I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi Guys,

Thought I'd share my two pennies worth of advice here! I was extremely dejected after working hard towards my first attempt and scoring a 650 (target was 700+). Here's the link to my post after my unsuccessful attempt : https://www.beatthegmat.com/big-dip-in-g ... tml#496384

I went for a second attempt yesterday and got a 740 (Q49, V42); first attempt was in August

Following were key changes to my gameplan:

Verbal:
- Studied the passages really well and understood the flow of events very clearly : some experts suggest skim-reading and subsequently digging into the passage for the answer after reading the questions. This did not work for me. I still had to dig in sometimes, but only to confirm my answers
- Sentence correction questions can sometimes be tricky. I used to select an answer choice as soon as I detected the applicability of a rule. In my second attempt, I did look out for rules, but verified my final selection for meaning as well - I believe this really helped
- Critical reasoning : I found CR tough on the real test. The GMAT prep and MGMAT questions were relatively simple - I really don't know what can be done about CR. I did go through CR Bible that many recommend on this forum, but I would say that book is good only for below 700 level questions. It does however give you a solid methodology to work off

Quants:
- I practised from gmatclub tests, MGMAT questions and the GMAT Prep software. I also bought the additional GMAT Prep questions that you get online for $25.
- I tend to jump into questions very quickly. Whilst speed is obviously important, it helps to pause and plan an approach before diving in. On hindsight, even on my second attempt, I rushed into a few questions that I would have got correct had I planned my response - cannot however complain with a 3 point improvement

And yes, I got a good night's sleep this time round and that really helped - Thanks to the motivating comments and advice from joeItaly on my previous post
https://www.beatthegmat.com/member/152464/profile

Any questions, please ask

hey congrats:)
d u think one shud take this additional GMAT Prep questions that you get online?is it helpful?
did u encounter same pattern of question in GMAT exam?

Hi,

I found the additional questions very helpful - they are real retired GMAT questions and hence are probably closer to the real thing than other resources. As for the pattern, I really do not know as its difficult to tie back the logic of questions to any source - especially given that I have been studying from multiple sources.

All I can say is they gave me more relevant practice. I had run out of questions having done all of MGMAT and GMAT Prep free questions, so these definitely helped with additional rigour

thaks for ur prompt response.....if u have the softcopy then can u share that with me.

What were the percentiles for 49Q and 42V?

Hi

Interesting post.Im scheduled to take the GMAT in a month.Could you tell me wether you practiced math topic by topic or did a series of Quant tests ??

Thanks!!

Hi,

Percentiles were Math 83 and Verbal 96 and overall 97

As for Math, yes I do recommend doing questions topic by topic, If you have time, the best way to do this is study the MGMAT books and then work through the categorised OG questions at the back. You may want to thoroughly read the chapters you are weak on for a second time before attempting the questions. In my first attempt, I was pretty confident I knew the content. When I went back to doing it properly the next time, I was surprised by how much I didn't know. There was on an average 1 question per chapter that I was getting wrong (I am referring to the practice questions after each chapter here)

Once you are done with topics, you can start the drills. You may want to do some drills once in a while before completing all the chapters. They do help to consolidate/cement your learning a bit

Thanks for the tip.

Did you practice Math (Topics + Drills) along with Verbal or dealt with one at a time ???

I kept practising verbal alongside Math. Pretty much throughout my prep,I spent 3/4 time for Math and 1/4 for Verbal, although I cannot say with conviction that ratio is suitable to everyone!