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May 1408:30 AM PDT
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Most GMAT test-takers are intimidated by the hardest GMAT Verbal questions. In this session, Target Test Prep GMAT instructor Erika Tyler-John, a 100th percentile GMAT scorer, will show you how top scorers break down challenging Verbal questions..
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In Episode 4 of our GMAT Ninja CR series, we tackle the most intimidating CR question type: Boldface & "Legalese" questions. If you've ever stared at an answer choice that reads, "The first is a consideration introduced to counter a position that... - Jun 10
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Hi everyone, I just got done with my GMAT two days ago and after really absorbing the fact that I don't have to study anymore, I wanted to give a debrief here, since this place has been the Mecca of my preparation for a good 10-11 months.
Attempt 1 - August 2nd 2024 : 665 (Q90 V82 DI77) (Attempted in this order) : 4-5 months of more or less consistent studying from Youtube Videos, Free Resources, GMAT Club - focusing mostly on Verbal and DI as I was more or less confident about Quant, being from an engineering bg. Booked my exam only after I had perfected my attempt strategy and was scoring in the range of 695-715 in my OG mocks. However on exam day, I made the blunder of missing one question in DI because I accidentally clicked on "Begin Exam" instead of a much needed "Take a Break" after my verbal section and had to continue DI with a very foggy brain. Decided to give 2nd attempt to make sure to not make these mistakes again.
Attempt 2 - December 23rd 2024 : 665 (Q86 V82 DI81) (Attempted in this order) : To build test taking stamina I bought Experts' Global mocks and gave them consistently. I analysed each and every mock and noted my weak areas, zoomed in on them and practiced harder. I also gave all the GMATClub mocks and I was scoring in a decent range of 685-715 with a few exceptions of 655-675. I exhausted my OG mocks as well and thinking I had nothing more left to practice, I booked the exam. On the test, my most prized section Quant gave me some problem, I had clearly underestimated it because of my 100th percentile in the previous attempt. My confidence broke and I had major difficulty keeping up with my verbal passages subsequently because they were unusually lengthy this time around. It was just a downhill journey after that and the screen flash of a 665 again really broke my heart. I took a break of 15 days to clear my head and decided to give one last attempt.
Attempt 3 - March 5th 2025 : 705 (V88 Q84 DI83) (Attempted in this order, different than before) : I thought I had practiced extensively and that I was doing everything right. After cribbing for a few days I decided that the most helpful step would be to re-analyse everything I had learnt and did in the exam to really understand my shortcomings. I realised that (a) My focus was not as great and it had to be laser sharp to endure the test environment and be so natural at solving questions that even if I got tired, my muscle memory was strong enough to bounce back, (b) My attempt order wasn't optimal. I had lazily assumed that giving my strongest section first would be good enough but it was not working in my favour to sandwich Verbal & DI sections together even with a 10 min break in between. So instead of focusing too much on studying concepts and solving questions, I worked on these 2 things. I practiced "Pranayam" or meditation everyday in the morning to collect myself and practice the art of filtering out thoughts and being present. I practiced the 3 sections everyday by creating sets of the hardest questions I could find in another order - V-Q-DI, so that my brain would see the mix of hard and easy questions on test day as a cakewalk. Did this for about 5 weeks consistently and in my heart I had a feeling that I was ready. I had no OG mocks to test myself so I just booked the exam on this feeling. And surprisingly I was very calm because this time I had actually done everything I could, analysed myself every step of the way in the minutest way possible, questioned my assumptions on what I thought I was good at and what strategy I was comfortable with. I went in with no expectations except giving my best performance in those ~3 hours. I was exhausted after the first two sections even after doing all this but after the break I pulled my hair up in a bun, rolled my sleeves and gave it my all. I didn't waste or slack for a single second. The screen flash with a 705 after that was a sweet experience like no other :') Although Quant 84 was a bit disappointing, I kept thinking if I had gotten a perfect 90 like in my first attempt, it would've been crazy good!
