Finally done with GMAT! | 655 Focus Editon (91st) | Q86/V82/DI80

Question

Hi everyone!

I am finally done with GMAT Exam - secured a 655 (FE) score which amounts to 91 percentile as per latest updates by GMAC. Would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the creator of this forum, and the experts who were very quick in responding to any questions I posted.

A quick brief about my prep. 
I started my preparation around July after resigning from my job as I was trying for multiple exams (CAT, MICAT, NMAT, GMAT, etc.) so decided to take some time off. I took coaching for 3.5 months till October mid, which is when I finally gave the exam. Being from a humanities background, the test took quite a toll on me in terms of difficulty. However, once I started getting the hang of it, it was pretty smooth. 
Do drop me a message if you would like to know which coaching I went to. It was primarily offline and is located in Gurgaon, India.

Score breakdown - Q86/V82/DI80

Would be happy to share my experience in terms of comparison with mocks, how I prepared for the different sections, etc. 
Do shoot any questions that you may have.

Thank you!

pintukr · Answer

Congratulations, that is a high score..

All the Best for the applications..

Nairobisha · Answer

Could you please share some insights on DI? Prep material and during exam.

Thank you!

Nonbiryani · Answer

Hi Sure! So, when I attempted the mocks, what I realised was that while Quant and Verbal tend to slowly progress towards the harder questions, DI was very quick. So, I knew that I had to practice the harder questions. I practiced DI exclusively via GMATClub - did all the 655-705 and 705-805 level questions, some 805+ as well. Throughout the prep for quant and DI, I always started with sub-505 level questions and then worked my way up when I felt confident. It was surely slow and time taking, but the result of the increase in speed and understanding was very evident so it motivated me to go on. For DI, there are some major topics 1. MSR 2. Two part verbal analysis 3. Data Sufficiency (which is essentially the word problems section of Gmatclub) 4. Stats (Also tested as a part of Data Sufficiency) 5. Graphs and tables Once I studied stats thoroughly, it felt a major portion had been covered. I did go through videos of Gmat Ninja for two-part analysis and graphs/tables . What they explained, managed to cover a majority of the portion of what is tested. They were very clear and thorough. Somehow, after seeing their videos, graphs and tables became quite easy for me, so I scored 100% in them. There are some tricks such as don't confuse absolute value and percentages, the potion above the line of x=y is when y>x - normally utilised for approximations. Once you get to know those as you do the questions, its an easy ride. Give yourself some time to comprehend the language, you will get a hang of it. Most helpful links were these - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM4nVtaNcc0&t=1763s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE0_JvDsRqc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvM2-IpYJK4 I was not very good at two-part analysis (non-math) I was struggling with that. All I did was practice like a maniac, and hope I get those correct. Eventually I somewhat did xD. For Data Sufficiency , I did all quant topics individually, and then after I was done with those, I did the word problem section. Try to do these with a timer too. I had a tendency to solve it completely, but you really don't have that time in the exam. So just try practicing with intelligent guesses. Work & time and stats are very important for DS. Honestly, MSR was a major pain. Till the end, I don't think I improved a lot. But one thing to realise is that MSR normally has maybe 1 difficult question followed by 2 relatively easy ones (still difficult, but just a lil bit easy). I personally focused on getting those right, because while the score I get is lower for those, spending a lot of time on that one hard question did not seem worth it. Ofcourse if you are targeting a very high score, please practice those thoroughly as well. I had set my date 40 days in advance, so I did not really have a choice to wait till I improve. After having given 4 official mocks, that is the 2 weeks before my last week, I did all gmatprep (focus) questions, for maths, DI and verbal. I would open 20 questions (mixed bag) and then put 50 minutes on the timer and attempt them. Funnily enough, the gist is really to be able to properly read all the questions, and know when to move on if a question doesn't seem like something you can solve in the time limit. I got quite a few questions wrong in DI, but I still managed to get an 84 percentile, because DI is harder than Q and VA, so people tend to score lower (if you noticed, the mean score is lowest for that at just 75), hence for a little bit higher score, the percentile gets better quickly. Towards the last week of my prep, the DI section was still not my strongest suit. I had attempted all types, and I hadn't improved a lot. So, instead of spending more time on more questions, I decided to repeat the older questions and understand everything in that. I had compiled a total of 150 questions on a google sheet (questions I found difficult, unique, new) and I redid those thoroughly. That worked for me. For the last 3 days before my last day, I really did not do any new questions. For each section, I simply practiced the older questions, which again I had compiled - that was a major major help - taking individual notes, and just copy pasting all links on an excel sheet, so you can revisit. And last day, I was just relaxing, I closed my studies by 4pm, and did nothing after that. That was about the understanding bit. As for timing , Gmatclub has the timer feature, which is very helpful. MSR can be taxing. So, instead of doing one question and checking if you got it right, open multiple tabs, put a 32 min timer -8 mins per question, and do them all together. If you still need more time with a question, take an intelligent guess, but finish it in 8 minutes. Then at the end, go to each question, and then redo the ones you weren't sure of and then finally click submit. This way you'll know that even if you did have more time, would you have been able to do it. Then try to figure out how you could have done it faster. Another thing is that don't hesitate to use the calculator, if needed. Its much easier with a keyboard. I didn't have to use it because I didn't get any major calculations. And for calculations, do not be afraid to approximate your calculations, unless your options are very close, in which case you have a calculator with you. DI is hard for a lot of people. It definitely does get easier if you have a strong grip on verbal and quant, but it is still an entirely different section with its new challenges, so give time to it. Hope this helps!

