I just Beat The GMAT!

Hello Everyone,

I took GMAT on September 6th and got 720. Not a very great score to brag about but a decent one.
I owe to this forum for my success. The articles posted by everyone helped me a lot to plan my strategy and review it time to time. So here I am now posting about my preparation. I hope it will help in same way as other posts in this forum.

My Background - First of all let me tell you about my background. I am an Indian male with engineering background. Currently I am working for an IT company. One important point to note here is my medium of education till 12th standard was 'Hindi', also I was not much into reading English books or novels so I will say my basic English was not very good and I had to put extra effort for verbal and even had to work on my vocabulary.

Material I referred -
 Manhattan Sentence correction - Fourth edition.
 Official Guide 12
 PowerScore - GMAT Critical reasoning guide
 OG verbal Review - Second edition
 Kaplan verbal workbook - Fifth edition
 Kaplan GMAT Premier program - 2008 edition
 Kaplan - GMAT 800
 Economist.com - For RC preparation
 newscientist.com - For science articles
 vocabularycentral.com - For GMAT vocabulary

(looks a long list but I have not done any single questions apart from these books and once you start studying you only need to be consistent to finish all these books)

Preparation -

I had appeared in GMAT last year and got 640, My Math score was 50 and Verbal score was 28. I realized that I need to work on my basic English (Leave aside the actual GMAT Verbal preparation). I started to inculcate little bit reading habit. (Trust me it helps a lot. I have seen many people who get good score in their first attempt, their English is very good and they are voracious reader). Finally two months back I started actual GMAT preparation. I went through lots of forum to understand what all materials I should refer and what strategy I should follow for study. I was confident about maths so I didn't worry much about it. After doing my analysis things boiled down to two most important points -

1. All three parts of verbal section SC, CR and RC are equally important in different aspects

SC - You can improve on your accuracy and save time in SC part.

CR - This is the part where with little effort you can target for 100% accuracy and maximize your score.

RC - This part will help you to raise your score on higher level. (Based on my analysis if you do well on high difficulty questions of RC your chance of getting 700+ will be very high). At the same time RC is most time consuming part of verbal section.

2. As far as books and material are concerned, Manhattan sentence correction book clearly emerged as winner. Everyone who got good score in GMAT has referred this book. OG is no doubt a mandatory book. Apart from that I realised that if you have good amount of time (say months) Powerscore Critical reasoning book is good for CR preparation. Other books are only for practice purpose and you can choose them based on how much time you have for preparation.

I started my preparation with schedule of one topic each day, SC one day CR one day and RC one day and revision of weeks study on Sunday. I spent 3 hours daily on an average during weekdays and 5 hours average over weekends. I took complete off from work on last week of my preparation.

SC - Before doing any single questions from any book, I started Manhattan sentence correction guide and completed it with taking notes on important points. After finishing Manhattan book I took OG-12, Kaplan verbal workbook, OG-verbal, Kaplan-800 and Kaplan Premier program in the same order and finished their SC section. After finishing OG-12, I started revision of Manhattan SC in parallel with solving questions. (It's good to go through Manhattan SC twice at least).

CR - For CR I started to read Powerscore CR bible and solving questions from OG-12 in parallel. CR bible is a big book so it takes some time to finish. (You need not remember each and everything but going through it once helps a lot to solve some specific type of questions). Apart from OG-12, I did only two more books for CR, Kaplan Verbal and OG-verbal.

RC - The biggest part of my RC preparation was going through editorial of 'Times of India' and spending 30 minutes daily on economist.com and newscientist.com. The articles of economist and newscientist help a lot to become familiar with the kind of RCs that actually come in GMAT test. I used to learn 20 new words daily (Through the reading and vocabularycentral.com). Overall I have learnt almost 1000 new words during my preparation, and that really helped me to understand the passage better and increase my reading speed. Apart from this I solved questions from OG-12, Kaplan Premier program, Kaplan Verbal Workbook, OG-Verbal and Kaplan-800 in the same order. For RC different book suggests different reading strategy, I will say understand all strategies and follow whichever suites you best. I applied my strategy based on 'where I am in the test and how much time is left'. (If anyone interested let me know I will tell how I figured out my strategy).

