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15 Dec 2024, 01:39
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Hey everyone, just received my score and wanted to share my experience. I am not submitting the score for GMAT Club verification because entering my MBAcom account password on a random website does not feel like a great idea. But if anybody knows better, do let me know.
My score was 755, with 86 Quant, 88 Verbal, and 88 DI in a single attempt.
Background and Context
I had around 2 months exactly to prepare and write the exam, and given the overwhelming expense that this exam is, I knew I wanted to get a good score (705+) in a single attempt. I didn't want to spend on unnecessary prep material and unofficial test prep either. I had prepared for the SAT by myself in exactly this way, and attained a 1600/1600, so I knew that this method works.
In terms of testing ability, I have always done fairly well. I knew from the get go that I won't need a lot of verbal prep, quant will be the biggest mountain to climb, and DI will fall somewhere in the middle. More on this later.
Resources Used
I didn't purchase any unnoficial resource, but did figure out other ways to access them. For me, the cost would have been prohibitive beyond this.
Here are the resources I used, ranked in order of importance:
1. Starter kit and Official Books + Online Question banks (Can be used as pseudo tests if you just do 20/21/23 questions in 45 minutes)
2. Practice tests 3 to 6. (More on this later)
3. Manhattan Prep (Vebral, quant, DI) and Powerscore (Verbal only) books found by... umm... searching specific keywords on google and digging a little.
4. GMAT Club Tests (my prep coincided with the 15 day free trial during the MBA fair)
5. TTP 5 day free trial. (Used only for 2 topics I was completely unfamiliar with-- Probability and Combinatorics)
Preparation
I won't go a lot into the details here but happy to respond in the comments. I knew I had 2 months, I knew Quant would be the hardest to figure.
I studied for about 3 to 4 hours every day, about 5 days a week in the first month. And every day in the second month. Sleep and just staying socially active were essential, honestly, so that I could look forward to studying instead of it feeling like a burden.
In the beginning I gave a mock after reviewing material overall, after which i followed semi-topical study. Reviewed all math, learnt what I didn't know from school (I had dropped math in grade 11, so it's been 6 years almost), and skimmed the books for verbal. DI was primarily question practice once I knew the concepts from math and verbal. I gave a mock every 2 weeks at first, then every week, then 4 in the last week.
Mock Strategy
This was the single most important part of my preparation. I used both the official mocks and unnoficial GMAT Club mocks, and the single free mock from e-gmat. The only thing unnoficial mocks are useful for is stamina building, I paid no heed to their final scores.
With the official mocks, retaking 1 and 2 gave at most a couple of repeats. I retook mock 5 towards the end and found no repeats, which makes me think that every mock can be taken twice, getting you a total of 12 mocks. More than enough.
My mock scores were 665 (unprepared), 655 (couldn't complete quant), this was followed by intense quant practice for 2 weeks. 725, 715, 695, 755, 725, 725, 755 (last 3 given in the last week). I booked my exam when I hit the first 755.
I obviously created a detailed error log, which helped my find some conceptual holes I still had. But more importantly, I analysed my thought process during solving tricky questions or stuff where I got a 50-50 wrong. This way, I could also put some rationale behind my instincts or errors I made due to reflex or habits. I also used the tests to extensively play around with section order as well as my mindset during the exam (whether I want to be intensely locked in, or I want to take it easy and slow, or I want to double check everything, etc.). Often these experiments failed, which is a great thing because if I tried them in the real exam, I would have messed up.
During the mock, I never hit anything more than a Q88, I was consistently V88+, and had a couple of DI90s towards the end, so I expected my exam score to be similar.
Finally, Test Day
Day before, I decided to not study. Just solved a set of 40 questions, and reviewed all mistakes I had made in the mocks till date. Chilled rest of the day, watched the Chess Championship final, and got good sleep.
Day of, I woke up early, stretched a bit to get my mind running, showered, and then solved a set of 20 questions across sections. I had realised during my prep warmup was very important for me. Had light breakfast and went for the test.
