740 in 2months while working

I started studying for GMAT towards the second week on September. before that, all i knew was that gmat was the exam i needed to ace to get into any foreign university for an mba. i did not have any idea about anything else about the exam, let alone ways to ace it!

i started by goin thru mba.com as thoroughly as possible and gather as much information as possible. i also created an account there to get access to the few demo questions posted. Solving those gave me the initial idea about the type of questions that appear in gmat commonly. second, i made my father courier the study mat i had bought from TIME( a institution which helps to prepare for various entrance exams) 3 years back and also quantitative aptitude for the CAT by arun sharma. i understood that for the quants part these guides were more than i would require.

thus, these were the books for my maths prep. initially, to master the concepts and practice some really standard problems, these books are all you are goin to need. i feel, the LOD2 level sums from the arun sharma book are more than enough to tackle even the hardest problems in GMAT.

for verbal, go thru the points in sentence correction given in the website 800score.com These website has by far the most easy-to understand and extensive instructions on how to tackle sentence corrections, and the one i found most useful. For CR, i think the OG 12th edition is enough. it has enough questions and good explanations for each answer.

Yes, i bought the OG 12 edition when i was fairly confident that i had grasped the concepts. Also, i downloaded the free prep software available in the GMAC website( another advantage of registering there ! ). i used to practice on an avg 20 questions from 2 different sections everyday after coming back from offfice. i used to time my effort, just to see how i was fairing. but i think the most important part of this part of my prep was that i dedicated time solely to read the explanation given for each answer i got wrong. i think this is a vital part that most people overlook, buti strongly recommend everyone to do it as giving enough time to reviewing will ensure that u not only grasp the concepts but learn their implementations as well; it is true for al sections.

i gave the first of the free exams in the official prep software a few daya after starting my prep and scored 710. more than anything, this helped me to understand which areas i need to work harder in. i modified my focus areas accordingly. i retook the first exam about 5 weeks from my actual GMAT and scored 720. i took the second test 1 week before the final exam (730) and retook it 2 days before the exam(730!). my suggestion is that you time these mock tests to your advantage, but taking it too frequently can be detrimental to ur prep. Afterall, if you cannot crack a problem while practicing, chances are u won't be able to solve it in the mocks as well. So make sure ur comfortable with all kinds of problems in both sections, and then take the exams. but don't leave it too late as then u won't reap the benefits!

Lastly, i registered in this forum from the beginnning of my prep. I badgered the people here with lodas of questions, most of them stupid !! and NO, im not writing this because im posting this in the GMATclub forum. It is very important that u register in this or similar websites dedicated to GMAT preparation. I found loads of free prep material, important tips etc from the different forums, not to mentions the elaborate replies to my questions. People here are truly dedicated, and it is sure to help you in ur prep.

On the day of the exam, i got up at 6 and left by at 7. Although my exam was from 9, i took a cab and made sure i reach there by 8. This might seem funnily anxious behaviour but believe me u don't wanna take any chances on D day due some casual attitude. But once i reached, i understood that there is nothin to panic. The people there follow exaclty the same procedure as mentioned in the GMAC website, all u need to do is read them so u know what is going on. Make sure u have ur required I. cards wid u( saw a girl being rejected as there was a problem with her name in their database and her passport; felt really sorry for her). no need to practice any problems on D Day to warm up, as the AWA is designed just for that and will make u at ease with the computer and make ur brain start working. just concentrate on reaching ur destination in time.

I also advice u, take both the optional breaks but stay with in the premises. it helped me relax, take in a few deep breaths and get ready for the next section. and before u go in, remind urself that the first 5 ( some would say 10 but i guess that's true if ur aiming for something above 750) questions hold the key. Think more than twice before confirming the answers to those, and even if u think u havn't got them correct move on, as u have both plenty of time and questions to make up for some initial goof ups!

To summarize, don't put too much stress on urself. I studied for about 2 hours in weekdays after coming back from office and a mzx of 4 hours in weekends. More than what time u give everyday, it is vital that u dedicate at least sometime everyday. Perseverance, and not isolated patches of back breaking hard work is the key.

I have already mentioned everything about my study prep. In case u need any more specific info or any other kind of help, just get in touch. this website ahs been a great help to me and i would be glad if i can respect that by helping few aspirants in turn!

All the best everyone!

Congratulations and thanks for the debrief.

It'll be interesting to see your AWA scores given you write English so well: you -> u, your -> ur, I -> i

Congrats.

Just curious if your scores, raw and total, are correct. The base formula is (Q+V)*8.1 = Total, which makes your score 730.

Anyways, CONGRATS and good luck with your apps.

congrats and well done samidh!

adishail, where did you get that formula from?

and hey Padwan - just coz he got a higher score than you doesn't necessarily mean he is faking it! cut the guy some slack, do you never type using i, ur... always GMAT-correct are we?

Thanks man! really appreciate it!

@ adishail... i do not know if GMAC uses that specific a formula but i can assure u the score that i have mentioned is what i have got.

@ padwan... You are right in criticizing my debrief. I wrote it thinking it would be helpful for future aspirants, and wasn't aware that it will be graded else I would have taken extra care not to make the mistakes that you have mentioned !
And regarding my score and experience, I shared my post because I saw it as a way to partially return the excellent cooperation I have got fromt this community. Now whether you think it as fake is entirely upto you

Nice story and congratulations with the great score!

V40 - is a great result. Verbal is my personal weakness. How did do you practice it? Tricks?

Congrats...Getting this score with work in 2 months is impressive.

Of course, the 8.1 formula is incorrect. I didn't mean to be rude.

An awesome score. Hope you make into your first choice

To be honest i don't really know of any tricks for the CR section. But i think if you solve all the questions in the OG ( and some other books if possible) and spend equal or even more time analyzing the answers given in the OG for the CR questions, you will have a fairly good idea wat this section is all about.

Regarding SC, go through the instructions on grammar given in the 800score.com website. it is the best free material that i have found on the net. there might be many that are better, but as u can understand, i could not afford to lose much time searching for the best materials. but i think if you can fathom the rules given and understand their usage ( there are excellent eg given in that site too !), ur confidence is sure to get a huge boost

I can tell you of one trick for RC. It is not really a trick but something that i have understood after practicing many with many passages... for most answers a direct reference is present in the passage itself. Although many guides may say that u have to understand the underlying assumptions etc., for RCs such questions based on assumption are rarely present, if at all ( and even those are 800 level questions i guess). So before choosing your answer, look for the direct reference. If you can find one, even if the answer does not look like the correct 1, be rest assured it is!!

Hope this will help. Please get back if you need any further help. ATB !

Thanks for the quick reply.
Again, awesome score! Congrats.

Congrats! Good luck with your apps.

Great score. Congratulations!

Did you have a feeling that RC questions on real GMAT are easier than the ones from other sources you used for practice?
(I just did my GMATPrep1, and RCs, my weakness, were not bad at all....)

I practised RCs only from the official guide... the difficulty level was more or less the same i would say... but luckily i got shorter passages compared to the average length of passages in the OG. One more suggestion, try and improve your reading speed if you can. that way you will have that extra bit of time to ponder over the answer choices. i was pretty confident as far as speed was concerned in the verbal section... yet i finished it with only about 30 secs left!! ( i lost more than 2 mins as i returned late from the break!)

Congrats Samidh. 740 is my target score. My D day is on Jan first week.

I bought Quantitative aptitude for the CAT by Arun Sharma. Most of the questions are not explained in detail. Do they have a separate solution book. The guy at the store has no clue abt this.