760 (Q50, V44) Debrief

Further to: https://gmatclub.com/forum/760-q50-v-44-couldn-t-mark-last-quant-question-122378.html

Hi Guys, after much procrastination, here is the debrief:

Exam Date: 26th October
Registered on: 15th July

Total Study time: 3 months, but most prep was back-loaded. Started serious prep around mid September. However, in my opinion one needs around 3 months of time (with date taken).


Section Strategies:
Quant: I just did the (hard) questions from OG 12. I was easily scoring 51 in most of my tests except for one where i scored 49. My quant is strong, so I didn't need to do much. In retrospect (50 ), I should have practiced more.

Verbal This is where I put most of my efforts. I used the following resources: MGMAT Sentence Correction Guide, Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible & OG 12 & Verbal Guide 2 for practice. YOU NEED THESE AND THESE ONLY TO CRACK THE GMAT VERBAL. Honestly, nothing else.

Sentence Correction: MGMAT is a really really good book. Finish every chapter sincerely and do the in-chapter exercises by following the instructions. Each chapter has instructions before the in-chapter exercises and the OG practice questions. It is essential to follow the instructions and do what is asked. For example, if the instructions ask you to identify the parallel markers in each sentence, then you Damn well should do that. The point is that you might be able to mark the correct answer to a given question just because it feels right. However, if you do so without understanding the concept, then you have just wasted the question. Do not let a single question go waste.

Critical Reasoning: Powerscore is the last name here. Just read the whole book and solve all questions. Follow the instructions, simple as that.

Reading Comprehension Once you have done the Critical Reasoning(CR) part, some of the difficult questions of RC are also covered in the CR questions. After finishing CR, just refer one of the forums on Reading Comprehension. Understand the few strategies available. Personally, I followed the paraphrasing method (wherein you write down the paragraph in few words), because it increased my understanding. Reading speed was not an issue for me in the first place, so didn't bother with that.

TAKE NOTES I was able to revise SC three times, just because I had made my notes properly. It really helps. ditto for CR.

IPAD APP i also bought the gmatclub ipad app. it is quite handy and useful. i was able to specifically target the areas that i wanted to focus on. BUT PLEASE DON'T GO AND BUY AN IPAD JUST TO PREPARE FOR THE GMAT

test i bought the MGMAT tests, took only 3 of them, and then took the two official tests. scored 690, 730, 690 (MGMAT) & 740, 770 (day before) (Official Prep)

Once again GMAT Club, thanks a lot for all the help....

ps: it would be a good exercise to find GMAT grammar errors in my post above... writing correct english is such a pain...