Hello Everyone,
Hope you are doing well. This is my first post here. A bit about myself:
Chemical Engineering graduate with a 3.3/4 CGPA from a reputed university in Pakistan.
4+ years of work experience in the Upstream Oil & Gas sector (BP and PPL) as a Drilling Engineer with high degree of responsibility. Received two promotions and currently managing a team of over 20 technical hands to execute field drilling operations.
Now anyone from the drilling industry would understand that the work is rotation based. I work for 3 weeks and then get 3 weeks off. And my 3 weeks at the well site are pretty consumed and hectic even if the operations are going normal Which is why I only get time to prepare for the GMAT during my off days (15-20 days). I have tried taking out some time for the preparation but its almost impossible to get undivided attention at rig site.
Anyways, coming to the point. I arrived home on the 5th of Jan this month and registered for the GMAT straight away for the 28th of Jan giving myself just over 3 weeks for the preparation studying 5-6 Hrs daily. This will be my first attempt at the GMAT and I was tired of delaying the test again and again just for the sake of not having enough time to study due to work commitments. As far as my preparation goes:
Attempted GMATprep CAT 1 without prep and scored 490 (Q37 V21).
I realized there was a lot of work to be done. I observed that my weaknesses were in DS, SC and somewhat in RC. I started working on the Quant side. Keeping my engineering background in mind i thought it would be easier to leverage through the Quant section first. I worked on my Quant for the first 2 weeks. Completed all
OG questions of DS and PS starting from the last (difficult ones). Re-attempted the wrong questions after a few days and reasoned myself on why they were wrong. Maintained an
error log. Kept a record of the mistakes I made and on what ground. Read through and attempted Manhattan questions also. (Massively improved on mixture, ratios, Work Rate questions).
After 2 weeks of preparation, I attempted the Economist GMAT online full test and scored 560 (Q38 V29). Still pretty disappointing since all my effort was on the Quant side and somehow verbal improved but there was 0 improvement on the Quant although I felt I did well on the Quant section. (Also this test seemed a bit easier than the GMATPrep).
The last week of my preparation I am working on verbal section and have improved greatly on SC. I will give the 2nd GMATPrep test a day before the exam to see where I stand but I personally don't feel Ill be able to cross the 600 mark this time around and might have to retake the test after a month in March since I'll be heading back to the rig site on 30th Jan.
I have used the following material for my preparation:
OG 13 (Attempted all questions on Quant, 50% on Verbal)
Manhattan Quant guides (all 5)
E-gmat and Veritas prep videos for SC
E-gmat videos for RC and CR.
Some online help at GMATclub
GMATPrep tests
Now I personally believe that my strategy is not correct towards the preparation because this score is pretty low than what I had in mind. I have been studying for 5-6 hours daily and do 40-50
OG questions daily. I mark the wrong ones and then check why it went wrong. I am maintaining an
error log also and the questions I did wrong, I attempt again after a day or 2. (I noticed that out of 10 wrong questions that I did wrong, the number reduced to 4-5) but my scores on CAT indicate otherwise.
I would really appreciate if somehow could suggest me the appropriate study material/books/guides and above all the strategy that I should use/focus on during my next 3 weeks (during which I will retake the exam) when I am back from field break as I have low expectations this time. Which particular resource material I can use to grasp on to the relevant content. It is really important that I cross that 600 mark and I feel I have the potential to do so in the exam.
Hoping to hear from you soon.
Preferred Schools: Schulich, UBC, Alberta, Katz (Pittsburgh), Mays, Smeal, Oklahoma Price