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01 Jun 2015, 13:25
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My GMAT Detailed Debrief - 730 (Q49, V40, IR 8, AWA 6.0)
Hi everyone! I've been a long time lurker on this site, so I thought I would give back a little to this awesome community by sharing my GMAT experience and a few of my tips that I picked up along the way. I gave my GMAT about a week ago and promised myself that I would write a debrief if I scored 750+ but here it is anyways. It's a little long, so please bear with me!
1. A little about me
I'm a 19 year-old undergrad student currently studying Economics and Mathematics. English is my native language. I took the GMAT because I'm planning on doing an MSc in Finance/MiM degree from LSE/LBS/Duke. I took one month off of my summer break plans, and just focused on the GMAT (Since I know a lot of you guys work simultaneously, my study strategy might need a little tweaking to fit in with your schedule). I gave up everything for a month - parties, friends, and significantly cut down on my TV time. My aim was to never re-take and finish off the GMAT in my first try.
2. How I studied
Day1 - Day 3 (Extremely crucial if you have a short period of study time)
If you are a beginner who is unfamiliar with the test, it’s totally normal to be overwhelmed by the amount of study material and options that are out there. It’s not easy to know where to start off. It’s crucial to get a good overview of how you will tackle this beast before you start studying. On Day 1 I scheduled my GMAT test for a centre close-by to my house. I was good to go! I took the Day 2 and Day 3 out of my study schedule to research study materials and get a good idea of my study schedule. I found this helpful sample study schedule on Magoosh and decided that it would be a good starting point. Although it’s a three-month study plan, it requires only an hour or so of work daily. If you have more time than that, you can easily fit it into a month. After much research and debate I selected the following resources:
- MGMAT Quant and Verbal books (thereby getting access to individual question banks and the 6 CATs)
- Premium Magoosh membership
- Gmatclub membership
- OG15.
This free ebook gave me a great overview of the entire test, I suggest reading it before starting out. I had a large post-it on my wall reading 'GMAT: Goal 750'. This kept me motivated.
Day 4 – Day 10:
- Attempted the OG Diagnostic Test: I scored well in PS, horribly in DS and average in Verbal. I realised that I needed to revisit the basics of a few maths subjects - especially number properties and geometry.
- I managed to fit in the first 2 weeks of this study schedule within this week. Since I had about 3-5 hours of study time daily, this was easily possible. After this week, I got a good grip as what exactly the GMAT was about. I had a good idea of the list of topics and their frequency as well (check out page 46 here).
- I was ready to dive into the details of quant and verbal next. At the end of this week I attempted the MGMAT CAT 1 and scored a disappointing 680 (Q45, V38). I was a little disheartened but found solace in the fact that those CATs were supposed to be way harder than the actual GMAT.
Day 11 – Day 17:
- Focused mainly on quant during this period - saw a few of the Magoosh videos and attempted 70-80 of the Magoosh Quant questions. (If you are a Magoosh user, the score estimator that is shown on your Magoosh dashboard will more often than not underestimate your score so don't be discouraged by it. It predicted a maximum of Q42 for me)
- Read the MGMAT Quant books and made compiled notes on the theory and suggested tricks for all the topics, one by one. After making notes on a particular topic, in order to cement that information, I attempted the MGMAT online question banks for each of the books. These questions were extremely helpful in solidifying my approach to different types of questions. If your basics are strong, you can attempt ANY math question that gets thrown at you in the GMAT, so I suggest that you focus on understanding the concepts rather than solving loads of questions without fully grasping the concept.
- By the end of Day 17, I had furthered my understanding of all quant topics and felt more confident in PS and DS. I also attempted 20-30 PS and DS questions for the OG within this week, which were extremely easy compared to the MGMAT question bank questions.
- On Day 17, I attempted the MGMAT CAT 2 and scored 700 (Q47, V39, IR 4). I had got more proficient in Quant but was still struggling a little with DS and obviously with IR as well.
Day 17 – Day 22:
- I scheduled this week for Verbal. I saw a few Magoosh videos, read the MGMAT SC and CR books and attempted 20-30 Magoosh verbal questions. I also attempted 20-30 OG questions on SC, CR and RC daily. I realised that I was relatively the strongest in RC and the weakest in SC. My original strategy for SC was to determine the correct answer by 'hearing if it sounded correct'. This strategy will not get you very far!!
