I gave my GMAT on 19th October and surprised myself with my score (710).
And because the easiest thing in life is to see things in perspective after the good (or bad) has happened already, I will try to share what I did correct (and wrong) so that at least some of you are able to avoid the pitfalls.
I started to study for my GMAT in June 2012 and joined a coaching center as I was not sure if I will be able to keep up with my own structured and disciplined approach along with my work. This helped me get acquainted with all the test topics and its basics. The classes were done by the end of July but I was still around the 630 mark - not even close to where I needed to be for my target schools.
17June GMAT Prep1 610 (Q38V35)
10July GMAT Prep2 630 (Q44V31)
24July Paper based noCAT(Q43 V38)
August and September:
So I decided to give myself more time and solve more questions on my problem area. It was very difficult and there were 2 stretches of 3 days in between when I was not able to touch the courses although my target was modest 2 hour study on weekdays and 4-5 during the weekends.
I did, however, solve all the questions from the handouts I was given class I had attended. But it was very leisurely paced. I did complete the Kaplan 800 book in this time (2008 edition- 50 Qs for each topic)
1 Sep Kaplan test1 580 (Q46V27)
15Sep kaplan test2 580 (Q40V29)
September 26th onwards:
It was already September and I was not going anywhere with my preparation when after a major restructuring in office, I was given a new responsibility - a global role - that was sure to eat up all my time and more very quickly. So I decided that I will do justice to the hours I had spent on studying for GMAT (note that I did not use "preparation" here). It was 26th September that day and I looked for the next available GMAT test dates - 6th Oct (too close, hence rejected) and the next one after that, 19th Oct (chosen as there were no available test dates till next 30 days).
Test date now chosen, I sat and reflected on where I stood and what I needed to do to maximize the score. I was not able to take any leaves since June till September and it was clear that because of the restructuring and new projects i was thrown in mid-way meant there was no chance for them anymore. So the decision made was:
1. Start the OG book from GMAC ! - (they are the original GMAT questions + that is what is the scope for your ability and approach for a huge majority of questions)
2. Plan the days for each topic : and leave the days to review all mistakes and do them again.
3. Give a test every Saturday and Sunday (Saturday: to gauge the progress from that week; Sunday: to review the Saturday test and improve those on a new test)
4. Trust that what will be done will be best I could (for now!)
Tests score progression:
Date Test Score Lessons
30Sep 800score 700 (Q47V38): To access where I was - Kaplan was too difficult / deflating
6 Oct 800score 680 (Q47V37): DS and everything in Verbal was a problem area (practice)
7 Oct GMATprep1 660 (Q46V35): Gauge my prgress - problem areas same but more Qs correct
13Oct Kaplan 560 (Q37V30): My progress vis-a-vis earlier Kaplan (its deflating - justified)
14Oct GMAtprep2 690 (Q49V35): DS - inequality; SC,CR was much better; suck in RC
18Oct GMATprep1 700 (Q50V34): repeated Qs that i got incorrect earlier were correct, Verbal had more corrects that before
GMAT -1 day
Problem: Was 700 because I gave the same test again??
I concentrated on the positive that my speed was good and I did some questions correctly that I always wronged every other time. Even more important was I got my strategy right - to not look at the clock for first 10 Qs and solve the calmly and assuredly.
Plus, I was relaxed during the test.
Solved the incorrect questions and then took up the OG again to solve all questions that I had circled earlier(mistakes).
Went through the GMAT flash cards downloaded from BTG (thanks!) - this was the 3rd time I went through them in past 3 weeks.
AWA: I used to write complete essay for all my tests, so I was in touch. Used the same format as mentioned in the 6 point essay in OG.
IR: I am not too bad in statistics and graphs and did the section in all my tests (mixed results though).
Test day:
The test was scheduled at 1pm. I woke up at 5am after a good 6.5 hours of sleep. Solved 15 Qs each for PS,DS,SC,RC and CR from OG (mostly from the end of each section). I was reading the passage and questions slowly and unhurried to calm my nerves and not worrying about time.
Reached the venue at 11:30am. I was too early so had to sit outside and I decided to skip through the flash cards and made mental note to
1. Solve first 20 Qs slowly and with best of my ability but not waste to much time
2. calm down in my Verbal section,
3. read the RC passage with punctuation and read the SC and CR with answer before confirming
4. take all the breaks
During the test:
1. The breaks were of 8 mins!
2. selected the colleges, filled the form, completed the AWA with 2 min remaining and corrected some missing alphabets here and there and read all the main points.
3. IR was fine: not too different in difficulty from OG.
---took the break, went to washroom, drank water and stood outside the exam hall for 1 min relaxing - was back in 4:38 secs!
4. Quant was easier than I had imagine, (or did I make too many mistake and now my base was lower)
--- took the break, went to the washroom, drank some Gatorade that I carried, some water and calmed my nerves, just stood outside the hall, removing all Quant thoughts and looked at the closed window - was back in 5:30 mins
5. Verbal: tried to remain calm and not rush through and NOT THINK about previous question no matter how deflating it was for me for not being sure of the answer.
6. finished the test and rushed through the screens, I was hoping for anything above 680 and when the screen showed 710, i went blank, the whole exam center ceased to exist for 10 sec and I just looked at the screen.
I was in heaven!
Retrospective:
1. I would keep a goal for each week in terms of different sections and give a test every weekend - recommend the same.
2. The best thing to do was not to spread myself too thin and learn from the solutions in the OG and practice them.
3. I guess too many cooks (or books here) is only fine if you target way above 730. i found that none of the GMAT questions stumped me so bad that I was inadequate.
4. Take a date and chart out a backward plan (with some flexibility) and stick to it broadly. Turn to other sources only after mastering one.
