When I started my GMAT prep in March, I scored a 555 on my first practice test. Gave my first official attempt in July 2024 and got a 645. Then took a 1.5 month break from studies cause I had to travel for work so I only got back to studying on September 1st - where I feel like I had forgotten almost everything.
Took my second attempt in October - getting a 635 - before eventually getting a 685 in my third attempt last week.
Final Score: 685 - Q83, DI86, V83
Section Order - Quant DI Break Verbal
Wanted to go from weakest to strongest > especially cause I was more confident that if I am doing well in the test - I am best equipped to get hard verbal questions in the test.
Resources that helped me:
Experts Global Course
I used this in the lead up to my first attempt - the 645. It was cheaper and I thought doing more tests would help. I don't want to bad mouth any product but want this to be an accurate description of my experience and I feel that it didn't best equip me to get the score I wanted - so I probably regret doing the
experts global course. Also the 15 tests aren't that much of a USP IMO cause you can now give each official GMAT test twice - so you have 12 really accurate simulations of the real thing.
TTP - It's worth the money - simple as. If you are weak in Quant and don't understand fundamentals - it's the perfect resource to raise your floor. They give you every question type and every explanation. It's pretty incredible how detailed it is. The analytics are also immense - it's so user friendly and you can really focus on your weak points to improve. I think a big shout out to Jeff and Scott too. I used to regularly mail them saying struggling this and that and would get a response almost instantly saying hey do this, do that or sometimes reassured me that i'm on the right path and nerves are the only issue.
Manhattan Prep CR TextBook
Great resource to help you with on how you should approach a CR question.
GMAT Club TestsI only used this in the last 2 weeks before my 685 - and I honestly think this is what raised the ceiling of my score. In my first 2 official attempts I was nervy and would sometimes freeze if I got an unfamiliar question. The only solution to this was to practise sectional tests of GMAT club which threw a ton of unfamiliar questions at me. I did around 25 Quant, 10 Verbal, and 5 DI sectional tests in like 8 days. By the time the test came around. I was so used to timing and the feelings experienced in each of the 3 sections - that muscle memory almost took over during the exam.
Test Day Experience
On test day, I stayed calm and focused on pacing, especially in the quant and DI section. I managed to keep my nerves in check and stick to my strategy, which really paid off. I finished Quant with 6 minutes to spare. DI was incredibly toughed so just finished in time, while Verbal I finished with 2-3 minutes to spare so could review questions.
Takeaways
Looking back, my advice for other test-takers would be to invest time in practise. People underestimate how much time it takes to get a good GMAT score but also underestimate each of their abilities. With enough time and practise - I think anyone can get a really really good score - i'm living proof of that.