I just Beat The GMAT!

Today I gave the GMAT and scored a 730 (Q-50, V-38). I started off with an MGMAT prep course (two months). MGMAT is really good for Quant. Verbal, I am not too sure, it could be me. I was not too confident about CR so, I purchased Powerscore CR bible. I think, that book is really good. Anyways here are my mock test scores:

MGMAT 1 - 590 (No preparation)
MGMAT 2- 520 (Halfway through the course - my brain was confused with all the new formulas and S.C. rules)
Kaplan CD test - 590
MGMAT 3 - 670
MGMAT 4 - 670
MGMAT 5 - 670
KAPLAN online test - 730 (the online Kaplan tests are not as horrific as the CD tests)
MGMAT 6 - 680
GMATPrep 1 730 (Q49/V41) 9 mistakes in verbal
GMATPrep 2 730 (Q50/V39) 7 mistakes in verbal - Do you get the irony - fewer mistakes lower score - how come - More mistakes in the first 10 questions.
Saw some repeats in the following exams:
GMATPrep 1 780 (Q50/V49) - only one mistake in verbal - really gave me some confidence
GMATPrep 2 750 (Q50/V41)
GMATPrep 1 770 (Q50/V47)
GMATPrep 2 760 (Q50/V41)

REAL GMAT 730 - 96th Percentile (Q50 - 93rd Percentile/V38 - 83rd Percentile)

Quant Preparation

Since, I had taken the MGMAT course, I was well versed with all the Quant fundamentals. I also did the GMATclub challenges, all 25. They are just awesome. After giving those 25 tests, I was able to give a Quant section anytime, anywhere and easily get 50, you can see my GMATprep scores. I think those challenges are more than enough for GMAT quant section. They are easier than MGMAT quant section but a little trickier than actual GMAT and hence are the most perfect material for Quant. It is good to start with MGMAT quant so you can respect time. I was unable to answer the last two questions in the first two practice tests as I ran out of time and hence began to pay attention to time. MGMAT Q teaches you to give up on tough question, which is a good thing to learn. Cut your losses. After giving MGMAT, GMAT club challenges appeared easy and actual GMAT and GMATPrep - just too easy. Finally, I did the GMATFocus - the level of questions are on par with the GMAT questions. I got a range for 47-51 in those.

Verbal

As you can see, I did not do very well on Verbal. Throughout my preparation, Verbal was giving my trouble and I ended up with my worst performance in GMATPrep tests. I did MGMAT verbal, Powerscore CR bible and the OG - 10th and 11th edition twice, including the OG handbook for verbal. However, the GMAT verbal was way tougher than the GMATPrep verbal and on par with the MGMAT verbal.
For RC, I think Gin's notes are very good. They explain how to tackle different types of questions and how to face R.C. In six GMATPreptests I had fewer than 4 mistakes (out of nearly 90-100 questions) in R.C. (almost 100%). R.C. was my strong point going in. C.R. was also good but one can be confronted by a twisted C.R. and talk oneself into a wrong answer. S.C. - I was able get on the right side of the split, but sometimes I would have trouble after the split. Verbal just was very dicey and I was never able to get a grip on it. Plus, I did not know which material to trust for verbal. MGMAT appeared too tough and unconvincing, unfortunately real GMAT was like MGMAT, I will explain later.

Actual Exam

My appointment was at 2:00 p.m. in Oakland. I had heard good things about the testing center and it lived upto my expectations. The staff was courteous and friendly and the center was very quiet and comfortable. I did not even use the headphones or ear plugs. I was used to giving the exams in the library with some noise, so the practice helped.

AWA

I did not prepare much for AWA. The topics looked straightforward and easy and I was able to write a lot and give good examples. Hopefully, I get a good score, so that I can compensate for my V.

Quant
The breaks have been reduced to 8 minutes, and I took mine. I came out had a banana, went to the restroom, freshened up, stretched a little and came back to my desk. My first mistake - but not a big one. I arrived late. How could I have done that? I was late by 14 seconds - not much, but I was really furious with myself. These are basic exam giving strategies - thou shall not give any SECOND away. Anyways, in a very angry mood I started Quant, and went really fast. I finished the first ten questions in 10 minutes. Quant was such a breeze. I could not believe this was the GMAT. However, after the 20th question, I started getting some tricky problems. But there was nothing that I could not solve. I gave a confident answer to ever question except for one question. I narrowed down to two choices and then made an educated guess. I was also good at combination, permutation problems and probability. But I did not encounter a single question on those topics. I had five minutes for the last two questions. I took my own sweet time. Finished the last question with two minutes to spare. Sat at my desk and took a break there. With five seconds left I called the proctor and I hurried out for my 2nd break.

I knew I had done well in quant. The only thing that bothered my was that I may have done some silly mistakes in the first ten questions to get such easy problems. Anyways the section was over and I decided to forget about it and trust my preparation.

