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vps01011989
GMAT 2: 760 Q50 V44
Posts: 16
05 Aug 2020, 08:46
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Hi All,
I have completed my GMAT journey. I gave two attempts within a month. I am reasonably satisfied with the latest score - 760 (Q50 | V44). My first attempt around a month back was 740 (Q50 | V40).
I have divided my experience in two parts. Part - 1 - Between March 2020 (when i started my prep) to my first attempt in Jul 2020, and Part - 2 - 1 Month between my two attempts. May be this will help someone.
Part - 1:
Start of Preparation: : I started by going through an old OG (2016), I got from one of my friends. I went through the theory and 50% of all the problems in verbal section and one full length test of quant section in first two weeks. I understood three things in my first two week - a) I am going to face a lot of problems in SC, b) I am surprisingly good at RC, and c) Though I may not need to study the quant theory, i need to practice DS to be absolutely confident (My target was at least 50 in quant). Since I was working, I could give not more than 1 - 1.5 hrs on weekdays. Hence i decided to leverage weekends and tried to give solid 4 hours to GMAT on Saturdays and Sundays.
First Full Length Test and takeaways : After first two weeks of going through OG (mostly for verbal), I gave my first attempt at GMATprep (Test - 1) and scored 640. (Q47 | V32). I was reasonably okay with my verbal performance but having a strong maths background, Q47 did hurt a bit. My key takeaway - I started solving 10 PS and 10 DS questions of 700 level from GMATclub forum everyday irrespective of topic and source. I would select 20 problems everyday and solve them with timer. And, that is what i did for rest of the 3 months of my prep. (That is approx. 1,800 700 level questions). My Second Key Takeaway - I got Manhattan prep book for SC from my friend and read through it, cover to cover, twice in two weeks and on the side kept solving SC questions from GMATclub forum - Everyday 15 SC questions with timer from OG, VR, Mahattan Prep, Veritas. For verbal I stuck to these 4 sources only. (I will explain why subsequently).
Pre-thinking was a game changer in CR : I happened to attend a free webinar by e-GMAT on CR out of curiosity. I was very bad at SC at this time and good at RC but CR was neither here nor there. I did not know where to start (thought about starting on Manhattan book on CR) when I stumbled on the e-GMAT free webinar on using pre-thinking and assumptions for CR problems. That was one of the best accidental decision. I used the takeaways from the webinar to CR problems and my accuracy and consistency increased many-fold and contrary to common sense, pre-thinking helped me increase my pace in CR as well, specially for 700 level questions. I highly recommend attending their free webinar, it does not cost anything and proved to me an absolute winner for me.
Practice Verbal from the right sources: As far as i am concerned my majority of practice was through Gmatclub forum questions with timer. Remember to Make notes (some people call it error log) of whatever you are getting wrong in SC (These may be rules which you are faltering on, such as vs like / as, because of vs due to, which vs that etc.). There is no substitute for practice and making notes in SC. But, for an non-native english speaker, please take it from me, do not and absolutely do not solve verbal problems from every source. This is an acquired learning. Stick to five sources - OG, VR, Manhattan Prep, Veritas and e-GMAT. I am not belittling any entity here, but i felt more often than not questions from other sources, especially in SC, do not test the concepts that GMAT tests. You will get a lot of fancy SC answers which have nothing to do with GMAT exam and then you will start looking for fancy answers in the 700 level questions instead of following the set of rules and meaning based approach. This approach will be detrimental, I saw a performance dip in the tests once I started doing SC questions from other sources. I would advise to avoid LSAT questions for CR as well, just stick to what is necessary.
Give as many tests as possible: Can not stress this enough. Give as many tests as possible. I bought two test series (Apart from GMATprep) - Veritas (discounted price of $19 for 7 tests) and Expert Global ($50 for 15 tests). Both were more than bang for my buck. I started with Veritas first. For the first three tests - My score was 710 (Q50 | v37). I had already improved by 70 points by just practicing GMATclub forum questions. I stopped on the tests for 2 weeks and just prepared using the same strategy mentioned above but with more focus on SC, went through all the notes again and increased questions to 20 per day for two weeks. My fourth Veritas test score was 740 (Q51 | v40). From this day on, I had found my ideal practice routine - Everyday 10 questions from SC, CR and 2-3 RC passages (RC was not restricted to any source), and 10 PS and DS question every two days, and give as many tests. A big shout out to Expert Global tests as well. They have the best tests for GMAT hands down (apart from GMATprep off-course). As my practice continued, my average score on Expert-global came around 750-760. (Q 50-51 | v42-44). Apart from these two test series I gave every free test available in the market and GMATprep 1-4 (twice). My average GMATprep score was also around 760.
