I just Beat The GMAT!

Beaten by the GMAT many times, yes many times! I don't even want anyone to go through what I did. The journey began innocently enough with a wish to go to ivy league schools, equipped with the worst GMAT prep resources possible - A Barron's book and free test from a company I don't even remember. That got me a 610.

Then I prepared better and got a 680 and then to make things worse a 690, after infinite amounts of prep(yes infinite - mindless hours wasted away practicing anything even remotely GMAT-ish).

Then I decided to follow Ron and left practicing things the wrong way. Mindless practice can't do anything for anyone. It never pays, especially in case of verbal: your score is inversely proportional to the time you put in for practice!

Of course, there are still so many instructors out there who keep telling people to practice like crazy and never tell them HOW to practice!

GMAT : 720 Q48 V41
De-Brief:
My journey began by just researching what Ron said on this forum and on the Manhattan forums. I mean he has THE 800 score and obviously that didn't just come by chance. My study methods adjusted to what he said - you practice 15-20 problems a day and analyze the hec out of them till you get a takeaway, you practice under timed conditions and you learn to quit when you are stuck. That is what I did. I also developed a timing strategy and a quitting strategy based on the "Thursdays with Ron" sessions and that helped me tremendously!
There were numerous subtle points which I picked up from those videos which could fill up entire volumes.
I learnt the hard way that there never is any good reason to practice infinitely.

Main improvement was in my verbal score. My quant score has stayed the same ever since I took my first GMAT.

RC Improvement: I improved my RC by combining various tips and techniques I found on the internet, from friends and from everywhere else. The thing that mainly changed was that I started reading the passages better and eliminating more ferociously. What I mean is that while reading passages, I'd slow down around transition words and I'd just try to GET the passage as a whole, no longer delving into details. And my elimination strategy improved as I started eliminating answer choices by scrutinizing each and every word of every answer choice- earlier I used to read the whole answer choice and use that as the basis of my elimination, which is the wrong way to do things.

CR Improvement: I improved CR by simply breaking down the argument to its basic structural elements- facts, premises, background, intermediate and main conclusion- Easier said than done. But i did that in most arguments and used the negation method to solve the questions of assumption. I improved in evaluate questions by simply removing "whether" and observing which answer choice strengthened or weakened the answer choice- there will always be just one such answer choice( so no evaluating required really).

SC Improvement: I was always good at SC. It is the easiest section to improve in, but after a while you run out of exceptions and rules on SC, whereas you do not need rules on RC and CR, which is why they were easier for me to improve in as I do not like to nor am capable of memorizing rules or idioms etc. But, yes, SC was improved by watching Ron's videos, which simply showed me how to observe differences in answer choices and what those differences meant meaning-wise. This thought process helped me improve in SC tremendously.

Quant: No practice done, hence the ok score. Utilized diagrams and tables wherever necessary.

Final word on improvement- Improvements happen during the "Aha" moments where you learn something new- a new approach or a concept while analyzing after practice, "Aha Moments" rarely take place by practicing things without analysis. For instance, if I gave you an exception to a rule in SC, how many questions are there in OG testing that exception and once you grasp a concept, what use is there of practice ? So, beyond a few questions, not much practice is required.
Also, I was getting 100%s on CR and SC and a bit of variation in RC when I went for taking the test. In fact I actually did not do well on one particular RC passage in my real test, I realized my mistake while on the 3rd question- and the RC had 3 questions only, so I got 2 out of 3 wrong and still scored a 41.

Major Score Booster: Rest! Yes, I took many breaks during my preparation. That was the major change in my strategy. You need to rest. Even before the test I rested for 2 days. To answer the question which has been posted elsewhere about the resting strategy, the fact is you cannot forget anything about GMAT prep in 2 or 10 days, because there isn't much to remember in the first place! You will not forget what a median is or that angles on a straight line or within a triangle or in a semi-circle always add up to be 180 degrees. You will also not forget to be super careful while eliminating answer choices for RC passages, so why worry about missing a beat. You infact perform better when rested and that's what I did. I took planned breaks and did not practice for more than an hour or two max. I did watch online videos but I did not engage in mindless practice which I did earlier in my prep.

G-Day:
I was a bit nervous the night before, not because I thought I wasn't going to perform, but because I knew that this was the last time I was taking the GMAT and that whatever score I would get, I would have to live with that score without another attempt. Rested, talked to my friend till about 4 in the morning then dozed off. Woke up around 11, deliberately forcing myself to rest a bit more. Got ready, the test center was a bit far and I had already called a cab. My bag of goodies - passport, red-bull and 2 snickers had been packed 2 days ago - was ready. I reached the test center without fuss and handed over my passport to the invigilator. He recognized me from a few months ago and I told him I am going to get a great score today. Filled up the paper work just in time to start the exam. Breezed through the essay and the IR section. Took a break, but did not eat anything, just drank a few sips of water. Started with quant. Found some new kind of questions in the quant section - There was a question on a graph, kind of like an IR question, and I did not get either head or tail of that question, so guessed and moved on. I left(guessed) at least 3 questions in the quant section which I know I got wrong too. Anyways, used the back-up methods whenever required. Took the break and munched on one and a half bars of snickers( there wasn't any time to finish both bars) and a can full of red-bull - the best lunch ever! Went back and literally breezed through the entire section without getting stuck. The only time I paused was when I realized during the 3rd question of an RC passage that I had answered the previous 2 questions incorrectly, which meant my score must have dropped by at least 20 points. But I knew I was doing well. Finished the verbal section with 3 minutes to spare. Clicked through the rest of the pages- GMAC have most of my info by now so did not need to fill anything up. Clicked on "report score" and saw the 720. Did not even care to look at the score break-ups. Did not care. Got out and called up my girlfriend and then my mum. Done with the GMAT forever.

