760 (Q49 / V44 / IR8) - Third time's a charm!

Question

Six months and three official GMAT tests later, I'm relieved to say I'm finally done.

April 2015: 730 (Q48 V41)
May 2015: 740 (Q47 V45)
July 2015: 760 (Q49 V44)

I'm writing this post for those of you who are relying on effort (not just brains) because I truly believe anyone is capable of their dream score with an unlimited amount of inner resources. I've decided not to approach this debrief as a step-by-step because there are already great posts out there , so instead, I'll share three overarching principles that I believe contributed to more than 90% of my success.

Principle #1: AN ORGANIZED APPROACH

Steady, Continuous Practice

You'll spend the first few weeks feeling out your schedule. How many hours can you put in? How can you spread those hours throughout the week? What time of day is most optimal for brain usage? For me, that came down to 10-15 hours a week spread out over Saturday and Sunday. This is where I made my first mistake. I can't stress how important it is to spread out your study sessions throughout the week. I found that my best practice test results came after 6 consecutive days of 1 hour of practice - and the worst test results came after 1 day of 6 hours of practice.

Don't make the same mistake I did and spend four hours one Sunday afternoon on difficult probability problems. I forgot nearly everything the next week and had to relearn it all the following Saturday. The real learning (as in: went into my brain, then stayed there) happened when I spent 1 hour doing 10 quant problems that covered 10 different concepts on Monday, then 1 hour on Tuesday covering 10 more concepts - and as it so happens, some of those concepts overlapped, so I got the practice I needed. "It's a marathon, not a sprint." (https://www.gmathacks.com/goals/its-a-ma ... print.html)

Learn Content

Don’t be dismayed (or get too cocky) by any practice questions you complete in this phase. This is all pre-work - something to get out of the way before the real test-taking begins. Take organized notes in one central notebook. Below are the best and worst resources I found for learning content:

THE BEST

1) Manhattan GMAT Word Problems - $25
2) Manhattan GMAT Number Properties - $25
3) Manhattan GMAT Geometry - $25
4) PowerScore CR Bible - $25
THE best resource to get inside the minds of those who write GMAT's CR questions. I was already scoring in the 95th percentile in Verbal before I began studying, but to achieve the 99th percentile that pushed my overall score over the edge, I used this book to approach the CR section "strategically" rather than simply following my instinct.

THE WORST

1) Manhattan GMAT Advanced Quant - $25
The problems in here are so difficult that it's not a good ROI for the learning stage.
2) Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction - $25
I'm a native speaker, but I found the Idiom List in this book to be the only somewhat useful chapter. A lot of things that sound correct simply aren't according to GMAT standards, so you're not learning idioms; you're learning GMAT idioms. However, this took an extraordinary amount of effort with limited returns.
3) Manhattan GMAT Critical Reasoning - $25
A waste of time. Use PowerScore.

How To Practice

This is where the real magic happens: practice questions and practice CATs.

I can't stress this more: It is incredibly important that you invest time and money in finding and obtaining the highest quality practice questions possible. Note: This is not the same as "doing as many practice questions as possible.” High quality questions can be either real GMAT problems written by GMAC AND/OR non-GMAC practice problems with excellent explanations.

THE BEST

1) Official Guide 13 - $30
Indispensable. Official GMAT questions that skew on the side of sub-700 level, but are still extremely valuable for discovering "patterns" that you won't be able to find in non-official questions.
2) GMATPrep Tests - Free w/ test registration
Indispensable. These most accurately predict your official GMAT score.
3) GMATPrep Exam Pack 1 - $75
Two additional CATs - very highly recommended.
3) GMATPrep Question Pack 1 - $50
Includes a higher proportion of 700-level questions that the Official Guide doesn't have. The only downside: low-quality explanations.
4) Jeff Sackmann Extreme Challenge Set - $25
Breaks Quant questions down to their basics and provides excellent explanations.
5) GMATClub CAT - $75 for 6 months
Great if you are aiming for Q48+ as they also provide excellent explanations and analytics.

