I just Beat The GMAT!

Background: I have a Bachelor's & Master's in Mechanical Engineering, so went into preparation with a stronger Quant background. I took two practice exams through Official GMAT and scored 720 but in vastly different ways: (Q47, V41) and (Q50, V38). Due to my inconsistent scores in the sections, I decided to enroll in a practice course for a month - all the MBA YouTubers I watched recommended TTP so I gave it a shot.

My Experience with TTP: I think the number one thing that everyone can benefit from this course is the in-depth explanations they provide you both conceptually and with example problems. If you dedicate the time to keep going through the practice sets and review your mistakes, the concepts will become second nature to you come test day. In fact, when I took the exam, I almost couldn’t believe how similar the questions were to the practice problems I had been doing. Since I took the time to rigorously go through the problem sets, I felt confident on my answers for every question. You can truly "gamify" the exam as there’s only a limited amount of possible topics tested in each question, allowing you to prepare yourself for Quant, Verbal, Integrated Reasoning, and the Essay.

Quant/Verbal: A general rule of thumb is to be aiming for a 90. What exactly does that mean? Well between your Quant & Verbal scores, if the sum adds up to over a 90, you will score very well on this exam. So if your Quant scores are already close to 50 or 51, your Verbal scores only need to be above a 40 to achieve a score over 700. Focus on your weak points and plan accordingly depending on the amount of time you have till your exam. Never underestimate the amount of help doing timed practice problems will benefit you. Every question on the exam does matter, and could be the difference between achieving your target results or not. If you have a strong Quant background, spend more time focusing on Verbal sections and vise-versa. Doing MORE problems has never hurt anyone so the more time you dedicate the better.

Essay/IR: Spend a day or two understanding both the Integrated Reasoning and Essay sections. You don’t need to stress yourself out too much over these sub-scores, and if you understand how they are graded, you can easily achieve high scores in both sections. For the Essay, clearly follow the typical 5 paragraph method (Intro, 3 Main Points, Conclusion). Vary your word choice and you will get at minimum a 5 in this section but a 6 is extremely achievable for everyone. If your Quant background is strong, you will do just fine on IR - no need to stress on it.

Overall: Unless you are magically scoring high 700s, there is always room to improve. In my personal opinion, use the resources TTP offers to give you an unbelievable amount of practice problems with solutions. It will help you consistently get answers right and understand your weaknesses. Good luck to anyone taking the exam soon and feel free to reach out if you have any questions!