But anyway, I went to the washroom and did a little dance because this was a huge personal win for me. It wasn't just about the score but the lessons learnt along the way on never giving up, believing in yourself, being patient, thoughtful, analytical and working hard without an expectation of an outcome. The journey was truly enriching, no matter how much I complained at times about being stuck in a limbo.
I just want to add a few take-aways that I feel could be helpful for anyone else preparing -
1. Attempt the section which requires most of your mental energy first - ironically this could also be your strongest section. Second one should be the one that comes naturally to you because since you're not taking a break, your brain should be wired to work on it even if its fried a little bit. Keep the section which you know is the hardest to score in the end after the break. This really worked for me.
2. For an elite verbal score - Practice LSAT RC & CR Questions! This is a game changer. I have practiced virtually 100% of the 665+ level questions here on Gmat Club and trust me the GMAT questions on my 3rd attempt were so smooth for me. I finished on time and I was extremely happy with my performance.
3. Keep time checks while attempting your mocks. I kept a time-check on the 7th, 13th and 19th questions in Quant and Verbal. For DI I checked time on the 5th, 10th and 15th questions. Pace yourself and keep a ballpark of how much time should be left on the timer at your checkpoints. Practice this religiously. I kept extra few mins for the initial questions to set up a good baseline in the beginning and also build momentum for the section.
4. Keep dedicated space to solve each question in your rough pad. There's plenty of space so just mark 1-2-3 and so on and write as much as possible in your Quant and DI Sections to avoid silly errors.
5. The test is very logical and interesting. Keep doing things that tickle your brain to work smart and not hard. I played loads of Sudoku, Crosswords and Spelling Bee Games on the NYT app in my free time instead of scrolling on social media and dumbing down my brain. Was very fun and helpful. Kept me engaged and taught me to not miss small details.
Lastly I would like to extend a BIG BIG THANKYOU to the moderators of this space. I took no formal coaching and this place was just IT. There's really enough material and information if you look closely and really invest in learning. A big shoutout to KarishmaB, Bunuel, GMATNinja, MartyMurray. I love you guys. Thanks for all the great work, I learnt everything from you <3
GMAT-Club-Forum-fbv32ou0.png [ 161.03 KiB | Viewed 498 times ]
Attempt 1 - August 2nd 2024 : 665 (Q90 V82 DI77) (Attempted in this order) : 4-5 months of more or less consistent studying from Youtube Videos, Free Resources, GMAT Club - focusing mostly on Verbal and DI as I was more or less confident about Quant, being from an engineering bg. Booked my exam only after I had perfected my attempt strategy and was scoring in the range of 695-715 in my OG mocks. However on exam day, I made the blunder of missing one question in DI because I accidentally clicked on "Begin Exam" instead of a much needed "Take a Break" after my verbal section and had to continue DI with a very foggy brain. Decided to give 2nd attempt to make sure to not make these mistakes again.
Attempt 2 - December 23rd 2024 : 665 (Q86 V82 DI81) (Attempted in this order) : To build test taking stamina I bought Experts' Global mocks and gave them consistently. I analysed each and every mock and noted my weak areas, zoomed in on them and practiced harder. I also gave all the GMATClub mocks and I was scoring in a decent range of 685-715 with a few exceptions of 655-675. I exhausted my OG mocks as well and thinking I had nothing more left to practice, I booked the exam. On the test, my most prized section Quant gave me some problem, I had clearly underestimated it because of my 100th percentile in the previous attempt. My confidence broke and I had major difficulty keeping up with my verbal passages subsequently because they were unusually lengthy this time around. It was just a downhill journey after that and the screen flash of a 665 again really broke my heart. I took a break of 15 days to clear my head and decided to give one last attempt.
