OverviewFirst of all, I would like to thank bb for creating such a useful tool for GMAT test takers. I graduated from Shri Ram College of Commerce in 2016. By the time I graduated I had already taken few Indian MBA entrance exams and did not do really well in those exams. While working I again took some of the Indian entrance tests but could not get the top 3 colleges in India. Luckily my flatmate had been preparing for GMAT and I also thought of taking the GMAT meanwhile. Failure at the Indian MBA entrance exams did haunt me but little did I know that my preparation of quants heavy Indian MBA entrance tests will help me big time in my GMAT. In Jan 2017, I thought of taking up the GMAT.Having spent about a month researching about the exam and the pattern, I thought of enrolling myself in a live classroom course. Had I known about resources such as @gmatclub.com and
egmat I would have never done so (Though the verbal teacher really helped me prepare for the exam).
Initially, I planned to take the exam in May- June. Luckily, the order selection feature came around that period. Though the order does not affect the score much the feature at least gives you the privilege to shift the verbal part from the 3rd hour to the 2nd hour. (I chose Q-V-IR-AWA because quants was not an issue and I wanted to start with my strong section and then focus on verbal.) I took my first attempt in August and shockingly scored a 630.(Q50.V25). The verbal part was a shocker to me as this was the lowest score I had ever scored in verbal. Failure at Indian exams and horrible performance at GMAT made me question my capability even after preparing extensively for almost 5-6 months(Will explain the prep later in the post). I doubted my self-worth and made my mind for settling for a tier2 Indian MBA college. I took around 7 days to regain from that traumatic experience and attended an online
egmat strategy webinar and got to know about the benefits of a 760. The tagline "Score once and brag forever" really stuck in my head and I was determined to score at least 730 on GMAT(Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I can or will score a 760). My verbal teacher at the live classroom course told me to retake the GMAT in 30 days. I thought of taking the GMAT in October and focusing entirely on verbal.I did talk to some individual private GMAT tutors for help in verbal. Most of them told me to take classes for at least 6 months and then take GMAT if I wanted to score to the north of 700. I didn't have such luxury and studied only verbal and took around 6 mocks during that prep. Things went right and I surprisingly scored a 760!!
Test Day experience I reached the test center early and started the test 15 minutes prior to the scheduled time. Quants went pretty good as always(I got around 2-3 questions wrong, that's what the ESR states). The 8-minute break was also relaxing. My biggest challenge, the verbal section was about to start. The first 22 questions went good, I knew almost all the answers(I also spent a lot of time answering those questions). Somehow in between I lost the track of time and a time came when I was at the 24th question and 24 minutes were left, that's when I started panicking and lost my cool. I had to attempt almost 18 questions in 24 minutes. To make things worse, I got an extremely hard RC passage. Post the RC, I gave up and just thought of just completing the test anyhow and did not think about the getting even 630. Some SC's and CR's baffled me and I had no other option. The 4th RC again was extremely hard and took away whatever confidence I had. A time came when I had 6 questions and only 4 minutes. On the top of that, some Boldface CRs and completely underlined SC's came along. For the last verbal question, I only had 35 seconds. I marked the answer clicked on next but could not click on confirm as the time ran out. I was completely shattered post-verbal section. My anxiety and panic levels were at their peak. I spent just 2 minutes during the 8-minute break and thought of just completing the test and running back to home.
As the IR part started, I didn't feel like doing the questions and spent the first 10 minutes thinking(rather overthinking) the mess I had done in my verbal section and my life. Having guessed 6 IR questions, I did few and went to AWA(as is evident in my IR score which went from 8/8 in the previous attempt to 5/8 in the recent attempt). I spent 15 minutes in AWA and just clicked complete the test and turned back to leave that then horrible place for me. The proctor asked me with a smile "Do you want to accept this score". I looked at the screen and saw "760" Q 51 and a V41. The anxiety and panic levels which were at peak changed to happiness and surprise. I replied to the proctor with a smile"Obviously sir". I was the first to come out of the test center. The proctor gave me an unofficial score report and I just looked at the report card for 5 minutes. I couldn't believe my eyes. I never thought of in my life of scoring a 760 and specially after such horrible performance in the verbal section, I just gave my hopes. I left the test center, jumped with joy and called up my mom, dad, brother and my verbal teacher. I still don't believe the score I got on October 14th, 2017. Thinking about the test day experience, I still smile and recall the emotions I had on the test day.
PrepI had enough material as my flatmate had already prepared for GMAT. He was generous enough to share the material with me and guide me regarding the GMAT. I also got material from the live classroom course.
Quants
For the initial two months, I only prepared for quants and did not focus much on verbal.(The subject one hates the most is studied the least). The DS part in quants is a little tricky because as nonnatives we have never done such questions. Else the GMAT quants is pretty doable. After a certain level of prep, one can easily score a 49. The jump from 49 to 50 and 50 to 51 only requires attention to detail. I used to make silly questions in Quants and those silly mistakes can cost a lot. Mainly I used
OG's and 700-800 level questions which are available on GMATclub for my GMAT quants prep. Once I bought the
egmat course, I got some
GMATClub tests, which also helped me move from a 49 to 50 and then to 51. The quants level in
GMATClub tests is way beyond the actual GMAT and prepares you for the worst case scenario. I would recommend everyone to take
GMATClub tests(Though they come free if the
egmat course is bought ). Once
GMATClub tests are taken, one can easily complete the actual test in 65-70 minutes with almost 90% accuracy. During my prep for the first attempt, I already exhausted all the material I had. During the prep for the second attempt, I just revised concepts and reviewed the wrong questions.