- Attempted about 50-60 of these GMATClub Verbal compilation questions (700 level questions) - CR, RC and SC. These were extremely helpful in preparing me for difficult questions.
- On Day 21 and Day 23 I attempted CATs. On the MGMAT CAT 3, I scored 730 (Q47, V43, IR 4) and on the MGMAT CAT 4 I scored 720 (Q48, V41, IR 5). IR had been continuously a weak point as I kept running out of time on these questions. However, the MGMAT IR questions were again supposed to be way harder than the actual GMAT IR questions.
Day 23 – Day 29:
- I dedicated these days solely to revision and attempting CATs in order to increase my stamina. I attempted 6 CATs within 7 days. I woke up at the actual time I was planning to wake up for the GMAT and followed the same schedule for each of the tests.
- MGMAT CAT 5 - 750 (Q48, V45, IR 5), MGMAT CAT 6 - 740 (Q48, V43, IR 6), Economist Free Practice Test - 750, GMAT Pill Free Test- 730, GMAT Prep 1 - 750 (Q50, V42) and GMAT Prep 2 - 740 (Q50, V41)
- I also attempted all the free quizzes available on GMAT club, these were very helpful as a last minute revision of all the different question types.
- I spent a few hours solving the 50 free online IR questions you get access to through the OG. These were kind of tricky! IR wasn't as easy for me as it appears to be for others, hence I spent a little more time familiarising myself with the methodology and types of questions.
Day 30 (Day before the GMAT):
- I followed the exact schedule I would be follow the next day. I woke up at 6am, and my reattempt of GMATPrep 1 (with AWA and IR) began at 9am. I scored 760 on this test, probably inflated due to a few repeated questions. I relaxed the rest of the day, spending quite a while watching TV.
3. Test Day
I woke up at 6am, got dressed, ate a few almonds and cashews, drank some water and left for my test centre. I arrived about an hour before the test and I was quite nervous by the time I started the test. Something really interesting happened outside my test centre - I met another guy attempting the test and naturally, we started discussing the grueling few hours we had ahead of us. He too recognised the famous Bunuel and his awesome math posts! (Funny how almost everyone in the GMAT community has benefitted in some way from Bunuel's constant hard work!).
The AWA was alright - the topic did not have too many easily recognizable flaws but I feel I wrote enough. I followed chineseburned's AWA strategyand ended up writing about 600 words over 4 paragraphs. I was hopeful for a 6.0. Next up was the IR section. I almost ran out of time and got stumped by a few questions. I ended up having to guess about 3 questions out of 12 so I was pretty disappointed with my IR performance and hoped that I would get a 6-7. I took my break for about 5 minutes, drank some water and ate a few nuts. IR was still playing on my mind as I started the Quant section and this had a definite negative impact on my performance. Keeping in mind the importance of the first 10 questions, I spent close to 25 minutes on them. I had never struggled with quant before, but today something was definitely off. I was thrown off by a rocky and slow start and I think I made quite a few silly mistakes. Towards the end I started to see a few harder questions, but I didn't think I could manage a Q49 after I finished the section. After quant, I took the break and was ready for verbal, although with a slightly negative frame of mind. Verbal took much longer than I had anticipated but I finished with about 5 minutes to spare. When the score came up, I was relieved to see my scores as I was expecting something closer to a 700 as my performance had been disappointing. I strongly believe that if I had not let my mood and mindset falter after IR, I most certainly would have managed to get 50 in Quant.
4. General tips/strategies/pointers
- Practice tests are incredibly helpful in building stamina and confidence. Towards Day 24/25 of prep, the 4-hour test did not seem grueling at all. Stamina is crucial, as you do not want to be fatigued at any point during the real GMAT. Try to follow the exact GMAT schedule while attempting the practice tests, you want your body and mind to be familiar with the constraints you will be putting on them on d-day.
- Visit the centre a few days before your test so you know the exact address and the general atmosphere of the centre. Firstly, you don’t want to be in a position where you can’t find your test on the final day – you want to be relaxed and ready. Secondly, you must aim to minimize all unknown variables (location of test, temperature of test centre etc etc) on your final GMAT test day. The only variable should be the GMAT test questions!!
