Old Post ->
https://gmatclub.com/forum/cancelled-69 ... l#p2248539)
Just wanted to share that I am finally done with the GMAT.
760 Q49 V44 IR 5.0 AWA 6.0. My journey started in August of 2018 and ended in November of 2020. If you are thinking about retaking --> DO IT. I didn't do anything GMAT related between March of 2019 and October of 2020. Just happened to decide to sign up for this exam again.
I am beyond amazed at this score. This is very special to me
The original plan was to spend 3 months "re-"studying for the exam. I ended up taking a couple of practice GMAT CATs and ended up scoring 750 and 780. Immediately booked the next available appointment. Had to drive almost 2hrs, but was totally worth it. Total study time: 2.5 weeks.
I think this time around I really focused on "understanding" the exam and how the exam is trying to trick me.
Next: 2021 Fall Application Season!
TIPS:-
Retaking is fine. You can't score higher if you don't try to take the test. I understand that it costs money, but ultimately more attempts should lead to a higher score (assuming a good study approach).
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Once you score Q48-49, keep math "fresh" but pivot to verbal. Verbal has a large "point"-reward for improving from under 40 to V40+. I would have loved to score a Q50 or 51, but honestly, it is not worth the "study" effort for ME.
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To score Q48-49: you can still guess. On my 760 attempt I guessed on 2 quant questions. Maybe I got lucky. Guessing means more time for other questions.
Time on the GMAT is your resource, use it wisely. Guessing on a tough Geometry or Permutations questions might be a great idea, but you need to know if the question that you are looking at is a "hard-one".
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To score high on Quant: Practice the OG questions a lot; know that on DS you don't need to "solve" every question; on PS you also can completely skip arithmetics on a couple of questions. Understanding these situations comes with practice.
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To score high on Verbal: --- SC: Learn the question types --> Understand what the examiner is testing. Is it a modifier question? Is it a verb-tense question? Taking 2 seconds to understand the question-type helped me in deciding how to tackle it. For example on an Agreement type, I would think: "Well, let's start with finding the object of the sentence."
--- CR: Learn the traps --> many answer choices can be immediately classified as a "trap". It helped me to review a lot of
OG Explanations.
--- RC: Practice... practice... practice --> don't try to learn to "speed-read" and try to simplify in your head (Person A did something that affect group B instead of complex language used in the passage). I think a "stable" medium pace (felt to me like I could read faster) lead to me spending less overall time on each Passage+Questions.
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Practice Problem Overload --> I tried to do 30+ Quant and 20+ verbal questions each day. I wanted to "train" myself to be fine solving problems for multiple hours non-stop. It really sucked.... I was tired all the time (work was busy as well...), but I think it got my mind "sharp".
Best of luck to all chasing their dream score! You can do it!