this is the first time i am posting on this, although i have been browsing the posts for a few days.
Started preparation almost 4 weeks before, when I took the date.
When I started, I initially took gmat prep 1 and scored 700. I was hoping to get a 99 percentile then. I thought 750 would be 99 percentile.
Then I went through Kaplan material, some 800 score tests and more importantly, Manhattan's SC.
I started by preparing for Quantitative with 50 score in gmat prep1. was aiming for 51. by practising enough from kaplan material and Official guide, i could minimise errors.
After preparing for a few days, I started with verbal.
started with SC by studying manhattan's SC, and thought i was comfortable with that to a good extent. manhattan's SC is according to me the best source available to learn and practise SC.
I realized that I was weak in CR and RC.
Then started concentrating on those two areas. i used CR bible and official guide10 and 11 to practise.
in the end, when i was taking some tests, i realized that i became strong in CR and RC and some how became weaker in SC
below are the details of my practice tests
gmatprep1 - 700 (Q50, V 34)
kaplan1 - 620 (Q50, V 32)
kaplan2 - 630 (Q50, V 33)
kaplan3 - 640 (Q50, V 35)
gmatprep2 - 760 (Q51, V 42)
gmatprep1 retake - 770 (Q51, V 44)
gmatprep2 retake - 770 (Q51, V 44)
actual GMAT - 750 (Q50, V 40)
slept on the day before the exam thinking 99 percentile would be definitely achievable.
Test Day
I woke up early and presented myself at the test centre 30 min earlier. the invigilator handed me the non-disclosure agreement. i went over it and signed.
the argument was a bit easy and debatable. i was a bit weak in issues but got a moderately tough one in the exam. after the essay section, took a break for 10 min.
after i returned from the break, the screen showed that i used up 18 sec more than allowed and that would be deducted from 75min for quant. although surpised, started with the section.
i was feeling that the questions in the beginning were easy. i was not sure if that was because i made mistakes. then started getting some DS questions, which were moderately difficult. then again some DS and PS interspersed. i thought i finished the quantitative quite comfortably and the least i was expecting was anything less than 51.
then after a break, i started with verbal. encountered, some SC, then CR and then started RC. the first RC was fairly short. the 3rd RC was a long one and again the 4th RC was a bit short.
at the end of this all, i was expecting a decent score at the least.
then when i filled up the background information and proceeded to check the score, it took a while. when i saw the score, the total was
750 (Q 50, V 40)
I was really disappointed with the quant and thought I might have been able to go a little higher in verbal. would have been satisfied with a 770, but anyway, at the end of this all, i feel i am done with an important part of mba application.
