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arshad88
Joined: 19 Jul 2014
Last visit: 08 Jan 2016
Posts: 65
Given Kudos: 1
Location: Saudi Arabia
Concentration: General Management, Strategy
Schools: Booth '17 (A) Said'16 (A) Stern '17 (D) Kenan-Flagler '17 (WL) Wharton '17 Anderson '17 (A)
GMAT 1: 700 Q47 V39
GMAT 2: 750 Q49 V42
GPA: 3.1
WE:General Management (Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals)
Products:
Schools: Booth '17 (A) Said'16 (A) Stern '17 (D) Kenan-Flagler '17 (WL) Wharton '17 Anderson '17 (A)
GMAT 2: 750 Q49 V42
Posts: 65
Hi everyone,
I am an infrequent lurker at GMAT club, but when I do visit, the forums have been hugely helpful to me. I felt after reading a couple of debriefs of other GMAT 700+ scores that I had to share my experience. I'll try to keep it short and simple:
I'm an Indian living in Saudi Arabia and working in the healthcare sector. My work keeps me very busy as I have to travel a lot, which is why committing too much time to GMAT prep wasn't an option for me.
1st Attempt: 02/08/2013
Total: 630, Q 43, V 34.
Total prep time: 1 week only.
Materials used: GMAT prep software only.
Mock: None whatsoever.
I decided to write the GMAT to just test the waters. A score of 630 with almost no prep made me overconfident about my chances.
2nd Attempt: 08/09/2013
Total: 700, Q 47(71%), V 38(84%).
Total prep time: 1 month only.
Materials used: GMAT prep software, MGMAT guides for quantitative, OG 13, Powerscore CR bible for critical reasoning and Aristotle SC guide for sentence correction.
GMATprep Mock 1: 720.
GMATprep Mock 2: 710.
I spent 23 days preparing for quant and the last week to prepare verbal and do the free mock GMAT tests. I would spend 1-3 hours almost daily on quant and I can't stress enough how awesome the MGMAT guides are for the quant section.
I thought the 700 score would suffice and applied to several schools. Needless to say I got dinged by the ones I wanted to get into and accepted by the ones that weren't my first choice. I dropped the idea of business school for the time being, but then, circumstances at work prompted me to reconsider my stance and in July 2014 I decided to apply again, which brings me to the third and final attempt:
Final attempt: 02/09/2013
Total: 750 (98%), Q49 (80%), V42(96%).
Materials used: The same materials I had from before: GMAT prep software, MGMAT guides for quantitative, OG 13.
GMATprep Mock 1: 730.
GMATprep Mock 2: 740.
GMATprep Mock 3: 730. ( Exam pack 1 )
GMATprep Mock 4: 710. ( Exam pack 1 )
I started prep roughly 40 days before my test date and focused solely on the quant section. I didn't even bother with the verbal section at all which is why I was extremely surprised when I saw the V42(96%) on the exam screen, especially since I'm non-native.
Test Day Experience:
I had to fly to Riyadh to write the GMAT because there were no available dates at nearby test centers. I had simulated all the mock tests in tired situations as I knew I would probably be exhausted by the time I reach the test center. I couldn't sleep the night before the test and left for the airport at 4:30 AM, I landed in Riyadh at 9:00 AM for my 11:30 appointment, had an espresso with a sandwich and started the test.
AWA: It went fairly well and I hope i get a 6.0. I used a customized version of the chineseburned template.
IR: scored 8, I didn't care much for this section as I was still feeling the effects of my horrible flight.
Quant: I flopped at my very first question. I guess I was still rusty. Spent 3 minutes on it and moved on, Questions 2 to 15 were a breeze as I finished them in 10 minutes. After that came the tough ones. Anyways I finished the quant section with 8 minutes to spare.
Break: Had a cold coffee and some lays.
Verbal: I feared that I would score very low as the verbal questions felt way too easy to be true. After question 25 I took a bathroom break and wasted 5 minutes! I finished the verbal section with 13 minutes to spare. Deep down I was expecting a sub-700 score as everything during the exam felt off to me, the timing, difficulty etc. I was ecstatic when I saw the 750 score on the screen and pressed the submit button as soon as possible because of the new 2 minute time-limit to choose the score.
I'm happy now that I'm finally done with the GMAT! If anyone has any questions on how to score a 700 plus score with minimal prep, feel free to ask them and I'll help out as much as I can.
I would like to thank the GMATclub community as I feel it was a constant source of support and motivation to me!
I am an infrequent lurker at GMAT club, but when I do visit, the forums have been hugely helpful to me. I felt after reading a couple of debriefs of other GMAT 700+ scores that I had to share my experience. I'll try to keep it short and simple:
I'm an Indian living in Saudi Arabia and working in the healthcare sector. My work keeps me very busy as I have to travel a lot, which is why committing too much time to GMAT prep wasn't an option for me.
1st Attempt: 02/08/2013
Total: 630, Q 43, V 34.
Total prep time: 1 week only.
Materials used: GMAT prep software only.
Mock: None whatsoever.
I decided to write the GMAT to just test the waters. A score of 630 with almost no prep made me overconfident about my chances.
2nd Attempt: 08/09/2013
Total: 700, Q 47(71%), V 38(84%).
Total prep time: 1 month only.
Materials used: GMAT prep software, MGMAT guides for quantitative, OG 13, Powerscore CR bible for critical reasoning and Aristotle SC guide for sentence correction.
GMATprep Mock 1: 720.
