640 (Q47, V33) | Seek help to improve

Background: I had been thinking of preparing for GMAT since 2019, but it was only in November, 2020, that I actually seriously wanted to start preparing for it. As most of us would do, I started off with an official diagnostic mock, in which I scored a 600 (Q48, V25). Coming from an engineering background, I knew I had decent Quant skills, but my Verbal skills seemed to be worse than I had expected them to be. Even in Verbal reasoning, CR seemed relatively weaker compared to SC and RC. I then took the free SigmaX mock to validate the scores from official mock. I scored a 610 (Q48, V26). Although the accuracy in the CR section improved on the SigmaX mock, it was still the lowest among all the three sections. So, I was sure by now that the Verbal section needed a lot of work.

Course of action: I started with my GMAT prep sometime during the end of November, 2020, by going through the Verbal theory using e-GMAT's videos. I started with the SC section and I believe e-GMAT has the right content and methodology to excel at SC since I noticed the improvement in my SC ability too, after going through the videos and making notes of the concepts I learned. I then went through the CR course as well. It was January, 2021, when I felt I had the foundations required for both SC and CR in place. And since there wasn't much theory available for RC, I decided to rely on the practice only. All this while, I didn't study quants even for a day because I was riding high on confidence I drew from the diagnostic scores, and I realised this mistake when, in order to assess myself, I took a Veritas prep mock. As I had expected, I improved a lot in Verbal, scoring a V35 with a 660 overall (Q46, V35), but my Quant scores took a hit. Even though I improved, I was nowhere close to my target (720+) and so, I started working on the Quant section as well. It was February and due to work related commitments, I couldn't focus on my studies and the preparations took a backseat. For the next two months, I couldn't study anything. I then thought of booking the GMAT date, believing that it will help me get back to studies. So I booked the GMAT for 5th June, 2021, keeping the R1 deadlines in mind and got back to studying on April 6th, 2021. Only four days into the regime, I fell ill on 10th April and had to be admitted to a hospital on 15th April. It was the Delta variant. I spent the next 10 days in the hospital and the next two months at home, trying to recover. Meanwhile, the GMAT scheduled for 5th June got cancelled due to local regulations and I didn't even think about GMAT up until August, 2021. R1 deadlines were approaching, but for one reason or the other, I just couldn't get back to studying consistently - something, which I believe is extremely important considering the nature of the exam that GMAT is.

After a lot of back and forth, I finally started studying again on 21st January, 2022 - this time with a clear determination to prepare well for the exam and to attempt it. And prepare well, I did (at-least I felt so). From 21st Jan to 12th Feb, I focused on theory and practice. Went through the videos by GMAT Ninja on CR, SC and RC, and felt confident about my ability. This time I completely relied on the official resource available on this platform (gmatclub). I did decently well in every section and topic. It was only the 700+ level CR questions that I faced issues with. So, I practised more of it and spent time on analysing the errors. When I felt confident about my foundations, I took the GMAT Prep 1 mock to gauge my progress. I scored a 680 (Q50, V32) and subsequently analysed the mistakes and figured out what my weaknesses were. I then booked the GMAT test for 5th March and decided to utilise the remaining time to work on the weaknesses and to practice more in order to manage the time well. During the period from 21st Jan to 2nd March, I kept studying everyday for 2-3 hours on weekdays and 5-6 hours on weekends. In between, I took some mocks as well, the results of which are as under:

Test date: 13th Feb, 2022
Source: GMAT Prep 1
Score: 680 (Q50, V32)

Test date: 20th Feb, 2022
Source: SigmaX free mock
Score: 670 (Q48, V33)

Test date:22nd Feb, 2022
Source: GMAT Club Test 1
Score: 670 (Q45, V36)

Test date:24th Feb, 2022
Source: GMAT Club Test 2
Score: 690 (Q49, V35)

Test date: 26th Feb, 2022
Source: GMAT Prep 2
Score: 700 (Q47, V39) - My internet didn't work during the Quants section and I had lost 7 minutes because of which I guessed the last 8 questions, eventually getting all of them wrong

Test date: 28th Feb
Source: GMAT Club Test 3
Score: 670 (Q47, V34)

Test Day: My exam was scheduled for 1 pm on 5th March. I was able to get a decent sleep overnight and felt confident about my preparations going into the exam. But, considering the fact that I've historically been a terrible test-taker, I was anxious yet again. Despite doing everything I could, the nerves still got to me - my heart was thumping as I got inside the test room and my mind felt the stress too. So, I took a deep breath, felt better and started off with the exam. I chose Verbal-Quants-IR-AWA as the order and started off well with the verbal reasoning. Although doing well, I was taking a lot of time (as evident from my ESR). I still kept focusing on the accuracy only until I realised that I had just 15 minutes to do the last 13 questions, and that is when the panic struck. The 24th Question was a Bold face question, which made me feel I was doing pretty well (perhaps a big mistake). During the last 10 questions, I had to rush so much that I guessed on the 3 questions of a RC passage and 2-3 questions of CR (probably getting them all wrong). I could only focus on getting the SC questions correct. I knew I had not done well, but I was still expecting a V35-36, considering I had taken care of the accuracy in the first half of the section. Anyway, I took the 8 minutes break before the Quants section, and focussed only on the next section. I got back to my desk and started with the Quants section. During the section, I felt I was doing really well and in-fact, even after I was done with it, I expected a Q50. I got through the IR and AWA sections without much trouble and I was eagerly waiting for my scores. But when the scores popped up, I was shocked. A V33 made sense to me as I knew I had faltered during the last 10 questions. But a Q47 was a shocker, as I felt I had done really well on Quants.

Everything said and done, now that I've my ESR (not able to attach it here), I realise that the major issue is with time management. My mind doesn't work if I'm short on time and the CR percentile is a true reflection of that. I, therefore, seek the help of experts in planning my preparation for the next attempt.

I'm ready to follow any regime diligently as long as it can help me get a 720+, preferably by 10th April, 2022