THE WORST

1) Manhattan GMAT CATs - Free w/ purchase of any $25 Strategy Guide
Too far from official GMAT.
2) Any free resources that don't have adequate explanations - Free
It’s a waste of time to practice on questions that have no explanations. I've found that the highest-quality explanations came from paid resources.

I aimed to eliminate as many surprises and wasted seconds as possible on actual test day. I highly suggest you read this article: "How to Do Practice Problems" (https://www.gmathacks.com/study-tips/how ... blems.html) TLDR: Do it once, read the explanation, then do it again. The key is doing it again; otherwise, you'll get it wrong on the real test. Trust me. Second, begin practicing in the exact same way you'll complete the test on the first day you begin studying. Read Stacey Koprince's article on how to set up your GMAT scratch paper and do this every time you practice. I also had a system for Data Sufficiency (thanks to Manhattan GMAT) - "AD" vs. "BCE." My error log showed that I frequently ignored given information (e.g. x and y are consecutive odd integers) so I began circling "givens” and boxing "final questions” for every practice problem. Within a month, you should have a practice system in place so that you can do it all in your sleep.

Principle #2: PERSEVERANCE

Adjust Your Mindset

As a “poet" with a humanities background, I knew I needed a high quant score to be competitive. So, I aimed for Overall 760 (99th percentile) + Q50 (at least 80th percentile - although my actual score ended up being 78th percentile).

I was willing to do whatever it took to get my goal score, so I adjusted my outlook for six months. Scanning GMATClub forums for a few minutes a day helped kick my mind into GMAT mode. In the last two weeks before test day, I cut out alcohol and nights out so my mind would always be ready to practice. This might sound like overkill, but this HBR article (https://hbr.org/2010/07/how-will-you-measure-your-life) says it best: "it’s easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time." Just as exercising is as much about mental strength as it is about physical strength, GMAT is as much about your attitude as it is about the material you learn.

I also set up my Evernote so that every time I opened up my notebook, I saw my goal score – 760 – in HUGE block font. I visualized walking out of the test center with my 760 nearly every day for 3 months. So many people told me I was crazy to retake a 730 and 740 – but because I visualized, I knew I wasn’t.

Should You Retake?

I was crushed the first two times I took the test not by my actual scores, but by the fact that I knew my dream score was just within reach by 30 points. The overwhelming opinion on the internet is if you have a 700+, you're foolish to retake. However, if you're in the same boat as I was, I completely support your persistence and encourage you to go for it. Every bit helps if your GPA is less-than-optimal or you're from an overrepresented minority. (I can't speak for the testers who bombed and perhaps didn't have a solid grasp on the material.)

- Analyze
Immediately after the test, write down what went well and what didn't. For example, some of my notes say: "Good food options for energy - Gatorade, water, banana; pack same next time. Panicked during quant because I kept looking at the clock; practice only looking at the clock every 4 questions." These will come in handy when you devise your second (or third) plan of attack.

- Reschedule a test date 4-5 weeks out
I waited the minimum amount of time (31 days) to retake since I was confident enough about the material. Any longer than 6 weeks and you could seriously burn out.

- Take a break
I took about a week and a half off after my first two tests. This was a recharge period - I completely disconnected my mind so that I could get back in the game, full force. Don't worry about forgetting anything; it'll come back.

- DON'T relearn the material
My biggest retake error came between Tests 1 and 2, when I attempted to re-learn a new way to do every quant question. I also stopped analyzing errors and only focused on doing as many new problems as possible. My brain pretty much melted. After only scoring Q48-50 on every practice test for months, I sunk to Q44, even Q41 just a week before Test 2 – and I was so oblivious, I blamed it on being tired! My official score decreased from Q48 to Q47.

- DO analyze your errors
Success came between Tests 2 and 3, when I decided to focus solely on test-taking strategy and solidifying concepts I already knew. I didn't do crazy difficult combinatorics problems like last time; instead, I did a few high-quality practice questions a day, and spent more time dissecting the answer than solving it. I also kept a detailed error log to determine what one principle to remember during my actual test. Instead of trying to improve in several topics, I focused only on reducing my careless mistakes. It worked - my official score went from Q47 to Q49.

