Hi guys, sorry for the long post but I got a lot of useful info from other detailed posts on the GMAT Club so hope this is useful for someone too.
GMAT Mock exams:May 25 (Veritas) – 620 (Q41/V35)
June 28 (Veritas) – 590 (Q42/V30)
July 9 (Veritas) – 700 (Q50/V36) – had repeated the test to workout timing
July 18 (GMAT Official Prep) – 700 (Q46/V40)
August 18 (GMAT Official Prep) – 710 (Q48/V40)
September 10 (Veritas) – 670(Q45/V37) - Took Veritas instead of GMAT Official prep because wanted to leave some GMAT Official Prep exams for future practice, in case I needed to retake the exam
September 18 (GMAT Official Prep) – 720(Q49/V40)
September 22 (Actual exam) – 720(Q49/V40)
BOOKING THE EXAM:Firstly, I took the exam at the test center rather than online because I wanted to choose the order as V->Q->IR->AWA. I felt I needed maximum energy to focus on the passages and reading as compared to Quant. I recommend figuring out which order works best for you (know your strengths and weaknesses and can test out the order during Mocks) and use it to your advantage.
I booked the GMAT exam only around the end of August. I kept putting off booking the GMAT (although I had been prepping since May) because I wanted to book it after I was fully prepared. But I realized I won’t be motivated to prep properly and give it my best unless there’s a set date and I progressed much faster after I booked a date. I would advice to take a mock exam to gauge you’re baseline, estimate how much prep time you need and book accordingly. However, given the exam costs a significant amount of money, book the exam once your mock scores (GMAT official Prep) are close or around the score you want. At that point really just go ahead and book the exam. You can do it!
GMAT TIMING AND SKIPPING:Do refer to GMAT Club 3 Step Pacing Plan by Bunuel
For the initial tests I struggled with timing especially on the Quant section which affected my score greatly. I followed
Magoosh’s advice to complete the Quant Q’s because unanswered questions in Quant are penalized heavily unlike for Verbal, so might as well focus on questions we are working on for Verbal instead of rushing. I am not sure if the verbal advice applies if you’re leaving many questions behind but if you’re on the last few questions then this tip applies.
To improve Quant timing, I set up Quant quizzes on
Magoosh – a set of 10 to up to 31 questions – and practiced them to finish within the designated timing.
Magoosh also gives you stats on your average timing, so it was very useful to gauge my weak sections so that I can improve on them and skip them when time is short.
I CANNOT EMPHASISE HOW IMPORTANT SKIPPING IS AS A STRATEGY FOR QUANT. It is super important to let go of questions that you have no clue on how to solve or are getting nowhere even if you started working on the question thinking it was familiar. Do make informed guesses on such questions if you can, but if can't do that then don’t waste time on such questions. PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE Skipping as you do mini quizzes with you
OG or on your prep course because it will be very useful. Else you will lose marks you could have gained on other questions or will be penalized heavily for missing questions. But do ensure you have time for easy questions and not making silly mistakes as mentioned in the above link.
This worked in my case but ONLY use it if it works out during your mocks: Sometimes when you look at a question there may be an instinct feel to not do it, then follow your instincts GIVEN it worked properly during your mock exams.
Also, in case you have any not so strong math topics then do identify them beforehand so that you can skip such questions on exam day either when you’re running out of time, or you glance at the question and really don’t know where to start.
I used
manhattan prep and
magoosh articles on time management as a guide to improve timing. I write the timing to follow at the beginning of the section and follow it. I did not draw boxes to follow as suggested in
manhattan prep because I don’t use the rough paper as much. I did not even complete one booklet for all my sections combined.
