Am a huge proponent of mentorship and advocacy so I wanted to share my results, get a little more involved here, and give some guidance where I can. English is my first and only language, if that helps frame anything out.
TL;DR - 5.5 months of prep using TTP, OG, GMATclub questions, and a bunch of mock exams.
Baseline:
Took GMAC Mock 1 on 1/3, scored a 560 (Q40, V27). I knew I was going to subscribe with Target Test Prep but didn't wholly understand what that looked like. I'm a CFA so I was accustomed to studying for dozens of hours per week for multiple months on end, but was hoping the GMAT would've been a quicker achievement. I was wrong!
Test prep:
I followed TTP's (740+ / Expert+) curriculum exactly as it was given. I achieved the target scores on most all quant sections. Absolutely missed the mark on target scores on Verbal sections through SC. I wove in GMATNinja YouTube series for SC, CR, and RC. SC went through the roof and became my strongest section among Verbal. RC and CR were still a struggle. Once I was through all of the material (4/30) I hit the ground running on mock exams on weekend and intense review throughout the week.
Mock exams:
My mock scores are below. I will admit that the significant gains in Verbal are a huge testament to Marty target Test Prep. He was helpful and shared a lot of links, videos, and other resources to help me understand how to break through the V34 plateau. The best thing that happened for me was a YT video that Marty shared about thinking sophisticatedly through the Verbal section. For a while I was going into it just thinking "it's the SAT of grad school, I did find on the SAT, I should do fine on the GMAT." An opportunity to identify the assumption, for those of you who can't turn it off. I shifted my mindset to think critically about what's actually being tested. Sure, it's my ability to comprehend a reading or my ability to reason critically... but at the end of the day, question writers are seeing if I can draw conclusions efficiently. I started eliminating wrong answers because I could pinpoint where in the prompt it said the opposite/wasn't mentioned (RC) or that a different question would answer that statement (CR). I was able to quickly whittle down the 5 answer choices to the best 2 and go from there.
Mock 2 - 650; Q46, V34
Mock 3 - 680; Q49, V34
Mock 4 - 640; Q50, V27
Mock 5 - 710; Q50, V37
Mock 6 - 710; Q49, V36
Mock 7 (Mock 1 again) - 720; Q47, V41
Actual exam:
I took my exam remotely from my home office (a desk in my guest room...). I felt comfortable, proctor was patient with me for my first exam. I did my entire 360 degree room view, showed under my desk etc. and clicked through the prompts to kick off my exam. Immediately after hitting begin, the proctor asks me to close my window. I am panicking - I ask if she can pause the exam, she says she will pause it on her end. The timer ticks down and I'm moving to close my window. I sit back at my desk and she asks me to do another 360 degree room view and show under my desk (I guess since I moved off frame it is protocol to do this again). I am begging her to pause the exam. Only 60 seconds have elapsed by now but in all of my mocks I've wound it down to the last 30 seconds. I'm pleading with her to pause it while I show my room and my desk. Not the best way to start my exam... nonetheless I began with less than 60 minutes on quant.
Rest of the exam went smoothly.
Looking back, I would've heeded the advice of others and TTP professionals to take my time on Verbal until I feel good about it. I kind of burned through Verbal practice because I wanted to get everything under my belt and then revisit on a need to do basis... turned out that all of Verbal required revisiting which wasn't the most efficient means of studying.
TL;DR - 5.5 months of prep using TTP, OG, GMATclub questions, and a bunch of mock exams.
Baseline:
Took GMAC Mock 1 on 1/3, scored a 560 (Q40, V27). I knew I was going to subscribe with Target Test Prep but didn't wholly understand what that looked like. I'm a CFA so I was accustomed to studying for dozens of hours per week for multiple months on end, but was hoping the GMAT would've been a quicker achievement. I was wrong!
Test prep:
I followed TTP's (740+ / Expert+) curriculum exactly as it was given. I achieved the target scores on most all quant sections. Absolutely missed the mark on target scores on Verbal sections through SC. I wove in GMATNinja YouTube series for SC, CR, and RC. SC went through the roof and became my strongest section among Verbal. RC and CR were still a struggle. Once I was through all of the material (4/30) I hit the ground running on mock exams on weekend and intense review throughout the week.
Mock exams:
My mock scores are below. I will admit that the significant gains in Verbal are a huge testament to Marty target Test Prep. He was helpful and shared a lot of links, videos, and other resources to help me understand how to break through the V34 plateau. The best thing that happened for me was a YT video that Marty shared about thinking sophisticatedly through the Verbal section. For a while I was going into it just thinking "it's the SAT of grad school, I did find on the SAT, I should do fine on the GMAT." An opportunity to identify the assumption, for those of you who can't turn it off. I shifted my mindset to think critically about what's actually being tested. Sure, it's my ability to comprehend a reading or my ability to reason critically... but at the end of the day, question writers are seeing if I can draw conclusions efficiently. I started eliminating wrong answers because I could pinpoint where in the prompt it said the opposite/wasn't mentioned (RC) or that a different question would answer that statement (CR). I was able to quickly whittle down the 5 answer choices to the best 2 and go from there.
Mock 2 - 650; Q46, V34
Mock 3 - 680; Q49, V34
Mock 4 - 640; Q50, V27
Mock 5 - 710; Q50, V37
Mock 6 - 710; Q49, V36
Mock 7 (Mock 1 again) - 720; Q47, V41
Actual exam:
I took my exam remotely from my home office (a desk in my guest room...). I felt comfortable, proctor was patient with me for my first exam. I did my entire 360 degree room view, showed under my desk etc. and clicked through the prompts to kick off my exam. Immediately after hitting begin, the proctor asks me to close my window. I am panicking - I ask if she can pause the exam, she says she will pause it on her end. The timer ticks down and I'm moving to close my window. I sit back at my desk and she asks me to do another 360 degree room view and show under my desk (I guess since I moved off frame it is protocol to do this again). I am begging her to pause the exam. Only 60 seconds have elapsed by now but in all of my mocks I've wound it down to the last 30 seconds. I'm pleading with her to pause it while I show my room and my desk. Not the best way to start my exam... nonetheless I began with less than 60 minutes on quant.
Rest of the exam went smoothly.
Looking back, I would've heeded the advice of others and TTP professionals to take my time on Verbal until I feel good about it. I kind of burned through Verbal practice because I wanted to get everything under my belt and then revisit on a need to do basis... turned out that all of Verbal required revisiting which wasn't the most efficient means of studying.
