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13 Nov 2022, 21:05
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Hello GMATers,
This forum has been immensely helpful in answering my questions and providing me much needed guidance and encouragement during the last leg of my preparation when my scores fluctuated a bit. I know there are lots of "Here's how I studied" threads out there so I may be at risk of repeating but I'll try my best to add as much value from my personal experience as possible.
My plan to apply for MBA was conceived rather late — mid-August. By the time I started preparing for GMAT in earnest, I had already missed most of the R1 deadlines. The first ever practice test I took was a non official one and scored a 660. That was my baseline. I took this test having never seen the GMAT structure before. In fact, that was the first time I had read the instructions and learned about the various question types (DS and PS in Quant, and SC, CR and RC in Verbal). I realised Quant was an area I could significantly improve if I had external guidance for the concepts.
For Verbal, my prep was less systematic. Before I discuss how I studied, a word of caution: just because this worked for me, doesn't mean this has to necessarily work for you. If you're more confident with external coaching and tutoring, you should go ahead with that. However, if you're in two minds about it (like I was) and are wondering if it's possible to score decently on the section without coaching, the answer is yes. Most of the good verbal coaching I came across came with a very high price tag. Since the entire MBA journey is a capital-intensive process, I wanted to save wherever I could without it impacting my prospects. So I decided against verbal coaching.
As such, here are the sources I relied on:
1. GMATNinja - these guys need no introduction. They are definitely among the best at what they do and their Youtube series on Sentence Correction is an indispensable tool for nailing down SC concepts like comparisons, parallelism, modifiers for self study.
A special thanks to Charles Bibilos. I would highly recommend checking out his webinar recordings on GMAT Club's YT channel, not just for SC but CR and RC too. Here is their SC Playlist.
2. GMAT Coach ChiranjeevSingh has a very useful blog with a repository of practice questions from the official guides. You can find it here. As I hadn't bought the Verbal Review or Official Guide, this was my go to place to try out different types of questions.
3. After solving questions, I would look for the OA on the forum itself. I highly urge students tor ead through the threads rather than just at the answers for confirmation, even if you got it right. The threads sometimes carry very useful tips and insights that can be applied to other questions too. For CR especially, I found that reading through the threads and discovering how people think through and tackle questions/eliminate answers very useful. It gives you a good sense check.
I took a total of four practice tests (1,2 5 & 6). A couple of days before my exam, I took PT 6 and that was a unique experience (basically my verbal plummeted to 29 but more on that debacle here). The last day before exam, I did 1-2 questions per type just to maintain my GMAT energy. But mostly I reviewed my error log from all the previous mocks and made notes on where I went wrong. Again, you don't have to make notes if you find writing a waste of time. I personally think writing is my second brain.
To be honest, since I had so extensively focused on Quant, I believed Quant would save me from a low Verbal score but to my utter surprise, it was the other way around. I was aiming for a Q50V40 but my Quant difficulty shot up in the final third of the section and I'm pretty sure I got many of those wrong. My ESR isn't out yet so I'm only guessing. Anyway, I ended up with Q49V41. Verbal saved my arse. And it can save yours too.
One thing I learned about the entire GMAT is that you might think you know your strengths and weaknesses but really, anything can happen on test day. If you're someone who is nervous about verbal, you can take this post as a vote of encouragement. If it can happen with me, it can happen with anyone.
All the very best,
Rhaenyra Targaryen (first of her name)
This forum has been immensely helpful in answering my questions and providing me much needed guidance and encouragement during the last leg of my preparation when my scores fluctuated a bit. I know there are lots of "Here's how I studied" threads out there so I may be at risk of repeating but I'll try my best to add as much value from my personal experience as possible.
My plan to apply for MBA was conceived rather late — mid-August. By the time I started preparing for GMAT in earnest, I had already missed most of the R1 deadlines. The first ever practice test I took was a non official one and scored a 660. That was my baseline. I took this test having never seen the GMAT structure before. In fact, that was the first time I had read the instructions and learned about the various question types (DS and PS in Quant, and SC, CR and RC in Verbal). I realised Quant was an area I could significantly improve if I had external guidance for the concepts.
For Verbal, my prep was less systematic. Before I discuss how I studied, a word of caution: just because this worked for me, doesn't mean this has to necessarily work for you. If you're more confident with external coaching and tutoring, you should go ahead with that. However, if you're in two minds about it (like I was) and are wondering if it's possible to score decently on the section without coaching, the answer is yes. Most of the good verbal coaching I came across came with a very high price tag. Since the entire MBA journey is a capital-intensive process, I wanted to save wherever I could without it impacting my prospects. So I decided against verbal coaching.
As such, here are the sources I relied on:
1. GMATNinja - these guys need no introduction. They are definitely among the best at what they do and their Youtube series on Sentence Correction is an indispensable tool for nailing down SC concepts like comparisons, parallelism, modifiers for self study.
A special thanks to Charles Bibilos. I would highly recommend checking out his webinar recordings on GMAT Club's YT channel, not just for SC but CR and RC too. Here is their SC Playlist.
2. GMAT Coach ChiranjeevSingh has a very useful blog with a repository of practice questions from the official guides. You can find it here. As I hadn't bought the Verbal Review or Official Guide, this was my go to place to try out different types of questions.
3. After solving questions, I would look for the OA on the forum itself. I highly urge students tor ead through the threads rather than just at the answers for confirmation, even if you got it right. The threads sometimes carry very useful tips and insights that can be applied to other questions too. For CR especially, I found that reading through the threads and discovering how people think through and tackle questions/eliminate answers very useful. It gives you a good sense check.
I took a total of four practice tests (1,2 5 & 6). A couple of days before my exam, I took PT 6 and that was a unique experience (basically my verbal plummeted to 29 but more on that debacle here). The last day before exam, I did 1-2 questions per type just to maintain my GMAT energy. But mostly I reviewed my error log from all the previous mocks and made notes on where I went wrong. Again, you don't have to make notes if you find writing a waste of time. I personally think writing is my second brain.
To be honest, since I had so extensively focused on Quant, I believed Quant would save me from a low Verbal score but to my utter surprise, it was the other way around. I was aiming for a Q50V40 but my Quant difficulty shot up in the final third of the section and I'm pretty sure I got many of those wrong. My ESR isn't out yet so I'm only guessing. Anyway, I ended up with Q49V41. Verbal saved my arse. And it can save yours too.
One thing I learned about the entire GMAT is that you might think you know your strengths and weaknesses but really, anything can happen on test day. If you're someone who is nervous about verbal, you can take this post as a vote of encouragement. If it can happen with me, it can happen with anyone.
All the very best,
Rhaenyra Targaryen (first of her name)
14 Nov 2022, 13:45
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Hi Rhaenyra.
Nice work!
I had a feeling you'd rock verbal even though you scored V29 on that last practice test.
Great job learning how to think about GMAT verbal questions, and may all go well for you going forward.
Nice work!
I had a feeling you'd rock verbal even though you scored V29 on that last practice test.
Great job learning how to think about GMAT verbal questions, and may all go well for you going forward.
16 Nov 2022, 21:09
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Congratulations Rhaenyra! Awesome job on verbal! and a great GMAT Score! Glad the Videos were helpful!
On to applications for R2 or are you waiting? MBA or MiM?
On to applications for R2 or are you waiting? MBA or MiM?
