MY GMAT EXPERIENCE

Hi everyone .... I gave the GMAT in Juneand scored 720 (Q :48 V:41) AWA: 5.0

I would like to share my experience.

Before I begin I would like to say that my experience with the GMAT will come as a breath air for many .. you will find out why.

The broad structure of my experience is as follows:

1. Reference material used
2. Mock GMAT scores
3. Suggestions

REFERENCE MATERIAL USED

I did not use too many reference books.

Verbal

I used Manhattan GMAT Prep. Guides on RC, CR and SC. For RC and CR, I just referred to these books for strategy portion. They spell out some helpful strategies to tackle different kinds of questions in their domain and also provide some time saving tactics.
I did some practice from the Manhattan SC guide. It is a very helpful reference book as it helps brush up some forgotten basics and also highlights what is right and wrong according to GMAT evaluators.
For practice I used the OG12. It is a must for all GMAT takers as it provides good number of questions of varying levels of difficulty.

Quant

I just brushed up my concepts from Nova GMAT Prep Course and the OG. I did practice questions from OG itself.
For me practice from OG was sufficient for quant and verbal given that I started my preparation late.
However, I analysed thoroughly the questions that I got wrong in the first go, took note of them and did them a couple of times.

PRACTICE TEST

Before one gets down to giving practice tests, one must ensure that one is fairly thorough with the basics, the concepts and strategies. Be fairly comfortable with the timing as well i.e. you should not exceed the time limit per question too much. This can be taken care by using a timer when doing practice questions.
Manhattan online resource also has a stop watch which can be used to note the time taken per question.
Doing the practice exams along with the AWA helps getting habituated to sitting for 4 hours at a stretch, if one is taking minimal extra breaks apart from the breaks that will be permitted on the test day!

I gave the Manhattan Mock GMAT Exams and the two mock exams of GMAT Prep. The MGMAT scores are quite reliable, although some of the questions are of a higher difficulty level than those in the actual GMAT exam.

My mock exam scores were as follows:

GMAT Prep Mock exam 1: 500

MGMAT 1: 530
MGMAT 2: 590
MGMAT 3: 630
MGMAT 4: 640
MGMAT 5: 630
MGMAT 6: 670

GMAT Mock Exam 2 : 650 (I took this exam two days before my final exam date)

GMAT : 720 (Q: 48, V:41, AWA: 5.0)

Lesson IT IS POSSIBLE to get more that what one gets on the last mock exam!!

This is the reason why I said that my experience will come as breath of fresh air! I did not touch or cross 700 in any of my mock exams but cracked it on the test day!!

PS: make sure u have the concepts right, the speed right and keep ur calm! Exceeding all your previous scores on the exam Day will automatically be possible!!

SO ALL THE BEST!! I hope my debrief is of help!!

And lastly before I end .. I have to admit how I relied on the blogs and this forum to get some very crucial tips!!

Thanks GMAT Club!! Cheers!!