I just Beat The GMAT!

Finally done with the GMAT. Yesterday I gave the exam and scored an awesome 770. I had mixed feelings and was filled with emotions. Just enjoyed myself in the evening.

So here comes the small debrief. But before moving on with debrief, I have to mention that this debrief on far from comprehensive. And would like to improve it over time. For me GMAT was like a battle that I fought hard, a battle that I fought with "trial and error". So it is highly unlikely that I can list down all the points at one go.

I started thinking about GMAT in late December 2007. I started talking to people who had taken the exam and started collecting material for studying. I wanted to make sure that I have all the necessary material before I start the question. I ended up having a lots of material, some of which I did not even open but it was good to start with a lots of material. Looking back I would recommend the following...

1. GMAT Official Guide 11th edition
2. GMAT Verbal Review
3. GMAT Quant Review
4. Powerscore LSAT Critical Reasoning Bible
5. Kaplan GMAT 800
6. Kaplan Verbal Workbook.

My preparation was a bit biased towards English, as I was weak in English. I think being week English is something innate for engineers .

I gave a couple of tests and ended up with really disappointing: GMATPrep 580, Arco 540 and Kaplan 460. I identified my problem areas: Data Sufficiency, Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning and Sentence Correction. As a matter of fact I was only good at Problem Solving and that too was not excellent. One advise I would like to give is that there is a reason why GMATPrep gives only two full length tests and the reason is that you should be giving only two full length test in your whole preparation; one at the start of your preparation and one when you book exam date to yourself.

First I focused on Sentence Correction. Someone gave me beatthegmat.com flash cards. Through those flash cards I came to know this wonderful website. Joining the forum was the best thing that I did in my preparation. From the website I came to know about Manhattan Sentence correction book. I have one word to say about Manhattan SC book - overpriced. The same topics are covered in Kaplan Verbal Workbook which costs a lot lesser. If you have extra money to waste go ahead with Manhattan SC.

Critical Reasoning Came in second. I wanted a good book for critical reasoning and found one in "Powerscore LSAT Logical Reasoning Bible". If you are targeting to cross 700 barrier, you should go through this book completely.

Reading Comprehension was the last in my list. One mistake that I did with RC is that I assumed them to be bigger CRs. RC are CR are completely different. For preparing RC, just read editorials from Financial Times, Wall Street Journal etc. For each topic write down your own version of topic, structure, tone etc.

Quant is all about practice; more you practice, better to get at quant. There is no exception to this rule. Practice, practice, practice, and practice.

You have to respect physical indicators as well. I am 27 and my brain is not as good as it used to be 5 years ago. When planning for retake I brought this factor under consideration. I started having Vitamin C tablets, as vitamin C is the most important factor for proper functioning of your brain.

Test Day Tips
The utmost important word that one needs to keep in mind on test day is relax One needs to be as relaxed as possible. GMAT is just another exam and it is not the end of life. While taking the exam first time, I did some things right and some things wrong. But, the second time - I think - I did almost all the things right.

For past five months my schedule was hectic, I ended up sleeping at 3 in the morning and waking up at 8 or 9. I could not help out the schedule because of work and family requirements. Seeing my schedule I booked the exam in afternoon. It seemed logical to give the exam in the afternoon. So when ever you are booking the exam you need to think when you are most active and book the exam accordingly.

First time I was tense. I dressed up as if I was going to an interview. This was a big mistake. Second Time I went to examination center wearing my basketball shorts, slippers and tee-shirt. One has to make sure that he or she is as comfortable as possible. If you are comfortable with pajamas, I recommend that you give your exam in pajamas.

Energy drinks help a lot. I took three cans of Red Bull for both the exams. Energy drinks help you maintain the energy level. But energy drinks can back-fire. You need to keep calm after taking energy drinks. If you panic after taking energy drinks, it will make you more nervous and eventually hurt you exam performance. So when you decide to take energy drinks during the exam breaks, make sure that you are utmost calm before the exam: yoga, music or whatever it takes to calm you down.

First time panic struck me while I was selecting the schools for sending score. I knew Wharton but did not know University of Pennsylvania, Wharton. It took me a lot of time to find all the five colleges and I was cursing myself for not researching the same. I was taken off guard and it might have slightly deteriorated my score. Again, do whatever you want to do but do not panic.