From 640 to 740 (Q50 V40 IR 8) : Finally done with GMAT!!

I gave my GMAT yesterday(second attempt) and got a score of decent 740 (Q50 V40). I am hugely relieved as i am finally done with GMAT.

My Journey
It all started last year when i decided that i need to pusue MBA and subsequently realized that GMAT is the first thing to be taken care of. As i didnt have much knowledge I did some research and found that a score above 700 is required to get accepted in top MBA programs, given i belong to a highly competitive application pool of Indian Male Engineers.

First Attempt: 640 (Q50 V27) Oct 2015
I started my prep last year in August but couldnt study due to work pressure. I just didnt get time to plan my prep as i was working long hours. I gave a MGMAT CAT 1(Free CAT) scored a 680 and thought that i should take the test. So in september i booked a date for GMAT in OCT. This was the biggest mistake as till that time i didnt know what my strengths and weaknesses were and i hadnt even given many mock CATs to judge my ability. I studied for the next one month trying to cram as much as possible. I realized that quant was my strong point and the verbal section was my nemesis specially SC and CR. I thought of postponing GMAT but then went ahead with the test. I scored 640 and was not disappointed as i knew i had not prepared well.

Second Attempt
Fast forward to March 2016, i started studying again for GMAT. First thing i did was order the Enhanced Score Report (ESR) which you can get from mba.com store. It tells you how you performed on each section and each question type. Since i knew my weak area was verbal i decided to focus most of my prep time on Verbal Section. I got the Manhattan Sentence Correction Guide and went through it in a week. It had really useful information but still i didn't know what approach to follow to solve questions . Since i had heard good reviews about e-GMAT and how it is very good for non natives i enrolled into their Verbal Online Course. Their course i amazing specially the SC and CR part.

I took me two months to go through the course for SC and CR , along with OG 2015 and Verbal Review 2 questions, as i could devote only 1-1.5 hours a day for prep (in the morning) . After the course i learnt that untimed accuracy is very important initially and one should try to improve it as much as possible. I went though the RC part of the course also which gave good description about the question types and how to tackle them. Since i had performed very badly on IR in my first attempt i focused on it for a few days. Gave GMATPrep 2 CAT , scored a 700 and then booked an appointment for GMAT one month later.

Since i hadn't touched quant section yet i had timing issues when i gave my first practise CAT and the trend continued for a few more CATs. Then GMAT Club tests (which i got along with my e-GMAT Course) came to my rescue . I gave many sectional quant test and realised it was better to guess and move on than wasting time on a particular question. My quant score improved and i could see that in the CATs also.

I gave 8 CATs ( 5 MGMAT and 3 GMAT prep) and the my scores are mentioned below:
1 6/27/2016 GMATPrep2 48 37 700
2 7/2/2016 MGMAT1 46 37 680
3 7/10/2016 MGMAT2 42 45 710
4 7/12/2016 MGMAT3 44 38 680
5 7/23/2016 GmaTPrep3 49 40 730
6 7/25/2016 MGMAT4 46 45 740
7 7/27/2016 MGMAT5 50 38 720
8 7/28/2016 GMATPrep4 50 38 730

The MGMAT CATs are really good for two reasons 1) they push you in quant way more than you would be pushed on GMATPrep or actual GMAT 2) Superb Analysis. Verbal scoring was liberal and questions were not that tough. GMAT Prep tests are very good indicators of your performance and everyone should attempt them.


I took five days off from work so that i can stay relaxed before the tests. It also gave me enough time to give some CATs . I gave full test with all sections so that i get accustomed to the 4 hour test.

Prep Material
Manhattan Sentence Correction Guide
E-GMAT Verbal Online
Official Guide 2015
Verbal Review 2015
GMAT Club Tests
MGMAT CATs
GMAT Prep(Free and Exam Pack 1)

D-Day
I had a good sleep (slept 7 hours) and woke up fresh. Started early from home as i had a morning appointment (8:30 AM). I tried my best to contain my anxiety. Dd some push ups to channel my energy . I took a few granola bars and a water of bottle and reach the test centre.

AWA
I was surprised to see a very long (10 lines) and complicated argument but did some brainstorming wrote down a few points. I used the AWA template from chineseburned and completed the essay.

IR
IR went well and i completed all the questions with 5 mins to go.

Quant:
The section started with easy questions and i went through them quickly and soon i was ahead (in terms of time). So decided to slow down Got some tricky questions spent more time on them and i also guessed on two questions. I think i got them wrong. It funny that i kept getting one tricky and one very easy problem. Overall the quant section went well and took the break.

Verbal
I have never been able to judge the difficulty level of questions in this section. I started the section and got few SC questions and then got a tricky CR questions and ended up wasting some time and found that i was behind time. Rushed thorugh the next few questions SC again . I got four RC passages two long and two short. The CR questions were tricky and i got two bolface questions and three evaluate questions. I completed the section with 5 min to spare.

I was very nervous while clicking on the submit button. I saw 740 on the screen and i was very happy to see that score. Finally i was done with GMAT.

I really thank e-GMAT and GMATClub forum for helping me get a score above 700.

Akash