If you are a movie buff, like myself, and remember the great oscar winning movie by the same name, you will appreciate the passionate and thrilling, yet cold hearted and brutal desire to get a good GMAT score.
Last 4-5 months, I have been through a rollacoster ride of emotions. (more later).
Till last Wednesday, I didn't think I would write a debief with a happy ending. But here I am, spilling my guts off.
Let's start at the beginning -
Materials Used
OG 12 (must have)
Quantitative
OG Quantitative Guide (focus on the tough questions towards the end)
GMAT Prep questions (love this)
Questions from Ian Stewart (best question bank..highly recommended.)
Manhattan Strategy Guides (another must have)
Questions from forums (be very selective; you will end up more confused if you don't filter the junk)
Verbal
OG Verbal Guide (do it do it do it...)
OG 10 (do it do it do it...)
LSAT Question Papers and their solutions from Kaplan (recommended)
KAPLAN Verbal Workbook (decent book)
Manhattan Forums explanations( by Ron Purewal - highly recommended-excellent explanations in Verbal, don't miss this one)
Aristotle SC Grail (did it at the end; short and sweet)
GMAT Club tests (some questions are good; may not be worth the $$; not good for practice as the test can be completed in half the time)
Grockit ( I was not impressed; try only if you are a beginner; not advisable for target score 700+)
Preparation Time
I spent the first three months studying almost 3-4 hours daily and about 8-10 hours on the weekends. But the last 1-2 months, I went through hell. My work pressure got so crooked that I began thinking that there was some cosmic conspiracy going on against me. I didn't touch the books in last 1 month at all. I went through sort of a mild depression and lost all hopes. So no doubt the score left me in a "happy shock". Yet, I am humbled by GMAT.
My Learnings and Recommendations
1- Don't waste too much time preparing for GMAT. 3-4 months are enough.
2- Studied for 3-4 hours a day. Less but consistent study is much better than sporadic study
3- Learn to MOVE ON-
In the initial stage of preparation I use to spend some 3-4 mins on questions in the practice tests and invariably ended up rushing through the last 4-5 questions. Later, I decided to just pick a choice (normally D; I don't know why!) the question if it took more than 3 mins. This is the one of the best things that I did. Program yourself such that your internal clock pushes you to just pick a choice and move on if you spent more than 3 mins.
4- Keep track of questions that you got wrong-
Right from the beginning, mark the questions that you got wrong or took too long (> 2.5 Min) - even if you made a silly mistake. If it is a texbook, mark it. If it is an ebook,log the questions to some notepad. At the end the preparations, go over all the questions that you got wrong. You would think that once you do a question, it is a waste of time doing it againt because you know the answer. Trust me- apart from few word problems, you won't remember a thing and would be surprised to see how you can make the same mistake again !
5- Look Out! They're Gonna Get You -
Every good question in GMAT (specially in Qtz) is designed to "get you". I can't stress this enough.
So don't treat the questions as your regular exam questions and just keep solving them.Remember that appearances can be deceiving. Think yourself as the president of Skeptic Society and do not trust your first instinct. Always cross check your answer. In case of DS, if you think C is right, you might find A, B or even E to be the right answers.
6- Sentence Correction-
If you are weak in SC, your best bet is repetition. Yes, that's right- repetition. Do the questions in OG12, OG11, OG10,Manhattan forums. Then ? Do the questions again. And Again. And Again, Why, you would ask. The answer is that GMAT SC questions are based on pattern recognition more than any thing.(parallelism, Subject Verb aggreement etc.). Do not be discouraged by your bad SC score and if SC seems like rocket science. Keep doing the same question again and again. Do it till you start interrupting your girl friend on the usage of "which" and "that", or when you get a hateful email and first thing you notice is the wrong modifier placement. (You got the drift..)
7- Reading Comprehension
Best thing I can recommend are the two videos by Ron Purewal (from Manhattan). Go hear from the horse's mouth.
https://vimeo.com/14615312
https://vimeo.com/14935687
8- Qtz
Practice, Practice, Practice and then some more.
Do not worry about those questions that involve too much calculations. GMAT doesn't test your calculation skills rather your problem solving approach. Dont fool yourself with solving more easy questions. If you want to score high spend time on tougher questions.
9- Time every question
Don't spend more than 3-4 minutes on a question while practicing. Spend more time in the review phase.
Solving the questions untimed is a wastage of time, specially in the later part of preparation.
10- Don't underestimate AWA
I neglected AWA all the way. But don't repeat my mistake. Understand what is expected in this section and give your practice tests (specially towards the end) with AWA. - NO Exceptions or excuses !
Practice Test scores
GMATPre(06/13)- 640 (don't have the breakdown)
MGMAT1 (06/27)- 730 (Q49, V41)
MGMAT2 (07/04)- 690 (Q45, V38)
MGMAT3 (06/27)- 740 (Q47, V45)
GMATPr (07/25)- 750 (don't have the breakdown)
MGMAT4 (08/08)- 740 (Q48, V40)
MGMAT5 (08/30)- 680 (Q47, V36) (took after a gap; but got really frustrated with the score
MGMAT6 (09/09)- 780 (Q51, V45)
GMAT (10/28)- 760 (Q49, V44)
I also gave some Kaplan tests because I was out of practice tests. The scores were all in the range of 620 to 640.
I had read in the forums that Kaplan's scoring tends to be off and therefore didn't get discouraged by them.
Recommendations
1- Ian Stewart- private tutor)
- best Qtz questions I got outside the OGs.
- Pure genius.
- Highly recommended. Send him an email at ([email protected]) and see if he is available.
- I would just solve the OGs and questions from his collection if I am short on time.
2- Ron Purewal- another great teacher.
https://www.manhattangmat.com/thursdays-with-ron.cfm
3- Read explanations given by experts (Ian, Ron, Stacey, Stuart,Bunuel ) in BTG and other forums- multiple times.
Thanks BTG for maintaining this excellent website
And all you folks reading this post..There is no country for old men...So tighten your belts and get some blood on your hands..
