GMAT Focus 715 (85Q, 86V, 86DI) Debrief - 605 to 715 in 1 Month

Hi everyone!

This is my first time making a post like this but wanted to share my GMAT Focus experience to shed some light or give encouragement to those of you preparing to take the test. GMAT Club was a huge asset to me during my prep and I read many others' debriefs, so hoping I can give back a little!

As you can see from my topic title, I recently scored a 715 (99th percentile) on the GMAT Focus. My section scores were 85Q (88th percentile), 86V (97th percentile), and 86DI (99th percentile). I missed 3 questions on each of the sections. I took the test in-person at a test center and this was my first attempt. I don't plan to retake. I wanted an 805 (who doesn't?) but I knew I'd be happy with anything above 705. Shoot for the moon and land among the stars, right!

Study Plan
I started studying for the GMAT with no prior preparation at the start of December. I took my exam at the start of January. When I started I actually didn't know that the legacy GMAT was no longer an option, so I accidentally prepped for the legacy GMAT for a week until I found out I had to take the GMAT Focus.

I was not working while studying as it was holiday time and that was a huge blessing. But I didn't study all day every day! I still did the things I wanted and spent time with family and friends. I took breaks for holidays and even went on vacation. I still studied while on vacation, but this is just to say that I was able to balance my normal life with prepping for the exam.

I put in around 120 hours in total over the course of 1 month. I took 8 mocks in total. I took my first mock after ~1 week with ~15 hours of diagnostics and practice problems just to familiarize myself with the test. I took an average of 1 full mock per week in test-like conditions, and then 4 mocks in the week leading up to my exam date.

I used mocks to identify my areas of weakness. In between mocks I did targeted practice using question banks. I used the streaks method to build accuracy. I did untimed problems to build accuracy and learn efficient solution methods and then I did timed problems to practice pacing.

Prep Materials
I used OG 2019, OG Quant Review 2019, and OG Verbal Review 2019 to practice my weak topics. I used the GMAT Club Guides for these books as a question directory and error log as I went through practice problems.

I subscribed to GMAT Club Question of the Day emails and did those problems every day. This helped me stay consistent, and they also felt fun! I prepped a lot by using GMAT Club Tests on free days. I got very lucky that 12/10, 12/25, and 1/1 were all free days that coincided with my prep. I ended up getting 2 weeks of GMAT Club Pro from the Xmas Competition to take more tests whenever I wanted before my exam date, which was a huge help. I also found the GMAT Club Xmas Competition questions to be very helpful as writing explanation posts really solidified my understanding of topics and the mechanics of solutions.

I took mba.com Official Practice Tests 1 & 2 twice each and didn't buy any extras as I felt like I was still seeing all different questions even on the resets.

Quant
I've always been good at math so I thought I would be fine here. But I quickly realized Quant was my weakest section. I had forgotten a lot of the "elementary" skills that GMAT Quant requires as I hadn't used them in many years, like prime factorization to find LCM and DCF. I focused on rebuilding my foundation in Quant and solidifying my knowledge of rusty skills. I spent most of my prep efforts here to master each topic and build up my Quant confidence, as Q was always my lowest section score. The deflated Q percentile curve also really intimated me, so I felt extra motivated to improve. Taking the FE ended up working out in my favor as I didn't have to review geometry or trigonometry, which I wouldn't have been excited about.

Verbal
I didn't have much trouble with Verbal out of the gate. I read and write a lot so this was expected. I relied mostly on intuition but I spent some time mastering Critical Reasoning as I realized I couldn't just "feel" my way around some question types, like weakeners or bolded arguments. I had to learn to go against my instinct sometimes to justify my answers with evidence and logic. Taking the FE without Sentence Correction was a little disappointing as that's a strength of mine and could have potentially boosted my Verbal score, but overall, I think the difference was negligible.

Data Insights
I actually really enjoyed the DI section and I'm glad the FE includes it. Moving Data Sufficiency to DI from Quant helped my Quant pacing tremendously. I liked the types of questions in DI and found the skills I normally use at my job to be more relevant here. I did targeted DS practice to bring up my accuracy there, but I didn't do overall DI targeted practice. At first I struggled with DS and the proper solving methods to use, but then something "clicked" for me and I could basically solve any DS problem. I found that raising my Q and V mastery organically brought up my DI mastery too.

Time & Anxiety Management
Aside from Quant foundations, I struggled the most with managing my time and nerves during each section, which felt so short to me. After I learned that the penalty for leaving questions unanswered is more severe than for incorrect answers, I made it a priority to always finish each section no matter what. I also had to learn how to fight my own sunk cost fallacy tendencies and let go of questions that I needed to much time to solve. It went against my nature to give up on a question, but this was ultimately a key to a successful performance. I don't like blindly guessing on any questions, so I did enough foundational prep that I would only have to make educated guesses. I didn't use any formal time management strategies except for allotting 2 minutes per question and checking every few questions to make sure I was on track. Having time to review and potentially change my answers at the end of each section was also important to me, so I wanted to finish with time at the end rather than racing toward the end.

Mocks
1. 605 (Magoosh free practice test)
2. 655 (GMAT Club practice test)
3. 675 (Official Practice Test 1)
4. 685 (GMAT Club practice test)
5. 655 (GMAT Club practice test)
6. 655 (Official Practice Test 1 reset)
7. 765 (Official Practice Test 2)
8. 715 (Official Practice Test 2 reset)

As you can see, I was improving steadily until Mocks 5 & 6. Seeing my score sink and stay low twice was a blow to my confidence only 1 week out from my exam date. Not being able to crack 705 was also frustrating. I really just wanted to see a 7 at the start of my score! But this was a sign for me to take a step back, so I returned to targeted practice and rehearsing my time management strategies. The accumulation of my efforts must have had a delayed onset, because my next mock, Mock 7, was so much better it was almost funny. To make sure it wasn't just a stroke of luck, I took Mock 8, and getting 705+ a second time really gave me my confidence back to ace the real exam.

Lessons Learned

• Staying calm under pressure: I have a little bit of test anxiety, but I built up my confidence by doing so many mocks that it was like muscle memory. By my exam date, I knew I had the stamina and knowledge to successfully complete the exam. When I actually took my real exam, I felt comfortably "in the zone" and barely noticed that I wasn't at home like normal.
• Losing the battle to win the war: Whether letting go of a question I couldn't solve fast enough or redirecting my study methods, I sometimes had to go against my instincts or desires. Sunk cost fallacy is something I've always struggled with, so this has been great practice for me to fight that urge.
• Consistency is key: A little bit every day goes a long way! Just like studying for a test at school, cramming the night before never works as well as studying every day for a longer period of time.
• Do what feels right: This applies to answering questions, changing answers, and prepping as a whole. I never forced myself to study when I didn't feel like studying, so when I genuinely felt like studying, my sessions were much more effective. I realized I enjoyed doing practice problems and feeling the satisfaction of getting them right and seeing my scores improve. In the days leading up to the exam, I was excited for it, not dreading it.

Best of luck to all! Happy to answer questions as is appropriate.