~Scored 750 on my first attempt ~Coronavirus playing villain~

Hello Everyone!

I gave my GMAT exam on 25th June 2021 and scored a 750 (Q50 and V41). The story of how I got here is interesting nonetheless. Covid tried to play the villain but at last, my hard work bore results. When I completed my test and saw my score, I was disappointed (human nature, right?)!
The day before my test I had taken my final GMAT official mock practice test and scored a 760, but on the doomsday, my test started in the most horrible way. The test center provides black markers and laminated sheets to do your rough work. I tested my markers on a sheet of paper when I collected them from the invigilator and they worked fine then.
When I started my quant section and tried writing with my markers, both wouldn't work. I tried multiple times and then I started panicking. I raised my hand to call the guy and by the time he came and replaced my markers, I had already lost 4-5 minutes. I overcompensated the lost time by going through questions fast and that reduced my Quant score to 50. Nevertheless, a difference of 10 wouldn't have made a big difference because GMAT itself says that a person's score can vary by up to 30 points on two different days.

Coming to my preparation, I started with solidifying my English grammar basics. I thought they really helped me in the Sentence Correction section. For my grammar, I used one of GMAT's grammar guides (GMAT Club Ultimate Grammar2v1). Manhattan Prep's GMAT All the Verbal PDF was also very helpful in building my basics for sentence correction. I tried going through the theory every 2-to 3 weeks so that I can solidify my foundation.
I solved the entire GMAT official guide. I think its verbal part has sufficient practice materials, but I did not feel completely satisfied with the quality and quantity of quantitative questions. For this, I took the help of the GMAT club and solved questions of varying difficulty levels, with and without a timer. You don't need to start using the timer right away, but only when you feel comfortable.
I solved sentence correction and comprehension problems too from GMAT Club, but do this only when you have exhausted the official guide.
For Data Sufficiency, I didn't get the improvement I needed and I solved "Advanced Quant Manhattan Guide". The guide provides a systematic way to approach data sufficiency questions which I found helpful.

Also, error logs are a must! And plan your prep according to your capabilities. Remember "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail"

My GMAT exam was rescheduled twice, first because I didn't know that passports were a must in India, and second because of the deadly delta wave in India. My exam date shifted by more than a month, but being optimistic is the key in these situations!

I received admits from CMU Tepper and UCLA Anderson, both with scholarships. I finally decided to join Anderson, because they were more generous and the location is also ideal for me!

I currently have free time on my hand, and I am also in need of a few bucks, so if anyone wants help with their GMAT preps or general MBA consulting, I would be more than happy to help you!

Please reach out to me on my email - choudharyankitkumar91@gmail.com

Wishing you the best!