My Journey of Scoring GMAT 760 in 1st Attempt: A Detailed Debrief

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It's always a delight to read success stories on the GMAT Club, but when you are on the other side, you realize that it’s your responsibility to share one to help the other aspirants. I will attempt to document every part of my GMAT journey. I hope you find some of this useful. I scored 760 (Q50, V42), with a significant increase from V30 to V42. The key is having the right direction, believing in yourself, and most importantly enjoying the preparation. My Background: I’m Manraj Dhaliwal & I'm a 4th-year Mechanical Engineering student at Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. I like to Debate & I'm really interested in Startups. My Initial Journey: My journey started in November 2019 when my friend told me about MiM programs. I looked up some courses and found that this is perfect for me. In November 2019, I gave my first mock, without any preparation, and got 670. I was told this was a decent score so I thought with a little practice I’d get to 700+, which was my goal. However, after said preparation, my score actually went down to 660. This was quite disheartening since I thought GMAT is going to be easy because my initial score was decent. At that time I did what all of us do to feel like we’re making progress even if we’re just wasting time- watch youtube videos about GMAT. One such video landed me on an explanation by Arun from CrackVerbal. Through serendipity, I also found CrackVerbal ’s New-Year sale was live on GMAT Club. Entirely out of desperation to improve, I bought their online on-demand course. This gave me much needed structure and confidence. How Much Time did it take me to appear for the GMAT Exam? I started following the course in January 2020 but didn’t properly start till the lockdown - after which I would juggle it with my internship. I finally appeared in July. My Learnings: The most important takeaway is to have a mindset to own your results and make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice. Collecting/buying a lot of content is just a distraction. You just need a reliable source of high-quality questions, a structure to your preparation (with or without an external course) to make sure you don’t miss anything, and a way to practice and correct your mistakes. What worked for me, in terms of preparation, is that I had three tools: A. The CrackVerbal On-Demand course and the CrackVerbal Videos for concept building. B. OG - For practice questions and mba.com for mock tests. This was my only source of questions for almost all of my preparation. A small tip- the test is going to be on a screen so it is best to prepare on a screen. The OGs have a code on the front page that you can put into a website and access the online learning portal which has the same questions. This is what I used. C. GMAT Club explanations for the questions I could not get the answers to. This was much more relevant towards the end of my preparation when I was solving only hard questions (and routinely getting them wrong). Use the timer, use the explanations. A few things to keep in mind irrespective of the section: 1. GMAT is a test of logic, not memorization - Yes, you need to know the basic rules of grammar to get started, but do not fret over having to memorize rules or strategies, or such. Except for AWA. 2. Eliminate, Don’t Choose - My Achilles’ heel was this for the longest time. Chances are that none of us are experts of English grammar, so it is practically impossible to look at a sentence and say that it is written in perfect English, or fits logic perfectly, etc. But what we can do with our limited knowledge is know for certain when we see a mistake. So a rule of thumb to follow is to find a mistake in every answer option and then eliminate it till you’re left with only one. 3. Don’t Collect Content - I can say confidently that the OGs (any year) is more than enough and you probably don’t need to buy more questions. We know that GMAC spends hundreds if not thousands on each question they make. It is not possible for any third party to match that amount. That’s why for both practice questions and mock tests, I stuck to OG/mba.com. 4. Simple Prep Strategy - Don’t make the same mistake twice. I know this sounds like mocking, but implementing this means keeping an error log and thinking about why you made that mistake rather than the mistake itself. If you can correct the thought process of approaching every question, you’ll be much less likely to overlook anything. 5. Tests are also a great way of improving - my initial problems were with mental fatigue and managing my emotions during the test. Be honest to yourself about what is causing the low score and then you’ll be able to work on it. About SC: Sentence correction was definitely the most enjoyable part of the prep. I started my prep with SC, so I spent a good amount of time on it. SC tests attention to detail, not knowledge. 1. Have a Solid Base: CrackVerbal Videos were perfect for me. It made sure that I know the basics, that there are no concepts I haven’t heard of, and that I see everything in action with solved examples. Having crystal clear concepts helps immensely even in later parts of prep. 2. Practice Questions Concept-wise: This is not possible with vanilla OG. I did this through the course (special shoutout to inside the mind of a 760 scorer series)+ GMAT Club (search with tags). 3. Practice as much as required. This practice is not about completing a certain number of questions at all. Do only as many questions as are required for you to make sure that you don’t make the same mistake twice. I don’t think I did every question there is in the OG. 4. Time Your Answers. Always pays off to get into the habit. Again, Wiley’s online platform helps with this. 5. In terms of specific strategies, I always read the given sentence . In case any problem jumps out, eliminate A and any other option that repeats that, then compare the remaining answers directly to see what they’re doing differently. In case it seems alright, hold on to it and compare the others to see any patterns. Worst case scenario, treat every option as a separate sentence, and find individual mistakes. 6. Focus on Meaning, not Rules - Another way of saying use logic, not memory. Grammar rules make logical sense. Bad grammar will always distort the meaning of the sentence. About CR: 1. The key to solving CR for me has been spending enough time reading the stimulus . In particular, what the conclusion is, how is it worded and what exactly is the question asking, not what you expect it to ask. While solving questions we feel guilty about spending too much time on reading the question vs the answer options, but CR is an area where most of the time you spend on the question should go to understanding the stimulus. Once you do this well enough, you will breeze through the answer options. 2. Quite often you’ll end up in a situation where you have to choose between two good-looking answer options after having eliminated the other 3. The thing is, you’re supposed to, the questions are made that way. The challenge starts after you reach there. What helps here is, a) knowing the subtle differences between what the options are implying and then seeing which chain of logic is more probable, and, b) looking at GMAT Club explanations to see how exactly that conflict is resolved. This should underscore the importance of taking out everything you can from the question rather than doing a lot of them. 3. Having said that, maximize practice . This will help develop a sense of anticipation and give you enough exposure. About RC: 1. Read with Purpose: The RC passages have actually taught me quite some interesting information. How we make particles go beyond the speed of light, how civilizations grow and trade, how archeologists figure out the social structures of ancient times are all engaging topics on their own. Reading with this purpose to actually understand what’s written, being invested in the content also helps immensely with answering questions. Again, don’t feel guilty for spending time on the passage itself, it deserves it

