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Souravi99
Joined: 26 Nov 2021
Last visit: 16 Nov 2025
Posts: 47
Given Kudos: 324
Status:Applying for GMAT
Location: India
Concentration: General Management, Entrepreneurship
Schools: Yale '27 Columbia '27 Wharton '27
GMAT Focus 1: 685 Q83 V79 DI74 
GMAT 1: 690 Q58 V52
GPA: 7.5
WE:Engineering (Real Estate)
Products:
Schools: Yale '27 Columbia '27 Wharton '27
GMAT Focus 1: 685 Q83 V79 DI74
GMAT 1: 690 Q58 V52
Posts: 47
29 Sep 2024, 10:38
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GMAT FE Debrief: From 675 to 735 in 2 weeks.
Testing Experience
I’ve just returned from the test center after my second GMAT FE attempt, where I scored 735 (Q90 V87 DI82). Although the official report isn’t out yet, I’m excited to share my journey, the resources I used, and what made the biggest difference. I'll try to be as structured and concise as possible.
My journey:
It started in March this year. I was busy with work but could still spare about 6-10 hours every week. But, my efforts were not very consistent. I started with Quant at a very slow pace and picked up Verbal somewhere around mid-May. I had my vacations starting June end, and that is when I started putting real concentrated efforts. I initially gave the least importance to DI and most to quant, building concepts. I gave only official mocks, all of them. The first mock I gave was in mid-July, where I scored 695.
My mock scores:-
Mock 1 (attempt 1): 695
Mock 2 (attempt 1): 665
Mock 1 (attempt 2): 685
Mock 2 (attempt 2): 695
Then I purchased the remaining 4 mocks:-
Mock 3 (attempt 1): 705
Mock 4 (attempt 1): 685
Mock 6 (attempt 1): 735
Mock 5 (attempt 1): 695
I also gave the 2nd attempt for each of these paid mocks, with scores ranging (685-715).
Resources used:
I used a lot of resources, all free, except the official stuff. I used TTP trial for a couple of days. I'll list everything that helped me the most.
Quant:-
Ultimate GMAT Quantitative Preparation Guide: I cannot stress enough how useful it is. If one has time and patience, then this is all you need for building rock-solid quant concepts. The authors have dedicated so much effort into compiling not just theory and illustrations but also links to similar relevant questions.
Gmatclub Math Book PDF: Another free resource that is extremely useful in building core concepts. It is a subset of the Ultimate Prep Guide, so if you're considering the ultimate guide, you can skip this.
Gmatclub forums (with tags): Forums have a plethora of quant questions. Most of them are good. Some are really good. But few are pretty average. To get the best out of it, use tags from credible sources. Gmat Prep tag, not gmat prep (focus) has really good questions, that don't overlap with official mocks. I initially did all sorts of questions but I now realize I could have saved a lot of time. Or maybe doing lots of questions did help.
Gmatclub tests: If there's one reason I'd recommend gmatclub tests, then it is for quant. The questions really test your concepts. I wouldn't recommend the tests for verbal or DI though.
Official Guide: This is where I started. The questions are good to ease into your quant prep. I wouldn't solely rely on them.
TTP: I did not use TTP for my prep, but I've come across certain questions on groups and forums that were good quality. I've heard TTP is really good for those wanting to build from scratch.
Verbal:-
PowerScore CR Bible: I started my prep with this. It's really good for building up concepts.
Gmatninja YT Videos: Those were really helpful in building concepts and knowing the common mistakes people make.
TTP: I used TTP trial for a couple of days. I studied a few chapters of CR. I found the theory to be good. However, theory wasn't really what i wanted to build any further, so i decided to drop it.
Official Questions: I cannot stress enough on how important it is to practice only and only official questions. Yes, there are many really good non-official questions too. But why bother when there are more than enough official questions. Sources could be OG, gmatclub with tags and even mocks, and official LSAT questions. I did not do LSAT questions but one could consider them too.