- Maintain one notebook with the tips, tricks and general strategies for quant and verbal. Update them if you find a shorter way to attempt a certain kind of question or learn a new concept from a question you solved incorrectly. This will be your GMAT bible, maintain it very well! Skim through the notes before attempting practice tests as well.
- I honestly felt that the Magoosh question bank for quant and verbal was at a good level - a level comparable to the GMAT level. MGMAT quant was way harder than the actual GMAT quant, while verbal was easier than the actual GMAT.
- GMATPrep was, in my opinion, slightly easier than the real GMAT. GMATPrep is good indicator of your score but it’s obviously not a guarantee. If you find yourself with a negative mindset on the final day, you can easily drop 20-40 points of your GMATPrep score. So take those scores with a grain of salt.
- I split my study schedule broadly into quant and verbal – a strategy which worked for me as I like to focus on one thing at a time. This may not work for everyone, so experiment a little bit to find what works best for you.
- Since I tend to be a perfectionist at times, I used to often pause the CATs when I wasn’t sure of the answer and google the question on another tab to reconfirm if my answer was correct or not. I didn’t like doing badly even in practice tests – this was a big mistake!! Don’t make this mistake as this strategy only deceives you and gives you false hopes. Be true to yourself. You would be better off doing badly in a practice test rather than on the actual GMAT.
- MGMAT has a great online resource wherein they divide all OG questions based on their topic and level of difficulty. So for example if you find yourself struggling with word problems, you can attempt all the easy, medium and hard questions on word problems from the OG in an organised manner.
- Download Bunuel’s sample questions (which are available as links under all of his posts) and try to solve as many as you can. If you can solve them correctly, it will increase your confidence and if you can’t solve them correctly, it will force you to study and practice harder. Win – win situation.
- Check your sample essays on [url=Flesch-Kincaid scale]Flesch-Kincaid scale][/url]to get an idea of how you might score. I was scoring at consistent level of 13.5-14 on the grade scale, which I believe indicates that you are likely to get a 6. Don't take my word for this as I have no idea about the algorithm the GMAT uses to score the AWA but this could be a good indicator of your score. I also attempted the 50 online IR questions provided in the OG. Some people don’t like preparing for these two elements, as they’re not directly counted in your score but remember your mindset greatly impacts your score! If you do poorly in these two sections, you may start off quant and verbal with a negative mindset. So practice these two sections and get comfortable with them so you don’t get stumped during the actual test.
5. Review of study material
- Magoosh - The greatest positive about Magoosh is the videos it offers on numerous topics and questions. It's a great starting point for beginners but I wouldn't rely solely on Magoosh if you are aiming for a 750+. It has a great, simple user interface and is extremely simple to navigate. It helped me organise my study plan and get familiar with the test and different types of questions. In my opinion. it is definitely worth the $99 fee.
- MGMAT - This is the resource you should own if you aiming for a high score. It provides you with really helpful methods to solve questions and most importantly it gives you access to the online CATs (which in my opinion are best practice CATs available). The MGMAT SC book was extremely helpful and I found it to be the most valuable SC resource available.
6. Final thoughts
GMAT is a test of your endurance, handwork and dedication. As with most things, if you work in a systematic and organised way, you will see results. Don't give up, give it your all and pretend that you don't have a second shot at it. Best of luck!! If you have any other questions or comments, feel free to message me!
02 Jun 2015, 22:13
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19 year old scoring 730 on GMAT, with perfect scores in IR and AWA! Way to go Nimit.
What is interesting is your consistency in all your mocks (official or un-official), since you were largely scoring in 73-750 range in all of them, and so you did on the actual exam as well. However, apart from GMATPrep, would you recommend any specific unofficial test that you liked (since you attemped quite a few, including Economist, GMATPill, MGMAT etc.).
What is interesting is your consistency in all your mocks (official or un-official), since you were largely scoring in 73-750 range in all of them, and so you did on the actual exam as well. However, apart from GMATPrep, would you recommend any specific unofficial test that you liked (since you attemped quite a few, including Economist, GMATPill, MGMAT etc.).
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