2nd try GMAT 770 self prep (Q50 V47 IR8 AW6)

I am a career switcher, and I finally decided to take the plunge and apply to business schools.

I started studying for the GMAT around July 30th. I don't know how useful my experience will be to people since it's probably pretty unique, but I figured I would document it!

The first thing I did was go to the library and check out four books on the GMAT. I only ended up looking through two of them (listed under resources) This is a GREAT way to get test and question resources for free. The most valuable resource I got was the Kaplan GMAT book because it came with 6! tests.

After I got the books, I decided to take the Kaplan Diagnostic test. I scored a 660 and took the test in VQIR order, HOWEVER I did not realize that calculator was not allowed on the quant section. My immediate takeaways were:
1) I needed to relearn a lot of the quant concepts
2) I needed to speed up in the quant section
3) I needed to learn sentence correction rules, especially for idioms!
4) I needed to be more careful - lots of errors were from carelessness

I then spent 3-4 days reading through the Kaplan sections on quant. They were really helpful to refresh my memory. I thought I would do a lot better on the Verbal without any additional study since I now knew more of what they were looking for in the answers. I took Kaplan Test 2 (still not realizing calculator was not allowed in Quant and still taking it in VQIR order) and scored a 740. I then booked a GMAT Online appointment for August 23rd, figuring I would be able to improve my score in the next few weeks.

After booking the GMAT Online, I finally realized I couldn't use calculator for quant and decided to take a "real" test in the correct QVIR order. On all these early tests, I felt very uncomfortable in the Quant section, often running out of time and having to guess answers, or just not knowing the method and guessing anyway, but consistently scored much higher in the Q than the V. I highlighted general Quant study and sentence correction as my weakest areas, and it was at this point I found GMAT Club and went through all their free problems.

My strategy was to do a few days of study and review, and take a practice test every few days. In the middle, I got a bit frustrated as I had a string of 720ish tests and I felt I was getting a lot of questions wrong due to careless errors. I downloaded a list of 400 idioms from this forum and also practiced with the Magoosh Free app. I also tried a test from the Princeton Review but felt like the questions were too easy. When I took the second GMAC test, I told myself to treat it as a real test, and got a 770, which made me feel like I could do it on the real thing. My final Kaplan test was done under real conditions (after purchasing the whiteboard) but I made some more careless errors and got only a 740. Before my Online test, I reread all the problems I had gotten wrong and made sure I knew how to solve them.

First Try: Online GMAT 730 (Q47 V43 IR8)

Check in was straightforward, and I had cleared the house in advance, even though I was taking it in a room in the corner of my house. I was nervous about the Quant section, and when I opened the test, the very first question was so weird - I had never seen anything like it. I assume it was an experimental question, but even though I "knew" it I still wanted to try to get it correct, and wasted way too much time on it before finally making what I thought was an educated guess. The next question felt like it should be easy but it wasn't easy for my skillset and my brain froze. In the first 10 questions I feel like I made educated guesses on half and I was seriously stressing out, not to mention my mind kept going back to the first question. Then the second half of the quant was unbelievably easy so I was sure I had bombed. I told myself to try to score well on the Verbal to offset it, but I felt I had difficulty processing the questions and answers. The IR section was much easier than my practice tests. Still, when I finished, I felt I had possibly scored in the 600s, and immediately booked another session at a testing center. My actual score was higher than I expected, but I was dismayed at my verbal score, as I felt I had done better on V than Q. I felt that taking the test at home was also more distracting, since I was constantly worried about keeping my face in the screen and not muttering to myself. I also think erasing the whiteboard took extra time.

Between the two tests I didn't do any additional studying except: On the day before the test, I reread my practice tests. I also read the quick primer about how to score a 6 on the AWA, and practiced answering a question in my head.

Second Try: In Person GMAT 770 (Q50 V47 IR8 AW6)

I chose to take the test in VQIR order, which I felt was better for me: I would be able to focus on the verbal part without stressing about the Q, and I thought the Q-->IR would be a more natural flow. The Verbal section was tricky on several questions and I found myself running low on time which was unusual - the practice tests I usually finished with 20 minutes on the verbal. Still, I thought I did decently. The Quant section started much with a much more normal set of questions, and I felt that it went fine as well, though at the end, I ran out of time and had to answer the last three questions without double checking my work. The IR was easy, and the AWA seemed to go OK. When I finished, I saw the 770 and was very happy! I got the official score a few days later and also got the 6 on AWA.

General Takeways

Kaplan was great for both strategy and practice tests
Princeton Review was good for strategy but seemed to cater to improving from say a 600 to 700.
The GMAT club questions were way harder than the real thing for Quant, and about right for Verbal.
The GMAT club questions posted on the forums were way harder than the real thing for both.

Practice Tests
Kaplan 1 660 (Q41 V38 IR7) * calculator used for Q
Kaplan 2 740 (Q49 V43 IR7) * calculator used for Q
Kaplan 3 720 (Q49 V40 IR8)
GMAC 1 740 (Q47 V45 IR8)
Kaplan 4 710 (Q47 V40 IR7)
Kaplan 5 720 (Q47 V42 IR8)
GMAC 2 770 (Q50 V44 IR8)
Kaplan 6 740 (Q49 V43 IR8)

Resources:
Kaplan GMAT Prep Plus 2020
Cracking the GMAT (Princeton Review)
GMAT Club free questions and forum resources
Magoosh idioms app

Happy to answer any additional questions!