From 660 to 740

Question

GMAT 1st Attempt (Apr-20th,2010): 660 (q49,v33)
GMAT 2nd Attempt (July-14th,2010): 740 (q49,v41)

Studied perfectly systematically for the 1st GMAT attempt. Got nervous on test day and screwed up verbal. Took a vacation and finally decided to retake gmat. Booked the date for july 14th and started studying around june 14th. I read up manhattan verbal in a few days(I'm very lazy, completely ad-hoc schedule) and gave 4 MGMAT tests (1 on wed, 1 on sun for 2 weeks). Thats it. "The" day arrived and I was extremely calm (unlike the first time around), and managed sitting for those excruciating 4 hours and got 740.

So if any re-taker is reading this! Don't listen to GMACs recommendation that retaking does not improve score, (statistically speaking as GMAC says).

FYI, studying materials used (along with my judgment on them)

1. Princeton Review (Started off with this book. Very elementary. Probably not worth your time)
2. Kaplan Advanced (Not worth it. Neither did I learn much from it nor was it advanced)
3. Manhattan verbal guides (THE BEST!!! MUST-HAVE. Unfortunately, I got my hands on them only after the 1st GMAT attempt)
4. OG-12 and OG Verbal Review (Nice question bank. Quant is easy and unlike real gmat questions, but verbal is perfect. Learnt a plethora of concepts.)

Tests taken (before GMAT 1st attempt):
1. Princeton Review (waste of time)
2. Kaplan (SCs too easy, RCs too convoluted. Did 2 tests and stopped)
3. GmatPrep (Gets you a feel of the real gmat. I felt that quant level is probably similar to the real gmat and that the verbal level in the real gmat is a tad higher. All-in-all decent tests and you can probably take them twice)

Tests taken (before GMAT 2nd attempt):
Only MGMAT tests - 4 out of the 6 available (awesome tests, maths level is a little higher than the real gmat, meaning good practice for the real thing. Verbal is pretty similar to the real gmat, although SCs may be a little easier. MGMAT tests gave me the most accurate predicted score. Two thumbs up Manhattan!)

All the best!!

All Future gmat takers, be calm and you WILL get your target score!

BM · Answer

Whoa, great improvement! It seems that the biggest factor in your first score was, as you mentioned, nerves. It also appears that MGMAT helped you to (quickly) make some adjustments and perform very well on test day. Congratulations!

gurpreetsingh · Answer

Great improvement. Please post your breakup for both attempts

bb · Answer

Congratulations on the 740 - great score!

And thank you for sharing.

nonameee · Answer

abhishekkhurana, thank you for sharing your experience with us and congratulations on your score and perseverance. Could you please describe in greater detail your study routine and also how you approached math questions (solving the problems directly to get an answer or number picking).

abhishekkhurana · Answer

Thank you all!

@nonamee. For the 1st attempt, I studied for around 2.5 months. 5 days in a week probably, 3-4 hours on the weekends and 1.5-2 hours on weekdays. I didn't concentrate much on math. Concentrated a lot on SC though. In the last one month before the 1st attempt, I gave gmat prep every sunday. My biggest mistake was that I skipped AWA is almost all tests. Its important to do AWA as a part of the mock test as it either warms you up or wears you down :D. Thats what happened during my first gmat. I was exhausted after the math section (not used to sitting at one place for such a long time!) and got really tensed.
So for the 2nd attempt, just went through the manhattan verbal books and did not study anything else. 2 weeks before the gmat, I gave 2 Manhattan tests a week (along with AWAs). Thats it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Regarding your question on math strategy, I would say that it really depends on you. Once you know your comfort level in maths, you develop an instinct which tells you whether you can solve the problem quickly or not. In my case, since I am very comfortable in solving rather than number picking, I only resorted to number picking when I wasn't sure that I could solve the problem.
But, I also know people who are extremely comfortable and ridiculously fast with number picking and use that all the time. So, its your call

gurpreetsingh · Answer

Please spare a minute and post the center review here : review-gmat-centers-96476.html

gurpreetsingh · Answer

Thanks Abhishek for the review of Gmat center.

PranavChamp · Answer

Hey first thing first hearty congrats especially since you beat GMAT in reattempt!

I have couple of questions: 1 Does OG 12 and OG Verb review 2nd ed have common repeating questions? I have og12.so is it worth buying og verb review 2nd edition? 2 I got 590(q 47 v 24) and 600(q 47 v 26) in gmatpreps but scored only 540(q 47 v 19)

in real gmat. still wondering what went wrong with my verbal ? you also had this much difference between gmatprep and real gmat score?

smartmundu · Answer

One of my personal thoughts on MGMAT test is that their difficulty level is not similar to actual GMAT but their scoring is very much similar

I don't know what I thought i am able to put in words but their CAT content is no where near to real GMAT (especially Quant) but they know where you stand in terms of scoring

abhishekkhurana · Answer

1. I think there are some questions that are repeated, but I would suggest to go through it at the bookstore and buy it. What better practice than OG verbal questions!!

2. Well, I still havent figured that out :D but for me I guess it was a matter of nerves. Make sure that you are completely chilled out while giving the test. Also, get hold of manhattan verbal books. They are absolutely awesome. Crisp material. You will rapidly improve your verbal score if you follow their instructions religiously, especially for SC.

abhishekkhurana · Answer

@smartmundu: lol nice nickname! I agree with the quant, but I felt verbal was similar. But I suppose everyone feels differently. I loved MGMATs though :D

PranavChamp · Answer

Thanks abhishek!

Surely I'll buy OG VR 2nd Ed.

I have Manhattan SC and i think powerscore CR is better than Manhattan CR. I'm using  How to read better and faster by Norman Lewis  for RC and using 3000 RC doc for practice.

Do you think Manhattan CR and RC worthy?

I'll give retake around 15th nov and my strategy is  to get 50+ in quant while getting accuracy of 90+ % in SC.

abhishekkhurana · Answer

I dont know about powerscore CR. But Manhattan CR was useful for getting my basics straight. After that CR was pretty chill. Maybe powerscore is better. I've seen a lot of people recommending it. I just went through Manhattan RC in one sitting. Decent to get an idea of the strategy it suggests. But at the end of the day, RC strategy is all yours. You will decide what is best for you.

All the best!! I sincerely hope that you reach your target score!

All the best!! I sincerely hope that you reach your target score!

PranavChamp · Answer

Yeah thanks abhishek for your vital suggestions. Yeah i have to prove to the world... I'm not that weak in verbal . and my besties for your Apping part.

akaydee · Answer

PranavChamp, Have a look at this link. It's a great write-up on how to attack CR questions. It's a pity that it is not well formatted. https://catindiaonline.wordpress.com/200 ... questions/

PranavChamp · Answer

Hey akaydee. It seems good. I've bookmark it and will surely go through it. thanks for both: the link and MJ's inspiring video.

tt11234 · Answer

congratz!!! thanks for sharing!! i am taking it soon, wish me luck!!

ShannWeiss · Answer

What a jump, congrats!

aim730 · Answer

Congrats Awesome score 
I just want to know one thing for Verbal are these books enough or do we require to go through other material as well...????

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