Hi everyone,
I have been preparing for GMAT for last 4 months without a classroom program with help of
Magoosh Premium Reference material and gave my GMAT attempt on 26th October. I took the attempt in the same order I used to attempt my CATs( Q, V, IR, AWA) but was really disgruntled by mc very low score in Verbal and hence canceled my score.
My attempt was actually on 26th Sept, but seeing my poor (accuracy and pace) in Verbal section and guidance from GMAT CLUB members, I took a decision of delaying my GMAT date by a month. This complete time went in vain, as Verbal section couldn’t have gone worse than what it did.I religiously completed the
OG’17 and Maghoosh material by 26th September and last month gave my complete focus on improving my timing through mocks and Verbal-score-improving strategies.
Post-Rescheduling Preparation StrategyCRIn last month I dedicated a week to complete PowerScore CR Bible, to help me boost my accuracy for CR but after completing it also I didn’t feel my accuracy became drastically better, Instead, my time per CR question increased from 2.15 to 2.45 min. I gave adequate importance to practice and used to attempt and analyze 15 CR questions daily to keep me in grip with the concepts.
RC I used to attempt and analyze 5 RCs daily from Verbal Review’18 in an attempt to improve my RC timing and improve my accuracy. I managed to improve my timings to 8.5mins for a small RC and 10.5mins on average for a larger RC, I accept that this RC timing is still below par buy my accuracy went up to 75%, which was a good point.
SCI used to practice SC from Verbal Review'18, picking up 20 questions per day and used to note down key concepts encountered in the process. I did increase my knowledge of idioms and grip on the core structure of SC. But I wasn’t able to bring down my timing below 1:45 on average.
In all, I increased my Verbal score from the mid-20s to early-30s and was kind of happy with the progress.
PS/DSI used attempt quizzes/tests from GMAT CLUB every day in order to maintain my Quant score in a good range. I made some changes in my timing strategy in Quant which helped me with more control over my attempt. I noticed that I was better at PS than DS. So I decided, In case of timing crisis, I would skip on DS questions than PS ones.
Scores in CATs1. GMATprep1 1st Sept 620(q 48 v 28)
2. GMATprep2 5th Sept 620(q 49 v 27)
3. MGMAT1 24th Sept 550(q 45 v 20)
4. MGMAT2 29th Sept 600(q 44 v 30)
5. MGMAT3 5th Oct 590(q 44 v 28)
6. MGMAT4 14th Oct 580(q 42 v 28)
7. MGMAT5 , 16th Oct 640(q 47 v 31)
8. MGMAT6 21st Oct 620(q 46 v 30)
9. GMATprep2 22nd Sept 680(q 50 v 32)
Reference Materials1. Maghoosh online premium study material
2.
MGMAT CATs
3. PowerScore CR Bible
4. GMAT
OG 2017
5. Verbal Review 2018
Things that went/ did wrong during my attempt. Screwed up with Break times I was really nervous after completing my Quant section and didn’t see the watch put up in break area while going for the break, basically I didn’t clock the timing break of 8 minutes and ended up panicking and losing precious odd minutes in my verbal section.
No Emergency/back-up or calm down strategy in VerbalI made a strategy on playing on my strengths(SC and RC) and skipping on CRs in case I am running behind my timing strategy, but didn’t plan for such anxiety scenarios where even strengths become equivalent to weaknesses. I didn’t plan a calming down plan, relevant self-enlightenment pauses which is like preparing for the extreme 5% scenario when it's not your day. This back-fired for me.
Problems that I feel were there in my preparation strategyNot maintaining an Error Log I realized why GMAT achievers stress so much on the importance of
error log. Its because in the end at an official test, one is tested with questions and not theory, therefore it makes sense revising questions in last 2-3 weeks rather than stressing too much on theory.
Error log helps to establish substantial evidence as well, that you have succeeded in increasing your accuracy and deserve a level-up in your skills. Whereas CAT just lets you understand your current level and practice strategies, ErrorLog helps you develop confidence on your skillset by mapping the areas exactly where you lagging behind. But I feel its really tedious in keeping a note of all the questions of all the questions solved during a day with information. I would like to know how people of GMAT Club group dealt with this?
Lack of consistent Verbal Timing StrategyI tried different verbal strategies throughout my GMAT study period (4 months), tried ( t-q 75-0 56-10 37-20 19-30) initially, then went to Manhattan yellow pad technique of 9 per page, but just test day morning, I decided poorly and went to 5 questions 9 min per page strategy, which made me panic and stabbed me in the gut. I was taken into the verbal section, where I completed the first two questions in 6 minutes, I was so trembling in anxiety then, words of the first RC didn’t make sense at all, I re-read first para twice, so that If I will get 3 questions of the RC in a flow, I would build up on top of that, but not having a clear timing strategy made me look at the timer again and again. The CR and SC were not making sense since I was so nervous saving my ass. I ended up only attempting 2 of the 4 RC’s and skipping rest. The vicious cycle took a toll on my actual GMAT Verbal Score.
I would be really grateful if GMAT experts could guide me right approach/guidance to achieve my target GMAT score of 710. I would like to ask all GMAT CLUB experts to analyze my ESR and my preparation strategy in order to help me jot down on wrong choices I made during my preparation.
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Updated on: 18 Jun 2018, 07:29