The timing strategy given by Ron and the MGMAT tests are all that you really need to succeed. Do not take infinite tests, I was scoring in the 750-760 ranges but the tests were repeats for me, so the scores were inflated and that is why I haven't put them up here.

That's all from me. All I have to say is that, please just rest, relax and learn concepts and traps, not rules or formulae, you don't need them on the GMAT. Adios Amigos!

Wow! What a debrief and what a comeback! Great score.

All the best for applications

Congrats mate!! you rocked the GMAT!!

IceMan and sachindia, thanks a ton.

Hey,great score improvement!Congrats! Can u tell me what kind of questions u encountered on quant and which topcs' questions were the trickiest/time consuming?

Thanks,
Shreeraj

Hi Shreeraj,

As I had a quitting strategy, I did not spend more than required time on any problem. If I felt something was taking time, I just guessed and moved on, which is the right thing to do. Questions seemed easy, since I wasn't ever concerned about quant.

One new kind of question which I ultimately guessed had a bar chart and then a question related to it, kind of like an IR question. Like i said in the original de-brief, I got neither head nor tail of it and had to guess.

There was a tricky question related to inequalities - I just drew number lines and solved that way.

But yes, I did get a new question in verbal, since it was the 3rd question, so I don't think it was an experimental one. I got a CR question which was just an argument and instead of a question, it said, "the argument implies that" or something to that effect. I just solved it like an inference question.

Loved reading your story - I am starting to prep one last time and feel very much in tune with your message. I initially was told that I had to just solve a million problems and eventually I will get it - so so silly of me!

I am going to efficiently study and make use of my daily time to have as many "Aha" moments I can.

I did want to ask if you'd be kind enough to share with me any valuable resources you came across? You mentioned ron's videos but are they the "Thursdays with Ron" group?

Additionally, I know there are some strategies when it comes to answering specific groups of questions. For instance, which answer strengthens the argument? Do you have any good resources that offer a comprehensive list of strategies so I can cut down time spent looking for the wrong answers?

Thanks and merry christmas!

awesome mate...congrats.... good strategy

Kudos! I am pretty much on the same boat, err.. yet to give my last shot at GMAT mid next month. Interestingly the attempts and scores are pretty much on the same lines.

I have a couple of questions on your test taking strategy

1.Did you take notes while reading RC? My accuracy in RC seems quite low and I am looking at ways and means to improve my RC score.

2. Yes it needs some amount of guts to leave a question when you constantly think that adding an extra minute to the question might give a solution. The truth is you end up spending more time on the question and invariable get it wrong. I guess this was the mistake I made last time. What were your sources of preparation? The reason I ask is because I too have been bogged down my mindless preparation and want to be sure I use the right kind of material.

All the very best for your applications.

Cheers
Gmatrant

Great score. Thanks!!

How did you prepare for CR? I am able to solve 500-600 level question but i always get wrong 600-700 level question wrong,do i need to change my strategy anf need to go trough concepts same applies to RC as well

How did you prepare for CR? I am able to solve 500-600 level question but i always get wrong 600-700 level question wrong,do i need to change my strategy anf need to go trough concepts same applies to RC as well

gnod - Thanks. Yes I do mean the "thursdays with ron" series. Other than those videos, I wouldn't advise anything else. Other resources have great techniques, that just don't work all the time. The only thing that works all the time is - getting the argument and being able to disect it into premise,conclusion segments. Ron's vids are the best resources.

gmatrant - Thanks. To answer your first question -No, I did not take notes. That would not be required because you don't need to get into the details. The only way to improve RC is by reading the passage and getting the gist. Also, you should not look for details or get into them too much. That is the only technique. To answer your second question, my scores this time around were all inflated - 710 and 720 on MGMATs and 750,760 and 750 on the GMATPrep. I don't remember the breakdown, but the scores don't matter, me feeling comfortable with the scores was much more important.
Thanks for your wishes. Although, I have received admits, one of which gave me a 60k scholarship, but yes I am still on the lookout for an even better opportunity.

nasheen - We don't prepare for CR. Every question is different and you need to treat each question on its merits. I just understood things like - "OK, so when i see an evaluate question, I'll just take away the 'whether' and see how whatever is left in the sentence affects the arg." or "When I see a boldfaced question, I'll just draw arrows to see if the two portions are complementing or negating... I would also see whether they are premise or conclusion, or just background". That is how you need to do it too. And i didn't practice these learnings too much, just like 10-15 Qs under timed conditions. But yes, you can use negation on most assumption questions, and similar techniques taught by Ron and other experts on BTG. And please do not look at questions levels, they just don't matter.

Thank you very much Sir Ron. You played a major role in this score increase, all I did was listen to you.