Test Date: 21st December, 2012
I started my preparation 4 months back, although i had registered with Beat the GMAT in early 2012. I realized early that the GMAT tests you on three things:
1. Content Management: This is the absolute foundation of the test. During this stage of my preparation, I concentrated more on content and less on time taken per question. I used the following resources to improve my knowledge of Quant and Verbal:
a. Quant: Manhattan Quant (All books on quant), Advanced Manhattan, and an Indian CAT book
b. Verbal: Manhattan SC, Thursdays with Ron, and Powerscore CR Bible
The Manhattan Quant books are very complete and exhaustive. I will highly recommend them. For people scoring more than 48 on quant, I will recommend Advanced Quant even more. The 15 problem sets at the back of the book are extremely helpful, although, I did these problem sets only to expand the knowledge base and not to time myself.
Everyone recommends Manhattan SC and CR Bible, and I am no different. According to me, Thursdays with Ron is the best resource for SC preparation. Ron explains concepts in an awesome manner. Take notes and you will do very well on SC.
2. Time Management: My focus during this stage of preparation was more on the time taken to finish the various questions. Of course, keeping a track of accuracy is vital too. I used the following resources:
a. Quant: OG 12 and Quantitative Review, GMAT Prep Question Pack, and Extreme Challenge Set by Jeff Sackermann
b. Verbal: OG 12, Verbal Review, GMATPrep Questions Document by Whiplash, and GMAT Prep Question Pack
I did only the last 50 questions of PS and DS from OG 12 as the other ones were too simple. The GMAT Prep Question Pack (from mba.com) is worth the 20 dollars. It has 404 latest questions released by the GMAC. These questions are highly representative of the real thing. Again, for those scoring more than 48, I will highly recommend the Extreme Challenge Set.
GMATPrep documents on SC and CR (by Whiplash) are the best resources for Verbal preparation (other than the OG). These documents contain a lot of the past GMATPrep questions. I will recommend that you prepare verbal from only official sources such as OG, Question Pack and GMATPrep Documents. For quant, I will recommend that you prepare from sources outside the official resources because of their varied difficulty and question types.
I kept track of my accuracy, speed and errors in an Excel sheet. This sheet helped me to set, achieve and manage my goals/objectives.
3. Pressure/Stamina Management: I gave 6 complete tests. These helped me build stamina for the real thing.
GMATPrep Test 1: Score 710
GMATPrep Test 2: Score 740
Manhattan GMAT 1: Score 700
Manhattan GMAT 2-4: Score 690
I did the 2 GMAT tests in the second week of my preparation. This was a big mistake because I could not evaluate myself in the last week of my preparation. I found the Quant section of Manhattan GMAT really lengthy and calculation based. The GMAT Quant on the other hand involved less calculations and more insights.
I did not have excellent scores in my practice tests, yet managed to score well on the test itself. This tells me two things: One that I was lucky on the day of the test and two that the more questions you solve from official sources (especially in Verbal), the more you start to recognize the right answers or at the very least eliminate the wrong ones.
I started my preparation 4 months back, although i had registered with Beat the GMAT in early 2012. I realized early that the GMAT tests you on three things:
1. Content Management: This is the absolute foundation of the test. During this stage of my preparation, I concentrated more on content and less on time taken per question. I used the following resources to improve my knowledge of Quant and Verbal:
a. Quant: Manhattan Quant (All books on quant), Advanced Manhattan, and an Indian CAT book
b. Verbal: Manhattan SC, Thursdays with Ron, and Powerscore CR Bible
The Manhattan Quant books are very complete and exhaustive. I will highly recommend them. For people scoring more than 48 on quant, I will recommend Advanced Quant even more. The 15 problem sets at the back of the book are extremely helpful, although, I did these problem sets only to expand the knowledge base and not to time myself.
Everyone recommends Manhattan SC and CR Bible, and I am no different. According to me, Thursdays with Ron is the best resource for SC preparation. Ron explains concepts in an awesome manner. Take notes and you will do very well on SC.
2. Time Management: My focus during this stage of preparation was more on the time taken to finish the various questions. Of course, keeping a track of accuracy is vital too. I used the following resources:
a. Quant: OG 12 and Quantitative Review, GMAT Prep Question Pack, and Extreme Challenge Set by Jeff Sackermann
b. Verbal: OG 12, Verbal Review, GMATPrep Questions Document by Whiplash, and GMAT Prep Question Pack
I did only the last 50 questions of PS and DS from OG 12 as the other ones were too simple. The GMAT Prep Question Pack (from mba.com) is worth the 20 dollars. It has 404 latest questions released by the GMAC. These questions are highly representative of the real thing. Again, for those scoring more than 48, I will highly recommend the Extreme Challenge Set.
GMATPrep documents on SC and CR (by Whiplash) are the best resources for Verbal preparation (other than the OG). These documents contain a lot of the past GMATPrep questions. I will recommend that you prepare verbal from only official sources such as OG, Question Pack and GMATPrep Documents. For quant, I will recommend that you prepare from sources outside the official resources because of their varied difficulty and question types.
I kept track of my accuracy, speed and errors in an Excel sheet. This sheet helped me to set, achieve and manage my goals/objectives.
3. Pressure/Stamina Management: I gave 6 complete tests. These helped me build stamina for the real thing.
GMATPrep Test 1: Score 710
GMATPrep Test 2: Score 740
Manhattan GMAT 1: Score 700
Manhattan GMAT 2-4: Score 690
I did the 2 GMAT tests in the second week of my preparation. This was a big mistake because I could not evaluate myself in the last week of my preparation. I found the Quant section of Manhattan GMAT really lengthy and calculation based. The GMAT Quant on the other hand involved less calculations and more insights.
I did not have excellent scores in my practice tests, yet managed to score well on the test itself. This tells me two things: One that I was lucky on the day of the test and two that the more questions you solve from official sources (especially in Verbal), the more you start to recognize the right answers or at the very least eliminate the wrong ones.
