I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi All,

I was a rather passive member of the forum although i used to read posts on this forum a lot. I hope people find it useful. Even if they don't they would still know what to not do. Before that I would like mention that this forum is really awesome and helped me a lot during my prep. I wud ask everyone preparing for gmat to dig as much as possible, post queries and find posts to clear your concepts.

Background
I am working in an IT consultancy firm, have around 4.5 years work ex. So preparing for gmat meant no more wkend parties for sometime :)That was the easy part, the challenging part was to keep myself motivated for the next few weeks.

Gmat Prep

My prep lasted for about 2months ( 1-1.5 hour on weekdays and 5 - 6 hours on wkends). It was never a very a rigid schedule, sometimes i would study for 2 hours on a day and sometimes just give a test in 45 minutes and call it a day. Point being its ok to mismanage a bit and not kill yourself if u have a plan to stick to.

Initial Prep:
Lasted for about 10 days. Did a lot of googling on the internet to narrow down what material to study, what strategies others have tried and what worked and what din't for them and read a lot of forums and posts. Everyone should do this exercise rather than jumping into kaplan or og straightaway. There are a lot of people one can learn from. I gave my diagnostic gmat exam from (GMAT prep test - 1) during these 10 days and as expected couldn't even sit for 4 hours. Was totally exhausted before i could complete the first of Verbal section.
Gmat Prep Test 1 - 560

Study material :

1. Kaplan - good for DS, CR strategy. Best way to startwith.
2. 1000 SC and CR docs - good practice. Don't believe the answers. Find out in forums the right approach and concepts applied behind answers.
3. Manhattan SC - absolutely the best for SC.
4. Spidey and Sahil SC notes - can only supplement Manhattan SC and to revise important points during later stages of prep.
5. OG 11 - The bible and rightly so. Last 3 weeks were just practicing OG and understanding answers. PS and DS are question exactly the kind you see in GMAT exam

Study Strategy -

Before starting prep one should have a fair idea of their weak sections. For me it was Verbal and so i started with Kaplan CR. My plan was to first finish off Kaplan. The objective was clear all the concepts and focus on Accuracy. I used to sets of 20 questions initially with reasonable time alloted. I finished off kaplan in 3 weeks. At the end of kaplan my CR, SC and DS were ok and i was happy with prep. SC and RC were still not upto the mark. For me upto the mark meant 17/20 in a set of 20 questions. So next few days i did a lot of questions from 1000 SC and RC documents. For every wrong answer or an answer i was not sure of i used to go to forums and find out explanations to clear the concept involved.

4 weeks were over now and i started OG. The best book in any way. In OG for each section the questions at the start are easy and toward the end are harder so be aware of that. I used to Verbal practice one day and the next would do Quant. So in groups of 2 days i would practice both sections of gmat under strict timing. Essays came in the last fifteen
days. And alltogether i must have written around 8 Issue and 8 Argument essays to get the hang which were enough.

For the last week i was on leave and managed around 5 - 6 hrs study each day. gave four tests from GMAT prep in a span of 7 days and just revising concepts each day.

Test Strategy -

1. Initial Tests of 20 questions (SC, RC, CR, DS, PS) in 40 - 45 minutes - from - Kaplan and 1000 SC and CR
2. Sets of 15 questions in 25 minutes (1000 CR, SC, RC docs)
3. Full sections tests with strict timing form OG - Q(20 PS+ 20 DS ) V( SC 14 ques, RC - 3/4 passages, CR - 13 questions)
4. Every Weekend one full gmat test for the last 4 weeks. Last week i took leave and gave full tests with essays - 4 tests in 7 days
5. Forums - Beatthegmat & testmagic. Find out why answers are wrong. Brilliant people & awesome stuff out there.

Important Learnings (or what worked for me) -

1. It takes effort to find out why you are wrong rather than just seeing the right answer, but it helps a lot. Go dig forums and find the explanations. Beatthegmat and testmagic were the ones i found reliable in terms of explanations and quality. I used to solve 1000 SC , CR questions and then find explanations for each wrong or not sure answer in these forums till i was satisfied.

2. OG 11 and Manhattan SC are the best books. OG 11 has difficult questions towards the end for each section. Say last 50 questions for any section are the kinds you will see on GMAT. So keep this in mind. The ones at the start pretty easy.

3. Gmat Prep test absolutely gives the right feel of final GMAT. Save it for the last 8 - 10 days. My score in tests was -
Gmat prep 1 - 560 (diagnostic)
Gmat prep 2 - 690
Gmat prep 1 repeat - 710
Gmat prep 2 repeat - 730

4. Practice tests at the time of your actual Gmat appointment and practice all tests with essays. Its takes time to build stamina to maintain full focus for 4 hours.