First Attempt: I booked my first attempt on Jul 6, 2020 on Pearson Center, Begumpet, Hyderabad. The center is absolutely top class. I couldn't have asked for anything more from the GMAT center. I wanted to get verbal out of the way first. Having given so many tests, i should have been confident, but i was very very nervous. For first 10 questions, i spent a lot of time (2.5 mins per question). This had a snowballing effect. I had to rush through RC passages (my strongest topic) to make up the time. I ended up spending too much time on SC questions, reading the options again and again. This impacted my performance in other two sections as well. I ended up at 740 with V40, a good score but a bit underwhelming given my test scores.
Part - 2 (Second Attempt): I decided to take GMAT again in months' time and booked 3rd Aug 2020 as my date. I knew i didn't need to anything extraordinary. So, I kept my quant prep as before and started little over 1 min time bound SC practise. I tried to solve 30-35 SC questions in one sitting with a time frame of 35-40 mins. My target was to fight fatigue and do SC as quick as possible. Most of the time i felt that more often than not you know the correct answer for an SC question in 1 min, anytime you spend more on SC will not help you much. I also gave GMATprep 5 and 6 during this time and scored 760 on both.
On the test day, i was calmer than the first attempt. May be choice of same center helped because the surroundings were familiar and staff was familiar. Again i decided to get verbal out of the way first and by the time i was at Q20, I knew test was already going much better than first attempt. Rest of the test was also over soon without hiccups. And then the score came, though I had only improved my total score by 20 points (740 to 760, Quant was same at 50), my verbal scaled score jumped by 4 points, (V40 to V44).
If i want to summarize my learning from my GMAT journey, I would suggest - 1) Don't rush to many available sources - go for the most trusted once, you will realize it by yourself, but if you ask me stick to OG, VR, Manhattan, Veritas and e-GMAT. 2) Give as many tests as possible - If possible buy Expert Global tests, Give All GMATprep if possible (A bit costly but worth it). 3) Even if you have full control over a topic, keep practicing, even if 10 questions every day. 4) Consistency in prep is most important, dont try and spend too much time on weekends to cover, spend at least an hour everyday, that is enough. 5) For SC, there is no substitute to prob;em solving and making notes, you notes will help you more than any text book and Try and Follow pre-thinking approach for CR.
Sorry if there are mistakes in the write-up, i wrote it fairly quickly and Good Luck!!
I have completed my GMAT journey. I gave two attempts within a month. I am reasonably satisfied with the latest score - 760 (Q50 | V44). My first attempt around a month back was 740 (Q50 | V40).
I have divided my experience in two parts. Part - 1 - Between March 2020 (when i started my prep) to my first attempt in Jul 2020, and Part - 2 - 1 Month between my two attempts. May be this will help someone.
Part - 1:
Start of Preparation: : I started by going through an old OG (2016), I got from one of my friends. I went through the theory and 50% of all the problems in verbal section and one full length test of quant section in first two weeks. I understood three things in my first two week - a) I am going to face a lot of problems in SC, b) I am surprisingly good at RC, and c) Though I may not need to study the quant theory, i need to practice DS to be absolutely confident (My target was at least 50 in quant). Since I was working, I could give not more than 1 - 1.5 hrs on weekdays. Hence i decided to leverage weekends and tried to give solid 4 hours to GMAT on Saturdays and Sundays.
First Full Length Test and takeaways : After first two weeks of going through OG (mostly for verbal), I gave my first attempt at GMATprep (Test - 1) and scored 640. (Q47 | V32). I was reasonably okay with my verbal performance but having a strong maths background, Q47 did hurt a bit. My key takeaway - I started solving 10 PS and 10 DS questions of 700 level from GMATclub forum everyday irrespective of topic and source. I would select 20 problems everyday and solve them with timer. And, that is what i did for rest of the 3 months of my prep. (That is approx. 1,800 700 level questions). My Second Key Takeaway - I got Manhattan prep book for SC from my friend and read through it, cover to cover, twice in two weeks and on the side kept solving SC questions from GMATclub forum - Everyday 15 SC questions with timer from OG, VR, Mahattan Prep, Veritas. For verbal I stuck to these 4 sources only. (I will explain why subsequently).
Pre-thinking was a game changer in CR : I happened to attend a free webinar by e-GMAT on CR out of curiosity. I was very bad at SC at this time and good at RC but CR was neither here nor there. I did not know where to start (thought about starting on Manhattan book on CR) when I stumbled on the e-GMAT free webinar on using pre-thinking and assumptions for CR problems. That was one of the best accidental decision. I used the takeaways from the webinar to CR problems and my accuracy and consistency increased many-fold and contrary to common sense, pre-thinking helped me increase my pace in CR as well, specially for 700 level questions. I highly recommend attending their free webinar, it does not cost anything and proved to me an absolute winner for me.