Principle #3: TESTING STRATEGY

If you’re trying to squeeze your way from a 730 to a 760, it might come down to something unexpected. What surprised me about the GMAT is that it's not a test of knowledge; in my experience, it's about 40% content, 60% strategy.

I think a big part of what bumped me up to the 99th percentile was knowing how to guess. (https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-prep-sof ... 46146.html) My best scores resulted when I invested in the first 30-34 questions (completely guessing on 1-2 if I needed to catch up with the clock), then left 3 minutes for the last 3 questions in each section. Confession: I selected “C” and moved on for the last 3 questions in Quant and the last 2 questions in Verbal, and I still got a 760. On the other hand, I did my worst when I was too afraid to leave any question up to chance - this was partly my ego coming into play ("why can't I crack this?"). It took me six months to learn that guessing would maximize my score.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Steady, continuous practice
+ high-quality questions
+ mindset
= GMAT success.

A FINAL NOTE

The GMAT is an incredibly personal experience. Your nightmare score might be another tester's dream score, and vice versa. Go with your gut, even when people say things like "why are you retaking?" or "you're studying the wrong way." You should even take what I've said here with a grain of salt! Find what works for YOU.

Let me repeat what I said earlier: I truly believe anyone is capable of their dream score with an unlimited amount of inner resources. Best of luck to everyone.

Please feel free to ask me about specific types of questions and I’ll do my best to share how I tackled them.

***

Practice test results

Economist GMAT 640
GMATPrep CAT 1 730 (Q48 V42)
Manhattan GMAT 640
GMATPrep CAT 2 730 (Q48 V42)
GMATPrep CAT 1 (retake) 770 (Q49 V47)
GMATPrep CAT 2 (retake) 750 (Q48 V42)
GMATPrep CAT 3 760 (Q49 V44)
GMATPrep CAT 4 770 (Q50 V45)

Official April 2015: 730 (Q48 V41)

GMATClub CAT Q49
GMATPrep CAT 3 (retake) 780 (Q50 V47)
GMATClub CAT Q44
GMATClub CAT Q41

Official May 2015: 740 (Q47 V45)

GMATClub CAT Q44
GMATClub CAT Q51 (after 2-week break)
GMATClub CAT Q50
GMATClub CAT Q50

Official July 2015: 760 (Q49 V44)

batman08 · Answer

Thanks for the wonderful post!

I gave the GMAT last year and got a 710. I retook it last week and got a lower score. Had no other option but to cancel it. It was a shock for me as my mock scores were comfortably above 700 this time. Got the enhanced report and found out that I totally bombed the Verbal section. I was not able to get much sleep before the test day and was mentally fatigued. I think my approach in CR has been completely wrong. I have read the CR Bible twice but looks like the book is not for me. Can you please tell how did you approach CR questions ? Why do you say that ManhattanPrep's CR book was a waste ? I can see that your Verbal scores are way above for an average test taker.

Also, what are you suggestions for tackling the IR section ? Both times, I got absolutely slaughtered in IR. This time I was prepared well too - did all the online IR questions available with the OG book and even bought the GMAC's IR tool. On the test day, got a Multi-Source reasoning question with a weird graph and could not make sense out of it. I think it affected my performance in the next two sections.

anejehci · Answer

Thank you for the Kudos!

For mental fatigue: I usually drink a vitamin B shot right before the test + sip on Gatorade and eat half a banana during my breaks. I also stretched in the bathroom. I practiced all this during my mock tests at home so perhaps you could do the same and find what works.