Verbal
I practiced mainly SC as I liked SC. RC was the least studied topic. I studied CR on and off. Mainly I prepared from
OG's and 1000 SC and other materials which are available on gmatclub.com. In the first attempt, I focused on just getting the right answer and did not really focus on the explanations and did not think about why the 4 answers are wrong. As said most of my prep in the first attempt was SC focused and thats where I faltered. To make things worse, I got the least percentile in the SC in my first attempt. I would say SC is the easiest to improve on but the least to rely on. RC is the hardest to improve but can be relied upon. I would say that
egmat came to my rescue and helped me improve a lot. The
scholarinium section created by
egmat is an under utilized resource by the GMAT test takers. Once someone starts preparing the right way, the
scholarinium section along with its explanations and discussions can help you score north of 40 on verbal. The concept files, audiovisual modules, articles, and quizzes make the learning more interesting and easy. I would say that I did not use the OGS,
e GMAT and
scholarinium judiciously during my first attempt.
During my second attempt, I thought of focusing on the explanations and not just the answers. I did all the OGS, right from
OG 7 to
OG 18 review(all
OG questions are available free of cost of gmatclub.com). The explanations helped me to clear the concepts a lot. The focus on the wrong answers was more important than the focus on the right answers. I utilized the
e GMAT judiciously.I did all the modules and quizzes again. I had certain queries which were cleared by the
egmat team in the most efficient manner. The forum and discussion section on the
egmat platform is also under-utilized. I attempted all the questions on
scholarinium and actively participated in the discussion. The discussion after each question helps you to think about concepts you miss while doing the question. I would say
OG's and
Egmat played a crucial role in my verbal prep.
I also bought the EP1, EP2, and QP1. During my first attempt, I made the mistake of not buying them considering the cost, but trust me they are worth the price. I attempted all the questions from QP1 to see the real GMAT questions.
Mocks
I took various mocks Manhattan,
Veritas, GMATclub, 800score, 2 free official test, EP1, and EP2. I must say nothing can match the accuracy and level of official tests.
But official tests have a catch. The two free tests, according to me are worthless once you take them after preparation as they gave inflated scores. Most of the questions on the official free tests are already attempted during the prep as they are from OGs or some other material. One can take the free tests before starting the prep to see the level. The second free test can be taken in between the prep. Once someone has prepared only the new tests from EP1 and EP2 should be taken to gauge the real score. I must say
gmatclub tests are amazing for quants but not for verbal. Other tests cannot be as trusted as the official ones can be. There are some differences in the score among the various tests by test prep companies. Don't worry about the fluctuations.
Resources 1.
egmat2. OGs(All)
3. GMATCLUB and
gmatclub tests4. EP1, EP2 and QP
5. 1000 SC
6. 700-800 level questions
7. Manhattan Guides(Mainly for Verbal)
8.LSAT CR Guide and questions
9. Aristotle Guide(SC)
10.
Magoosh GMAT Videos(By Kevin)
Learnings
1. Take the GMAT test even if you are not planning to apply to the colleges outside India. GMAT as an exam does prepare you for the managerial positions. GMAT is a solid backup plan in case things don't work out really well in other exams. The best thing about GMAT is the time flexibility and the test-taking environment.
2. Nothing beats official material(OGs are a savior)- There is a lot of material on the Internet regarding GMAT. Make sure you read the official material. Invest in the OGS and EP1, EP2 and QP.
3. Focus more on the explanations than on the correct answers - I did the horrible mistake of just doing questions and not focusing on why the four options are wrong . While analysing , one should spend more time on wrong answers than on the correct answers.
4 . For non natives
e GMAT is a good and cheap course to enroll. Make sure that you use the
scholarinium and forum discussions judiciously .
5. For quants , thumb rule is to read the question stem twice and then process and answer . Mindless processing leads to wrong answers and silly mistakes. Such silly mistakes can cost a lot .
Moreover
GMATclub tests are recommended to go for .
6. Do RC and CR daily while preparing for GMAT. You can skip SC a day but not the other two specially RC. RC can be a game changer.
7. Don't overthink about the order selection and the accuracy . GMAT scoring is a little complex .
A lot the people won't read such a long post. If you have reached here , you are on your way to 760 and above. I would again like to thank the GMATclub community . If I can be of any help , feel free to reach at
nihalagrawal1995@gmail.comI wish you all the best for your GMAT prep and hope you would be writing your debrief soon.
Congrats on your amazing score.
I've got 690 Q49 v34.
I've been meaning to improve my Verbal score. As u said in ur debrief, I need to change strategies for my next attempt.
Thanks for ur insights on how u approached the exam.
Kindly mail the ESR.I'll mail u.
03 Nov 2017, 22:26
I barely survive level 600 questions. 
close
