Hi all,
During my GMAT preparation, I read a lot of student experiences and I must say they were of immense help. So, I wanted to write one for others. A journey from 700 to 760 in one month. Its got long delayed but finally I got the time to write one. Here it goes.
I gave my first GMAT in Mar'14. Scored 700 (verbal screwed me up, 34). I had joined crackverbal online course (https://gmatonline.crackverbal.com) after reading its feedback on the other forums. I knew quantitative section would be manageable. hence, I decided to opt for verbal focused course. After going through the course videos, I realized I had a lot of myths about the rules of sentence correction. The course videos include solving questions from OG/verbal guide and in those videos, Arun explains beautifully how to understand the sentence, find the error yourself and then look for the options. It makes SC so much simple to understand and solve. Previously I used to start looking up options in the beginning itself and hence I used to get confused a lot among the similar yet different options. Similarly on CR part, Arun explains in a very simple language how to solve those. How some arguments, even though might look very tempting, are outside the scope of the question etc.
Also, one of the best part about the course is the compendium. Crackverbal gives you around 300-400 official questions of each type (SC,CR,RC) which are not there in OG/Guide which gives you ample practice on the verbal part. Coupled with videos on advanced SC, CR and RC cleared my concepts to a large extent. I also took Manhattan GMAT tests (all 5) to improve upon my weak areas and improve the test taking skills. Those tests were of immense help to understand where to improve. With everything done, I went to give the test and came shattered when I saw my score as 700. Realized that verbal was a culprit as predicted.
I was out of ideas on how to improve my verbal. Then I realized what could have been the problem. I reached late in the exam and I had to forgo my 8 minutes break sessions. In other words, I gave the whole exam in one seating. That took toll on my brain when I reached the verbal section.
But I still decided to improve my English before I sit for exam again. I again worked on my SC and CR. Went again through the videos, referred to Manhattan forum extensively for any tough questions. Also, did the advanced questions provided by Crackverbal again. After 2 months I gave the exam again. This time I reached well before the time. And probably, it worked for me because I scored 760. And all the improvement came from the verbal. Verbal made the difference.
I was elated to see that. Never thought would achieve a 60 point improvement in 2 months. All this to Crackverbal (Arun and his team) and Manhattan forum/tests. I would strongly advise one to take the course (if not classroom, then online) to prepare for verbal in a focussed manner.
Hope you found it useful. Thanks.
Best,
Rahul Garg
During my GMAT preparation, I read a lot of student experiences and I must say they were of immense help. So, I wanted to write one for others. A journey from 700 to 760 in one month. Its got long delayed but finally I got the time to write one. Here it goes.
I gave my first GMAT in Mar'14. Scored 700 (verbal screwed me up, 34). I had joined crackverbal online course (https://gmatonline.crackverbal.com) after reading its feedback on the other forums. I knew quantitative section would be manageable. hence, I decided to opt for verbal focused course. After going through the course videos, I realized I had a lot of myths about the rules of sentence correction. The course videos include solving questions from OG/verbal guide and in those videos, Arun explains beautifully how to understand the sentence, find the error yourself and then look for the options. It makes SC so much simple to understand and solve. Previously I used to start looking up options in the beginning itself and hence I used to get confused a lot among the similar yet different options. Similarly on CR part, Arun explains in a very simple language how to solve those. How some arguments, even though might look very tempting, are outside the scope of the question etc.
Also, one of the best part about the course is the compendium. Crackverbal gives you around 300-400 official questions of each type (SC,CR,RC) which are not there in OG/Guide which gives you ample practice on the verbal part. Coupled with videos on advanced SC, CR and RC cleared my concepts to a large extent. I also took Manhattan GMAT tests (all 5) to improve upon my weak areas and improve the test taking skills. Those tests were of immense help to understand where to improve. With everything done, I went to give the test and came shattered when I saw my score as 700. Realized that verbal was a culprit as predicted.
I was out of ideas on how to improve my verbal. Then I realized what could have been the problem. I reached late in the exam and I had to forgo my 8 minutes break sessions. In other words, I gave the whole exam in one seating. That took toll on my brain when I reached the verbal section.
But I still decided to improve my English before I sit for exam again. I again worked on my SC and CR. Went again through the videos, referred to Manhattan forum extensively for any tough questions. Also, did the advanced questions provided by Crackverbal again. After 2 months I gave the exam again. This time I reached well before the time. And probably, it worked for me because I scored 760. And all the improvement came from the verbal. Verbal made the difference.
I was elated to see that. Never thought would achieve a 60 point improvement in 2 months. All this to Crackverbal (Arun and his team) and Manhattan forum/tests. I would strongly advise one to take the course (if not classroom, then online) to prepare for verbal in a focussed manner.
Hope you found it useful. Thanks.
Best,
Rahul Garg
Last edited by gargrahul2000 on Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
