Hello Friends,
My prep started around 1.5 years back and was quite frequently derailed due to work, travel etc. I rebooted my prep around 2 months back and my experience is summarised below:
1. Quant: Coming from engineering background, Quant was not an issue. The issue was to solve the problems in 2 mins or less. Biggest mistake i did was to go through theory again and again which does not help the cause. I came across "My Workbook" feature on GMAT Club. The way problems are organised on the basis of topics, difficulty level, section etc is just mind blowing. I focussed on solving the problems in under 2 mins, and for the ones which i could not i referred to the tricks or methods used by the forum moderators. I would sincerely like to thank
Bunuel and
VeritasPrepKarishma for the help and simple explanations to complex topics such as Probability,Permutations, Combinations, Mixtures, Rate etc. I solved around 300 questions from GMAT Club. Moreover the Math Book by
Bunuel is awesome for a quick brush up.
2. Verbal: Verbal section is a different ball game all together and Princeton teachers i came across are good. For CR a lot of coaching programs will tell you to identify premise, conclusion etc. , make notes and then work in a pattern. What worked for me was to try to understand what the author is trying to say/convey and write down the expected answer. Same was for RC, i just read the passage and jotted down the issue and main idea. Once i stopped working as per prescribed 'process' and started understanding, both my RC and CR scores improved. I made notes only for confusing RC/CR e.g. say if its a biology or psychology RC involving technical terms, i would make notes. Or say if i am unable to understand an argument, then i will make notes. Sentence correction was and probably still is my Achilles heel as i was pathetic with grammar/idioms/rules etc and i should have worked harder on SC.
3. Mock Tests: Trust me, none of the mocks come remotely close to the actual thing. The closest you can get to the actual thing is by taking official mba.com mocks. I purchased the exam packs and took 6 mocks. These tests are representative and the next best thing. Other tests are either too hard, or too easy or just not representative. I am glad i spent money on the official mocks as it immensely helped me.
4. Day before the test: GMAT Club has been my constant companion and knight in shining armour throughout my prep journey. I have never been the notes making type person and i didnt know where to revise from. Well GMAT Club flashcards came to the rescue. I revised from those flashcards and took a good sleep.
5. Test Day and During the test: Woke up with a real bad headache, nervous. My appointment was at 5 PM, revised quant from GMAT Club and reached the centre. The test centre people were extremely professional and helpful. I used the scheduled breaks well, splashed water on my face, had a quick snack and ready for next section. Time just flies by when you are in the test taking mode. You cant sulk if the section did not go as per your expectations and you should not as it will impact the next section.
As i pressed the submit button, i prayed really hard, quick glance at the screen - Q49 V36 IR6 Total 710. A small fist bump in the air and done.
Once again, thank you GMAT Club for your help during this journey.