Hello fellow GMAT Aspirants,
There are few things i wish i could have done earlier during my initial stages of preparation. These might come in handy in case if you are starting your preparation
1.
RC will make or break the score.
I read the importance of RC in
abhimahna debrief 7 months ago. He specifically said to practice at least 2 RC passages every day. I did not understand the importance of those words at that time. Now i am exactly in the same scenario only 7 months after. RC is going to make or break my score
For all those in initial stage , please work on at least 1 RC passage daily. Practice is the key.
To score V40 , you need to work on all three area’s equally. Compared to SC and CR , mastering RC takes time which is why one is advised to practice daily.
2.
Do not extend preparation beyond 6 months. bb highlights this point in the study plan, that is the very first post i read when i started my preparation. As usual , i did not focus on it. My prep extended beyond 7 months and one day i woke up to read that GMAT structure has changed and RC has more questions now. First thing came up to mind is i should've completed GMAT within 6 months of my prep start date.
3.
Follow Bunuel 's post daily for Quant: I did not follow quant experts posts [especially @Bunuel] during my initial 5 months and i was like struggling in quant and looking for answers everywhere. When i answered couple of quant questions in GMAT Club, i saw
pushpitkc 's answers. I was like wow this guy is awesome in quant.
I reached out to him for suggestion and he advised me to follow Bunuel daily and asked me to try to answer to his questions. That's all enough is what he said. I followed it for a month diligently and though i have not reached the desired level , i got the confidence that i could score Q49 with dedication. This is hugely surprising for a guy who was stuck in Q37 for 4 months.
4.
Trust the system: GMAT needs dedicated effort and intensity in preparation. One can learn more in 3 Months of dedicated and focused preparation than 6 months of sporadic preparation. This is a lesson learned in hard way. If you notice , all those who have scored very highly have worked very hard for it, nothing comes easy.
5.
Follow a study plan: There are many study plans in GMAT Club and the some course providers also have their own plans. Chose the right plan that suits you and follow the plan. The activities that cannot be tracked cannot be measured.
6.
Use GMAT Club effectively: GMAT Club is a treasure chest. Its up to us to use effectively to gain as much as possible from it , i like especially the follow experts and ask experts feature.
7.
Pay attention to successful debriefs: Some debrief's posted by user's are really helpful. Many debrief's have strategy followed by the user to reach the dream score. Not only that , some of them also post lesson's learned which will come handy for someone who starts their preparation. I read the debrief of abhimahna and Souvik more than 2 times, they are very informative.
These are lessons i learnt during my preparation. I have not achieved my goal yet, but i have confidence now that i could also achieve dream score of 700+.
All the best for your preparation.
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