AWA -

I have not given much time for AWA, since I realized it doesn't play a big role in your admission. I knew that there are certain templates and if you follow that you can even get 6 out of 6. I just went through few AWA questions two days before exam (when I was actually relaxing and not going through any other stuff). The only suggestion I will give for AWA is that use of words like - 'Premise', 'Assumption' etc (The pattern which you usually see in CR part) helps a lot.

Mock Test -

One of the most important parts of my preparation was mock tests. These mock tests gave me proper analysis on how am I doing with my studies and where should I improve. Most importantly it helped me to decide my test strategy for timing.

Here are my mock test scores.

Manhattan series Test 1: score - 590, Maths - 47, Verbal - 25
Manhattan series Test 2: score - 680, Maths - 48, Verbal - 34
Manhattan series Test 3: score - 640, Maths - 48, Verbal - 30
GMAT Prep (latest version): score - 640, Maths - 46, Verbal - 31
Manhattan series Test 4: score - 680, Maths - 46, Verbal - 36
Powerprep 1: score - 690, Maths - 49, Verbal - 33
GMAT Prep (older version): score - 640, Maths - 46, Verbal - 31
Manhattan series Test 5: score - 670, Maths - 49, Verbal - 31
GMAT Prep (older version): score - 720, Maths - 49, Verbal - 37
Powerprep 2: score - 730, Maths - 50, Verbal - 37
GMAT Prep (latest version): score - 740, Maths - 50, Verbal - 41

I have given the last three tests on the last week of my preparation. They pretty much decided my score range and also gave me confidence that my preparation is actually showing good results. I am not exaggerating if I say I would have got better score if I had prepared for couple of more weeks. As far as mock tests are concerned I would say Manhattan test series are very good. They are bit tougher than actual GMAT (especially math section) but gives a very good analysis of actual GMAT pattern of changing difficulty level based on your right and wrong answers. GMAT prep and Powerprep are vital to judge how you are going to perform in actual GMAT.

Test strategy -

Test strategy is very important factor for GMAT. In my previous GMAT attempt I answered my last 10 questions almost randomly in math section; still I got a score of 50. This experience and some other mock tests gave me an idea that if you have done pretty well in your first 80% questions you will get a good score. Though I will not suggest this as a rule, but that was my strategy. I was least worried about last few questions, this helped me maintain my timing better and at the same time keeping my cool during exam. Yes, keeping your mind stable during test is the most important thing. All your preparation will go in vain if you lose your temper. I realise this during mock tests, once things go even slightly wrong and you lose your temper, you can screw up your complete test. So its better you start controlling yourself and do not bother about few mistakes. Trust me your score can still be good even if you make few mistakes no matter whether it is in the start, middle or end of your exam. You just need to manage your time and concentrate properly.

The D Day -

The confidence I gained in my last three mock tests really helped me a lot. Usually I don't get good sleep on the night before the exam but fortunately this time I had a good sleep. My test timing was 2 PM and my test centre was about 1 hour from my house. So I decided to leave by 12 PM. I had an early light lunch before leaving from home. I stuffed fruits and biscuit into my bag to eat during exam break. I reached test centre at 1 PM and the test co-ordinator gave me an option to start the exam earlier if I wish. I was not very comfortable though, primarily because I gave my last few mock tests keeping in mind the 2 PM timing. Anyways I could not control myself and finally decided to start my test at 1.30 PM. I was not at all worried about AWA and maths section. I just wanted to finish them somehow and move to verbal section. After maths section got over I was satisfied that I did fairly well. Now the critical part started. I took my break after Maths section. (Just for information the break time is now reduced from 10 minutes to 8 minutes). I started my verbal section with full confidence. First question was sentence correction, and honestly I don't know whether I checked right or wrong answer. I tried to give complete attention in first 10 questions. In none of the questions I was 100% sure that I answered it correctly or not. I will say it was more about eliminating wrong choices than selecting right one. I just kept moving. Then came the RC, It was about 50 line passage and as decided I gave enough time to go through it and then started answering the questions related to it. Then again I kept moving on. The second RC was bit tougher and I lost little control there, it took some time for me to read the passage and answer questions. After that I was almost left with 20 questions and 20 minutes. I started panicking and I thought I screwed my exam. But somehow I controlled myself and got myself reminded that I can still give enough time to next 10 questions and just click randomly to last 10 questions. I kept my cool and started answering question. This time I was totally dependent on my judgment and was not giving second thought to any answer. In my third RC I just read it once and answered the questions. I finished my next 10 questions in 10 minutes. I got my confidence back and I had now enough time (10 minutes) to answer last 10 questions. I read each question properly and answered. I also read the last RC properly and answered questions. Here again I was not giving second thought to my answers. (I guess that's what your preparation does to you, your accuracy improves over time and you can trust your first judgment and that's where you can actually improve your timing also).
So after finishing my 41st questions in verbal section and not very confident to get a good score I finally hit the submit button to get the score. With my heart beating very fast I waited for the score and finally when the score screen appeared the first thing I saw was '7' of 720 score. My Maths score was 50 and Verbal 37. I was not very elated to see my score but whatever situation I just went through in verbal section I was happy to get a 700+ figure. I left the exam centre with a happy feeling.

