My journey to 760 (Q50 V44)

Hey all,

GMATClub was the single, most valuable factor in helping me achieve my target score. The posts in the "Share GMAT Experience" thread motivated me and I learned a lot of techniques to improve my score! So, I thought I'd give back and share my experience.

I took my first online GMAT in Feb. I scored a 730 - Q49 V40. It was respectable but my goal was to get to 750+ to be safe at my target schools. After Attempt 1, I used Powerscore's CR Bible and Manhattan Prep's Advanced Quant book to improve my approach to solving certain questions. For practice tests, I used GMATClub's tests. The Quant tests were really helpful in helping me reach Q50. I also took GMATPrep Tests 3-5 but I was stuck at V40 until July 28 - about a week before my second attempt.

To get more 700-level CR & SC practice problems, I used GMATClub’s amazing Question Bank to filter 700-level questions for each category and just spent most of my day (outside work) doing those questions. I also started practicing Quant questions from the 700 challenge (https://gmatclub.com/forum/are-you-up-f ... 09579.html) again. It'd helped me earlier to pick up on some subtle PS & DS tips and tricks. To improve my test stamina, I took MGMAT #2, #3 on July 30/31.

In the last week before my test, I solved ~200 CR questions, 175+ SC questions and ~100 math questions (50PS/50DS) from the Question Bank and the 700 challenge. I took GMATPrep #6 on Aug 4 (Thursday) as a final practice run to get ready for test day. I got a 790 - Q51, V48!! I’d only made 1 mistake all test! I was overjoyed and the performance boosted my confidence.

On Test day (Aug 6), Verbal started strong but got really hard in the middle. Also, I had some REALLY easy questions towards the end. So I thought I'd completely messed it up :( Quant was a little harder than usual. I spent more time early on and solved some tough ones. So, I had to rush towards the end. I was confident with Quant, but wasn't expecting too high a score in Verbal, thinking I'd bombed it.

At the end, the score flashed on the screen. I got a 760 with Q50, V44. I was extremely happy and thankful!! My GMAT journey had finally come to an end. The 790 on Thursday spoiled me a little into thinking I could probably get more than 760 haha. At this point tho, I think I’m just getting greedy and a 760 is good enough for my schools

I really think that the Question Bank and the 700 challenge questions really changed the game for me. I picked up some tips and tricks, and some things to look out for started settling in my head subconsciously. I felt like a machine learning model, getting fed hundreds of data points to improve my algorithm LOL! So, really, the nearly 500 questions that I did in the last week made all the difference. The practice boosted my confidence, when I’d originally resigned myself to a ~740.

Thanks once again to GMATClub for all the help! The thousands of resources on this site really made the difference. Special thanks to Bunuel and GMATNinja. Your explanations were soo easy to understand! @GMATNinja’s funny answers really helped me get past my general annoyance with Verbal, especially when I was stuck at V40 for a while. Thanks to bb for setting up GMATClub!