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From 550 to 720 - How I beat the GMAT

Find out how Beat The GMAT members tackled GMAT test prep with positive results. Get tips on GMAT test prep materials, online courses, study tips, and more.
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by saumil23 » Wed Oct 24, 2012 12:18 pm
Saunak wrote:Awesome debrief Saumil. Very inspiring indeed.

Could you figure out why it was 630 in the Aug2012 attempt? (considering within 2 months you nailed it with 720)
It will be great if you could throw some light on what were the odds contributing for 630 attempt and your subsequent come-back strategies. There could be some lesson for us to know that even consistent 700+ scores on mocks, dont guarantee the same in Actual GMAT.

Thanks

630 in August was primarily because when the verbal section started I was not at all relaxed, the very idea of appearing GMAT exam started making me nervous. I guess the biggest difference between my 3rd & final attempt was the mental condition. During my final attempt, I just kept telling myself throughout the exam that just imagine that you are at home and giving practice test. Because at home, I never used to worry about the end score and hence usually ended up scoring well. I followed the same strategy during the exam. Also, i kept telling myself take one question at a time. Just attack the question on the screen with all the knowledge and skill I had.

Hope this helps.
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by saumil23 » Wed Oct 24, 2012 1:54 pm
sachinsonu wrote:Congrats for the great score. .. I particularly like your last quote "Success comes to those who are patient enough to handle the failure."

thanks for the inspiring quote
Thanks Sachin. All the best for your exam.
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by kallice » Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:47 pm
Congrats Saumil !!!
I am also struggling with 550 since last time.
I just hope i also get a chance to tel a success story :(
All the best for your future.
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by saumil23 » Wed Oct 24, 2012 9:17 pm
kallice wrote:Congrats Saumil !!!
I am also struggling with 550 since last time.
I just hope i also get a chance to tel a success story :(
All the best for your future.
Cracking GMAT is 50% preparation & 50% self-belief. So don't get shattered by low scores either in main exam or practice tests, just focus on learning everything about each and every question that you attempt while practicing. You will certainly succeed. Focus on quality effort then solving number of questions. Most imp. be patient :)

All the Best!!!
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by sam2304 » Thu Oct 25, 2012 3:34 am
saumil23 wrote: 630 in August was primarily because when the verbal section started I was not at all relaxed, the very idea of appearing GMAT exam started making me nervous. I guess the biggest difference between my 3rd & final attempt was the mental condition. During my final attempt, I just kept telling myself throughout the exam that just imagine that you are at home and giving practice test. Because at home, I never used to worry about the end score and hence usually ended up scoring well. I followed the same strategy during the exam. Also, i kept telling myself take one question at a time. Just attack the question on the screen with all the knowledge and skill I had.

Hope this helps.
Any other preparation strategy you followed for the last attempt ? How long did you study between the Aug attempt and the last one ? I faced the same problem in my last attempt :(. Wasn't confident or relaxed while attempting the verbal part and thinking about the end result than about the question on screen.
Getting defeated is just a temporary notion, giving it up is what makes it permanent.
https://gmatandbeyond.blogspot.in/
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by saumil23 » Thu Oct 25, 2012 3:39 am
sam2304 wrote:
saumil23 wrote: 630 in August was primarily because when the verbal section started I was not at all relaxed, the very idea of appearing GMAT exam started making me nervous. I guess the biggest difference between my 3rd & final attempt was the mental condition. During my final attempt, I just kept telling myself throughout the exam that just imagine that you are at home and giving practice test. Because at home, I never used to worry about the end score and hence usually ended up scoring well. I followed the same strategy during the exam. Also, i kept telling myself take one question at a time. Just attack the question on the screen with all the knowledge and skill I had.

Hope this helps.
Any other preparation strategy you followed for the last attempt ? How long did you study between the Aug attempt and the last one ? I faced the same problem in my last attempt :(. Wasn't confident or relaxed while attempting the verbal part and thinking about the end result than about the question on screen.
Honestly till September 1st I didn't study at all. Then I revised CR from Powerscore, SC from MGMAT (Only partial), listened to selective free videos by RON. Only 2 practice tests.
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by Jim@StratusPrep » Thu Oct 25, 2012 9:45 am
Wow, nice improvement. Congrats!
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by saumil23 » Thu Oct 25, 2012 9:57 am
Jim@StratusPrep wrote:Wow, nice improvement. Congrats!
Thanks
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by CocoDFrance » Thu Oct 25, 2012 10:52 am
ashutoshagrawal76 wrote:Hi All,
If anyone need Manhattan 4th GMAT set, drop me a message, I have the soft copy for Quant and Verbal.

