Debrief-GMAT Focus 685 (Q90, V80, DI82)

Gave GMAT Focus Edition today (2nd shot after a GMAT Classic attempt 1.5 months back on which I scored 690 - Q50, V33) 

Scored 685 (Q90, V80, DI82) with weekend only prep for the past 2.5 months - yet to get my detailed score (will update the post once I do). 

Prep Material used - Mainly mocks (Official and Experts global) and official QB. Really liked Experts Global mocks - though they weren't adaptive they were always a couple of notches higher than Official mocks which helped me learn how to stay calm during tough situations (this ultimately came in handy in today's attempt).

My take on the exam:

Quant - Some of the questions were pretty lengthy and were more of a test of reading skills than mathematical skills given the underlying mathematics was quite simple once you read the question carefully. I would say it was a noch above the GFE official practice mocks mainly due to the lengthy questions (which wasn't the case in most mocks). The questions had a good mix from a wide variety of topics like percentages, Time speed distance, basic fractions & decimals, P&C, probability, etc. There was even a question on similar triangles where though the underlying concept was explained it would have been tough to apply had one not had previous knowledge of the topic. Overall finished the section with 5 mins left on the clock - reviewed 5 questions but did not change any answer. Quant has always been my strong suite right hence, was pretty confident of getting a good score. My prep for this section was limited to taking mocks (Official, Experts Global) and analysing them apart from taking very few sectionals (official prep material). My advice to anyone/everyone would be to read to time your self very well - do the easy questions quickly instead of delving a lot on it and investing the time saved in tougher/more lengthier questions - you will need to no matter what. 

Verbal - My achilles heel! Not that I am bad at it but mainly because I didn't get a lot of time to prepare owing to my job (I work in a start up in India so it does get pretty hectic most of the times). Got 3 (2 on Science, 1 on business) RCs in the exam - 2 were easy to read but had long answer options (in every question) and 1 was nightmarish (neither easy to read nor were the questions easy to read & answer). CR questions were relatively manageable but most of them had pretty close options - although i did get 3 bold type questions which kind of stumped me a bit given the rarity of these questions (from what I have heard and seen myself in mocks). Overall guessed 2 RC questions and 1 CR question but managed to get through all the questions. My prep for this section again was limited to taking mocks (Official, Experts Global) and analysing them apart from taking sectionals and practicing official questions (official prep material). My advice to anyone/everyone preparing would be to read a lot and try to read fast but effectively - if you can do that you can spend more time on evaluating between options. Practicing will obviously help but overall I felt it was more of a test of your reading skills. 

DI - TBH I didn't know till the last day whether this section is my strength or my weakness. My scores had ranged from 77 to 83 in official mocks and hence, I was pretty unsure of where I stood. This is the section for which I had practiced the most and I guess, it paid off well. The section felt easier than what was served in the official mocks but some of the questions were very deceptive - means you had to really think through to get to the right answer. In quite (3-4 questions) a few questions I went through the questions again after solving it once to ascertain my approach was right and ended up making changes to the answer. One more highlight was that most of the questions seldom required calculations/putting pen to paper and were more reasoning based. A lot of DS questions (at least 5-6) and the rest were evenly spread across other types of questions (interestingly there was just 1 MSR passage with 3 questions). Overall guessed 1 graph question, 1 DS question but managed to get through all the questions. My prep for this section involved taking mocks (Official, Experts Global) and analysing them apart from taking a lot of sectionals and practicing official questions (official prep material). My advice to anyone/everyone would be to read the questions very well and recheck if possible before submitting the answers. Also, the key lies in being aware of the time left and letting go of the lengthy/highly difficult questions whenever required.  

The score I received was mostly in line with the Offical Practice mocks (scores below) although I couldn't sleep well the night before (hence, wasn't even at my 70-80%):

Mock 1 - 655 (DI 79, QA 87, VR 82) 
Mock 3 - 655 (DI 81, QA 82, VR 84) 
Mock 4 - 675 (DI 78, QA 90, VR 82) 
Mock 5 - 675 (DI 77, QA 90, VR 83)  
Mock 6 - 695 (DI 83, QA 89, VR 81)
Mock 2 - 695 (DI 80, QA 90, VR 84) 

My Experts global scores varied mostly around 645-655. 

In the end I felt I could have done slightly better on Verbal & pushed my score to 695/705 but I ll take 685 happily given how groggy I was feeling in the Verbal section due to the lengthy nature of the questions and options, lack of sleep. 

Since, my target is Top Eu schools (INSEAD, HEC, IMD and maybe LBS, IESE) only not planning to retake. However, open to thoughts on the same especially if someone thinks otherwise. 

Another question I had was around the equivalence of the score to GMAT classic scores - In the mapping table shared by GMAC 685 maps to both 730 and 740 - not sure which mapping reflects better. Can someone please help me understand the same?