Here I want to describe the way I prepared to the exam as well as to list some useful links.
Background
31, male, Russian. Always was successful in quantitative tests, verbals always were worse as my English is not native
Real GMAT was held on May 26th. Actually I did a little worse than expected in Quant (I've expected 51+), but much better in Verbal (I've expected 41). This is my first attempt.
Mock examinations
- Held in the end of March, PowerPrep 1. 650 (Q45, V34)
May 1st - 720 (Q50 V39)
Week before exam - 760 (Q51 V41)
Thursday - 760 (Q51 V41)
Friday - 760 (Q51 V41)
- Start with the full simulation of GMAT via free software (PowerPrep or GMATPrep).
Analyze your strong and weak sides by the results of your first exam
Make a schedule based on this analysis. Really, that helps.
Prepare to spend at the least 2-3 hours each day and 8-12 hours a day on weekends.
Practice, practice, practice. Use the official guides for practice problems. To read all the approaches takes you 2-3 days. All the rest time you should practice.
Monitor, monitor, monitor. Use the test grid (see below) every time you pass a practice test. Read all the explanations and all forums until you understand exactly why you were wrong in your answer.
Keep track of your progress. Have mock tests every 1 week or every 2 weeks and see in which sections you became better
Say "no" to cinemas, concerts, clubs, drinks and your family when you do study, BUT do not prohibit everything for yourself just because you "have to" study. If you feel that you would study much better after you will watch the Avengers - do not torture yourself, go to the movies.
Be ready for surprises on the real exam. In my case math was MUCH harder than expected, took me all 75 minutes (instead of 55 it took me on mock exams), while Verbal took me around 65 minutes and was relatively easy (and I scored 3 more than expected).
Started 1st of April.
First, I've read many many posts here. Here's the list of those I found most useful either here or on other forums. There are really another 10 or 20 I did not enlist because they are more of motivating ones, but thanks again to all the authors
General posts Posts on particular topics
- [url=https
://www.beatthegmat.com/sahil-s-grammar-notes-t26.html]Sahl's grammar notes[/url]
Spidey's sentence correction notes - both of these were very useful since English is not my native but do not rely on them 100% - for example, the rule about "to be, being" always wrong on GMAT is somewhat outdated. So use them wisely and a bit sceptically.
GMAT practice grid - use this one or another you find useful on every practice test you make
- 3 weeks - math (I will explain later why I decided to spend so many time on my strong side and why I was right)
4 weeks - verbal
1 week - AWA
Math
NB: actually, on the real exam math was much much more difficult than on any of the practice tests, either official CAT's (PowerPrep, GMATprep) or not. So while on all of my practice test I solved all 37 tasks in around 55 minutes, here it took me nearly all 75. I had 4 or 5 probability tasks, by the way, so I am either very unlucky or something has changed.
As I've already said, I've decided to spend 3 weeks on math although it it my strong side (on all mock exams except the very first one I did 50 or 51). That was VERY useful, because I've forgot all that stuff about Greatest Common Factor etc you study at school. So, when you are practicing at home you trust your intuition and solve these tasks without any real methodology, but on the exam a methodology will save you a lot of time and nerves, So, it is better for anyone even with very good results in math to refresh the basics once more and to practice in a timed environment a bit. If you aim for a high score in Q, focus on probabilities, combinatorics, geometry and progressions
Personally I've used Manhattan GMAT books. I find them maybe a bit on the longish side in terms of theory, but what is absolutely great in those books is that they make problem sets from official guides. That is just huge. From what I've read it looks like all major books on math are good, so it is the quality problem sets that really matters.
Verbal
In verbal it is extremely important from the very beginning to understand where your weaknesses lie. For example, I was absolutely sure that I am more or less leveled in 3 verbal sections. After my first practice I found out that to my surprise my hit rate in CR and RC was around 80%, while in SC it was around 50%. So I've focused on SC.
Actually, on CR and RC I've only used Princeton Review Cracking the GMAT and it helped me to raise my hit rate up to 95%+ in the last 3 mock examinations. Their approach to these 2 sections is very helpful, and, frankly, in this sections you only need common sense and the right approach/mindset, which this book luckily provides.
Regarding SC, I have to stress once more, that more than in any of the sections practice and analysis of mistakes give the result. Especially for those who, like me, are not native speakers. And of course, as many people here, I say there is no book better than Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction. Be ready to spend 2 weeks on this book only.
AWA (essays)
I do not care too much about the AWA result, so I left the preparation for the last week. I did not read any particular book, and there are many materials here, some of which were very good and some I did not find that useful. Here are the links to materials I liked:
- Issue template - https://www.urch.com/forums/gmat-awa/116 ... plate.html
6.0 and advices - https://www.urch.com/forums/gmat-awa/221 ... dvice.html
Good templates and example essays - https://www.platinumgmat.com/about_gmat/ ... y_template
Last 3 days
Contrary to what most people here state, I do not advise you to relax and do nothing on the last days. My exam was on Saturday, so I saved 2 final mock exams for Thursday and Friday and practiced. 2 last days before the exam were very tough, as I did the 2 mocks, read and re-read essay templates and examples, went through some basics of SC, etc. I think that also might be the right way for dome of you preparing.
Please feel free to ask questions!!!