Cheers..
can i get a copy of that please
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by mrunalcavale » Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:48 pm
ashutoshagrawal76 wrote:Hi All,
If anyone need Manhattan 4th GMAT set, drop me a message, I have the soft copy for Quant and Verbal.

Cheers..
Hi, I need the Manhattan 4th GMAT set. Could you please mail me on [email protected].
Thank you in advance. :)
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by [email protected] » Fri Nov 02, 2012 8:49 am
AIM TO CRACK GMAT wrote:
ashutoshagrawal76 wrote:Hi All,
If anyone need Manhattan 4th GMAT set, drop me a message, I have the soft copy for Quant and Verbal.

Cheers..

Ashu... ill b glad if i could get d copy... plzz mail it 2 me if posible... [email protected] is my id... thanks a ton
Hi Ashu, can you please also send me the soft copy on my email [email protected]. Thanks a lot.
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by AbhiJ » Fri Nov 02, 2012 10:04 am
saumil23 wrote:
simba2012 wrote:Congrats saumil23 great score and improvement! can you tell how did you prepare for verbal the 4th time, how was your verbal preparation different from earlier attempts?
Thanks Simba.

During the 4th time, I revised CR from Powerscore & SC from Manhattan. Additional thing that I did this time was - "Thursday's with Ron". These are free but awesome videos.

Honestly, even when I appeared for the 3rd time - my practice scores were 720 above and my verbal score was consistently above 38 but I still didn't score well in the 3rd time. I was actually under lot of pressure to perform as it was my 3rd attempt and was more focused on the end result during the exam rather than on individual questions.

During the 4th time while I was solving the verbal question, I kept telling myself throughout the section that I'm not worried about the score and I just want to ensure that solve the current question on the screen with all the skills I have.

I would strongly recommend - not to refer too many books for verbal. OG, Powerscore, Manhattan SC, RON free videos are more than sufficient to crack verbal.

MOST IMP POINT THAT HELPED ME IMPROVE MY VERBAL SCORE

The timing strategy that I followed for Verbal.
  • For the first 10 questions in verbal section - try not to make any mistake or at max 1 mistake
  • 1st lot of 10 questions - 25 min - focus more on accuracy
    2nd lot of 10 questions - 20 min
    3rd lot of 10 questions - 15 min - if you are behind time, guess during 3rd lot
    4th lot of 11 questions - 15 min
Number of books & number of forums say that spend not more than 2min per CR question, 1-1.5 min per SC question and 4-6 min for RC. During my 4th attempt - my focus was on maintaining the timing for lot of 10 questions (As written above) than on timing of individual questions.

Also, its not a myth that initial few questions (10 questions) are more important. I would strongly recommend that follow above timing strategy - you will certainly see a improvement in your score.

ALL THE BEST!! Let me know if i you have any question.
Saumil,
Few questions for you. Would appreciate if you could briefly address the same.

------Did you managed to score V38+ in Verbal on the practice tests by following the above mentioned timing strategy ?
------Could you throw some light on your guessing strategy in Q21-Q30. I mean which types of Qs you guessed SC/CR/RC and how many questions you guessed ?
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by mail2harvinder » Sat Nov 03, 2012 7:40 am
ashutoshagrawal76 wrote:Hi All,
If anyone need Manhattan 4th GMAT set, drop me a message, I have the soft copy for Quant and Verbal.

Cheers..
hi ashu, i would be thankful if you can share the copy to me on [email protected]
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by butterflies105 » Wed Nov 07, 2012 4:28 pm
Hi,

Can I aslo have a copy please???

thank you,


CocoDFrance wrote:
ashutoshagrawal76 wrote:Hi All,
If anyone need Manhattan 4th GMAT set, drop me a message, I have the soft copy for Quant and Verbal.

Cheers..
can i get a copy of that please
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by ashutoshagrawal76 » Wed Nov 07, 2012 7:41 pm
butterflies105 wrote:Hi,

Can I aslo have a copy please???

thank you,

Please give me ur email id
CocoDFrance wrote:
ashutoshagrawal76 wrote:Hi All,
If anyone need Manhattan 4th GMAT set, drop me a message, I have the soft copy for Quant and Verbal.

Cheers..
can i get a copy of that please
Join the discussion