My GMAT Journey starts again today with the help of GMATClub

Question

Hi Everyone,

I have been following GMATClub for a last two weeks trying to plan my GMAT Schedule as well as strategy and I must say I found the forum very informative. I deeply regret that I didn’t pay any attention to this forum before giving my First shot at GMAT.

I attempted my GMAT on Nov 2010 expecting a 700+ ( Scored 720 on PowerPrep a day before), but scored a 590 (25v, 47q) 5.5 AWA on real exam. I was deeply disappointed and then went to Vegas to take out my frustration, came back and concentrated more on my work, promoted twice since then, got married in June 2011, had a lot of fun and now finally determined to give my GMAT again.

I would say I did prepared very hard on my first attempt, but after reading several posts in GMATClub I understood I lacked a proper plan and strategy. 
For my first attempt, I used below material which I still think is good.
1. 8 MGMAT books 
2. OG 12 and OG 2 Quant/Verbal 
3. MGMAT and Kaplan CAT tests, 
But where I failed can be attributed to below based on various posts in GMATClub
1. Not following to GMATClub
2. Not starting with my Grammar foundation
3. Not reading Fiction
4. Moving to next topics before becoming expert and re-reading all 8 MGMAT books 10 times
5. Not using any test strategies
6. Not using error logs
7. Never taking any notes
8. Spoiling my real GMAT exam by
 a. Taking 3 tests just a day before the real GMAT exam
 b. Driving 2 hours to test site
 c. Not answering all questions in Quant Section and then stressing out in Verbal

I am planning on re-taking my exam Sept 1st week with a 3 week vacation to India in between, Here is what I already started doing.
1. planning on my GMAT schedule , 
2. reading GMATClub Grammar book
3. reading Fiction Novels
In the next two days I will publish my detail plan and appreciate inputs from each one of you on concreting and finalizing it. I will dedicate myself for next 4 months to make this happen

GreginChicago · Answer

Hi srikirs007, First of all, congrats on getting married! As far as your first score (590 (25v, 47q) 5.5 AWA), it demonstrates a solid foundation in quant - especially since you mentioned you didn't finish that section. Here are some pointers should you need them... You will find plenty of excellent advice on this forum, including options for Study Plans and Timing Strategies. gmat-study-plan-start-your-gmat-journey-80727.html#p605856 timing-strategies-on-the-gmat-80176.html You are not mentioning the 'official' GMATPrep tests (including the optional Pack1). new-gmatprep-released-today-april-3rd-130163.html I found that reading success stories was also helpful in putting together my own study plan. best-gmat-stories-period-98512.html (Can you rent a hotel for the night before the exam? A 2h drive before the exam doesn't seem optimal!) As far as Study Prep books: - would definitely use a tracker for the OG12th/Quant & Verbal gmat-club-guide-to-the-gmat-official-guide-12th-ed-85956.html - maybe try out difficult Quant questions with GMATClub Tests? - wouldn't read ALL MGMAT guides 10 times but would certainly focus on the ones covering Sentence Correction, Number Properties & Word translations - would purchase the MGMAT IR Guide (will be released at the end of the month) to renew your access to MGMATs CATs and cover the new Integrated Reasoning section https://www.amazon.com/Integrated-Reason ... 52&sr=1-15 Check out other resources for IR: the-next-generation-gmat-gmat-integrated-reasoning-130224.html 10-tips-to-improve-your-score-app-with-no-extra-studying-124393.html Looking forward to your study plan. Good luck!

wallstreetbarbie · Answer

Quite a discrepancy in score. You probably burned yourself out the last few days. As noted, your quant score is strong. I would possibly work on timing in this area (2 minute drills). For verbal possibly take a look at the foundations mgmat book or even the gmat club book. I am sure that you will improve greatly!

srikirs007 · Answer

Thanks GreginChicago and wallstreetbarbie for your responses. It means a lot to get feedback.

I never heard before about the nextgen GMAT and integrated reasoning, thanks a lot for this information.

Already started reading success stories, another great advise to solidify my plan

hellscream · Answer

3. Not reading Fiction 
Some people thinks that reading fiction is time-consuming and give a low return. Why don't you try reading financial times, economists, new york times, scientific american ? Their journals' context are similar to the real RC's .
Reading other experience is a must-do to get high score. Try to read a lot to find the suitable things for you (materials,tips,approaches..)
Critical Reasoning bible is great.. I think this book will hep you a lot.
Review your weaknesses as well as your strengths regularly. Accuracy first, Timing later - With practice you will become accustomed to the pattern of solving problem, leading to higher speed.
Hope it helps.

srikirs007 · Answer

You bring a good point hellscream, yes I got the fiction books mentioned in the GMAT Fiction post from Library, and so far I feel I am wasting time. I personally like to read a lot of motivational, spiritual books but the problem is that they don't have good vocabulary and the context is very informal. I used to follow Wallstreet journal 2 years before. May be its the time to go back to newspapers and magazines. I will follow your recommendation and see which ones I like.

Two64 · Answer

Glad to see your giving it another shot! In my opinion, the exam does a nice job testing ur performance in rigid conditions. After all, we're supposed to be on our way to becoming the world's business leaders.

There is quite a discrepancy. Your quant is very strong and isn't likely to change from test to test. have you identified which areas in your Verbal that you're weak in? Keep us in the loop. Would be a great story to add if you can rebound from this experience!

srikirs007 · Answer

I have posted my  GMAT Schedule , please review and provide feedback. Appreciate your time

Two64 · Answer

There's only three study guides and it looks like you're on it.

However, for you to improve from your real Verbal sco, you will have to identify why you got that score, or conversely why you didn't score higher.

One of the worst things we can do is work hard without efficiency. Take a practice exam or two and see what kinds of questions you're struggling with currently. Once you've done that narrow your study plan to focus on those topics while getting an occasional few questions of each topic to stay fresh.

Good luck!

srikirs007 · Answer

For the Verbal score, being a non-native speaker I always had problem with timing reading comprehension, which is the reason I am spending more time with GMAT Fiction. But yes its a good idea to do another diagnostic test, I will do that by next week, so that I can alter the plan if required.

Two64 · Answer

I'm guessing you mean verbal....

But yes, a diagnostic right now would be helpful. Let us know about the breakdown and maybe we can put together a new plan. PM me if you need.

BN1989 · Answer

I think the toughest part to improve on the verbal section is the RC part. If you lack vocabulary as a non-native speaker it becomes really difficult to guess the meaning of a passage based on the the context of what you did understand. You have until september to improve on this, but considering how long it takes to build a really broad vocabulary it might not be enough. I'm not saying that you shouldn't focus on the RC at all, but you can probably boost your verbal score a lot more by perfecting on the other two parts.

srikirs007 · Answer

I couldn't agree more on your comment regarding RC and vocabulary ,as I tried on building my vocabulary myself more than once before. I haven't found a good strategy to build my vocabulary so far, but I trust bb so going with his suggestion of reading more GMAT Fiction and logging each hard word in a book with definition/context. I maintained a list of words before but was not to able to retain 80% of them.

BN1989 · Answer

Maybe you find these books helpful: https://www.amazon.com/Word-Smart-4th-Ed ... 471&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com/1100-Words-You-Ne ... 523&sr=1-2

srikirs007 · Answer

I took a quick peek into these books, and the way they are organized are better than thee expensive apple apps I use.
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