Attempt 3 - March 5th 2025 : 705 (V88 Q84 DI83) (Attempted in this order, different than before) : I thought I had practiced extensively and that I was doing everything right. After cribbing for a few days I decided that the most helpful step would be to re-analyse everything I had learnt and did in the exam to really understand my shortcomings. I realised that (a) My focus was not as great and it had to be laser sharp to endure the test environment and be so natural at solving questions that even if I got tired, my muscle memory was strong enough to bounce back, (b) My attempt order wasn't optimal. I had lazily assumed that giving my strongest section first would be good enough but it was not working in my favour to sandwich Verbal & DI sections together even with a 10 min break in between. So instead of focusing too much on studying concepts and solving questions, I worked on these 2 things. I practiced "Pranayam" or meditation everyday in the morning to collect myself and practice the art of filtering out thoughts and being present. I practiced the 3 sections everyday by creating sets of the hardest questions I could find in another order - V-Q-DI, so that my brain would see the mix of hard and easy questions on test day as a cakewalk. Did this for about 5 weeks consistently and in my heart I had a feeling that I was ready. I had no OG mocks to test myself so I just booked the exam on this feeling. And surprisingly I was very calm because this time I had actually done everything I could, analysed myself every step of the way in the minutest way possible, questioned my assumptions on what I thought I was good at and what strategy I was comfortable with. I went in with no expectations except giving my best performance in those ~3 hours. I was exhausted after the first two sections even after doing all this but after the break I pulled my hair up in a bun, rolled my sleeves and gave it my all. I didn't waste or slack for a single second. The screen flash with a 705 after that was a sweet experience like no other :') Although Quant 84 was a bit disappointing, I kept thinking if I had gotten a perfect 90 like in my first attempt, it would've been crazy good!
But anyway, I went to the washroom and did a little dance because this was a huge personal win for me. It wasn't just about the score but the lessons learnt along the way on never giving up, believing in yourself, being patient, thoughtful, analytical and working hard without an expectation of an outcome. The journey was truly enriching, no matter how much I complained at times about being stuck in a limbo.
I just want to add a few take-aways that I feel could be helpful for anyone else preparing -
1. Attempt the section which requires most of your mental energy first - ironically this could also be your strongest section. Second one should be the one that comes naturally to you because since you're not taking a break, your brain should be wired to work on it even if its fried a little bit. Keep the section which you know is the hardest to score in the end after the break. This really worked for me.
2. For an elite verbal score - Practice LSAT RC & CR Questions! This is a game changer. I have practiced virtually 100% of the 665+ level questions here on Gmat Club and trust me the GMAT questions on my 3rd attempt were so smooth for me. I finished on time and I was extremely happy with my performance.
3. Keep time checks while attempting your mocks. I kept a time-check on the 7th, 13th and 19th questions in Quant and Verbal. For DI I checked time on the 5th, 10th and 15th questions. Pace yourself and keep a ballpark of how much time should be left on the timer at your checkpoints. Practice this religiously. I kept extra few mins for the initial questions to set up a good baseline in the beginning and also build momentum for the section.
4. Keep dedicated space to solve each question in your rough pad. There's plenty of space so just mark 1-2-3 and so on and write as much as possible in your Quant and DI Sections to avoid silly errors.
5. The test is very logical and interesting. Keep doing things that tickle your brain to work smart and not hard. I played loads of Sudoku, Crosswords and Spelling Bee Games on the NYT app in my free time instead of scrolling on social media and dumbing down my brain. Was very fun and helpful. Kept me engaged and taught me to not miss small details.
Lastly I would like to extend a BIG BIG THANKYOU to the moderators of this space. I took no formal coaching and this place was just IT. There's really enough material and information if you look closely and really invest in learning. A big shoutout to KarishmaB, Bunuel, GMATNinja, MartyMurray. I love you guys. Thanks for all the great work, I learnt everything from you <3
Attachment:
GMAT-Club-Forum-fbv32ou0.png [ 161.03 KiB | Viewed 498 times ]
07 Mar 2025, 10:34
Kudos
Bookmarks
Thanks for sharing your journey. Also, can you tell me what sources you used for DI prep?
Congrats and all the best going ahead!
Congrats and all the best going ahead!
12 Mar 2025, 03:30
Kudos
Bookmarks
Some of these tips are great because they're not high level general advice but specific tactics that really work.
Kudos especially for the time management and scratch pad tips.
Congrats on the great score!
Kudos especially for the time management and scratch pad tips.
Congrats on the great score!