Test centre setting was definitely unnerving. I do see why people need a retake simply because of the setting though, it can be a little ghastly.
I began with Quant. It was one of my less impressive quant sections, and for many questions I wasn't even sure if my answer was correct, but I was solving slower than usual so couldn't double check. Then cam the first big problem, a similarity of triangles question. I hadn't even touched geometry thinking it isn't tested anymore. Mistake. Spent 3-4 minutes on it. Couldn't figure it out. Luckily it was the 19th question so finished the test, came back to it, spent 8 minutes in total, still got it wrong. Because of this, another question that needed more time went incorrect too. Thought I had messed my test up. Took my break, relaxed during the 10 minutes and told myself that I need to do my best in the other 2 if I want a score where I don't need a retake still. I was expecting a Q79-80 tbh. Got Q86 with 3 wrong, but definitely harder questions than the mocks. They honestly felt closer to GMAT club tests, weirdly.
Verbal was my strongest section so I chilled out a little. It was definitely harder than usual, but since i finished it 15-20 minutes early usually I took my sweet time. Marked and changed 2 questions at the end. Turned out later that with both I had changed correct to incorrect. Ended with V88, 3 wrong. Could have well been V89-90. Oh well.
DI started interesting with 6 DS ques on the trot, but that helped me get ahead in time because I am fast at those. The TPA questions were easy, MSR was also confusing but not HARD hard. Breezed through, had about 7-8 minutes left, double checked a few things, and then ended the section 3-4 minutes early. 1 mistake, DI 88.
I was nervouse during the buffer before the score display, was imagining a 695 ish score, was relieved with a 755. In hindsight, with a little more luck this could have well been a 775 or higher, but at this stage it doesn't make a difference. The aim should be to practice hard enough that your unlucky day score is still good enough. For however obnoxious it may be, during the prep my aim was always an 805, while being aware that with this goal, even if I fail, wherever I land would be a solid score.
My score was 755, with 86 Quant, 88 Verbal, and 88 DI in a single attempt.
Background and Context
I had around 2 months exactly to prepare and write the exam, and given the overwhelming expense that this exam is, I knew I wanted to get a good score (705+) in a single attempt. I didn't want to spend on unnecessary prep material and unofficial test prep either. I had prepared for the SAT by myself in exactly this way, and attained a 1600/1600, so I knew that this method works.
In terms of testing ability, I have always done fairly well. I knew from the get go that I won't need a lot of verbal prep, quant will be the biggest mountain to climb, and DI will fall somewhere in the middle. More on this later.
Resources Used
I didn't purchase any unnoficial resource, but did figure out other ways to access them. For me, the cost would have been prohibitive beyond this.
Here are the resources I used, ranked in order of importance:
1. Starter kit and Official Books + Online Question banks (Can be used as pseudo tests if you just do 20/21/23 questions in 45 minutes)
2. Practice tests 3 to 6. (More on this later)
3. Manhattan Prep (Vebral, quant, DI) and Powerscore (Verbal only) books found by... umm... searching specific keywords on google and digging a little.
4. GMAT Club Tests (my prep coincided with the 15 day free trial during the MBA fair)
5. TTP 5 day free trial. (Used only for 2 topics I was completely unfamiliar with-- Probability and Combinatorics)
Preparation
I won't go a lot into the details here but happy to respond in the comments. I knew I had 2 months, I knew Quant would be the hardest to figure.
I studied for about 3 to 4 hours every day, about 5 days a week in the first month. And every day in the second month. Sleep and just staying socially active were essential, honestly, so that I could look forward to studying instead of it feeling like a burden.
In the beginning I gave a mock after reviewing material overall, after which i followed semi-topical study. Reviewed all math, learnt what I didn't know from school (I had dropped math in grade 11, so it's been 6 years almost), and skimmed the books for verbal. DI was primarily question practice once I knew the concepts from math and verbal. I gave a mock every 2 weeks at first, then every week, then 4 in the last week.
