GMAT De-brief - 730 Q(49), V(41) - Feels great !

Hi Everyone,

After 2 gruelling GMAT’s, finally got a score of 730!
I got tremendous help from reading others’ de-briefs and thus delighted to share my experience and hope it’s useful.

1. First attempt at GMAT in July 2016 – Score 700 Q(50), V(34)
• Preparation time: 3-4 months
• Study material used
o Basic material:
 OG 2015
 OG Quant Review
 OG Verbal Review
 Manhattan Guides - Quant and Verbal
 OG Prep + bought the Extra Question Pack (useful)

o Section wise mention (Extra material):
 SC – Manhattan, Enrolled for E-GMAT SC course (Helpful) but SC still remained my weak section
 CR – Powerscore Bible
 Quant – Math revolution tutorials tried but they weren’t very useful to me
 Veritas videos app got on my iPad – during daily commute went through the videos

o Tests:
 OG – tests + 2 Exam Packs (Very useful)
 MG tests (6) – The Quant usually is higher difficulty level in these
 Scores OG tests
• OG 1 – 720 Q(49), V(38)
• OG 2 - 720 Q(49), V(40)
• OG 3 - 710 Q(49), V(38)
• OG 4 - 740 Q(50), V(40)
• OG 5 - 720 Q(50), V(42)

• Takeaways:
o Was happy with my Quant score, but Verbal I was very disappointed as the all the GMAT OG tests I had taken, I scored close to 40 in Verbal
o I struggled with the timing strategy in Verbal despite scoring well in my mocks


2. Second attempt at GMAT in August 2016 – Score 730 Q(49), V(41)
a. Strategy - I knew I was in the exam momentum and as soon as I got out of my test, I booked another GMAT Exam appointment for 3 weeks from then. Since, I had exhausted all my leaves for the first attempt, I knew with office work, I would only be able to get weekends for my preparation, hence I decided to have a very focussed approach towards my study – focusing only on Verbal. Got an ESR to understand my weakness in Verbal. My weak points were SC and CR, I scored around 41 in RC. So, my sole focus for next few weeks was SC and CR.

b. Approach

i. CR: The first time I had gone through Powerscore CR Bible, I had browsed through it since I had time constraint then, this time I went through it in detail and followed the approach. One comment, various courses/instructors give different approach for CR, the most important thing is to pick one strategy which picks for you and practice it well enough so that on exam day you don’t falter

ii. SC: This was a tricky point for me, I had practised enough but was hitting a wall here.
1. Based on few de-briefs I read to improve Verbal score, I found a post recommending E-GMAT live prep. I already had their SC online course. So, I revised the SC online course again, this time internalising their 3 step approach and practising it well. Also, practising from Scholaranium was useful.
2. I also bought their Verbal Live Prep add on just to access their SC and CR videos, their SC videos were helpful – would recommend that. For CR, I didn’t get time to go thru the material, had just stuck to Powerscore CR Bible. Also, attended E-GMAT Verbal Workshop – that helps you point your weakness areas.

iii. Timing strategy: Well, I realised that I used to spend too much time on SC and CR questions and that negatively impacted my performance towards the end as I got under pressure to finish the questions towards the end. Thus, I started monitoring my time more frequently for Verbal as compared to Quant. (I put an estimated time after 10th Q, 15th Q, 20th Q, 25th Q etc.) to keep myself on track wrt to time. Practiced this strategy in my mocks and that helped me finish Verbal on time

iv. Mocks: I took the OG – 6 and also got the Veritas mock tests and practiced them

v. Other pointers to keep in mind
1. OG material is the most useful to practice, try to revise OG again and look for explanations and answers online (Manhattan forums/GMAT Club)
2. Keep calm during the exam and stay focussed, carry energy bars/sugar drinks as the exam can be exhausting
3. Do practice enough FLT’s – so as to be able to build up the mental stamina for the entire exam (including IR and Essay)

Cheers!
Sakshi