5. Learn to get the feel of when you need to move on to next question without looking at time. I could manage this and it really saved me a lot of time. I used to see time after every 15 20 minutes but not after every question.

6.Dont waste time. I guessed and moved on to next question even on final GMAT although i knew i could solve get the answer if i spend a minute or two more. But believe me this kills you towards the end of section. So guess the answer if you cannot solve it in 2 minutes. If you have spare time you can spend more time on the last 5-6 questions rather than panicking towards end of time limit.

5. During test Attack each question separately. During my initial tests i used to answer the second half of verbal in a laid back manner cause i used to get tired. Also previous questions would linger in my mind. I made it a point to actually sit on the edge of my chair with straight back rather than sitting back relaxed in chair. In the end whatever it takes to keep you active and involved for 4 hours. I used to close my eyes and take a few deep breaths midway during sections to relax myself and bring my focus back. I did this on my final gmat too.

6. I believe it does not matter if you get a question wrong at any point in time in test. So i never spent more time on first 5 question even if i was not sure of the answer. Answer the question and move on. Dont think about the new question's difficulty whether its easy or tough than previous one to figure out if your last answer was correct or not.

7. I gave practice tests at 9 am which was the time for my actual gmat appointment. I also used to get up at 7 am in the morning for my 2 month prep just so that the time from 9am to 1pm becomes my most active time.

8. During repeat gmat tests delete the following ".log files" from Gmat prep installation Directory - Practice Test 2.log, Practice Test 1.log, Application.log. This will delete your old sessions but i got around 80 % new questions during my repeat tests.

9. Go easy on yourself. it is ok to break daily study routine sometimes coz it becomes frustrating sometimes. Hav fun with friends and take occasional breaks from study plan.

10. Do whatever that works for you not what others say. Dont follow others strategies word to word. Dont worry about other people scores. keep yourself motivated.

11. Don't stretch gmat prep for too long unless absolutely required. I was advised the same by one of my friends. Reach your peak and be done with it. Rather than wait to achieve perfection in scores.

Hope this helps and Good Luck to all.

-atul

congrats ! good luck !

I don't know if you would understand my desperation....
But I really thank you..
I am planning to take my GMAT in next 3-4 weeks.
But I am looking at sea...
If you could help me to get some confidence...
I am not at all moving in Data sufficiency...
and thats what hurting me.....

Thanks...again for the beautiful post.

Hey Ajeet,

DS was my weaker side in the quant section. For DS the questions sometimes tend to confuse one. The only thing that got me through was practice and i think OG questions are sufficient. Do the last 50 questions again if required.

My strategy was something like this --

1- Dont try to solve the question. No need to reach the answer. i used to do this always and it justs wastes time. You just need to know if you can solve. 2 variables 2 equations thats it. No further.


1- Go Slow. write down all the data in main question on rough paper neatly. making a small table would help or write A or B for two points, or two intesecting circles for sets questions etc. Putting the data in front of you in organized way helps 101%.

Use as much rough paper and draw clear and big. THers no shortage of that in final gmat. I used to draw a vertical line and evaluate the 2 conditions on opposite sides. So in the end i had both in front of me.

2- Read the first condition. if you find it complex or longish read the second one. One of the two is always easier to solve

3- Dont spend more than three minutes per DS question. Just guess and move on. You will get easy question ahead. Don't worry about whether your answer is wrong or right. If you spend three minutes you should atleast have some idea so guess. Go with your gut feel. It works.

4-For DS Inequalities (which i was most afraid off) what i used to do was write values and substitute. I could find no easier way. coz playing with x and y becomes confusing. So 2 steps
1 simplify the ineqaulity equation as much as you can.
2. just put 4 sets of values with combination of +ve and -ve (+2+2, +2 -2, -2 -2, -2 +2)

5. For any other PS questions just write down all the data. Again once you see all the data in front of you something wud definitely strike you to proceed. The rest is just using simple formulas for time-distance probs or area of sq, rect etc probs.

6. Keep only the basic formulas in mind. Nothing more than area volume of few std figures and simple geometry

Dont worry so much and as i said forget about wrong or right answer. Attack the question. Most of the times question which look complex are just easy substitutions.

You need any more help let me know. If you find a problem difficult lets take a sample problem and i ll try to solve it and can tell you the approach. Anything that works for you go with it.

Goodluck.
-atul.

Great post and I find your tips very useful. Congrats on your awesome score.

how did you find the level of difficulty on the actual GMAT vs. the GMAT Prep? verbal and quant separately. can you weigh in on your exp?