What I write on the sheet at the beginning:
Math (10 mins every 5 Q):
62 min – 0 Q completed
52 – 5 Q
42 – 10 Q
32 – 15 Q
22 – 20 Q
12 – 25 Q
2 - 30 Q completed
Verbal (9 mins every 5 Q):
65 min – 0 Q completed
56 – 5 Q
47 – 10 Q
38 – 15 Q
29 – 20 Q
20 – 25 Q
11 – 30 Q
2 – 35 Q completed
In case you have issues with timing, take references, try different strategies and se what works for you EARLY ON. So that by the time the exam rolls around you’re already used to the strategy and can apply it easily on exam day – one less thing to worry about.
CR:For critical reading I used PowerScore Bible CR. I found it quite useful because I wasn’t lost and knew what to do in a question or what to lookout for to answer one. This helped save time which I could spend on RC and SC and helped my morale during the section.
RC:RC was my strength from the beginning mainly because I read news articles everyday and read long non-fiction essays like the Atlantic or any topic that interests me like history or biology every now and then. So if you have the time, do build a regular reading habit, it will help you read and assimilate the important info in the passage so that you don’t have to waste time searching for and clarifying info as you see the questions. When you’re answering Q’s though read the relevant areas in detail and don’t miss any important words.
SC:My SC improved a lot mainly because of the lessons and practice questions from
Magoosh. Even if you don’t want to sign up for their course do go through their free articles (eg: On parallelism) and resources such as GMAT idiom flashcards. It is very useful.
Topics I found important (do identify what topics you find easy or difficult and what you need to focus on):
Parallelism and skipping words in parallel structures, Modifiers, Subject verb agreement, Tenses
Quant:For Quant, initially I thought it would be my strong suit as I’m from a STEM background but GMAT Quant is whole different game. It took me quite some time to understand and familiarize myself with integers and numbers because they mean very different things on the GMAT. So I had to build from basics up. I used Wizako first – it’s a course on GMAT Math alone and it’s worth your money if you’re only looking for Math concepts. The concepts are taught well but there aren’t many practice questions and it may not be very exam focused. I spent a lot of time on modulus topic when you don’t actually see many modulus questions on the exam.
Later because I bought
Magoosh mainly for verbal, I started using it for Quant as well because their quant is also very good, they have really good practice Questions and concept videos very focused on the exam. For instance they ask you to go through some advanced topics only if you want to score in a range- prevents confusion in case you’re just starting to get the hang of Quant basics. GMAT Club Bunuel’s questions and especially explanations are also really good.
LOGBOOK:I tried keeping a logbook initially but I actually didn’t go back to them. If I had to do anything different, I would actually set a time in a week or every few days to go back to the logbook (need a logbook for Veritas prep mocks and GMAT official Qs, for
Magoosh and OG2021 you have feature to go back to the set you did that week and check). However, I did go through the explanation once I did the questions that helped me see where I had concept gaps or what mistakes I shouldn’t make. I recommend keeping a logbook, but in case you didn’t, as long as you’re reading and analyzing what you’re doing wrong, at least on that day, don’t beat yourself over it.
STUDY SCHEDULE:I mostly followed the
Magoosh GMAT daily schedule (1 month version although it ultimately took about 2-3 months because I decided to apply for the next application cycle). I strongly recommend setting a schedule or following a schedule from other resources. It helps you to track what topics you've studied, what you need to revise and most importantly pushes you to study and PRACTICE Q SETS on a regular basis. Even if you miss a day of studying you can distribute and get back on track. Ensure you're study schedule has a good mix of topics and areas (can check
Magoosh's for reference) and not too focused for example only math concepts for a week.
HOWEVER, when following a schedule do remember to adapt it as you see fit. For instance if the plan asks you to spend three days on Algebra and you're already doing well in that area, then spend a day on it and utilize the other two days on other topics (proceed to new topics or practice Q's on topics you have studied).
SUMMARIZED NOTES (DIGITAL/NOTEBOOK):Do keep a summarized notes book or doc which includes important formulae, concepts, any questions that emphasize important concepts, etc. This helps a lot on the days leading to the GMAT, especially a day or two before, when you want to brush up important concepts and practice a few questions to keep your brain awake for test day. Some sources do recommend not doing anything before test day, but if you're someone who's not used to this studying style, you're someone who needs something to look at to feel prepared and ready, then following this helps.