Data Insights:-
This was the section I put the least effort into (comparatively).
OG: I purchased DI review online package and practiced questions from there as well as the OG. The questions in DI review were a bit more difficult than the actual exam but they do help in some or the other way, or so I guess.
Gmatninja YT Videos: Extremely good selection of questions and really good explanation.
Gmatclub: I practiced only old official mock questions by using gmat prep tag (again, not gmat prep (focus) as those are current mock questions).
Real exam 1: 675 (Q86 V84 DI81)
My order was V->Q->DI.
I started my mocks with Q->V->DI but midway I shifted to V->Q->DI as I realized I was better at verbal when fresh. Verbal felt like the mocks, and my end result was also similar to the mocks. Verbal is the only section out of the three, that the official mocks very very closely resemble. I got 6 questions wrong and got an 84. Nothing surprising.
However, quant was a shock for me. In all my mocks, the lowest I scored was 88, 90 being the mode of my scores. I know how harsh the marking is in quant. When I looked at 86 first, I thought, "Oh! I must have done 1 or 2 questions wrong". I knew I had blindly guessed the last question due to lack of time but that's just one (and btw before this, I had never faced any issue with quant timings). The official report comes out and, lo and behold, I have 3 incorrect. Now this was weird. 86 with 3 questions wrong was unexpected. But my guess is, 1 or 2 questions must have been experimental, and yes both of them felt exponentially more difficult than the usual hard quant questions. They weren't hard for testing a difficult quant concept, rather they were very unusual.
DI was like usual, my weakest. I averaged 81-85 in my mocks. And DI in the real exam was more difficult than the mocks. So 81 was expected.
Real exam 2: 735 (Q90 V87 DI82)
My order was Q->V->DI
I didn't have any mocks left to give to test out the order change. And there was no specific reason to change my order back to Quant first. But as quant was my backbone, I felt like getting on with it first.
Quant was, like usual. Same level as the mocks. I aced it with a little over 10 minutes to spare. Checked all bookmarked questions for silly mistakes and proceeded to verbal. I had an idea that all questions would be correct unless there had been a careless mistake.
Verbal was, like usual. Same level as the mocks. I did my best but I had no idea how I was performing. I couldn't even compare it to my previous V84 attempt. This is a thing about verbal. Unlike quant, I've mostly been not 100% sure about the answers I choose. However, they end up being correct.
DI was, like usual. Tougher than the mocks. I made a mistake of spending too much time on the MSR in which I ended up guessing 2 out of 3 anyway. This made me rush through the remaining section. DS was easier than the mocks, surprisingly. Compared to my previous attempt, where DS was the hardest, in this attempt MSR and the TPA were harder.
What helped me the most and how I improved in the last 2 weeks:-
I was not satisfied with my score of 675. What killed me most was Q86 and the verbal section. In verbal I had 1 CR and 5 RCs incorrect. All I could think of were the possible scores if I had attempted those RCs correctly. I wanted to give the exam again. I had no mocks left. For those who don't know, you can attempt the paid mocks each only twice. Then they lock out.
The only thing I did in those 2 weeks: From my mocks' reports and through general awareness, I pinpointed my weak areas, in quant and verbal (the whole of DI being a weak area in itself lol). And I only practiced official mock questions, be it old or current mock questions. Even after giving all 6 mocks multiple times, there were plenty questions on gmatclub that I had never come across in my mocks. Using the tags GMAT Prep and GMAT Prep (Focus) along with difficulty 655+, I did almost all quant and verbal questions, and most of DI. I didn't just blindly do those questions, I analyzed where I made mistakes and filled in the gaps by doing more and more questions.
I guess I'm finally done with my GMAT journey. I'll continue going through gmatclub forums, contributing in some way. I'd like to thank the entire community, gmatclub, reddit, and all the people whose answers and insights helped me reach here. Thank you Karishma, Marty, Bunuel, gmatninja, scott, chetan and everyone else whose posts I came across.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need more advice. Good luck to everyone on their GMAT prep!
