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From 600 – 710 – Phase I
In Nov-Dec 2019, I first had some thoughts around GMAT. To see what the test is, without any preparation, I gave one free mock GMAT test (Kaplan). I scored 600 in that test. I thought, fair enough, how hard can 730 be after some preparation (confidence of an ignorant man!).
I had some business and personal trips planned and finally in late Feb or early Mar is when I thought about it again. This time I gave another GMAT to just check if I am still at the same level or the endless trips have made me wiser, there went another mock (Manhattan) and I scored 590. So the first one was not fluke, good enough!
Target
I knew R1 applications start in Sep, so I set a target of preparing till and giving real GMAT exam in June/Jul and 730 looked like a good score to aim for.
Preparation Strategy
The last competitve exam I gave was in 2010, a decade ago, so I was not in touch with the preparation world. I had no idea where to start for GMAT. For a long time I didn’t know what OG meant, had to google search it! I did what I do best, searched for question banks and almost every search kept bringing me to Gmatclub. That’s how I got introduced to this gem of a place. Well I collected whatever question bank I could get for free.
My motto at that time was to solve as many questions as possible, to learn as I go. Those question banks did help a lot in polishing my quant concepts and like a patient getting out of coma, I started remembering my quant concepts I learnt a decade ago.
Verbal was where I had some serious difficulties. I have never read a grammar book in school (cheap ones hehe), so I was not very comfortable with grammar rules and technical definitions and the kind of language these books use. CR was also completely new to me, had no idea what my approach should be.
CR Approach
For CR, I read the Powerscore CR Bible once cover to cover. It opened my eyes, it really helped in understanding at least the basics of CR. Not that my accuracy in CR was increased significantly, but I knew I am getting there. After reading the book, I went back to solving questions.
SC Approach
For SC, I was so afraid of touching any book with technical/grammatical stuff, that I relied solely on learning from experience by solving as many questions as possible. Reading explanations at Gmatclub really helped me. Would like to thank GmatNinja and few other people who have posted such amazing explanations for questions.
Quant Approach
For quant, Gmatclub quant book is simply amazing and its free! I had some difficulty with Algebra and Modulus questions and I again relied on Gmatclub to solve questions as well as learn from the explanations written by awesome people like Bunuel and VeritasKarishma.
Study plan – At this stage I was doing 25-30 hours a week (lockdown gave me too much time) and almost all this time was dedicated to solving questions.
Mock Test Strategy
I used up all available free mock tests from different places, it gave me a good idea of what I like and what I don’t like about that particular test. Based on my experience and value for money, I settled with Expert’s Global. My plan was to give a mock test every week to build habit of sitting for 3 hours, focusing, and time management.
On Gmatclub, I also saw people recommending Gmat Prep mocks. I also bought those and thought of giving them before the real GMAT.
By mid April I was in hovering around 700 and by mid may I was at 730-740 levels both in experts global and Gmat prep mocks.
First Attempt
I was not very comfortable with the idea of using online whiteboard, so decided to go for conventional test and fortunately found a window in June. I booked this test in May and thought of going extra hard for one month (not a good idea). I pushed myself, but a couple of bad results on Expert Global mocks did lower my confidence and the more I tried, the worse it got. The night before the test, I took the last Gmat prep mock, I scored 750, it felt nice, but still wasn’t sure.
On test day, all the exhaustion of preparation, test day anxiety, stress of doing well got the better of me. I was also asked to wear the mask (and I was using those thick ones). I think I spent a lot of time adjusting my mask during the exam so that I can breathe. Such distractions and very poor time management led to a score of 710. I was not happy, I knew I could perform better.
At this point, I would also mention, Gmat prep mocks are not good. Compared to real GMAT, the mocks are easy, especially quant. Given how costly those mocks are, the quality is poor. It simply doesn’t exhibit the same difficulty level which you face in real GMAT. Expert’s Global mocks were far better in that sense.
From 710 to 750 – Phase II
710 was close to 730, and I couldn’t decide if I should give the test again. After the test, till June end, I didn’t study at all. I spent my time researching on colleges, scholarships etc. After all the research, I decided, I can do better and that meant another Gmat attempt. This time I planned to give the test in Aug and score, as that would give me enough time to write essays etc and apply in R1 for the target colleges. Based on my research now I wanted to score 740+
This time problem was different. I knew I could do 700-710, but I didn’t know what I need to do to reach 740-750. It was that vicious task of trying to know what you don't know!