Nonbiryani · Answer

Thank you so much! 
Fingers crossed!

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi Nonbiryani, That's a great score! Well done, and all the best for the application process.

Nonbiryani · Answer

Hi Ajitesh, thank you so much! Really happy to hear from you

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Nonbiryani,

Congrats on a great score! Good luck with things moving forward.

bb · Answer

Congratulations!

Fantastic to hear you’ve been able to get a great score I’m glad you found GMAT club helpful ❤️

Goal700 · Answer

Congrats to you! Could you share your journey with Quant and Verbal? Also, did you have a strong background in math beforehand? Thank you.

Nonbiryani · Answer

GMAT club is what got me through this exam - The interface of this platform makes so much sense. From the timer, and now the calculator, to choosing the sources, having the ability to personally text experts, and the fact that they are actually responsive, all makes this perfect. My coaching institute referred it to me, to practice, and I have spent countless hours practicing on this, exploiting each and every feature. So, GMAT Club was definitely much more than helpful, and again, thanks to you!

Nonbiryani · Answer

Hi, yes sure! What I am writing below is my approach for verbal and quant - please pick and choose as you please. Starting with Verbal - I honestly did not prioritize it earlier because of 2 reasons, 1. I was more scared of quant xD 2. I thought, oh I know how to read and write English, what more could it need. And ofcourse, I was very wrong. At one point, quant was not even a cause for concern anymore, and Verbal was biting me in the you know where. So, Ill give you a quick brief on it For Verbal, I took coaching, so it was definitely one of the reasons I ended up doing well. If you are in a coaching, I would recommend doing the practice questions they provide, and then whatever doubts you have, break it down into: - 1. What you were thinking back then when you marked the wrong option/were confused between two options - very important to break down your thought process because a lot of verbal works on patterns as well. - Not of the question, but of the thought. 2. What is the correct answer? 3. Why do none of the other options work? And the second thing was, LSAT questions. Many have mixed reviews on it. But honestly, what worked in my favor was the stamina buildup. GMAT questions were not AS difficult to me anymore because of this. First my coaching institute made me do the entire 500 questions in the OG (available online, if not drop me a text, Ill see if I can find it, and Ill send it across). They were honestly in the range of up to 605 level. At one point, they got easy and a little repetitive and I was like whats the point, but they made me do it regardless. It made sense later for the simple fact that if you got any of those wrong in the test, you can say bye to your high score due to higher penalties for wrongly attempted easy questions. Once that base is covered, we move to harder questions. I moved to LSAT questions next. Again, I solved a lot of doubts with my professor and this forum combined. You can choose the specific LSAT tag in the search bar - https://gmatclub.com/forum/search.php?view=search_tags - and then begin solving. Their RCs are much longer than what comes in GMAT, but again, the buildup of stamina is very important. I moved from doing 1 tiny passage and then taking a 30 min break (not joking, it was horrible

