140 Point Improvement in a month; Story still continues!

Hi Everyone,

I took my GMAT official exam on 8th Nov, 2017. And while I achieved a 140 point improvement in a month, I would still be taking another shot Gmat. This is the reason for the delay in posting this de-brief. I wanted to post it when I took the final attempt. However, looking at how GMAT Club had completely transformed my score, I thought I would share my 2 cents worth with other members. First of all bb thanks for this amazing place, I really do not know where I would without this place. This is specially true for a mother like me, who is managing part time work, two daughters, family and a speaking career. It is not possible for me to attend in-person classes because of my daughter's schedules (they are only two years old). I cannot seem to find an online course that works for me except TTP (which I highly recommend for its quant portion).

Here are some quick facts about me:
1) I am mother to two young beautiful girls. I have an undergrad in IT and journalism. I have worked for over five years in finance and done a lot of development sector work including starting and running my own NGO. Despite all of this mathematics does not happen to my strong suite. my undergrad in IT gave me strong logical reasoning skills which went dim because of NOT using them extensively.

2) I never took a lot of standardized test and never came across SAT, LSAT, ACTs etc. Verbal was always a stronger area for me. I have written numerous articles in my career and have authored a book.

Prep Time: over two months (250 hours +)
Prep Materials used: MGMAT Guides, TTP course, Veritas Course (partially).
First Score (GMAT Prep- Oct 3, 2017) 510 (don't remember the breakup).
Final Score (GMAT Nov 08, 2017) 640 (q 43, V 35) AWA 5.5, IR: 4
List of exams I took:
GMAT Prep. 510 (q32, v27) Oct 03, 2017
Veritas Prep 540 (q 38, v27) Oct 07, 2017
Veritas Prep. 570 (q 37, v32) Oct 10, 2017
Veritas Prep 570 (q 42, v26) Oct 13, 2017
Veritas Prep 550 (q 37, v29) Oct 25, 2017
GMAT Prep. 560 (q 39, v28) Oct 29, 2017
Exam Pack 1 570 (q 43, v26) Nov 05, 2017
Exam Pack 1. 590 (q 46, v26) Nov 06, 2017

My subsection breakdown was as follows:
Verbal : 76%
SC: 73%
CR: 70%
RC: 73%

Quant: 50%
Arithmetic: 51%
Algebra & Geometry: 45%

Overall I spent 80% of my prep time on quant section. And a glance at my scores would reveal that I never scored above v32 expect for one test from Veritas. Here is my story with learning and tips for people to pick along the way:

1) FIRST MONTH-Manhattan Guides: I spent one month completing all of the MGMAT Guides. I attempted every drill question listed in the book and took the baseline diagnostic test on Oct 3, 2017 only to score a mere 510. I was devastated by the score. I think MGMAT might be good for a few students. I read rave reviews about them. In my humble opinion, they are good for basic contents but slightly overhyped. I believe the quant section is average (for example it has very basic coverage of rates and work problems. I only found how in-comprehensive it was, when I took the TPP course.) The book on RC and CR is absolute basic. I would not even know the basics of the argument despite doing the books twice. I was able to complete 25% of CR Bible when my scores went up to the 60% percentile.

2) SECOND MONTH- TTP: During the second month (after taking the initial exam), I looked at my 510 score and realized three things:
i) I should have taken the test earlier. I was very nervous on the test (my arms were shaking and my breathing was irregular for first 20 minutes). I realized I should calm my nerves. This simple step boosted my score to 540 in the next Veritas Prep test
ii) Weak Areas Identification: Algebra, Geometry & Rates problems- Looking at these areas, I took a five day trail from TTP and ordered the one month course. It was the single most important thing in raising my score from late 30's to early 40's)
iii) I realized that pacing was most important. I was putting way too much time in first questions and missing last five questions.

During this month, I completed all chapters of TTP, did few questions from GMAT club and 8 practice exams (Veritas and GMAT Prep). Additionally I completed OG-17 question for quant section only.

3) Verbal- Prep Combo- For verbal I took a couple of sessions from E-gmat, free sessions from Veritas Prep. I got used books of Veritas Prep from a friend. I think the MGMAT SC book is brutal but the Veritas SC book forces you use that information in a methodical way. It teaches you slash-and-burn technique, decision points and poe. I am sure other test prep companies do the same but I found veritas free lessons on sc helped me boost my score by at least 5 points.

The course content was overall good. And as my practice tests would show I was stuck on a score of 550-570 for good about 15 days and no matter what I did my score didn't budge an inch, except going down once! At this point there was one thing that saved my score and could save yours: Data Analytics and Analysis. At first glance it seems a big and complicated word but here is how it worked for me:

1) I had good data points. 7 practice tests so considerable questions. I looked at the detailed reports that came with the purchase of Exam Pack 1 and 2 (highly recommended as these are the closest thing to the real test). I saw my wrong answers and found them completely variable sometimes 12, sometime 17. Sometimes I had less wrong answers and lower score and more wrong answers and higher score. So it made me realize, that that the number of questions right or wrong were not as important as the level of difficulty of questions. I was not able to see the difficulty level of questions on GMAT Prep software however veritas tests clearly showed what questions I got wrong. In the detailed analysis I realized I got couple of 650-700 level questions right. Still a 570 score, didn't seem to add up.

2) Wrong Answer patterns: At this point I focused on my wrong answer pattern. Almost all of my verbal questions at the last leg (last 8-10) were wrong. It was not because I never understood them but because I ran out of time. I was basically using up all of my time up front and my score in verbal took a nose dive always. At this point I looked at scenario analysis done by Bunuel on gmat guessing strategy. I discovered that if we guessed randomly every third question on quant, our score could still be 46-48. In fact, I would have hit that score had I used first 4 minutes on first question on actual exam. While extensive testing has not been done for verbal, my big takeaway was this: you can attempt 33 questions and guess 8 and still get a decent score.

3) Helpful Exam Day tips: I read a de-brief a member wrote on how he had scored in the 700 range on the mocks and 550 on the final exam. Needless to say he was devastated and so was I, reading his story. But then I found some clues. He mentioned taking the order on the test as Quant, Verbal, AWA & IR. Basically he was nervous during the first 15-20 minutes that cost him his score. In looking at his score, I realized how I scored higher just by understanding this very thing. I never scored 700 in any mock yet I scored my highest score in actual exam. REASON: I had anticipated that this exam would make me nervous. So I opted for the section ordering AWA, IR, Q & V. In doing so, my nerves were pretty stable by the time I hit actual quant. In fact, my nervousness may explain my low IR score. slingfox three tips were a lifesaver on the exam: 1) taking all breaks and eating bananas. It may make me a cousin of the monkey but I had my bananas during the breaks. 2) staying hydrated- your brain needs that water to function. 3) splash of water during the break- I cannot emphasize how important it was. He mentioned that it gives rise to something called a drivers reflux. I don't know what that is - feel free to google it. I know it helped me bring my focus back. I felt on the exam I had bombed my Quant portion. And this splash made me re-focus towards verbal and score a 35. I think doing jumping jacks in the restroom was certainly a novel idea for me that must have boosted my score.

Finally, I am still on the journey, I would be hoping to break the 700 barrier. I am actively looking for the support of the community here. I hope this de-brief can add some value for you. I know it is not an ideal score but given the time I had and the constraints it is a fairly decent score. I believe it takes a tribe to reach your goals and I would be excited to reach mine with GMATCLUB tribe. Looking forward to your support. Although I have little things that can add value but I would be honored if I could help you in anyway.

BR,
KungFuGmat