To only target my weaknesses, I analysed my Expert Global mocks and looked for what areas I am consistently weak. Based on these I found few SC, CR and Quant topics. As a source I again relied on Gmatclub which has this amazing list of question split as per the topics and difficulty level (I’ll put the links below). I practiced questions from my weak topics only. Didn’t waste any time on what I already was good at. Between Jul and Test date in Aug I gave three mocks and scored – 720, 740, 740. Gave no Gmatprep mocks as I couldn't trust them. In this phase I also didn’t want to exhaust myself, so I cut down my study time significantly, nothing more than 2-3 hours a day.
Second Attempt
My mental strength was back, some of the concepts were clear, and I was in that good rhythm before that exam which boosted my confidence. This time I also wore the one-time usable masks, what a relief! During the exam, I felt totally in control, managed time well, and had 2-3 mins to spare in both sections. IR was a little tough, but still manageable and I scored 750 (Q49 V42 IR6 AWA5). I was also happy because it was a bit more than what I aimed for, the efforts had paid off, suddenly it was all worth it.
Materials Used –
Gmatclub questions
Question banks in Pdf or Word forms, available on Gmatclub and in general on Google.( if you want these question banks, please DM me your email ID, I will share)
Powerscore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible (one-time cover to cover)
Topic + Difficulty Wise Questions –
https://gmatclub.com/forum/critical-rea ... 28861.html
https://gmatclub.com/forum/ds-question- ... 28728.html
https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-ps-ques ... 27957.html
https://gmatclub.com/forum/reading-comp ... 29341.html
https://gmatclub.com/forum/sentence-cor ... 29750.html
Best Source of Quant Concepts - If you go through this megathread, I dont think you need anything else, or any book.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/ultimate-gma ... 44512.html
Mock Test + Overall Score Development
In Nov-Dec 2019, I first had some thoughts around GMAT. To see what the test is, without any preparation, I gave one free mock GMAT test (Kaplan). I scored 600 in that test. I thought, fair enough, how hard can 730 be after some preparation (confidence of an ignorant man!).
I had some business and personal trips planned and finally in late Feb or early Mar is when I thought about it again. This time I gave another GMAT to just check if I am still at the same level or the endless trips have made me wiser, there went another mock (Manhattan) and I scored 590. So the first one was not fluke, good enough!
Target
I knew R1 applications start in Sep, so I set a target of preparing till and giving real GMAT exam in June/Jul and 730 looked like a good score to aim for.
Preparation Strategy
The last competitve exam I gave was in 2010, a decade ago, so I was not in touch with the preparation world. I had no idea where to start for GMAT. For a long time I didn’t know what OG meant, had to google search it! I did what I do best, searched for question banks and almost every search kept bringing me to Gmatclub. That’s how I got introduced to this gem of a place. Well I collected whatever question bank I could get for free.
My motto at that time was to solve as many questions as possible, to learn as I go. Those question banks did help a lot in polishing my quant concepts and like a patient getting out of coma, I started remembering my quant concepts I learnt a decade ago.
Verbal was where I had some serious difficulties. I have never read a grammar book in school (cheap ones hehe), so I was not very comfortable with grammar rules and technical definitions and the kind of language these books use. CR was also completely new to me, had no idea what my approach should be.
CR Approach
For CR, I read the Powerscore CR Bible once cover to cover. It opened my eyes, it really helped in understanding at least the basics of CR. Not that my accuracy in CR was increased significantly, but I knew I am getting there. After reading the book, I went back to solving questions.
SC Approach
For SC, I was so afraid of touching any book with technical/grammatical stuff, that I relied solely on learning from experience by solving as many questions as possible. Reading explanations at Gmatclub really helped me. Would like to thank GmatNinja and few other people who have posted such amazing explanations for questions.
Quant Approach
For quant, Gmatclub quant book is simply amazing and its free! I had some difficulty with Algebra and Modulus questions and I again relied on Gmatclub to solve questions as well as learn from the explanations written by awesome people like Bunuel and VeritasKarishma.
Study plan – At this stage I was doing 25-30 hours a week (lockdown gave me too much time) and almost all this time was dedicated to solving questions.
Mock Test Strategy
I used up all available free mock tests from different places, it gave me a good idea of what I like and what I don’t like about that particular test. Based on my experience and value for money, I settled with Expert’s Global. My plan was to give a mock test every week to build habit of sitting for 3 hours, focusing, and time management.