Mock Strategy
This was the single most important part of my preparation. I used both the official mocks and unnoficial GMAT Club mocks, and the single free mock from e-gmat. The only thing unnoficial mocks are useful for is stamina building, I paid no heed to their final scores.
With the official mocks, retaking 1 and 2 gave at most a couple of repeats. I retook mock 5 towards the end and found no repeats, which makes me think that every mock can be taken twice, getting you a total of 12 mocks. More than enough.
My mock scores were 665 (unprepared), 655 (couldn't complete quant), this was followed by intense quant practice for 2 weeks. 725, 715, 695, 755, 725, 725, 755 (last 3 given in the last week). I booked my exam when I hit the first 755.
I obviously created a detailed error log, which helped my find some conceptual holes I still had. But more importantly, I analysed my thought process during solving tricky questions or stuff where I got a 50-50 wrong. This way, I could also put some rationale behind my instincts or errors I made due to reflex or habits. I also used the tests to extensively play around with section order as well as my mindset during the exam (whether I want to be intensely locked in, or I want to take it easy and slow, or I want to double check everything, etc.). Often these experiments failed, which is a great thing because if I tried them in the real exam, I would have messed up.
During the mock, I never hit anything more than a Q88, I was consistently V88+, and had a couple of DI90s towards the end, so I expected my exam score to be similar.
Finally, Test Day
Day before, I decided to not study. Just solved a set of 40 questions, and reviewed all mistakes I had made in the mocks till date. Chilled rest of the day, watched the Chess Championship final, and got good sleep.
Day of, I woke up early, stretched a bit to get my mind running, showered, and then solved a set of 20 questions across sections. I had realised during my prep warmup was very important for me. Had light breakfast and went for the test.
Test centre setting was definitely unnerving. I do see why people need a retake simply because of the setting though, it can be a little ghastly.
I began with Quant. It was one of my less impressive quant sections, and for many questions I wasn't even sure if my answer was correct, but I was solving slower than usual so couldn't double check. Then cam the first big problem, a similarity of triangles question. I hadn't even touched geometry thinking it isn't tested anymore. Mistake. Spent 3-4 minutes on it. Couldn't figure it out. Luckily it was the 19th question so finished the test, came back to it, spent 8 minutes in total, still got it wrong. Because of this, another question that needed more time went incorrect too. Thought I had messed my test up. Took my break, relaxed during the 10 minutes and told myself that I need to do my best in the other 2 if I want a score where I don't need a retake still. I was expecting a Q79-80 tbh. Got Q86 with 3 wrong, but definitely harder questions than the mocks. They honestly felt closer to GMAT club tests, weirdly.
Verbal was my strongest section so I chilled out a little. It was definitely harder than usual, but since i finished it 15-20 minutes early usually I took my sweet time. Marked and changed 2 questions at the end. Turned out later that with both I had changed correct to incorrect. Ended with V88, 3 wrong. Could have well been V89-90. Oh well.
DI started interesting with 6 DS ques on the trot, but that helped me get ahead in time because I am fast at those. The TPA questions were easy, MSR was also confusing but not HARD hard. Breezed through, had about 7-8 minutes left, double checked a few things, and then ended the section 3-4 minutes early. 1 mistake, DI 88.
I was nervouse during the buffer before the score display, was imagining a 695 ish score, was relieved with a 755. In hindsight, with a little more luck this could have well been a 775 or higher, but at this stage it doesn't make a difference. The aim should be to practice hard enough that your unlucky day score is still good enough. For however obnoxious it may be, during the prep my aim was always an 805, while being aware that with this goal, even if I fail, wherever I land would be a solid score.
15 Dec 2024, 08:19
Kudos
Bookmarks
Congrats, you worked hard for the great score. All the best going forward
17 Dec 2024, 07:20
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi prathamarora,
Congrats on a great score! I'm glad to see you were able to take advantage of the 5-day TTP trial. Good luck with things moving forward.
Congrats on a great score! I'm glad to see you were able to take advantage of the 5-day TTP trial. Good luck with things moving forward.