Testing Experience
I’ve just returned from the test center after my second GMAT FE attempt, where I scored 735 (Q90 V87 DI82). Although the official report isn’t out yet, I’m excited to share my journey, the resources I used, and what made the biggest difference. I'll try to be as structured and concise as possible.
My journey:
It started in March this year. I was busy with work but could still spare about 6-10 hours every week. But, my efforts were not very consistent. I started with Quant at a very slow pace and picked up Verbal somewhere around mid-May. I had my vacations starting June end, and that is when I started putting real concentrated efforts. I initially gave the least importance to DI and most to quant, building concepts. I gave only official mocks, all of them. The first mock I gave was in mid-July, where I scored 695.
My mock scores:-
Mock 1 (attempt 1): 695
Mock 2 (attempt 1): 665
Mock 1 (attempt 2): 685
Mock 2 (attempt 2): 695
Then I purchased the remaining 4 mocks:-
Mock 3 (attempt 1): 705
Mock 4 (attempt 1): 685
Mock 6 (attempt 1): 735
Mock 5 (attempt 1): 695
I also gave the 2nd attempt for each of these paid mocks, with scores ranging (685-715).
Resources used:
I used a lot of resources, all free, except the official stuff. I used TTP trial for a couple of days. I'll list everything that helped me the most.
Quant:-
Ultimate GMAT Quantitative Preparation Guide: I cannot stress enough how useful it is. If one has time and patience, then this is all you need for building rock-solid quant concepts. The authors have dedicated so much effort into compiling not just theory and illustrations but also links to similar relevant questions.
Gmatclub Math Book PDF: Another free resource that is extremely useful in building core concepts. It is a subset of the Ultimate Prep Guide, so if you're considering the ultimate guide, you can skip this.
Gmatclub forums (with tags): Forums have a plethora of quant questions. Most of them are good. Some are really good. But few are pretty average. To get the best out of it, use tags from credible sources. Gmat Prep tag, not gmat prep (focus) has really good questions, that don't overlap with official mocks. I initially did all sorts of questions but I now realize I could have saved a lot of time. Or maybe doing lots of questions did help.
Gmatclub tests: If there's one reason I'd recommend gmatclub tests, then it is for quant. The questions really test your concepts. I wouldn't recommend the tests for verbal or DI though.
Official Guide: This is where I started. The questions are good to ease into your quant prep. I wouldn't solely rely on them.
TTP: I did not use TTP for my prep, but I've come across certain questions on groups and forums that were good quality. I've heard TTP is really good for those wanting to build from scratch.
Verbal:-
PowerScore CR Bible: I started my prep with this. It's really good for building up concepts.
Gmatninja YT Videos: Those were really helpful in building concepts and knowing the common mistakes people make.
TTP: I used TTP trial for a couple of days. I studied a few chapters of CR. I found the theory to be good. However, theory wasn't really what i wanted to build any further, so i decided to drop it.
Official Questions: I cannot stress enough on how important it is to practice only and only official questions. Yes, there are many really good non-official questions too. But why bother when there are more than enough official questions. Sources could be OG, gmatclub with tags and even mocks, and official LSAT questions. I did not do LSAT questions but one could consider them too.
Data Insights:-
This was the section I put the least effort into (comparatively).
OG: I purchased DI review online package and practiced questions from there as well as the OG. The questions in DI review were a bit more difficult than the actual exam but they do help in some or the other way, or so I guess.
Gmatninja YT Videos: Extremely good selection of questions and really good explanation.
Gmatclub: I practiced only old official mock questions by using gmat prep tag (again, not gmat prep (focus) as those are current mock questions).
Real exam 1: 675 (Q86 V84 DI81)
My order was V->Q->DI.
