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At one point, she believed GMAT wasn’t for her. After scoring 595, self-doubt crept in and she questioned her potential. But instead of quitting, she made the right strategic changes. The result? A remarkable comeback to 695. Check out how Saakshi did it.
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Apr 2808:00 AM PDT
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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.
propertyofbear
Joined: 08 Mar 2015
Last visit: 01 Jan 2019
Posts: 9
Given Kudos: 3
Concentration: General Management
Schools: HBS '20 (D) Wharton '20 (A) Stanford '20 (M)
Updated on: 04 Sep 2015, 21:49
Originally posted by propertyofbear on 01 Sep 2015, 06:27.
Last edited by propertyofbear on 04 Sep 2015, 21:49, edited 1 time in total.
Last edited by propertyofbear on 04 Sep 2015, 21:49, edited 1 time in total.
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I'm not really a great test taker. Sure, I can get high grades in school, but standardized tests have always been my Achilles' heel. I did not, however, allow this weakness to stop me from pursuing my MBA dream, so I studied -- a lot. Below is a brief synopsis of my journey towards a humble 740 (49-41 with AWA of 6 and IR of 8). I hope that at least some of you glean insights from it.
Test Scores
MGMAT CAT 1 - 640 (44-34) - Apr 2015
MGMAT CAT 2 - 660 (45-35) - Jun 2015
MGMAT CAT 3 - 670 (46-35) - Jul 2015
MGMAT CAT 4 - 620 (39-37) - Aug 2015
GMAT PREP 1 - 710 (49-37) - Aug 2015
GMAT PREP 2 - 700 (49-37) - Aug 2015
ACTUAL GMAT - 740 (49-41) - Sep 2015
The Journey
As you can see, I did not start off with really good scores. After studying for about a month, I managed to muster up the courage to take my first MGMAT CAT. Because I had really low expectations for myself then, I was happy to see a 640. After getting this score, I slowed down my studying for two months as work picked up. When I noticed that I was neglecting my GMAT prep, I took another MGMAT CAT, and my score increased to 660. At this point, I realized that studying does actually help increase one's score in standardized tests. (I previously thought that for standardized tests, no matter how much you study, your score stays the same. Sort of an insecurity of mine).
Anyway, after taking that MGMAT CAT I studied religiously for three straight months. On average, I studied for probably around 10 hours a week in the first two months and 20 hours a week in the last month. The more I studied, the higher my score got -- save for MGMAT CAT 4, I have no idea what happened then.
When I took my first GMAT PREP 1 in Aug 2015, I finally hit the 700 mark, and the scores above tell the rest of the story from there.
Materials Used
MGMAT SC - Apr 2015
MGMAT RC - Apr 2015
MGMAT Quant Regimen - May 2015
PowerScore CR Bible - May 2015
Veritas Quant Regimen - Jun to Jul 2015
eGMAT SC - Aug 2015
GMAT Club and Books - Aug 2015
OG 2015 - Apr 2015 to Aug 2015
Commentary on Materials
Before buying any materials, I scoured all the GMAT forums to find out which resources were the best -- and bought all of them. Though I spent a lot, money was the least of my concerns because I knew that a good GMAT score would, in one way or another, offset the costs.
MGMAT SC and RC
Simply the best SC and RC books out there. I read these two books really slowly, as I knew that verbal was my weakness. In my opinion, everything you need to know about the technicalities of grammar is covered in MGMAT SC and about the GMAT RC is covered in MGMAT RC.
MGMAT and Veritas Quant Regimens
MGMAT and Veritas both have their respective strengths in quant, so I clustered them in one discussion. In my opinion, the MGMAT quant books are better at teaching concepts and techniques. They have this way of making concepts easy to digest. Veritas, on the other hand, is a better resource for practicing the content because a myriad of questions are given in each book. If you're willing to spend, using these two books concurrently will definitely boost your quant score.
PowerScore CR Bible
Took me ages to find a copy of this, but the search was well worth the trouble. PowerScore basically covers all the types of CR questions asked in the GMAT. It's really great because it not only teaches you how to identify the questions, but also teaches you how to best answer them. Highly recommended for those who can't put their fingers on CR.
eGMAT SC
I think I got this one too late, but it still definitely helped. eGMAT taught me the value of looking for sentence meaning before looking for sentence errors. This helped me cross out answers that changed the meaning of sentences -- a really useful skill for people who want to get a high score in Verbal.