CR: This was and still is my weakness in verbal. I initially thought I'd just wing it and go with my instinct, and I ended up with V41 (94th percentile). But when I was determined to score at least a V45 (99th percentile), this is the strategy I used:

1) Read the passage and write shorthand notes / drawings to help you understand exactly what the passage is trying to say and who is saying it. (Learned this from MGMAT)
2) Find the conclusion. I always underlined it and wrote a big "C" inside a circle next to it. Don't move on until you understand what it's saying. (Learned this from CR Bible)
3) Read the question stem. Recall the CR Bible to immediately recognize what type of question it is (there are fewer than 10 "types"). Recall CR Bible's exact strategies for eliminating incorrect answers. (For example, a question stem with "conclusion can be more properly drawn with which of the following information" is an Assumption question. Answers to Assumption questions typically contain the phrase "at least" or "none" and most like do not contain the phrases like "the main factor.") Continue eliminating until I'm left with one answer.

The reason I say Manhattan's CR book is a waste of time is that I didn't feel like it gave me enough question-specific strategies, just guidance on general process.

IR section: To me, this is just a combined quant + CR + Reading Comprehension section. I struggled with it too until I learned a few key strategies:

-Quant problems never give you more or less information than is necessary. Every "given" is used in some way to answer the question. IR questions, on the other hand, give you an overload of information so you have to figure out what is just "noise" on the page.
-Quant problems are designed to be solved by mental math or simplistic calculations. IR questions, on the other hand, should almost always be solved using the calculator + dropdown option to sort table information. There's a reason why they give it to you!
-When I took a practice IR, I did the first 8/12 questions, guessed on the final 4, and still got an 8. I used this information to calmly do the first 8 questions as accurately as possible instead of trying to finish all 12 in 30 minutes.
-The Multi-Source Reasoning questions are the most difficult and time-consuming. If you're comfortable with the other 9 questions, it might be in your best interest to skip these 3 altogether. The probability of success is lower since there are typically 3 sub-questions on the page and there's no partial credit given.
-Use AWA and IR as warm-up. I turned off a fraction of my brain during these sections, knowing the real deal would come afterwards. Skip any IR questions that might rattle your confidence, such as graphs you've never encountered.

I hope this helped!

GMATPILLBILL · Answer

Great principles, great story. I wish you all the best on your future endeavors.

batman08 · Answer

Thank you for your wonderful advice. Should have had this interaction with you earlier

HBShopeful16 · Answer

Fantastic accomplishment - hats off to you.

A few questions please:

1) How much time went in between your first 2 tests and the GMAT Prep 1 test? As there is a big jump in the score, I am curious to know if it is solely / mostly prep-based, or if it speaks to inadequacies of the testing software of the first two tests.

2) Curious why you are not recommending Manhattan GMAT CATs (as I have been using them in current prep)? Could you provide more detail, i.e. different frequencies of topics covered, or type of questioning, or too high of a variance in score (for better or worse)?

3) Did you have any trouble finish the verbal section on time in your CATS? On all of my CATS I have not been able to finish this section, sometimes not even having time to randomly guess (and leaving several blank!), though was able to score well on the section due to getting most of the prior ones right. Did you use any specific strategies from a timing standpoint to increase your speed on CR / SC / RC Q? (I see you mentioned purposefully guessing 1-2x)

4) I agree with you about "letting go of the ego" and allowing yourself to guess, but sometimes it's easier said than done! (Especially when you can "remember getting a similar question right" in practice. How did you approach this, i.e. did you have certain topics tagged beforehand that you knew you would not waste your time on?

Thanks in advance, and BIG CONGRATS! Very inspirational and hugely helpful.

bigchuck · Answer

This is amazing, thank you so much!

I have 2 tests under my belt at this point as well, and am considering another. My results:

April: 700 (Q47/V39) IR 4 AWA 5.5
June: 710 (Q47/V41) IR 7 AWA 6

Your post really resonated with me because I felt really frustrated after my second attempt. Your comments on people thinking you were crazy also really hit home! I really think I could've approached my study plan better. In my post-Test 1 study sessions I focused on hammering through Magoosh problems in quant and gave no attention to the verbal because i had an off day on verbal in my first run and figured i'd be fine. As you can see, no real improvement where it mattered. I also skimped on the practice tests.

I decided to take a break for a month because the test studying had really taken a toll on me and i wanted a rest. I am now psyching myself up to take it again in the late fall. I plan on applying in second round across the board, so this still works for my timeline.

