I've been a silent follower of the forum for a while, and now that the journey is complete I'd like to give back to the community and share my experience. I do so hoping that others will find inspiration and courage in my story, as I have been inspired by so many great stories I've read here. Executive summary: if I, a non-native English speaker with less than average quant skills, with no formal training in English at all, and quite some years away from my last academic foray, can get a 750, anyone can do it, period. About me: 29 yrs old, non-native English speaker, hailing from Romania. My GMAT preparation effort started on July 27th (a little less than 8 weeks of study), when I took the Knewton diagnostic exam, without any prior preparation. Let me just say this upfront: I SUCKED. Math was never my strength, and whatever quant skills I had back in college, they were gone. I scored an appalling 590 (31, 42), which was a bit of a wake up call. I expected my score to be less-than-stellar, but 590 was really awful. My verbal skills were good, but needed some polish nonetheless. Reeling from the shock, I immediately did two things which I believe did the most to change the course of my journey: I signed up for Knewton's GMAT Prep course, and I took almost 4 weeks of leave from work. Regarding Knewton, I could not have made a better choice. Its thorough, no-nonsense approach covers everything you need to know in a structured manner. It basically built me up, both in terms of knowledge and in terms of confidence, since I didn't feel alone in the struggle anymore. Therefore, I wholeheartedly recommend Knewton to anyone studying for the GMAT, and I'd like to take a moment to thank Chris Wu for his patience and excellent teaching skills. To be fair, a lot of my time was invested in brushing up my math. I did pick up some new things on SC/CR from Knewton, but my RC was very high from the beginning (I rarely missed one-two questions per sitting). I'm not sure why though; perhaps it is because I used to read a lot of English literature some years ago. Anyway, I spent the next 4 weeks immersed in GMAT materials. I had two 3-hour live classes per week, and a LOT of homework and assessments both before and after the class. Really, if you take Knewton, expect to invest a significant amount of time. You will literally do hundreds and hundreds of questions, assessments, re-assessments, etc. Overall, I believe I spent an average of 3-4 hours per day, maybe more, reading, learning, taking tests. My test scores are: Diagnostic Knewton: 590 (31, 42) Knewton #1: 650 (40, 41) Knewton #2: 700 (44, 42) Knewton #3: 640 (36, 43) Knewton #4: 660 (41, 41) GMATPrep 1: 730 (48, 42) GMATPrep 2: 700 (did not record Q and V scores) GMATPrep 1: 770 (retake, did not record Q and V scores) I can definitely confirm that GMATPrep is the best predictor of your results, and it comes closest to the real thing. I found Knewton's exams to be quite a bit more difficult than the real thing, especially in quant. I'm sure it's meant to be this way, and given my results, I have no reason to complain. Just be aware of this fact and if you score lower than expected in a Knewton test, don't let it demoralize you; you'll probably do significantly better on test day. Books used: OG11, OG12, GMAT Quant Review, GMAT Verbal Review, MGMAT SC Guide, Kaplan's GMAT 800. As you can see, the book list is pretty standard, no fancy stuff. I didn't even get the chance to open the Verbal Review and the SC Guide, unfortunately. My whole strategy was based on the fact that I already had very strong verbal skills to begin with. I felt that it would make little economic sense to try and improve further in verbal, but given the limited time to Round 1, I would be better off investing in bringing the quant skills up to a reasonable level. In practice, this translated to (1) go through all Knewton coursework, then (2) do the OG12, Quant Review and GMAT800 and finally (3) take the GMATPrep. I went through about 70% of the hard content of the GMAC books. I barely touched GMAT800 because time was running out and I thought it wise to focus on the OG instead. I stopped doing anything GMAT-related yesterday. I took the day off, relaxed, had a nice dinner, listened to some music, etc, and went to bed early (sort of). I woke up this morning very fresh, ate something light and went to the test center. However, when the lady said "would you like to begin now?", my stomach turned. ) I had a brief moment of panic, but then the training kicked in and by the time I was in front of the computer, all emotion was gone. I made full use of my breaks, splashing water on my face each time and eating a candy bar to maintain an appropriate blood-sugar level. I had no lunch, only a sandwich before the test, since eating an entire meal makes me a bit sleepy and I wanted to avoid that. Not everything went perfect, though. With 10 minutes of the quant section remaining, a lady entered the test room, sat next to me and started her test. She then coughed for 30 minutes straight. 10 minutes into the verbal section I started to have violent thoughts. After another 10 minutes I reached quite a difficult RC passage, and all I could hear was her cough. I couldn't read anything, I couldn't focus on anything else except the lady's coughing. That's when I gave in and used the earplugs. If this happens to you, use the earplugs immediately. I avoided using them for 30 minutes because I thought having something in my ears would distract me (very stupid thought, I know :p). It doesn't, it helps a lot. If all else fails, DO raise your hand and point out the problem to the test administrator. I contemplated doing so but felt bad for the lady and didn't want to cause any trouble to her during the exam, after all she couldn't help it. Anyway, I put on the earplugs and went on to see a 750 (47, 47) on the screen. I couldn't believe my eyes! I knew it went well, and expected a low 700, maybe 720 maximum, but the score blew me off the chair. That's my story, folks. If I could sum up my GMAT experience into advice to a prospective test taker with a similar starting profile (crappy quant, solid verbal), it would read like this: - It's NOT that difficult - It's as much (if not more) a test of managing your emotions and your time as a test of your quant and verbal skills. In my opinion, the only way you'll get to the level where you can control your emotions and time is by doing A LOT of tests, always timed - Do not go for extremely difficult question sets. In my opinion, they add no value. I still suck at the hard GMAT Club tests, I barely get 2-3 right questions. I did some hard sets and then stopped, because I found them confidence-shattering. - Get a prep company behind you, if you can afford it. Specifically, get Knewton. I know how this sounds, but I'm really enthusiastic about my experience with them. - Save the GMATPrep for last, and go through EACH question you got wrong. Thoroughly understand your mistake. - Do not AVOID confronting your mistakes and weak areas, but focus on them instead. You hate probabilities? Focus on them for a few days. XY-plane making you nauseous? Spend time with it until you love it. - Do invest time in verbal if your skills are not up to speed. A strong verbal score WILL make the difference. If I can be of any further help, please do ask, I'd be glad to assist fellow GMAT warriors Razvan

Hey great score..! Congrats. One q: Do we get the earplugs by default or do we need to ask/get them before the test starts (i.e. on our own)..? Thanks.

Great score....reflects your sincere effort, as outlined. All the Best for your apps.

Awesome awesome.... V47 is no cake walk especially for a non-native English speaker. I am personally finding it difficult to cross the 35ish barrier in verbal and wanted some advice on how you tackled RCs.

Bravo !!! Excelent un scor extraordinar. Mari succese pe viitor. (rom)

Congrats on your great balanced score.

cool.. gr8 score... verbal is ur strength... gr88.. for me, i think iam gud in quant.. got 43 with little prep.. but verbal... i think now RC is improving in accuracy getting 90% correct. but TIMING is my problem.. can you Please help me on this. wat are ur tips for improving speed? thanks

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