GMATprep Mock 2: 710.
I spent 23 days preparing for quant and the last week to prepare verbal and do the free mock GMAT tests. I would spend 1-3 hours almost daily on quant and I can't stress enough how awesome the MGMAT guides are for the quant section.
I thought the 700 score would suffice and applied to several schools. Needless to say I got dinged by the ones I wanted to get into and accepted by the ones that weren't my first choice. I dropped the idea of business school for the time being, but then, circumstances at work prompted me to reconsider my stance and in July 2014 I decided to apply again, which brings me to the third and final attempt:
Final attempt: 02/09/2013
Total: 750 (98%), Q49 (80%), V42(96%).
Materials used: The same materials I had from before: GMAT prep software, MGMAT guides for quantitative, OG 13.
GMATprep Mock 1: 730.
GMATprep Mock 2: 740.
GMATprep Mock 3: 730. ( Exam pack 1 )
GMATprep Mock 4: 710. ( Exam pack 1 )
I started prep roughly 40 days before my test date and focused solely on the quant section. I didn't even bother with the verbal section at all which is why I was extremely surprised when I saw the V42(96%) on the exam screen, especially since I'm non-native.
Test Day Experience:
I had to fly to Riyadh to write the GMAT because there were no available dates at nearby test centers. I had simulated all the mock tests in tired situations as I knew I would probably be exhausted by the time I reach the test center. I couldn't sleep the night before the test and left for the airport at 4:30 AM, I landed in Riyadh at 9:00 AM for my 11:30 appointment, had an espresso with a sandwich and started the test.
AWA: It went fairly well and I hope i get a 6.0. I used a customized version of the chineseburned template.
IR: scored 8, I didn't care much for this section as I was still feeling the effects of my horrible flight.
Quant: I flopped at my very first question. I guess I was still rusty. Spent 3 minutes on it and moved on, Questions 2 to 15 were a breeze as I finished them in 10 minutes. After that came the tough ones. Anyways I finished the quant section with 8 minutes to spare.
Break: Had a cold coffee and some lays.
Verbal: I feared that I would score very low as the verbal questions felt way too easy to be true. After question 25 I took a bathroom break and wasted 5 minutes! I finished the verbal section with 13 minutes to spare. Deep down I was expecting a sub-700 score as everything during the exam felt off to me, the timing, difficulty etc. I was ecstatic when I saw the 750 score on the screen and pressed the submit button as soon as possible because of the new 2 minute time-limit to choose the score.
I'm happy now that I'm finally done with the GMAT! If anyone has any questions on how to score a 700 plus score with minimal prep, feel free to ask them and I'll help out as much as I can.
I would like to thank the GMATclub community as I feel it was a constant source of support and motivation to me!
Gill2105
Joined: 19 Aug 2014
Last visit: 23 Apr 2015
Posts: 3
Schools: Sloan '17 McCombs '17
GMAT 1: 700 Q50 V34
04 Sep 2014, 07:49
Kudos
Bookmarks
Any changes to your verbal approach this time that you could share or you think you got lucky???
arshad88
Joined: 19 Jul 2014
Last visit: 08 Jan 2016
Posts: 65
Given Kudos: 1
Location: Saudi Arabia
Concentration: General Management, Strategy
Schools: Booth '17 (A) Said'16 (A) Stern '17 (D) Kenan-Flagler '17 (WL) Wharton '17 Anderson '17 (A)
GMAT 1: 700 Q47 V39
GMAT 2: 750 Q49 V42
GPA: 3.1
WE:General Management (Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals)
Products:
Schools: Booth '17 (A) Said'16 (A) Stern '17 (D) Kenan-Flagler '17 (WL) Wharton '17 Anderson '17 (A)
GMAT 2: 750 Q49 V42
Posts: 65
04 Sep 2014, 08:13
Kudos
Bookmarks
To be honest, I had only reviewed my old CR notes ( made from powerscore C.R bible) and idiom list ( from Aristotle SC guide) a day before the mock tests, i.e 5 days before the GMAT. I would attribute the verbal success this time around more to how I tackled the test than to the prep.
For example:
Last GMAT:
- Didn't read the passages before hand and directly hunted the answers, spending around 2 mins or more per RC question.
- Spent comparable time on both CR and SC questions.
This time:
- Spent considerable time reading and understanding the passages completely and then spent no more than 20 - 30 secs per RC question.
- Spent almost 3 mins per CR question making sure that I was absolutely sure that I have the correct answer.
- No more than a min on any SC question
I also feel that the GMAT prep mock tests were essential for me to score because reviewing the verbal mistakes was essential for identifying key habitual mistakes I was making, and the morning of the exam I went through all the verbal mistakes for the 4 mock tests again.
Alternatively, one could say i got lucky as well!!
For example:
Last GMAT:
- Didn't read the passages before hand and directly hunted the answers, spending around 2 mins or more per RC question.
- Spent comparable time on both CR and SC questions.
This time:
- Spent considerable time reading and understanding the passages completely and then spent no more than 20 - 30 secs per RC question.
- Spent almost 3 mins per CR question making sure that I was absolutely sure that I have the correct answer.
- No more than a min on any SC question
I also feel that the GMAT prep mock tests were essential for me to score because reviewing the verbal mistakes was essential for identifying key habitual mistakes I was making, and the morning of the exam I went through all the verbal mistakes for the 4 mock tests again.
Alternatively, one could say i got lucky as well!!
Thank you. 