I'm wondering, did you feel like taking them ASAP after your prior attempt made a difference? I am not sure whether waiting longer will be a major inhibitor to my next attempt. Also, what specific strategies did you feel helped best with your ability to manage time? Do you think guessing strategy really made the difference? I felt like both times on the test I got drug into the weeds on certain problems for quant and had to skip ones i felt more confident in. Also, how many practice tests did you take a week? Did you just study on your own, or did you use a tutor? I am also considering getting some help from a 1 on 1 type tutor.

Please let me know what you think, and thank you again for sharing!

TheGmatTutor · Answer

anejehci,

I just took the actual GMAT and scored Q48, V45 and my score was a 740. So I was one point lower on Quant, and one point higher on Verbal.

I've taken GMATPrep and scored Q49/V46 and the score was 760. Same Quant score as you, 2 points higher on Verbal, and same overall score.

I wonder if, within each raw score, there's different levels? Like, is there a "good" Q48 and a "better" Q48?

rf3d3r3r · Answer

There's a historical trend that the GMAT maintains to calculate your score. For example, a Q49 is 79th %ile, and V44 is 98th %ile. What's interesting is the following: 2015 - Q49 = 79th %ile 2013 - Q49 = 81st %ile 2008 - Q49 = 89th %ile This means that in 2015, 21% of test takers get Q50 or 51, which is remarkable. To your question, I don't think it's about a good or better Q48. The GMAT will check its database of the past few years of scores and ask "what percentile of test takers got BOTH Q48 and V45 in the same test?" It'll equate that to a 97th %ile performance and give you a 740. There are Q49/V44 scores that have earned a 750, so I think it depends on the historical database of scores that the GMAT references at the particular time you take the test. -- My GMAT Experience: 670-to-760-q49-v44-ir-8-awa-6-0-no-stone-unturned-for-8-months-200051.html

rf3d3r3r · Answer

Great score, looks like we had the exact same result!

Looking at your previous scores, I remembered an explanation on the score report. It says that you're "true score" is usually within 30 points of your actual test score. Seeing that you got a 730, 740, and 760, you were probably capable of getting a 760 on the first shot. At a certain point, the difference between these scores is just a few questions going the right way. Beyond a 730, there's some luck involved. Some of your techniques are similar to the ones I've detailed in my post already, but it's good to see that it worked for you as well.

I do think that stating some resources as "the worst" isn't very helpful. I actually used the Advanced GMAT Quant book and found the 150 questions to be quite useful. That they included full explanations were a great tool to get the advanced concepts mastered. The MGMAT CATs are tough, agreed, but I don't think it deserves such categorization.

Congrats again.

---
My GMAT Experience: 670-to-760-q49-v44-ir-8-awa-6-0-no-stone-unturned-for-8-months-200051.html

anejehci · Answer

I think the fact that you're taking a break for a month instead of studying on and off during that month is a good thing. I do think that taking it right away was a factor in my success b/c I still had a lot of energy and "fire" to achieve my goal. So if taking a month off helps you maintain that fire - as long as you can get back into it right away afterwards - should be fine. Where I would be concerned is if you took 2 months between tests, studying the whole time. Timing: I timed myself on every single practice question after the initial learning phase. Over a few months, my average time on easy questions went from 2 min to less than 1 min. On difficult questions, my average time went from 5 min (unacceptable) to 3 min (also unacceptable) to around 2.5. You should never spend more than 3 min on a single question. https://www.gmathacks.com/study-tips/tim ... blems.html Yes, guessing did make a huge difference, but it was difficult for me to do until after my two unsuccessful attempts. I finally decided to "practice" guessing before the real deal and found that it hugely impacted my score. I suggest you try out different guessing strategies on practice CATs and analyze your results. https://www.gmathacks.com/cat-strategy/g ... ption.html Practice Tests: I never took more than 1 practice test a week (until the very end of my studies, where I did as much as 2 quant CATs per week). They don't have much ROI in the beginning - that's when you should just be doing practice problems - but they are very important to understanding your stamina and overall CAT strategy towards the end. Tutor: I studied on my own except after my first official test when I took a 3-week quant course. I regret doing that b/c it only served to shake my confidence. I didn't need a tutor b/c I had a lot of personal time and b/c I invested money in good resources, so I can't speak to whether a one-on-one would help. I hope this helped!