Practice Verbal from the right sources: As far as i am concerned my majority of practice was through Gmatclub forum questions with timer. Remember to Make notes (some people call it error log) of whatever you are getting wrong in SC (These may be rules which you are faltering on, such as vs like / as, because of vs due to, which vs that etc.). There is no substitute for practice and making notes in SC. But, for an non-native english speaker, please take it from me, do not and absolutely do not solve verbal problems from every source. This is an acquired learning. Stick to five sources - OG, VR, Manhattan Prep, Veritas and e-GMAT. I am not belittling any entity here, but i felt more often than not questions from other sources, especially in SC, do not test the concepts that GMAT tests. You will get a lot of fancy SC answers which have nothing to do with GMAT exam and then you will start looking for fancy answers in the 700 level questions instead of following the set of rules and meaning based approach. This approach will be detrimental, I saw a performance dip in the tests once I started doing SC questions from other sources. I would advise to avoid LSAT questions for CR as well, just stick to what is necessary.
Give as many tests as possible: Can not stress this enough. Give as many tests as possible. I bought two test series (Apart from GMATprep) - Veritas (discounted price of $19 for 7 tests) and Expert Global ($50 for 15 tests). Both were more than bang for my buck. I started with Veritas first. For the first three tests - My score was 710 (Q50 | v37). I had already improved by 70 points by just practicing GMATclub forum questions. I stopped on the tests for 2 weeks and just prepared using the same strategy mentioned above but with more focus on SC, went through all the notes again and increased questions to 20 per day for two weeks. My fourth Veritas test score was 740 (Q51 | v40). From this day on, I had found my ideal practice routine - Everyday 10 questions from SC, CR and 2-3 RC passages (RC was not restricted to any source), and 10 PS and DS question every two days, and give as many tests. A big shout out to Expert Global tests as well. They have the best tests for GMAT hands down (apart from GMATprep off-course). As my practice continued, my average score on Expert-global came around 750-760. (Q 50-51 | v42-44). Apart from these two test series I gave every free test available in the market and GMATprep 1-4 (twice). My average GMATprep score was also around 760.
First Attempt: I booked my first attempt on Jul 6, 2020 on Pearson Center, Begumpet, Hyderabad. The center is absolutely top class. I couldn't have asked for anything more from the GMAT center. I wanted to get verbal out of the way first. Having given so many tests, i should have been confident, but i was very very nervous. For first 10 questions, i spent a lot of time (2.5 mins per question). This had a snowballing effect. I had to rush through RC passages (my strongest topic) to make up the time. I ended up spending too much time on SC questions, reading the options again and again. This impacted my performance in other two sections as well. I ended up at 740 with V40, a good score but a bit underwhelming given my test scores.
Part - 2 (Second Attempt): I decided to take GMAT again in months' time and booked 3rd Aug 2020 as my date. I knew i didn't need to anything extraordinary. So, I kept my quant prep as before and started little over 1 min time bound SC practise. I tried to solve 30-35 SC questions in one sitting with a time frame of 35-40 mins. My target was to fight fatigue and do SC as quick as possible. Most of the time i felt that more often than not you know the correct answer for an SC question in 1 min, anytime you spend more on SC will not help you much. I also gave GMATprep 5 and 6 during this time and scored 760 on both.
On the test day, i was calmer than the first attempt. May be choice of same center helped because the surroundings were familiar and staff was familiar. Again i decided to get verbal out of the way first and by the time i was at Q20, I knew test was already going much better than first attempt. Rest of the test was also over soon without hiccups. And then the score came, though I had only improved my total score by 20 points (740 to 760, Quant was same at 50), my verbal scaled score jumped by 4 points, (V40 to V44).
If i want to summarize my learning from my GMAT journey, I would suggest - 1) Don't rush to many available sources - go for the most trusted once, you will realize it by yourself, but if you ask me stick to OG, VR, Manhattan, Veritas and e-GMAT. 2) Give as many tests as possible - If possible buy Expert Global tests, Give All GMATprep if possible (A bit costly but worth it). 3) Even if you have full control over a topic, keep practicing, even if 10 questions every day. 4) Consistency in prep is most important, dont try and spend too much time on weekends to cover, spend at least an hour everyday, that is enough. 5) For SC, there is no substitute to prob;em solving and making notes, you notes will help you more than any text book and Try and Follow pre-thinking approach for CR.
Sorry if there are mistakes in the write-up, i wrote it fairly quickly and Good Luck!!
05 Aug 2020, 11:21
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Bookmarks
vps01011989 - let me be the first one to congratulate you. Improving from 740 takes some will power. Kudos to you for putting in the effort and staying consistent. I am glad that the prethinking approach helped you. Which schools do plan to apply to?
-Rajat
-Rajat
rball9
Current Student
Joined: 26 Jul 2020
Last visit: 04 Jan 2021
Posts: 9
Given Kudos: 2
Schools: Kellogg PT'24 (I) Booth PT'24 (A)
05 Aug 2020, 12:32
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Great post and congrats. Agreed on taking practice exams. The more the better!
