Before I get on with my experience, a loud shout-out to gmatclub for helping me in every aspect of my GMAT journey. Without this forum, I am sure I could not have achieved this score.
Disclaimer: Long post with a monotonous flowA brief background about me:I am an Indian male, aged 29. I have a work-ex of 8 years as on today. MBA was in my mind for 2-3 years. But couldn't pursue for personal reasons. Once, I was free to do it, started with GMAT. My score stands at 750 (Q50 V40 IR8 and AWA 6)
ResourcesBooks:Verbal
GMATclub Grammar book
Manhattan foundations - Verbal
Manhattan series for Verbal (SC, CR and RC)
Quants
GMATclub Math book
Manhattan Advanced quant
Practice
OG 18, VR 18, QR 18
GMATclub comprehensive SC, CR and RC
Bunuel sets
Test practice
Veritas CATs
GMATclub testsGMATprep Exam packs 1 and 2
JourneyRoad to Test 1It was around July 2017 that I started to consider MBA seriously. After browsing and researching a lot, I planned to apply in 2018 for classes that start in 2019.
GMAT was the first hurdle that I had to clear. I was rusty, haven't prepared for exams or tests for 7 years and skeptical about getting a decent GMAT scores. This is when I came across gmatclub and it was very helpful to plan and structure my preparation. After acquainting myself to the types of questions in GMAT, I took a mock (Economist I think, not sure) and scored a 550 (dont remember the split). This was somewhere around July and I targeted to take GMAT by December 2017, given that I spend 13 hours a day in work + commute. I was clearly having issues with SC, CR and DS. I decided to strengthen my fundamentals before starting the actual preparation and went through GMATclub grammar book and Manhattan verbal foundations. It did help me a lot, particularly in terms of acquainting myself with basic grammar rules that was necessary for scoring well in grammar. Then I went through the GMATclub math book for basic formula that was necessary for GMAT. It was time now to get my baseline score, so that I can chalk out my improvement plan and target score. I took first Veritas Mock on 17-Sep. Score was 630 (Q47, V30, IR 6). It was a bit happy with the score and made a target to score 750.
Through a friend of mine I got all 8
MGMAT strategy guides. I breezed through the quants, but spent a lot of time in SC and CR. In between the prep, I took a mock, approximately when I completed 75% of SC guide, I took one more mock in Veritas and scored 680 (Q48, V35, IR5). Then after completing all the strategy guides, I took the first GMATprep mock on November 19 and scored 700(Q48, V36, IR4). I observed that my quant score was not improving and I was making silly mistakes that was bringing my score down. I decide to concentrate on my quant and again with the help of forum members I saw
MGMAT advanced quant was the best book around. It took me two weeks to complete that book, but I must admit that it is one the best things that I did. I could entirely transform and never scored below Q49 after I completed that book. I will strongly suggest this for the guys who are naturally good at quants, but are strggling due to silly errors.
After completing this book, I took Veritas CAT 3 and scored 680 (Q50, V34). I had to be off the preparation for 10 days due to official committments. After the break, I took GMATprep test 2 immediately and scored 680 (Q50 V32, IR 8). Though happy with the improvement in quant, I saw the Verbal score coming down and decided to concetrate more on that with practice. I did
OG and
GMATclub tests and was taking mocks every now and then to see the improvement
Series of mock scores
Veritas CAT 4/7 - 700 (Q51, V35, IR6) - 31 dec
Veritas CAT 5/7 - 700 (Q50, V36, IR 7) - 7 Jan
GMATprep EP1 1/2 - 700 (Q49, V36, IR 8) - 14 Jan
I saw that my scores were not improving and I decided to work on that further. I went through
OG thoruoughly and was following an
error log. Not only did I check why an option was wrong, I also checked why I got it correct. The efficient learning access from Wiley was very helpful to analyze mistakes and keep track of my progress. I booked exam for Feb 3. Took mocks along the way
GMAT EP1 2/2 - 760 (Q50 V42, IR8) 26 Jan
GMAT EP2 1/2 - 730 (Q49, V40, IR 6) 28 Jan
GMAT EP2 2/2 - 750 (Q50, V41, IR 7) 1 feb.
I was all set for a good score and was pretty confident that I would score at least a 730 on test day. I reached test center about an hour early. Walked a km from railway station to reach the center.
I was comfortable with Q,V, IR, AWA order and took it. Quant went very well. I breezed through and was dobtful only on 2 questions. Then came the biggest shock. I came across a really tough RC, of which I probably got all the questions wrong). It shook me off. I lost concentration and fared pretty badly. I scored a 690 (Q50, V33, IR7, AWA 6)
I knew this was way below my ability and RC was where I made the gaffe. Ordered an ESR and saw that RC was the problem, where the percentile was 46.
Reaching the destinationAt this point, I lost interest to retake GMAT. I was short-chained financially also. In the meanwhile, there were a lot of development in my personal front: I got engaged, Wedding was fixed and related work started. GMAT was still in the back of my mind. I couldn't take it out. I spoke with my fiancé and she told that I have to retake it and sort of encouraged me to take one more try. Another friend of mine from gmatclub, gids, also encouraged me. So I took the plunge again. Started preparing primarily with comprehensive SC, CR and RC available in GMATclub. Did
OG again. Used most of the time to prepare verbal, particularly RC. Took some mock in GMATprep, Veritas and
MGMAT free mock. Scored 730 consistently. Changed my order to V, Q, IR, AWA
D-Day - June 19.
Started with verbal. Felt was doing well. But with last 10 questions to go, I was left with less than 13 mins. Had to rush a bit. Quants, IR and AWA were a breeze. After submitting the last question, saw a 750 Q50 V40 IR8 on the screen. Was so happy seeing the results. Got a 6 on AWA when the officials score.
I shall be available in this forum to help other guys in terms of any assistance that is possible from my side. It is the least that I can do for this great forum, which was instrumental in helping me achieve the first successful step towards my MBA journey.
Pardon my grammar, typo or any errors in the post. I just started to type without any structure in mind and just went with the flow.