anejehci · Answer

1) Here are the details of my first 3 practice tests (in fact, I realize I have to change the order now in my original post): 1/12: Economist (640) 2/8: GMATPrep 1 (730) 3/15: MGMAT 1 (640) 2) It was just my gut. It bothered me that the questions were so far off from Official ones I'd done. They might work for other people to practice many different types, but I felt as though I were wasting time. 3) I'm a "poet" so I didn't have too much trouble finishing verbal. My only timing strategies on verbal were a) SC: invest time in understanding the meaning of the original sentence rather than spending most of my time analyzing answer choices, b) doing RC as quickly as possible since that was my strong point, and c) letting go any CR questions that I didn't fully understand the conclusion to. Sorry I'm not much help with this one. 4) Yes, I did have 3 types of quant questions "flagged" in my mind going into my final test b/c I knew from my error log analysis that I had a low rate of success on those despite how much time I spent on them. I didn't do this on my first two tests b/c I thought "I know everything! I don't need a strategy!" and I was clearly wrong. I understand it's easier said than done, so I suggest you try a few different practice quants with a specific strategy in mind and see how it fares - you have nothing to lose. I hope this helped

HBShopeful16 · Answer

Thank you for your response anejehci! This serves as great inspiration as I prepare

Wishing you the best for your applications!

nab239 · Answer

Great score. Thank you very much for sharing these amazing tips. Is there a specific error log that you used from gmat club or elsewhere? Would you mind sharing?

TooLong150 · Answer

Congratulations on the score!!! Did you see a difference between SC from GMAT Prep and that of the exam? If so, which official GMAT material (Exam Pack 1, Question Pack 1, OG 2016, etc.) is the closest to what you saw for SC on the exam? Of course, please don't share actual questions!

anejehci · Answer

I made my own that was very basic - it had the question source, question type (specific - for example, Quant > PS > Percents & Rates) and why I got it wrong or why I had to guess. Every week, run an analysis of your entries. I suggest you try a few from the GMATClub arsenal and see what works for you.

anejehci · Answer

Since I scored in the higher percentiles for Verbal, OG was very easy compared to what I saw on the actual test. I only practiced on the last 20 SC questions in OG. Exam Pack 1 and Question Pack 1 are CAT and higher difficulty in general so I'd say that was closer.

I must say, though, that I was surprised by a lot of the SC questions I encountered. Maybe this is because I'm only remembering experimental questions, but my point is that  process of solving  - not actual grammatical rules - is the key to cracking SC.

AA2014 · Answer

Hi,

Great debrief... clarified many strategies of mine. If i may, i have some queries regarding the prep.

I recently scored a 690 (Q48, V35) and am about to retake on 3rd sep.... i cudnt wait since deadlines are short.

Actually ive always been confident on quants and scored Q49 on my first attempt (580, V21).
But since my 2nd attempt of 690, ive been falling in quants... im unable to trace the reasons, maybe its the content i dnt knw... plz guide me how can i recover...

Also you talked abt CR bible.... ive studied from MGMAT CR guide... my strike rate in CR is also good (around 70%) but i feel its not enough and i also STILL rely on, as you said, MY INSTINCTS on the final 2 choices in questions... so should i refer to CR bible in this final month before gmat or what should i do instead....

Plz help me. I feel u can after reading ur prep methods and such awesome scores (all 3)....

Thanks for reading.

Fielding · Answer

You got a 730 the first time and retook the exam? Trust me, you don't know  a thing  about struggling with this test.

Also, the difference between the first and your last score is practically non-existent.

m3equals333 · Answer

Very impressive! Glancing over your scores, looks like you have the rare ability to perform better in pressure situations

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760 (Q49 / V44 / IR8) - Third time's a charm!

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