) to doing 3 LSAT passages in a go without a break. One day, I spent 3 hours in the morning breaking down the 23 mock questions. I had gotten a Q77 then, and I was just really confused xD., Point being, don't hurry at the beginning. Make notes - can't emphasize this enough. Make notes conducive to you, in a language you will understand. Language does not mean literal language here, but the way you would comprehend it. Another thing that particularly helped me, was making a simplified version of the questions. I am sharing an example below: This is how I broke down one of the questions. (The first one is a mock question, skip past it if you want!) ___________________ 1. https://gmatclub.com/forum/geographer-s ... 14653.html Notes: The passage essentially says, that because frost can't be the complete explanation, heat should be it. It also says, two hypotheses are most debated - so clearly, this isn't the final response. Hence the author's conclusion can be weakened by the fact that hey these aren't the only two. The only alternate to frost need not be heat. Story:- Person 1: There were chocolates here. You and A were in the house. If A didn't eat it, then its likely you did. A: What about other people in the house who could have eaten it?Just because A didn't eat it, doesn't mean I am the only person who could have eaten it. (I highlighted this by mistake, and now its not un-highlighting so ignore that please xD) 2. https://gmatclub.com/forum/since-the-ne ... 93668.html : Since my mom brought my step-dad into the picture, he has only supported my elder sibling and given her financial freedom. Previously both kids were supported. Clearly the step-dad is interested in investing in the child who would give him a greater ROI. Assumption - the step dad has the final authority on deciding which kids gets the money 3. https://gmatclub.com/forum/reducing-spe ... 90453.html : The confusion is between last two. The only reason one doesn't work is because the argument says that because of x, they RUN THE RISK of colliding. So collisions happen, but with this, they run a higher risk of colliding. Whereas that option says, ONLY. _____________________ The language may not be something that makes sense to you, but that's the idea - write it concisely (or not) as per your requirement. Create a story as close as possible to the template of the original, and then it begins to make sense. For RCs, initially mapping the story is the way to go. While doing the OG, I did this with every question, and eventually things started staying in my head. Let me know if you want to understand how mapping works. It is basically creating sort of a flowchart in the most concise way possible to enhance your comprehension. Again, the LSAT passages built up my stamina immensely. Another thing is that, if your CR is good, a lot of RC gets covered. If reading speed is an issue, then you can get, "How to read better and faster" by Norman Lewis. This was quite good. Lastly, for the timing, In the last 15-20 days - I would open a mixed bag of questions from 605-805+ - 13 of those + 3 RCs (solve 4-3-3 questions) - put RCs somewhere in the middle (hide the difficulty stats as that will psychologically influence your ability to solve the question). Then finally, put a timer for 50 mins (not 45 mins because this is not the best representation of what will come - if you put more difficult questions in the mix, put 50 mins. If more easy, put 40-45, that depends on your personal thing) So overall, for verbal, more than the quantity of the questions, it is about breaking down your thought process. Before my final exam, all I did was go through the notes of my mock questions again, to get the thought process in my head, and it worked! Now, onto quant Quant was not something I was good at. I took a whole week to thoroughly understand the first topic I did which was percentages, and please know that I was not doing anything else at home. So this was like 10 hours per day, just me sitting in the house, grilling my head xD For each topic like percentages, mixtures, and TSD, I took 1-2 weeks per topic to understand it. So that was the level of my math. Having worked for a year prior made it a little difficult to come back to studies. My job was exploitative to say the least xD so I knew how to sit for long hours, but studies are different. I would get regular headaches. So again, I used to study for an hour, then take a 10-30 min break, essentially, whenever my headache stopped. Little psychological aspect here was that, knowing you will figure it out. Once your head becomes crowded with anxiety of why is this, what is this, I cant do this, it becomes difficult to understand the question, so essentially, very self-defeating xD This is where Gmatclub is ultra helpful. I started with sub505 level questions and worked my way up once I was confident with the level. When I first started one of the topics, I could not, for the life of me, comprehend the 505-555 level, but instead of yelling at myself about it, I kept with it, and eventually figured it out. Quant was honestly, this approach, nothing else. I have done a **** ton of questions from this platform. And all I simply did was start from the bottom and only move up when I was satisfied. Once I was starting to feel confident and ready to move on. I would open 5 questions, and then do them. Only if I got at least 4 of those 5 right, I would move on. For the easy level, I needed to get all right. The timing was personally not an issue for me. For DI and verbal, it definitely was, but not for quant. I again maintained an error log for this as well. At the end of doing a topic, you will have a list of like 50-200 questions per topic, and then you keep revisiting them as you finish the syllabus time and again. Another thing which I realised was that once I moved from one topic to another, these two topics also got somewhat linked together. So overall, each question does not have only one way of doing it. Honestly, you just have to be patient and keep at it xD That is what worked for me. Hopefully this is helpful for you! Happy to take up any specific questions that you may have.

Nonbiryani · Answer

Hi Scott, thank you very much, appreciate it!

Goal700 · Answer

Thank you so so so much. I wish you all the best in your applications!

mohakgarg10 · Answer

Hi! Congratulations! Can you please share the details of the coaching you took in Gurgaon? Thanks.

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Finally done with GMAT! | 655 Focus Editon (91st) | Q86/V82/DI80

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