EXAM DAY:Pre-exam:I was quite nervous on the day (exam timing was late afternoon) but there were luckily good songs on the radio during my ride to the exam center. It helped calm my nerves, so set up your music track to calm you down enroute to the exam. Also, not having any material other than the (1) Exam appointment letter (2) ID (3) Water bottle (4) Tissues, sanitizer (cause of the current situation) (5) Phone (6) Jacket means you don’t need to worry about the checking, leaving the not allowed materials out etc.
I didn’t bring any snacks because I had a small lunch before heading to the test center. And from my mock exams, I knew I wouldn’t feel hungry during the 3.5 hr exam. So based on your mock exams assess whether you need to bring snacks and if so ensure it’s the right type (not like sugar crash items or anything messy).
Do bring your jacket to adjust for any temperature changes. And in case its too cold (hands feel sort of numb/frozen) do take the break between the verbal and quant sections so that you can warm your hands outside and then do quant which requires more writing than verbal. Also do take the breaks in between sections to calm yourself down and stretch your legs.
During Exam:I took the exam in the order V->Q->IR->AWA. Use the washroom before the exam so that you don’t need to worry about it. While selecting schools, unless you’re applying for MBA do know exactly which course you’re applying for so that you can select it on which schools to send to section. Reduces a worry so that you’re not searching for the course, schools details on spot.
Verbal, unlike during my mock exams, I felt a little confused during a few questions after bringing it down to two options. Once, I even felt like I had made a mistake in the previous question. But whatever it is, I told myself, its okay and I need to focus and not waste time thinking of previous questions, give my best to what lies ahead and MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL stay calm. I expected a worst case score of 690 if my Quant went as well as during my mocks and didn't bother thinking of otherwise because need to keep up my morale.
I started Quant after taking a five minute break. It went well and I had to use a lot of self control to MOVE ON to the next question when I had no idea or seemed to be spending a lot of time on a question – made an informed guess based on my working so far and moved on. Practicing timing strategies and skipping beforehand allowed me to complete all the questions on time.
Took another five minute break before IR. I had planned to use the timing and skipping strategies like for quant because it worked for IR during mocks, but my mind was wandering as to what my scores would be and hope it went well, etc. This put off my strategy a bit and I couldn’t complete the section and had to guess and rush towards the end questions.
AWA I followed
Magoosh’s lesson to identify issues with the question on the scratch paper and wrote the essay followed by proofreading.
During mocks, when the time ends for AWA there’s a lag between when you finish and when the scores appear. At the test center as soon as the timing for the essay ended, my scores appeared on screen and that was it.
Breaks:Do leave a few minutes in the break for palm verification when going in and out, and security checks when coming back in. Do take a few sips of water (not drink a lot of water) during the break so your throat doesn’t feel dry and uncomfortable. The palm vein verification as mentioned on other posts on the GMAT Club can take multiple tries and quite some time too.
RESOURCES:Powerscore CR Bible
Magoosh Premium course
Wizako
Mock Exams:Veritas Prep Mock exam set (7 mocks) – I found the Quant to be more challenging than GMAT Official prep, couldn’t gauge the verbal. A good mock exam experience when prepping, provides timing analysis and the score is likely to be lower than GMAT Official prep.
GMAT Official Prep (1&2, 3&4): Most accurate predictor of your score among all the other mock exams. You’re score is likely to around this unless you’re very stressed or you’re timing is super off on the exam day. Really useful in getting used to the GMAT screen and format. I bought exam set 3&4 on a certain discount through my
Magoosh account (in case you want to go for
Magoosh, don't foget to utilize this)
GMAT Club mock exam – I found this to be the toughest. Unlike Veritas Prep and Official Prep, it is not adaptive – so it’s okay if you’re using it as set of prep questions but don’t use it to gauge your score.
Feel free to ask any questions or comment and BEST OF LUCK FOR YOUR EXAM!!!