2. Find Your Own Technique: I can confidently say that there is no one go-to technique for everyone to follow. You may want to speed read and go back to the passage for every question. You may or may not want to take notes. You may or may not want to read the first question before starting to read the passage. Since everyone processes and evaluates information differently, it's ok (and natural) to have different techniques. See what works best for you and stick to it. For me, note-taking was a waste of time and a distraction. Please note that the experience of a lot of other students is very different. I read the question thoroughly first, then go to the answers, rarely needing to come back to the passage (except to double-check). Feel free to try different things and see what sticks. 3. Tone: This is the single most important thing while answering questions, something that helped me break my plateau (more about that shortly) on advice from Shreeleena from CrackVerbal On-Demand . When reading the passage, identify the tone. Read for the ifs and buts and however. The answer options themselves will also have a tone. Choose the one where these two match. Lifesaver. RC has a huge amount of content that you can convince yourself to cherry-pick and mold to get an option to look right. As long as you’re strictly eliminating and not choosing, you can not go wrong. Practice and consistency will take you the rest of the way. How to Break the Plateau? This is one area where CrackVerbal helped me in the prep & it paid off immensely. I am an Indian engineer male. I knew I had to score exceptionally. After I was scoring 700+ I wanted to take it to 750+, but couldn’t. This was one of the more frustrating times when I didn’t really have a lot of new things to study and learn that would help my score, but I was somehow not able to score more. A few things which helped me: 1. Mindset: You need to take charge of every mistake you make and find out not only what mistake you made but why you made it. What was the thought process that led you to choose one option over the other? What can you do about it? 2. Test-taking Techniques: When you’ve reached the plateau the best way to get out of it is to experiment with the way you take the test- which section you’re doing first, how you’re managing time, what you do in the break. For me, a huge problem was metal fatigue which can be worked upon by having longer study sessions (another pain for me) but also by maybe having some electrolytes (lemonade) during the break to freshen up your mind. I started taking verbal first (on advice from Shreeleena again) since I was scoring well enough consistently in quant. These small things build up and help a lot. 3. Review Mock Tests Thoroughly: You want to find out patterns in the kind of questions you’re getting wrong somehow. I found that I was doing “weaken” questions wrong consistently. I have no idea why, but this helped me focus on it more. 4. Try to at least Maintain the Plateau: You will fall off if you don’t identify and double down on what you’re doing right. 5. Eliminate Mental Distractions: There are a couple of ways to do this. One is to not worry about your final score or if you did the last question right. Focus on the current question only and know that you can probably afford to get some wrong. During a mock, I got a CR question about a girl wanting to control her cholesterol levels, and to date, that question makes no sense to me whatsoever. Needless to say, I got that question wrong but ended up scoring 770 in that mock. Don’t think about what you did on the last question, only the one in front of you. Another way is to use your fingers to keep track of which options you have eliminated so you don't have to keep rechecking. 