Verbal
After my time wasting experience in Quant, I decided to be more cautious in Verbal - my nemesis. I followed the same routine albeit at an accelerated pace. I had the banana, went to the restroom, washed my face and came back to my desk. This time I arrived two minutes early and the proctor signed me in. The verbal section started with the instruction screen and it read 59 seconds. I panicked. I called the proctor and told her that I am supposed to get 75 minutes for the section. She told me, she may have to call Pearson and ask tech support. She asked me to click "Next" first. I hit "Next" and the time changed to 75 minutes. I was relieved a bit. The proctor smiled and left. But my troubles had just begun. Right from question no. 1 my head was in a spin. I faced three S.C.s and two C.R.s. I was not confident of a single answer I gave to the first five questions. In the GMATprep test, the right answer just popped out at me. In the real GMAT for the first five questions, I was able to narrow down to two answers, but was just not able to zero in on one. I prayed for R.C. to come and got a decent R.C.. However, same problem, for the tough questions - inference, suggest, main idea - every question had two right answers, and I wished there were check boxes instead of radio buttons. This pattern repeated throughout verbal. This was the worst verbal section I had ever given. And with every passing second my heart sank and I started to lose confidence. I would generally forget about the previous question, but I knew I was bombing the section. I tried to remain calm. I got a couple of big R.C.s with some easy questions. I also encountered some easy S.C.'s, but the moment I would hit "Next" I would be lured to another answer. In short, I was just not confident about my answers. C.R. was just bad throughout. I started bad, never was able to convince myself on any of the answers I gave completely. Maybe fatigue, lack of sleep, had not slept well the previous night or simply put - I did not prepare well for this fight. I was doing horribly on time. With ten minutes left, I had eleven question left. I decided to forget about the result and just focus on the questions at hand, spend a minute and answer them to the best of my abilities. Luckily I got some easy questions here, and an easy R.C., but was never confident.I had 20 seconds left as I reached my last question. I selected an answer as I knew GMAT accepts your last answer even if you don't confirm and then I started reading the question. Again, same problem was stuck between two answers and before I could think further, time was up and my answer was taken.

I filled the BG questionnaire. I just think this is the wrong time to present such questions. I hardly read the questions and hit the next button to the default answers. Finally reached the dreaded screen. Do you want to see your score? I did not hesitate at all and clicked Report Scores, not knowing what to expect. I knew I had bombed the verbal section, but I had not done as bad as I had expected. My total score:

Q- 50 - 93rd percentile
V - 38 - 83rd percentile
Total - 730 - 96th percentile

Verbal on the lower side, but way better than what I was expecting after I had given the section.

Looking back, I just don't know what I could have done better. Maybe sleeping better. But I distinctly remember 70-80 % of the questions, all of them appeared to have more than two answers. In the O.G. and GMATprep there were few questions like those, not all of them. From other debriefs that I had read, everyone mentioned to only study from O.G. and GMATPrep as verbal in non standard sources was not very good. I was infact planning to bash MGMAT today in my debrief by stating that their verbal section in their CAT sucks and that they just confuse students by presenting two answers that are too close to each other. But that is exactly what I saw on the exam, so I suck, not MGMAT. MGMAT verbal was the closest thing to the real GMAT today and I wish I had practiced more on that. But I asked some other folks and they said they found GMAT verbal comparable to GMATPrep verbal and scored well on GMAT. One thing I had noticed official questions, GMATPrep questions was that they have this quality, where the answer does not appear ambiguous and if you read well and understood, the answer just pops out - for 95% of the questions. Not for me in the real exam - don't know why? Was it fatigue?
Anyways it is over. I don't want to sound like a whiner or someone cribbing needlessly. I am sure your are telling "Thank your stars, you got better than what you were expecting". Infact, I think, this may be fine. I have the 80/80 split, but I would have loved a more even balance like my first GMATPrep. I am fine with 730, but would have been happier, if I had gotten V41 and Q49. I wanted to break the 40 barrier for verbal. My only question is whether V38(83rd percentile) will turn out to be hindrance in my GMAT score during the applications? I am cool with the other numbers. I am targeting all the top schools other than HBS/ Stanford and Wharton. Folks please comment.

Congrats Kunal. You rock!!!
I too had an uneven split, 50/35 and this can be easlily attributed to my foolishness at wrong time, wrong place. I overshot the recess time between quant and verbal by almost more than a minute .
Anyways, did the proctor told you that break time has been reduced or you knew it beforehand?

I knew it before hand, plus I saw it on the screen, so my bad. But that did not affect me in Quant at all. So, I am not too worried about it. Which schools are you applying?

Nice! Congratulations!

Regarding RC, what are "Gin's Notes"? You wrote

"For RC, I think Gin's notes are very good"

What programs are you interested in? All the best man!

You can get gin's notes by doing a search on the BTG forum. But I have attached it with this post . These notes are outstanding and reveal good strategies to tackle R.C. I hope they are useful to you.

Thnx

You post exactly how I feel when I take a practice test

Quant, extremely easy........Verbal - WTF 2 answers?

Got my official report and a 5.5 on AWA. Hopefully that helps explain that I am not too bad at verbal skills.