On Gmatclub, I also saw people recommending Gmat Prep mocks. I also bought those and thought of giving them before the real GMAT.
By mid April I was in hovering around 700 and by mid may I was at 730-740 levels both in experts global and Gmat prep mocks.
First Attempt
I was not very comfortable with the idea of using online whiteboard, so decided to go for conventional test and fortunately found a window in June. I booked this test in May and thought of going extra hard for one month (not a good idea). I pushed myself, but a couple of bad results on Expert Global mocks did lower my confidence and the more I tried, the worse it got. The night before the test, I took the last Gmat prep mock, I scored 750, it felt nice, but still wasn’t sure.
On test day, all the exhaustion of preparation, test day anxiety, stress of doing well got the better of me. I was also asked to wear the mask (and I was using those thick ones). I think I spent a lot of time adjusting my mask during the exam so that I can breathe. Such distractions and very poor time management led to a score of 710. I was not happy, I knew I could perform better.
At this point, I would also mention, Gmat prep mocks are not good. Compared to real GMAT, the mocks are easy, especially quant. Given how costly those mocks are, the quality is poor. It simply doesn’t exhibit the same difficulty level which you face in real GMAT. Expert’s Global mocks were far better in that sense.
From 710 to 750 – Phase II
710 was close to 730, and I couldn’t decide if I should give the test again. After the test, till June end, I didn’t study at all. I spent my time researching on colleges, scholarships etc. After all the research, I decided, I can do better and that meant another Gmat attempt. This time I planned to give the test in Aug and score, as that would give me enough time to write essays etc and apply in R1 for the target colleges. Based on my research now I wanted to score 740+
This time problem was different. I knew I could do 700-710, but I didn’t know what I need to do to reach 740-750. It was that vicious task of trying to know what you don't know!
To only target my weaknesses, I analysed my Expert Global mocks and looked for what areas I am consistently weak. Based on these I found few SC, CR and Quant topics. As a source I again relied on Gmatclub which has this amazing list of question split as per the topics and difficulty level (I’ll put the links below). I practiced questions from my weak topics only. Didn’t waste any time on what I already was good at. Between Jul and Test date in Aug I gave three mocks and scored – 720, 740, 740. Gave no Gmatprep mocks as I couldn't trust them. In this phase I also didn’t want to exhaust myself, so I cut down my study time significantly, nothing more than 2-3 hours a day.
Second Attempt
My mental strength was back, some of the concepts were clear, and I was in that good rhythm before that exam which boosted my confidence. This time I also wore the one-time usable masks, what a relief! During the exam, I felt totally in control, managed time well, and had 2-3 mins to spare in both sections. IR was a little tough, but still manageable and I scored 750 (Q49 V42 IR6 AWA5). I was also happy because it was a bit more than what I aimed for, the efforts had paid off, suddenly it was all worth it.
Materials Used –
Gmatclub questions
Question banks in Pdf or Word forms, available on Gmatclub and in general on Google.( if you want these question banks, please DM me your email ID, I will share)
Powerscore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible (one-time cover to cover)
Topic + Difficulty Wise Questions –
https://gmatclub.com/forum/critical-rea ... 28861.html
https://gmatclub.com/forum/ds-question- ... 28728.html
https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-ps-ques ... 27957.html
https://gmatclub.com/forum/reading-comp ... 29341.html
https://gmatclub.com/forum/sentence-cor ... 29750.html
Best Source of Quant Concepts - If you go through this megathread, I dont think you need anything else, or any book.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/ultimate-gma ... 44512.html
Mock Test + Overall Score Development
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16 Sep 2020, 10:53
Kudos
Bookmarks
Wow Divakarns - 750 is fantastic. Are you applying in this cycle or waiting for R2?
Good luck!
Good luck!
16 Sep 2020, 10:56
Kudos
Bookmarks
Congrats on your score! Very interesting debrief 😎👍 very impressive too. Congrats!
Are you applying this year?
Posted from my mobile device
Are you applying this year?
Posted from my mobile device
AstroNut
Joined: 22 Oct 2019
Last visit: 08 Oct 2025
Posts: 36
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 13
Location: United States (TX)
Schools: Johnson (Cornell) (A)
GMAT 1: 710 Q48 V39
GMAT 2: 750 Q49 V42
GPA: 2.4
WE:Supply Chain Management (Transportation)
16 Sep 2020, 21:43
Kudos
Bookmarks
logro
logro I am applying in R1 as well. I had thought of writing this earlier, but was busy with R1 applications.