6. Get Enough Sleep: I have witnessed a jump in my scores just by sleeping well. Very underrated. When to Book the Test Date? This has to be when you hit your target score on the mocks twice in a row. For me, it was 720. In two official tests, I got a 750 and 730. Though my score had gone down I knew I was ready to book the test date. For mock tests, I stuck to mba.com. During the last days of prep, I did about 10- 20 questions a day to keep concepts fresh in my mind, mostly hard questions on GMAT Club. Online GMAT v/s Offline at the Center I chose to take the GMAT at a physical center. Covid wasn’t a huge deal in Chandigarh back then and it was reasonable to go to the center. Some things that’ll help you make the decision: 1. Note-taking: I had read a lot of reviews about problems with finding and investing in the right whiteboard. Using it at home can also be a challenge if you’re like me, with a big laptop and a small desk. Plus there had been reports about the proctor not allowing some people to use whiteboards, etc. So to be safe and avoid issues, I opted to go to the center where you get a bundle of sheets you can use quite generously. 2. Mask-wearing: The in-center test of course requires you to wear a mask the entire time you’re there, even when taking the test. This can be uncomfortable for some people. 3. Distance: Sleep is a priority. Test Day! The test was at 8 am. I had a big struggle with adjusting my sleep cycle to make sure my mind is fresh that early and that I get to sleep at about 10-11 pm irrespective of nerves. This paid off on test day. The center was about 30 minutes away, so I left home at 7:15, with my passport, two bars of snickers, and a bottle of lemonade (after a light breakfast). When the test started, it was smooth enough. Verbal was as it had always been. After the break that I overshot by about a minute, I started quant and found out that it wasn’t quite the same as I had practiced/anticipated. This caused me to lose track of time (and a bit of confidence). Now, I’d never had any problems with time in my mocks, but at a point in the test, I had to do 11 questions in just 8 minutes! I don’t remember what I did at that time other than focus on the question at hand. Managing emotions at that time were probably key. I did panic, I thought I had messed up, but pushing those thoughts away helped me focus. IR was as IR has always been, nothing interesting. I do regret not putting any effort at all into AWA during prep. All you have to do is memorize a framework and I didn’t do that. I remember that when I ended the test and knew that I was going to look at my score on the other screen, I didn’t want to do that at all and just run away. Thankfully, my quant mess-up wasn't severe, and 760 (42, 50) flashed before me. That was quite liberating. For reference, my mock scores were: All are mba.com mock tests Nov 2019: 670(Q48, V34) Dec 20, 2019: 660 (Q50, V30) Jun 17, 2020: 750 (Q50, V41) Jun 24, 2020: 730 (Q50, V38) Jun 30, 2020: 770 (Q50, V46) Jul 9, 2020: 710 (Q49, V38) chilling, I know. Jul 12, 2020: 750 (Q50, V41) Jul 23, 2020: 760 (Q50, V42) Actual Test My second phase is the applications phase - I have an interesting take over there too. Applied to 4 schools got calls from two. INSEAD MIM it is! I wish everyone in this forum the very best in their GMAT journey. I am thankful to the GMAT Club for providing a forum to practice, discuss, and read GMAT success stories. If you have any questions about the course, timing strategies, or anything related to the GMAT Preparation, then just drop a comment below & I’ll know about it.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Thank you, Manraj for sharing such an elaborative debrief. We are proud of you

Toffelfabriken · Answer

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Now that's quite impressive.

This was one of my most important things too.

I noticed the very same thing during my prep. Much more important than some might thing.

Anyway, nicely done and good luck with your applications.

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