Hi guys,
First of all, please let me thank GMAT club for everything that I have received here. Ever since I opened my account on GMAT club, it has really been my guide for everything pertaining to GMAT.
It's been quite a while since I came here. But even though I was keenly following the club, I was not really serious about my GMAT preparation.
I gave my first GMAT on the last week of December, 2017, hoping to get a good insight into the exam and gain confidence for any future attempts.
Overall Exam Experience
I think my Quant section went off well. I was stuck with a word problem ( a linear equation) for sometime ( ~6 mins) and had to hurry towards the end. At 10 mins, I came comfortably close to wrapping up my GMAT. However, the penultimate question was one on hemispheres and I skipped it, hoping to answer the last question, which my mock tests tell me, are usually simple. It was simple too ( a permutation question) and I selected the option but did not submit it. The time expired and I am uncertain whether my last question was considered answered.
The Quant section did sap my strength and stamina. This was consistently true for my mock tests too. Verbal went swooshing! After the first 20 questions, in which I think stumbled quite a while, a two-paragraph RC really drained me. I think I must lingered over it for 10-12 mins at least without gaining much. I had to hurry up and I had nearly 17 questions left to do in the last 20 mins. Needless to say, I guessed on most of them. The CRs went like a lightning flash and I had a blackout. Unlike Quant, Verbal left me completely unsatisfied and diffident. I consoled myself saying it was only a warm-up but that hardly helped.
I began my IR section with much apprehension and justifiably so. I had very little IR practice and even poorer grasp of the otherworldly IR Multi-Source Questions. IR punished me severely for my complacence. I got a 4 and going by my mocks, I think I had got no more than 3 questions correct.
As regards AWA is concerned, I began writing at a very slow pace after 10 mins had elapsed. I had almost made up my mind that as this GMAT had fared so badly, I would have to retake one soon. But I think I had fared well on AWA although I could not revise eventually. I followed the ChineseBurned template and I am awaiting my AWA scores.
PreparationI practised Bunuel's set on GMAT club. I am forever indebted to Bunuel. For quant, I did not do much other than GMAT Club exercises. The Manhattan tests were excellent.
Verbal gave me a tough time. I read some chapters of the invaluable Power Score Bible and practised passages from
OG and Veritas books. These books helped me a lot and I certainly do not blame them for losing my nerves half way through my Verbal paper.
I really neglected IR and I am all the worse for it.
For AWA, I just skimmed through ChineseBurned Template on the exam eve.
P.S: I am planning to buckle up for GMAT and give it more seriously next time ( towards March). Would like your suggestions for preparation, especially for my arch-nemesis, Verbal.