I would first like to say that when people quote 'Never give up', it really sounds overrated as a piece of advice. While everyone of us here knows that it is true but its easier stated than done.
Stating that I would go ahead with my journey which actually had a lot of pauses and lots of moments when I almost gave up (but not quite).
I started my GMAT journey back in February, 2019 and appeared for my first official exam in March, 2019 which to say the very least ended horribly. I ended with score of 640 and was devastated. on deeper introspection I came to peace with myself when I realised that I actually did not do much at all. To be thorough I took two Official mocks and ended with decent scores of 650 and 660. Apart from it I completed the
OG 2018 and quant review. That was pretty much it. Now when I think about it, I actually feel that it was not enough, not even near to enough.
Then there were times when I started preparing again for the GMAT but my efforts lacked motivation and ended up stopping in the middle quite a lot of times.
Finally, I seriously started preparing for my 2nd attempt this March while working from home during the pandemic. This time I was really determined to to start from the scratch and go all the way. Before beginning my preparation I spent a lot of time here on the GMATclub reading various posts relating to preparation and strategies. After going through a lot many of them I decided to go with Economist GMAT Tutor course and I decided to holistically and religiously follow and solve/learn various questions from here.
To lay out the material that I used in my preparation this time:
1. Economist GMAT Tutor Course.
2.Gmat Official Mocks (All 6)
3.
OG 2018, 2020.
4. Manhattan Advanced Quant (Did solve it completely).
5. Gmat official questions (Set of some 300 retired questions available on mba.com)
6.
GMATclub tests (for quant)
and of course,
7. The gmatclub forum.
After starting with the Economist's course I instantly realised that their Quant part is not upto the mark for someone aiming for Q49 or higher. Don't get me wrong here, the material provided is great for building foundation of Maths but if you are already comfortable with most of the topics covered in the Gmat broadly then I wouldn't recommend this course for Quant. Verbal is an altogether different story, I pride myself as quite a good English speaker but Gmat hits you the hardest in this area. You soon realise what might sound right is not always right (generally wrong!). So this is where this Economist course helped me a lot, a lot! From V30 in my first attempt to a V38 in my last attempt I owe a lot to this course but to be very honest more to the experts on this forum, namely
GMATNinja souvik101990, and
generis. After completing 25% of my course gave an official mock and scored a 670 and that's when I knew I was headed in the right direction. Anyway, skipping the intricate details- I got done with all 6 mocks in almost 2months and took scheduled for the official test to be on 12th June, 2020. Oh btw I scored 670, 660, 710, 710, 730 and 710 in my mocks. So by the time test came I was really confident that I can hit my desired score of 720 but damn I was wrong again. While the verbal part went as per me expectations (V39) (a bit better) I flunked on the Quant section where I ended with an extremely disappointing Q46 ( I had never scored below a Q49 in the official mocks). In total I ended with a 680. I knew that I had prepared well but somehow the Quant section on the actual Gmat seemed really tough relatively. I also knew if I take a break again and start from scratch again after good many months it will be really frustrating so I decided to give it my last shot after 25 days and I schdeuled Online Gmat this time for 7th July, 2020. Before that exam I decided to take the
GMATclub tests for quant and those tests made me realise how much I don't know and how crucial the tricks are whilst solving questions. On an average I was scoring around Q48 in these tests but on the later days I hit 4 consecutive Q50s and it really gave me the confidence I needed. Here I would really like to thank
Bunuel bb for these amazing set of questions and for extremely helpful explanations.
Finally the test day arrived and I was able to finish the Quant section 6 minutes earlier than the designated time which gave time to think and feel refreshed for the tiring Verbal section (this early completion really helped as there's no break on the online GMAT). I felt even the verbal section went as per my expectations if not better when the test ended. Got my result some 48 hrs later and I actually jumped in ecstasy seeing a 730 (Q50, V38, IR7). Hard work did actually payoff this time and I hope this score is a strong foundation on which the rest of my application can rest comfortably.
Some tips:
1. Please visit this forum for explanations, you need to know why something is right/wrong. We generally have a tendency to focus on number, sometimes when we get a great score we actually put aside the wrong questions and don't focus on them. Don't do that. ALWAYS REVISE!
2. I know it's not advised to cram the idioms but please do not neglect their importance. I would actually suggest learn the commonly used idioms diligently.
3. Always check your wrong answers here on the forum and make flashcards so that you don't repeat the same mistakes.
4. Not sure about the Quant part but for
verbal OG is the holy grail. Read all explanations like your life is dependent on them.
5. Always Believe in yourself
Thankyou all who have been a part of my journey in whatsoever way.
P.s- This forum is really the best place to start and to end your preparation!
Devesh.