Tears of Joy : 630 to 730 - I owe you , GMAT Club

Previous attempt debrief : https://gmatclub.com/forum/mayday-252364.html
Must read for amazing ESR analysis

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APPROACH:

I scored 660 on November 26th 2017. I was disappointed, shattered and humiliated all at the same time. The average GMAT Prep time is around 3 months. By November 2017, I had already invested twice that time on GMAT preparations. During this phase, I have committed all possible errors a student can – enrolled for an online course that is for non-natives, joined a sub-par in person coaching center, took the wrong approach to study quant and many more.
Nobody wants to read a 660 debrief. I only received a handful of replies regarding the mistakes in my preparations. However, as the saying goes, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get”, I personally messaged almost all the experts on GMAT club with a link to my debrief and almost begged them to help me out. Almost all of them replied!! That’s the beauty of this community. From all the comments, I could take either of the two approaches:

1. Continue preparing on my own with few changes in my strategy
2. Get a personal tutor

I had a brief session with one of the private tutors in India. The main conclusion from the session was that even though my average score in mocks was 700, the actual GMAT score could vary +- 40. The private tutor had an amazing GMAT & CAT score history and I really needed someone to guide me at that stage. However, the fee that private tutor charge is prohibitively high. Even though I could borrow money from my parents, I decided to pursue the GMAT journey alone. Again.

Another amazing aspect of this community is that one has people from all around the world trying to crack this exam. I messaged one of Club’s user because his SC explanations were exceptionally good. Similarly, another guy contacted me because he was also stuck in 600s and had a comparable GMAT experience. The three of us decided to tackle verbal together. We started solving all the official verbal materials we could find on GMAT club. We used to shred questions to their last bit, understanding all the possible errors one can. We shared our resources, explained each other solutions and motivated each other when required.

I had already read the quant concepts from Magoosh, Princeton and GMAT club quant mega thread. However, just to be 200% sure that I did not miss any loop hole, I studied e-gmat quant as well. I did not learn anything substantial but I was sure that the only thing I need to do for quant was to practice.

QUANT:

I had already completed about 15/25 GMAT Club quant tests. However, I decided to reset the question pool and retake all of them. The important thing in my opinion is to really understand and analyze each question. I have spent almost 30 minutes analyzing a single question after the test. If I incorrectly answered a question, I used to try solving it again no matter how much time I took. Only after I could not think anymore, I looked at the official solution (mostly provided by Bunuel). The third step in the analysis was to know the reason for incorrectly answering the question. Was the question very twisted? Did I have a gap in my understanding? Did I overlook a part of the question? The fourth step was to update my notes with any new learning. Before my actual test, I completed all the 25 GMAT Club math tests and followed my four-step approach for all the 25*37 questions.

VERBAL:

All thanks to my meticulous study group, I started to observe the quirks in official SC. And boy, there a LOT of tricks on GMAT SC. I made an excel sheet of all the tricky official questions. The sheet had the links to all the questions and my learning from each of them. Apart from the basic egmat SC rules, I revised that sheet thrice before my actual exam. I solved official questions so many times that I could tell you what the sentence is all about if you told me the first few words of the SC!!

I had already exhausted all the official CR questions before my 660 score. Hence, I moved to the LSAT questions posted by Broall. I solved all of them. The approach is to really understand the argument, identify the premises and the conclusion. In my opinion, powerscore CR bible is a good start to CR, but, in order to really get the feel of CR, one must solve a LOT of questions. However, quality always triumphs over quantity. Please take time out to understand why each answer choice is incorrect or correct. Again, I have spent up to 30 minutes analyzing a good CR and reading all the expert comments. After LSAT, I solved 600 and 700 level questions from Veritas, Manhattan, Kaplan and e-gmat. The “search option” on GMATClub is boon for all test takers. Thank you BB for creating such a wonderful website.

I have always been a good note taker in my school days. And that my friends, worked against me in GMAT. GMAT RC is an open book examination and one can always refer to the passage on the screen. However, one must really understand the passage. Each and every line of it. I came to realize that my reading speed and the speed at which my mind understands are different. In order words, I can read faster than my mind can understand. Hence, every time I solved an RC, I never bothered about the clock. Instead, I focused on understanding the passage. In my opinion, this exercise is particularly important because the answer choices of RC questions are really close. Everything hinges on each word of a given answer choice. Loose your focus and bam, you select the incorrect option.

D-DAY

I have given GMAT twice already – 630 and 660. I knew that ANYTHING could go wrong on the test – from bad pens provided by the exam center to overshooting the break. Even though I had prepared to the best of my ability, I was mentally ready to see ANY score on the test. I absolutely need to attempt the verbal section first. Not because Verbal is my strength but because I cannot solve RC with a tired mind. I remember a few CR questions that stumped me. However, I could pre-think the correct answer on majority of the CRs. LSAT and 700 level question indeed help one train for CR. I could solve about 60% SC with 100% surety. However, there were SCs on which I was very confused. These were the tricky SCs that I had made the list of. In my opinion, one needs to learn rules in order to solve 600 level SCs and then learn all the exceptions to the rules in order to solve 700 level SCs. Well played GMAT. Luckily, I did not get the lengthiest RC in the last 10 verbal question. Usually I take small notes on each RC. However, I had to rush during the last 10 verbal questions because I knew that leaving questions unanswered is more detrimental than answering them incorrectly – You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take.

Unlike my 660 attempt, Math started with a very easy question. On most of the questions, I could see the tricks that GMAT was trying to use. I could see the trap C choice, the possible combinatorics mistake and so on. Thanks to GMAT Club test, I knew how to deal with such situations. Also, 25 full length math tests had developed an internal 2 min clock in me. I could feel when I exceeded 2 min on a question and this internal clock helped me finish the quant section on time.
I was really exhausted by the time I reached IR. Honestly, I was so busy in preparing for quant and verbal that I did not prepare for IR. From my experience, I knew that a calm mind can get a 6 on IR. However, I had no idea what a tried mind can do. I tried my best and completed all the questions.
I always follow Chineeseburned’s AWA template. Again, thank you GMAT Club. The argument had many flaws and I tried my best to critique two of them. I am yet to receive my AWA score but I know that I could have done better.
Before clicking on the submit button, I said to myself that absolutely ANYTHING can come up on the screen and that I have tried my best.

Result:

IR 3 ; 26 percentile
Q49 ; 75 percentile
V40 ; 91 percentile
Overall : 730 ; 96 percentile

I am an ardent football fan and hence I raised my arms up to thank the Gods (Messi style). I accepted the score, took the printout and cried a river of joyful tears. Only my close friends and parents know how much I have gone through during the last one year of my GMAT Prep. I have doubted my ability, jeopardized close relationships and invested my life for GMAT. I don’t know whether my IR score will hamper my admissions. I don’t know whether all these efforts were worth my time and energy. But what I do know is that I am stronger than ever.

Per aspera ad astra.

Thank you all.

aceGMAT21 bb broall Bunuel

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