OG 2015
Please, please, please answer all the problems here. And if some problems are too hard for you, browse GMAT club for the answers. Bunuel and Karishma's explanations for quant really helped me look for the best way to solve each type of problem. And the community's explanations for verbal really aided me in deciphering sentences and passages.
GMAT Club Quant Problems and Books
A really good way to augment and integrate the concepts learned from other sources.
Hope this helped! Good luck, everyone! I'm off to work on my essays.
Test Scores
MGMAT CAT 1 - 640 (44-34) - Apr 2015
MGMAT CAT 2 - 660 (45-35) - Jun 2015
MGMAT CAT 3 - 670 (46-35) - Jul 2015
MGMAT CAT 4 - 620 (39-37) - Aug 2015
GMAT PREP 1 - 710 (49-37) - Aug 2015
GMAT PREP 2 - 700 (49-37) - Aug 2015
ACTUAL GMAT - 740 (49-41) - Sep 2015
The Journey
As you can see, I did not start off with really good scores. After studying for about a month, I managed to muster up the courage to take my first MGMAT CAT. Because I had really low expectations for myself then, I was happy to see a 640. After getting this score, I slowed down my studying for two months as work picked up. When I noticed that I was neglecting my GMAT prep, I took another MGMAT CAT, and my score increased to 660. At this point, I realized that studying does actually help increase one's score in standardized tests. (I previously thought that for standardized tests, no matter how much you study, your score stays the same. Sort of an insecurity of mine).
Anyway, after taking that MGMAT CAT I studied religiously for three straight months. On average, I studied for probably around 10 hours a week in the first two months and 20 hours a week in the last month. The more I studied, the higher my score got -- save for MGMAT CAT 4, I have no idea what happened then.
When I took my first GMAT PREP 1 in Aug 2015, I finally hit the 700 mark, and the scores above tell the rest of the story from there.
Materials Used
MGMAT SC - Apr 2015
MGMAT RC - Apr 2015
MGMAT Quant Regimen - May 2015
PowerScore CR Bible - May 2015
Veritas Quant Regimen - Jun to Jul 2015
eGMAT SC - Aug 2015
GMAT Club and Books - Aug 2015
OG 2015 - Apr 2015 to Aug 2015
Commentary on Materials
Before buying any materials, I scoured all the GMAT forums to find out which resources were the best -- and bought all of them. Though I spent a lot, money was the least of my concerns because I knew that a good GMAT score would, in one way or another, offset the costs.
MGMAT SC and RC
Simply the best SC and RC books out there. I read these two books really slowly, as I knew that verbal was my weakness. In my opinion, everything you need to know about the technicalities of grammar is covered in MGMAT SC and about the GMAT RC is covered in MGMAT RC.
MGMAT and Veritas Quant Regimens
MGMAT and Veritas both have their respective strengths in quant, so I clustered them in one discussion. In my opinion, the MGMAT quant books are better at teaching concepts and techniques. They have this way of making concepts easy to digest. Veritas, on the other hand, is a better resource for practicing the content because a myriad of questions are given in each book. If you're willing to spend, using these two books concurrently will definitely boost your quant score.
PowerScore CR Bible
Took me ages to find a copy of this, but the search was well worth the trouble. PowerScore basically covers all the types of CR questions asked in the GMAT. It's really great because it not only teaches you how to identify the questions, but also teaches you how to best answer them. Highly recommended for those who can't put their fingers on CR.
eGMAT SC
I think I got this one too late, but it still definitely helped. eGMAT taught me the value of looking for sentence meaning before looking for sentence errors. This helped me cross out answers that changed the meaning of sentences -- a really useful skill for people who want to get a high score in Verbal.
OG 2015
Please, please, please answer all the problems here. And if some problems are too hard for you, browse GMAT club for the answers. Bunuel and Karishma's explanations for quant really helped me look for the best way to solve each type of problem. And the community's explanations for verbal really aided me in deciphering sentences and passages.
GMAT Club Quant Problems and Books
A really good way to augment and integrate the concepts learned from other sources.
Hope this helped! Good luck, everyone! I'm off to work on my essays.
02 Sep 2015, 21:31
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Thank you for your debrief and congratulations on a great score!
Any other tips you can share with those who freeze and get paralyzed during a test?
Any other tips you can share with those who freeze and get paralyzed during a test?
04 Sep 2015, 05:51
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propertyofbear
Congratualtions on your achievement.
Can you offer some tips on how to improve the score in verbal section?
How helpful is veritas and GMATCLUB material in case of verbal section?