Final note: Last but not the least, I will say that you should stop your study two days before exam, that helps stabilize your mind and gives you the rest required before exam.

So guys I will end my debrief here with a belief that no matter where you stand right now, with proper strategy and preparation you can achieve 700+ score. All the best!!

Great score! Congratulations. A 720 should put you in the "safe" category for the top 10 as long as you have a compelling admissions package. Try to hit your round one deadlines if you can and make sure you cast a convincing vision for yourself and your career. Good luck!

great score
thanks for the detailed debrief

How many efficient months u took to travel this journey from 640 to 720 ???.

It will help me out to plan my strategy as in my last test I scored 660 in Manhattan Test (Maths-46 & Verbal - 35)

Thanxs

Many Thanks for postiing you debrief!! and congrts for your achievement and may u get admission best bscool

I am avg student like you and about to give up on gmat but believe me ur post is inspiration to people like me.
Thanks for sharing ur experience with us. Also it would be nice if we can get ur help in preparation of exam.

Regards
Vaisha

It took me two efficient month for my preparation.

Congratz for the great score.. Any idea whether difficulty level of GMAT questions was in par with the latter questions of OG verbal and did you see any idiom usage

Gr8 score.. Congratulations.. your debrief is inspirational..

Hi ,
Congratulations for this great score. The first line is heart breaking though. You are a live example to prove the adage --Hard work pays .
Congrats and best of luck for your future aspirations.

Please help me and give me some tips for RC. You mentioned that if you need some personal help,tricks and understanding related to RC you will help. Please can you help me in some way related to RC.

Thanks
Animesh

sv77 wrote:Congratz for the great score.. Any idea whether difficulty level of GMAT questions was in par with the latter questions of OG verbal and did you see any idiom usage

Yes the difficult questions were at par with the latter questions of OG verbal. Also there were questions on idioms usage.

senanimesh wrote:Hi ,
Congratulations for this great score. The first line is heart breaking though. You are a live example to prove the adage --Hard work pays .
Congrats and best of luck for your future aspirations.

Please help me and give me some tips for RC. You mentioned that if you need some personal help,tricks and understanding related to RC you will help. Please can you help me in some way related to RC.

Thanks
Animesh

Hi Animesh,

Can you pm me with the issue you are facing in RC and about your current accuracy in RC. I will try my best to help you.

Hi,

Many congratulations on crossing the 700 marks barrier.

Can you kindly share the strategy you mastered for RC called "where I am in your test and how much time is left"

I have my GMAT in Nov and am not able to farewell in RCs.

Thanks a Ton. Good luck for your applications

Regards,

GDK

I knew that there are certain templates and if you follow that you can even get 6 out of 6.

Can you point me to some of these templates please?

Congrats! I really wish I had a debrief like this available to me when I was studying for the GMAT 5 years ago. Congrats on the great score! Good luck getting into the business school of your dreams!

Congratulation for your excellent score. .. thank you very much for yous detailed and inspiring debrief.