I started my mocks with Q->V->DI but midway I shifted to V->Q->DI as I realized I was better at verbal when fresh. Verbal felt like the mocks, and my end result was also similar to the mocks. Verbal is the only section out of the three, that the official mocks very very closely resemble. I got 6 questions wrong and got an 84. Nothing surprising.
However, quant was a shock for me. In all my mocks, the lowest I scored was 88, 90 being the mode of my scores. I know how harsh the marking is in quant. When I looked at 86 first, I thought, "Oh! I must have done 1 or 2 questions wrong". I knew I had blindly guessed the last question due to lack of time but that's just one (and btw before this, I had never faced any issue with quant timings). The official report comes out and, lo and behold, I have 3 incorrect. Now this was weird. 86 with 3 questions wrong was unexpected. But my guess is, 1 or 2 questions must have been experimental, and yes both of them felt exponentially more difficult than the usual hard quant questions. They weren't hard for testing a difficult quant concept, rather they were very unusual.
DI was like usual, my weakest. I averaged 81-85 in my mocks. And DI in the real exam was more difficult than the mocks. So 81 was expected.
Real exam 2: 735 (Q90 V87 DI82)
My order was Q->V->DI
I didn't have any mocks left to give to test out the order change. And there was no specific reason to change my order back to Quant first. But as quant was my backbone, I felt like getting on with it first.
Quant was, like usual. Same level as the mocks. I aced it with a little over 10 minutes to spare. Checked all bookmarked questions for silly mistakes and proceeded to verbal. I had an idea that all questions would be correct unless there had been a careless mistake.
Verbal was, like usual. Same level as the mocks. I did my best but I had no idea how I was performing. I couldn't even compare it to my previous V84 attempt. This is a thing about verbal. Unlike quant, I've mostly been not 100% sure about the answers I choose. However, they end up being correct.
DI was, like usual. Tougher than the mocks. I made a mistake of spending too much time on the MSR in which I ended up guessing 2 out of 3 anyway. This made me rush through the remaining section. DS was easier than the mocks, surprisingly. Compared to my previous attempt, where DS was the hardest, in this attempt MSR and the TPA were harder.
What helped me the most and how I improved in the last 2 weeks:-
I was not satisfied with my score of 675. What killed me most was Q86 and the verbal section. In verbal I had 1 CR and 5 RCs incorrect. All I could think of were the possible scores if I had attempted those RCs correctly. I wanted to give the exam again. I had no mocks left. For those who don't know, you can attempt the paid mocks each only twice. Then they lock out.
The only thing I did in those 2 weeks: From my mocks' reports and through general awareness, I pinpointed my weak areas, in quant and verbal (the whole of DI being a weak area in itself lol). And I only practiced official mock questions, be it old or current mock questions. Even after giving all 6 mocks multiple times, there were plenty questions on gmatclub that I had never come across in my mocks. Using the tags GMAT Prep and GMAT Prep (Focus) along with difficulty 655+, I did almost all quant and verbal questions, and most of DI. I didn't just blindly do those questions, I analyzed where I made mistakes and filled in the gaps by doing more and more questions.
I guess I'm finally done with my GMAT journey. I'll continue going through gmatclub forums, contributing in some way. I'd like to thank the entire community, gmatclub, reddit, and all the people whose answers and insights helped me reach here. Thank you Karishma, Marty, Bunuel, gmatninja, scott, chetan and everyone else whose posts I came across.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need more advice. Good luck to everyone on their GMAT prep!
02 Oct 2024, 18:02
Kudos
Bookmarks
Thanks for sharing. This was posted in the Career forum so I am moving it to the Share GMAT Experience 😇
Congrats on the score!!! Wow! Q90 - that's amazing! Or is this not your debrief and you were just sharing?
Congrats on the score!!! Wow! Q90 - that's amazing! Or is this not your debrief and you were just sharing?
03 Oct 2024, 02:27
Kudos
Bookmarks
Gratz on the 735. All the best going forward.
