Hello People!

Hope all of you are enjoying your prep for GMAT!
Well it has been quite some time since I took my GMAT, however I was busy with my college exams, so finally here I am WITH MY DE-BRIEF! (Well I waited long enough to use those words so all caps )

So I'll start with a little bit about my journey, then talk about the resources I have used and the ones I recommend and of course to that I will add my mock test scores.

GMAT Score: 730 Q: 51 V: 36 AWA: 6

My Journey

I started a long time back. The first time I took the GMAT, it was more for the feel of the GMAT (Yes I have taken the GMAT thrice!). Did not really know what to do..what not to do..how to go about..so what I would do is Google or look on the forums for the books recommended and blindly follow whatever I came across. No plan! And I kept thinking how did it matter. I am solving after all. The more I solve the better it is after all right? For me More solving= More score

Tip 1: Have a plan
Tip 2: More solving != More Marks
Then what is the solution if you ask me,
According to me the best solution is solve as much as you can and analyze your mistakes thoroughly. Why is the answer what it is! Very very important!

Well I took my exam, got a 650! Man! I felt horrible.
Even though I did not care that much I felt horrible. Added to it was the feeling that I have always managed to do well with exams, how did I miss out on this. Horrible feeling.

So well what option did I have, simple take it again!

So well I prepared this time with a plan! worked my ass off! Analyzed all my mistakes! And guess what followed..( I hope you remember I took the GMAT thrice! so yes I did not do well even after following all the tips )

So during my test..my test is going super awesome. And then tragedy strikes! During my verbal session. I had this incredibly bad urge of using the washroom ( Hope people dont mind this..but well this is the story) and after that I kept thinking for around 10-15 minutes what to do, well in that time I was attempting questions but I kinda was so caught up with whether to use the washroom in the middle of the exams I screwed my Verbal section

And my score: 660!
Ah! I felt like what the hell!
Tip 3: Eat properly!
Tip 4: Drink wisely! But use the washroom extremely well!

Well! Now finally the third attempt!
If you ask me why?why three times?
There is only one answer I HAD TO! I knew I could do it!
So well since I knew I could, I wanted the score as proof simple!

So third attempt. Test center changed. Went. Took the exam. Around 5 in the evening. And wohoo! it was 730!
And there was a part of me that screamed inside! And believe me that was the best thing that could have happened.

So well that is my story! Why did I write it? Well! during my two attempts I would always log on to the gmat forums looking for inspiration.
Hoping this would inspire someone.

Next stop. Resources

I pretty much used a lot of books. But the books I would recommend are:
CR Bible

Manhattan Sentence Correction
(If you are really bad with sentence correction go for the e-gmat course! A wonderful course)

As for RC- Just solve to get adjusted. I used to follow a rule of solving 3 RC everyday (Yes! I did not follow it strictly so sometimes it is okay )

Otherwise, The Official Guide is pretty much a must
Official Guide for verbal
Princeton 1037 gives a nice set of question
Kaplan 800 is also nice

Princeton Review Cracking the GMAT and Kaplan Premier are very basic. Unless, you really have no idea about anything you can always skip these books.

As for Math wont be able to recommend much because I was pretty comfortable with it so did not practice much.

Tip 5: Remember, analyzing the mistakes is the key!

Finally, my mock test scores. I took loads of mock tests!
Don't get disheartened with your mock test scores. It is okay! Really! Remember I took it thrice
Again why giving my scores. I would always want to compare my scores to others to know where I stand

Scores

GMAT PREP: 720, 730
Good: Well! They are the official ones! The closest you can get!
Bad: You cannot get any explanation for the answers. Dont worry forums help a lot

Princeton: 660, 710
Good: You get a review on your essays
Bad: Sometimes, the results can be quite unpredictable. You might be surprised

Manhattan: 680, 720, 650, 730, 770, 680
Good: The Math is really tough and the Verbal good enough. They give you a very good practice set of questions
Bad: Well you tend to get dejected with the scores

Kaplan: 750, 740, 730, 740, 750
Good: They are good. Good explanation. One of the best ones out there.
Bad: They give percentages so it is kinda difficult to understand compared to your normal verbal and quant scores, and they can sometimes tend to give you a better score.

I took the 800score tests. Did not really like them. Would not really recommend unless of course you are done with all the tests

Tip 6: Please practice tests completely! With AWA and IR! Very important to get a real estimate.

Tip 7: Enjoy the process! You can do it! If I could do it along with my engineering studies so can you. The smile when you see the score will be worth all.

I thought this would really help. Apart from this if there is something I can provide to any of you'll, let me know. Will try my best

Enjoy enjoy