It feels great to finally post a debrief here. I have been a silent reader of this forum. The debriefs here have inspired me a lot. So thank you all.
To begin with, I am a non-native speaker. So English has always been my bane.
I gave my first attempt in Dec 2009 and got a score of 660. I had prepared well that time - all the usual stuff such as Manhattan SC, OG 12, Kaplan 800, MGCATS, GMATPrep - and got good scores in mocks as well.
MGMAT 1 - 630
MGMAT 2 - 680
MGMAT 3 - 680
MGMAT 4 - 710
MGMAT 5 - 740
MGMAT 6 - 690
GMATPrep 1 - 730
GMATPrep 2 - 740
So I was pretty confident of getting around 700 on my real GMAT. But as fate has it, don't know what went wrong but I screwed up my verbal section. 660 49Q 31V
As bad my mood was, I decided to give GMAT another shot.
But I had switched job hat time so had a lot of work in my place. So could not give GMAT again soon.
Take away #1 - If planning to GMAT again, do it ASAP. I learnt this the hard way.
I started studying again in July end mostly for an hour a day and around 3-4 hours on weekends.
This continued till August end. I took a week off in Sept and put in a lot more hours. This time I gave very mocks.
GMATPrep 1 - 730
GMATPrep 2 - 730
GMATPrep 1 (reinstall) - 760
MGMAT 1 - 680
Knewton GMAT - 720
I have to say, Knewton GMAT is a rip off of OG. Same questions just with different wordings.
Also, this time I got OG 10 from a friend. It has a lot more questions than OG 12. In addition to Manahattan for SC, I used Powerscore GMAT Bible for CR. Since I had to practise a lot more of verbal this time, I solved verbal from all these books.
Thats the only different thing I did this time. Practised a lot of SC and CR questions.
Takeaway #2 - If Verbal scares you, practice. That is the ONLY way out.
Two days before the exam, revised all my notes.
A day before the exam, I saw the whole season 1 of "How I met your Mother"
and followed it up by going through my grammar notes.
Take away #3 - Never stress yourself the day before. Relax and be prepared for the worst. If you are prepared for the worst, even the worst result will not be shocking and you will actually ease a lot nerves on the exam day.
On the exam day, AWA section was quick. I had a template ready, so just had to plugin views in it. Did not take much effort.
Take away #4 - Do not take AWA lightly. Have a template ready. It will save you time and will make your answer look pretty neat as well. Also, do not put too much brain while writing this section. It should act sort of a warm up exercise for the real thing and not act as a drainer.
Started with QA, went pretty smooth with a couple of educated guesses.
Took the break after that.
Started with Verbal. Now, being a non-native speaker, idioms do not come naturally to me. So I had to struggle real hard in this section. Never had to lose my concentration.
Take away #5 - Verbal being the last section, it is very easy to lose focus. So do not lose it. Also, never ever think about the question you just answered. You cannot change the answer, so just move on and give the next one your best shot.
Saw the score finally. I was elated to say the least.
Its a pretty big debrief but I hope it might benefit some one like some other debriefs have benefited me.
All the best to people who are going to take the GMAT.
To begin with, I am a non-native speaker. So English has always been my bane.
I gave my first attempt in Dec 2009 and got a score of 660. I had prepared well that time - all the usual stuff such as Manhattan SC, OG 12, Kaplan 800, MGCATS, GMATPrep - and got good scores in mocks as well.
MGMAT 1 - 630
MGMAT 2 - 680
MGMAT 3 - 680
MGMAT 4 - 710
MGMAT 5 - 740
MGMAT 6 - 690
GMATPrep 1 - 730
GMATPrep 2 - 740
So I was pretty confident of getting around 700 on my real GMAT. But as fate has it, don't know what went wrong but I screwed up my verbal section. 660 49Q 31V
As bad my mood was, I decided to give GMAT another shot.
But I had switched job hat time so had a lot of work in my place. So could not give GMAT again soon.
Take away #1 - If planning to GMAT again, do it ASAP. I learnt this the hard way.
I started studying again in July end mostly for an hour a day and around 3-4 hours on weekends.
This continued till August end. I took a week off in Sept and put in a lot more hours. This time I gave very mocks.
GMATPrep 1 - 730
GMATPrep 2 - 730
GMATPrep 1 (reinstall) - 760
MGMAT 1 - 680
Knewton GMAT - 720
I have to say, Knewton GMAT is a rip off of OG. Same questions just with different wordings.
Also, this time I got OG 10 from a friend. It has a lot more questions than OG 12. In addition to Manahattan for SC, I used Powerscore GMAT Bible for CR. Since I had to practise a lot more of verbal this time, I solved verbal from all these books.
Thats the only different thing I did this time. Practised a lot of SC and CR questions.
Takeaway #2 - If Verbal scares you, practice. That is the ONLY way out.
Two days before the exam, revised all my notes.
A day before the exam, I saw the whole season 1 of "How I met your Mother"
and followed it up by going through my grammar notes.Take away #3 - Never stress yourself the day before. Relax and be prepared for the worst. If you are prepared for the worst, even the worst result will not be shocking and you will actually ease a lot nerves on the exam day.
On the exam day, AWA section was quick. I had a template ready, so just had to plugin views in it. Did not take much effort.
Take away #4 - Do not take AWA lightly. Have a template ready. It will save you time and will make your answer look pretty neat as well. Also, do not put too much brain while writing this section. It should act sort of a warm up exercise for the real thing and not act as a drainer.
Started with QA, went pretty smooth with a couple of educated guesses.
Took the break after that.
Started with Verbal. Now, being a non-native speaker, idioms do not come naturally to me. So I had to struggle real hard in this section. Never had to lose my concentration.
Take away #5 - Verbal being the last section, it is very easy to lose focus. So do not lose it. Also, never ever think about the question you just answered. You cannot change the answer, so just move on and give the next one your best shot.
Saw the score finally. I was elated to say the least.
Its a pretty big debrief but I hope it might benefit some one like some other debriefs have benefited me.
All the best to people who are going to take the GMAT.
