Hi,
There is no dearth of debriefs here and there are some really great ones, but still you never know which one will motivate you the most. I read not less than 50 before finalizing on my strategy. I hope you will do the same
The journey started long back in 2010 but at that time I was not really serious about it and hence scored a 590. Took a really long break after that and then started again in dec'11 but, with a glacial pace. May 2, 2012 was when I decided that I need to take the GMAT and ace it. I had read about people studying during after office hours but it was not working for me. So, took a month off and began.
Had all the prep material as the first attempt had taught me to collect all possible books , materials etc.
Prepared for verbal on my own but took classes for quant (Would have done better without it
)
Study material used-
Manhattan SC - everyone recommends this book and it is awesome
Aristotle SC - u can probably do without it
OG 12,10,11 -
og 12 complete ,
og 10 sc & ps,
og 11 - sc & cr
Verbal review
Kaplan 800 - only sc and cr - did not get time to complete other sections
Kaplan premier- complete- beginner level book
Manhattan books for quant - u don't really wanna know
Powerscore CRManhattan RCTook 6 FLT's - score range 650- 690.
Stopped taking practice tests 2 days prior to the actual one. Instead, revised concepts and reviewed errors.
On the test day, was a little excited and reached the centre 1 hr 10 mins before time. Sat on the staircase listening to some music. Other candidates started coming in and anxiety level kept moving higher seeing all those tensed faces. The key is to stay calm- focus on music or anything else but stay calm.
During the test-
AWA went pretty well. Don't know what went wrong with the score.
Quant was not at all going well. My performance in any of the practice tests was not this bad and I could feel I am screwing it up. But, still made myself believe that it was not all that bad. Spent close to 6 mins on 2 questions - really silly ones- had to rush though to complete at the end. Verbal is my strength. So, thought I got to give my best in this and if I ace verbal, things would be a lot better. Started off well. As I moved ahead, I could sense that I am doing well. The last RC I got was pretty tough - big relief. Had enough time to complete the verbal section easily.
Score - 710 !! I simply could not believe.
(If it helps- I had not imagined any other score in my dreams. It was always a 710. I wish I had dreamt of 800!
)