Hi guys,
I took GMAT exam on 27th october 2015 and scored 750. The individual scores are Quant 49 , Verbal 42 & IR 08.
Just a little bit about me: I am an engineer by qualification and graduated in the year 2008. Currently, i am working.
My journey for GMAT began in 2014 when i studied for about one and a half month and tried my luck on the exam and miserable failed. The reason for giving the exam in such a short period was the deadline for application in ISB. After that , i did not studied for about 8-9 months due to other commitments but i constantly reminded myself that i have a task left.
i again started preparing for the exam in the month of july'15 since the first round dates of isb & IIM A was in the month of september. Obviously being an engineer , i was weak in english so started concentrating on sentence correction.
SC: I referred to manhattan text book and online course of
e gmat. i would say reading the textbook is important to grasp the variouse elements being tested in SC but the real game changer was the online study material. It really helped me to understand the minute details that are required during the test. For practice, i used questions of
official guide and the 1000 sc question pdf along with some question banks provided by friends and the gmat club forum. Pay particular special attention to idioms.
CR: i studied basic theory behind CR question si.e spotting conclusion, premises etc through an PDF provided by a friend. The theory for CR is very minimal and it just tones to move in the right direction. I practiced questions from
official guide and some question banks provided by friends. I also practiced the 150 difficult questions of GMAT club but unfortunately my responses were rarely correct. However, the tougher questions made my concept of CR really strong.
RC: For RC too i referred to a PDF for getting toned to the pattern of RC passages and also to graspbasic concepts of RC. I practiced through
official guide and some PDF material provided by friend in addition to some RC from GMAT club. I practiced around 200 RC and became pretty used to it.
PS: I studied the basic concept for PS from a book by arun sharma primarily designed for CAT aspirants. But i feel the concepts are good and makes you feel confident although the level is quite high in that book.
DS: I referred to
advanced quant from manhattan and it really helped me to get my approach right.
I practiced for IR & AWA in mock tests only.
Before the actual exam i took around 9 tests. ( 6 from manhattan, 1 veritas & 2 gmat prep). My score varied from 600 to 700. The average score for manhattan test series was around 650-660 and for gmat prep was 690. Since, i primarly depended on manhattan test series i predicted that my final score will be around 680-690. However, i finally scored 750 in the actual exam. One thing i regret is that i scored 49 in quant . It is assumed that an GMAT aspirant from engineering background from an reputed college will score atleast 50 but still i could not. The point i am trying to make is that do not take quant lightly. If you are weak in english you must try hard to score 51 in quant to cover up for your losses in verbal.
GMAT TEST: by the time i took appointment for the exam i pretty much knew my weakness and i tried to improve upon it till the final test day . But in my opinion what matters most on the test day is your accuracy level, timeliness and how you keep your nerves calm. Also, with practice on mock tests you should be now be confident that you can manage your time. The test has been designed so as to make you go thorugh it quite smoothly so dont worry about the 4 hour long time period. Have a good sleep before the test day and relax.
What i observed during my test was that the questions were simple and the best part was that the options were not too close, thus it helped me in choosing the answer at one go. The RC passages were tough to read but the question asked were easy and as i said the options made the work much easier. Senctence corrections were a little tough for me and i assume that i took more than the allotted time for this section.
Last thing , it was tough maintaining the time limits in verbal section so be cautious on this aspect.
IR & AWA were very easy. the only thing you should take care of is the time limits.
Few points worth mentioning:1) D0 not rush while preparing . Take your time and get the concepts right.
2) If you are not feeling comfortable with any section than refer to standard theory books.
3) For non native students sentence correction is the most difficult section. Buy some good study materials so that you prepare thoroughly.
4) Give special attention to data sufficiency.
5) through out your preparation , lookout for your accuracy level and improve upon it.
6) The various practice tests available are a good option to get acquainted to time pressure. However, the practice tests are generally much difficult than the actual exam. So do not get disappointed by low scores. GMAT PREP tests are the one on which you can rely on.They are a real indicator of your final score.
7) Analyse your tests properly so that your weak areas are identified and you give specific attention to those areas.
8) Discuss with friends who are preparing or have already taken the exam and enrich yourself with their experiences, it motivates you and make you aware of many aspects of preparation and test taking. Also, it may help you in getting the right study material.
Good luck to all of you !!!!