I am strongly leaning towards retaking the test sometime before the second round to see if I can really achieve a 770+ and aim for a great college. Else I will defer my plan to next year. Problem is, since I have exhausted much of the official content, I don’t know how to improve. Anyway, if anyone had other questions, would be happy to answer!
19 Sep 2021, 06:31
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740 is still a stunning score, congrats. Would you say that the quant on the actual test was harder than what you'd normally encounter?
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19 Sep 2021, 09:34
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LamboWalker
Thank you!
I would say both Quant and Verbal on the actual test were on par with the level of questions on GMAT Prep. I felt stumped on 2 questions on Quant so I guessed on those, but I could finish the section before time. On verbal, I was running out of time after the 30th question so rushed through the rest.
