GMAT Debrief

Hello!

I just took the GMAT for the first and last time this morning and wanted to post a debrief in case helpful for people starting their journey (I benefited tremendously from reading various debriefs over the last few months). I received a 770 (Q49 V47) and am thrilled!

This won't be a long post but I wanted to share the materials that gave me the tools to achieve a great score:

1. TTP for Quant - after reading all of the various reviews about TTP, I was a bit skeptical. I can 100% say though that this product took my quant ability to the level needed for a high score. I went through each quant chapter and usually completed 3 'medium' tests and 1 to 2 'hard' tests. It took longer than expected to make it through all of the chapters, but by the time I finished, I felt prepared for mostly anything. I will say that the OG questions are of a slightly different 'style' than TTP, so definitely hit those hard once you're finished with the TTP modules, but the platform gives you everything to handle whatever the test makers throw out on test day.

For quant, I also took a couple GMAT club quant tests which were great. They helped me slow down and really read the question stem and be on the lookout for traps. I will say that I definitely ended up falling for a couple traps on test day since I finished the quant section with 5 minutes to spare and my ESR suggests I missed 5 counted questions (and there were only two that I truly guessed on).

2. Verbal - for verbal, I really only studied SC (I've always been pretty good at RC and CR-type questions so didn't study those outside of some OG question practice). The GMATNinja videos were awesome for SC and I learned a ton from those videos. Also, I practiced a lot with OG sentence correction questions and anytime I needed reasoning behind the right answer, GMAT Club forums were awesome. Huge shoutout to Charles' responses, which were always extremely helpful. Also love the comedy that Charles throws into his question analyses - it made the long nights studying more bearable!

For SC, I also really liked the TTP modules - they were super in-depth (maybe too in-depth in some chapters), and a few of the chapters (like the 'Modifiers' chapter) really opened up my mind to meaning and traps that the test makers use.

According to my ESR, I got 100% of the SC questions correct on the exam so amped that the studying paid off! Looks like I missed two counted verbal questions during the exam - one RC and one CR question, and both were in the last quarter of the test.

Lastly, one piece of advice that I saw on the forums that helped me a ton is that it's often necessary to 'lose the battle to win the war'. If there is a tough quant question halfway through the exam, and you can't determine the answer after two minutes, just guess. It's way better to miss the question and save time for questions later on than to get the question correct but spend 5-6 minutes on it.

Also, the GMAT prep exams are great indicators going into the exam. I scored a 770 on my last two before the actual test.

Hope people benefit from the above, and good luck to everyone studying. Don't give up - I didn't think a 770 was in the realm of possibilities for me before I started studying but you just have to remember that anyone can achieve a great score - it just matters how much work you put in!

Hello!

I just took the GMAT for the first and last time this morning and wanted to post a debrief in case helpful for people starting their journey (I benefited tremendously from reading various debriefs over the last few months). I received a 770 (Q49 V47) and am thrilled!

This won't be a long post but I wanted to share the materials that gave me the tools to achieve a great score:

1. TTP for Quant - after reading all of the various reviews about TTP, I was a bit skeptical. I can 100% say though that this product took my quant ability to the level needed for a high score. I went through each quant chapter and usually completed 3 'medium' tests and 1 to 2 'hard' tests. It took longer than expected to make it through all of the chapters, but by the time I finished, I felt prepared for mostly anything. I will say that the OG questions are of a slightly different 'style' than TTP, so definitely hit those hard once you're finished with the TTP modules, but the platform gives you everything to handle whatever the test makers throw out on test day.

For quant, I also took a couple GMAT club quant tests which were great. They helped me slow down and really read the question stem and be on the lookout for traps. I will say that I definitely ended up falling for a couple traps on test day since I finished the quant section with 5 minutes to spare and my ESR suggests I missed 5 counted questions (and there were only two that I truly guessed on).

2. Verbal - for verbal, I really only studied SC (I've always been pretty good at RC and CR-type questions so didn't study those outside of some OG question practice). The GMATNinja videos were awesome for SC and I learned a ton from those videos. Also, I practiced a lot with OG sentence correction questions and anytime I needed reasoning behind the right answer, GMAT Club forums were awesome. Huge shoutout to Charles' responses, which were always extremely helpful. Also love the comedy that Charles throws into his question analyses - it made the long nights studying more bearable!

For SC, I also really liked the TTP modules - they were super in-depth (maybe too in-depth in some chapters), and a few of the chapters (like the 'Modifiers' chapter) really opened up my mind to meaning and traps that the test makers use.

According to my ESR, I got 100% of the SC questions correct on the exam so amped that the studying paid off! Looks like I missed two counted verbal questions during the exam - one RC and one CR question, and both were in the last quarter of the test.

Lastly, one piece of advice that I saw on the forums that helped me a ton is that it's often necessary to 'lose the battle to win the war'. If there is a tough quant question halfway through the exam, and you can't determine the answer after two minutes, just guess. It's way better to miss the question and save time for questions later on than to get the question correct but spend 5-6 minutes on it.

Also, the GMAT prep exams are great indicators going into the exam. I scored a 770 on my last two before the actual test.

Hope people benefit from the above, and good luck to everyone studying. Don't give up - I didn't think a 770 was in the realm of possibilities for me before I started studying but you just have to remember that anyone can achieve a great score - it just matters how much work you put in!

Thanks for posting.
How were you able to take GMAT Club tests if you opened the account on the same day you posted this debrief and you don't have a subscription?

This is a "burner account". I'm an idiot and put my full real name in my other account (which I would rather not share). I still wanted to post a debrief in case it was helpful to others.