GMAT Score Debrief -- 760 (+50 points higher than any practice test)

Hi everyone!

I've been lurking on this forum for the past few months, and have found it amazingly helpful both in terms of concrete tips for studying and mental reassurance, so I figured I would share my GMAT experience in the hopes that it might be useful for someone else. I just took the test on Sat, Feb 4 with the following results:

Quant: 49 (77%) // Verbal: 44 (98%) // IR: 8 (92%) // AWA: 6.0 (90%)

I started contemplating taking the test last summer, and bought the 2016 OG to begin preparing, but never really got into it. I would do a few sections on the weekend and maybe an hour here or there, but it was not focused at all. Last November, I decided I wanted to take the test in earnest. I ordered full Complete GMAT Strategy Manhattan Prep set and the 2017 OG from Amazon, and those were basically all I used to study.

For ~4 or 5 weekends I studied pretty consistently every Saturday afternoon, with a heavy emphasis on quant. I gravitate more towards verbal/writing than I do towards math, and I knew I needed to brush up on my number theory/geometry/statistics. The Manhattan GMAT prep books were GREAT for this -- they are entertaining to read and well-written, with practice sets scattered throughout the book so that you have a good sense of how you're doing with the concept throughout.

Then winter break happened and I went on a rowdy Asia trip for 2+ weeks... and did not open a single GMAT book during this entire time. When I got back in January, I completely panicked, realizing my test was in less than a month and I hadn't gotten through all the Manhattan Prep materials, much less done a single practice test.

I spent most of January trying to work my way through the rest of the Manhattan Prep books. I would say overall I spent 70% of the time on quant stuff and 30% on verbal. But I didn't take a single practice test until the week before my exam, and then I did 4 tests in 3 days -- but I totally skipped the essay and IR sections (I know, I know). They were all from VeritasPrep (I think it was 6 tests for $20 or something like that) and I found them all really difficult, especially the math. Suffice it to say, my scores were not in the range of what I was looking for:

2/1: 690 (46 Quant, 39 Verbal)
2/2: 710 (48 Quant, 39 Verbal)
2/2: 690 (46 Quant, 39 Verbal)
2/3: 680 (44 Quant, 39 Verbal)

The Verbal scores really frustrated me because I felt like I had a pretty good grasp of the concepts, and I never ran out of time or anything like that. Looking back, I think my mistake was that I simply went too fast without focusing on the detail of each question; I would have an intuition about the answer and immediately choose it without first asking myself, "What could be the trap here?" (I found that asking myself that one question really, really helped me focus throughout the entirety of the exam).

Going into test day, I was fully expecting a score in the low 700s or high 600s that I would want to retake (my goals are top 5 / top 10 schools, so I knew I needed excellent scores). The Quant section threw me for a loop -- I got a bunch of easy questions in the middle that convinced me I was doing badly, and ended up squeezed for time on the last 5-10 questions. There were at least 3-5 questions where I approximated or guessed entirely; I suspect I got really lucky on those, because I had used the same strategy in many practice exams with worse results. With Verbal, I just slowed down -- I would usually finish with 20-30 minutes to spare, and this time I had ~6 minutes left over. I spent probably 3-4 minutes on a few tougher questions, arguing with myself in my head. It also helped to close my eyes for 5 seconds and then go back to the question, so you can look at it again with a fresh slate.

Needless to say, I was VERY surprised by the score result! Mostly just relieved that I don't have to retake it. And now onto the process of applications!

P.S. I studied basically 0 for the AWA / IR sections. I skimmed the Manhattan Prep book in the 10 min Lyft ride on the way to the exam center and that was about it. I found the IR to be surprisingly easy, actually, much much easier than the Quant section -- it was all very, very straightforward as long as you read carefully and paid attention to the details. Nothing tricky about it at all.