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Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.
29 Oct 2010, 07:06
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680 in 7 Weeks... GMAT DeBrief 
Hey guys, i know i may seem like a new user but I'v followed gmatclub for over a year now. This is where i learned everything i needed to learn. So am giving back a bit of what i learned and experienced in this de-brief. Hope it helps.
But first, a short sweet story
and then we'l get to the nitty-gritties. I had taken the gmat on October 5, 2009, with a total preparation time of 3 weeks. I scored a 640. Mostly because by the end of the first week, i had bumped into gmatclub while looking for some free advice Then, i never got a chance to take the test again or prepare for it. Almost a year later i decided to apply for a mba. A late realisation i know, but its better late than never. :D So i followed learning number 1 from the gmatclub:I got an appointment- a date for the test - 29th October,2010 It keeps you on your toes
I joined a literally under-ground institute for gmat preparation, primarily because the instructors had all scored above 730 and the student success for touching 700 was 90%. The batches were small- 6 people. And with the same fees as the other institutes, who obviously had larger batches, something i didn't like, it couldn't get any better. This is where i was inspired i must say. Coz my instructor was a 22 y.o. guy, who works for Morgan stanley on weekdays and for this institute during the weekends. Here in India, that's called craziness a.k.a passion
, and i'm sure he's building his profile that way A 6-week long, weekend course followed, during which i actually did learn new stuff. But my work never gave me a second to breath :D So i needed practice. Finally i took a the last week off from work, practiced, worked on my weeknesses and that is what this de-brief is about.
FYI, at the beginning of the preparation i took the first gmatprep test and scored a 570. No preparation remember!!!
I took a test every week after that and the scores will follow soon. Books and Materials Used
- OG 12 - Well nothing better than this. Yeah, most material is easy. But, official is still official.
Princeton Review- Verbal Workout for the GMAT- 2nd ed. Very helpful- Since, verbal was my weakness from the get go.
Manhattan Word Translations - Lets just say i never really used it, but the online tests on manhattangmat helped :D
Kaplan GMAT Advanced (2009 edition) - I used this to go over sentence correction again, and i added just one new point from this book. Still, it helped me, so kudos for that
The workbook from the institute- It actually has very tough questions, and we worked most of them out in the class with the help of the instructor. I have to say, the notes i made from the questions were very important.
Manhattan Free Flash Cards - They helped me raise my score for SC. The best things in the world- flash cards
Lastly, i used my learning number 2 from the gmatclub, as a very important tool, i wish i had more time to use it
The Error Log Since, i had given myself a short timeline, i couldn't refresh completely, but 2 days before the test, it came in sooooooooo handy
Test scores on the way
The actual breakdowns i made were :
1. For Verbal- SC, CR and RC - (How many i got correct in each/ The Total for each sub-section) e.g. 13/15 in SC :D
2. For Quant- PS and DS
Week 1: 570 - GMATPREP-I - V26 and Q42
Week 2: 580 - Princeton- V26 and Q43 --> I was working on SC and didn't see the results
Week 3: 600 - Manhattan - V29 and Q43
Week 4: 590- Princeton- V28 and Q43 --> As you can see, the scores did not move
Week 5: 630- Princeton- V33 and Q44 --> I had used Manhattan flash cards and princeton verbal workbook.
Week 6: 640- Manhattan- V34 and Q44--> Time to gain momentum
Week 7: 640- Manhattan- V34 and Q45 --> OG's SC, CR and Straight maths completed in 1,1 days
700- GMATPREP-II- V37 and Q49... oh n i used the gmat score calculator on this website to boost my confidence a bit more :D :D :D Finally, i used everything in my arsenal. Since i saw a weakness in verbal, i tried imprioving it, since the observation was simple:
Every 1 question you get correct in Quant earns you 10 points and every 1 question in Verbal earns you nearly double that
So i decided to work on verbal.So that's the break up. Ofcourse, on test day i was nervous, didn't get much sleep. But, glad to have completed this leg of the journey
My Final Score- 680 - V35 and Q48 - I am not concerned about the score now as much as the application process. Please guide me in the right direction
Length of Study
I studied when i got time. But i did study everyday, even if it was just for half an hour. Every week i did get about 20-25 hours of study time, including the time i spent attending the institute's classes.
General Strategy
Well, lets just say, "The Art of War" was my inspiration. I worked on my weaknesses and never really thought about how badly i was doing. Because i knew improvement comes only with time.
But, i can't stress more upon the simple fact that every test you take, a break down as mentioned above is crucial No other way to pinpoint your weakness and weed them out. Manhattan's online tests i liked even more, since they told me exactly which topic i was weak in. It saved precious time. :D By the starting of the 6th week, i knew my weaknesses lay in the Statistics,Probability and DS in general. Today in the test, i got a stats problem, which earlier i would have left alone, because it was my 'Unicorn'.
But, taking it on was easy, and i got it right too Word of Advice
Well i am not in a position to give advice
The only thing i can suggest is that Impossible is nothing as far as GMAT is concerned. Things I wish I knew - How to improve my verbal score.
Things I have learned - GMAT is not tough always. Just that sometimes the mind doesn't click even if you know the concept. And the 'click' comes from practice and test-taking experience
Things I wasted my time on - Well i didn't waste much time, except on my ps3, which i don't regret. Coz all work and no play makes jack a dull boy
Finally, my test experience - I had chosen the test center near my office
Funny how i hadn't planned on taking a leave at first, so i chose the one closest to office. I used the same templates i had used a year ago for the AWAs. I got a 5 last time, so i guessed it wouldn't matter much this time either The test center had really tiny lockers, so i cud had to keep my eatables outside. You know here in India we've been fighting terrorism for a couple of decades now, so I kind of made a survival kit exactly like the terrorists. May they find peace soon So anyways, my survival kit had:2 snickers -power bars
1 bottle of Orange juice -Fresh n homemade
1 Minerale to quench the thirst.
Simple right ? Well, it helped me a lot, since m a pretty heavy eater :D
N i didn't freeze like last time. I was very well prepared. So the airconditioning won't make me remember the ice age :D
N i want to take this opportunity to thank all my friends and family for helping me out in whatever little way. And thanks to my galfrnd who left those lovely handmade cards under my bed and for showing such great understanding
That's it from my side. My GMAT Debrief
All the Best from my side. I truly wish everyone get a 700 plus. Take Care. Au Revoir
29 Oct 2010, 12:49
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nice debrief...:D
When you are planning to apply??
When you are planning to apply??
29 Oct 2010, 13:48
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Congrats on your score and thanks for the post. It was very informative. Do post your AWA scores, once you have them.
