I just Beat The GMAT!

Just returned from the exam center and I still find it difficult to believe I got 740 (97% percentile). I got 87% percentile in Math and 92% percentile in Verbal, so it was a fairly balanced score, though I wish now I'd got more. But no complaints - I started preparing exactly 2 months and 12 days back (15th Jan it was). No preparation prior to that.
Here's what my strategy was:

1. Practice. I am a working professional and cannot afford a lot of leaves. Still, I took a week off early this month to improve my level of preparation. 2 hours in the morning (6 to 8 AM) and 2-3 hours in the evening. Take your full tests preferably in the mornings and get a good night's rest before you take your full practice test.
2. Good course material: Official Guides 10, 11 and 12 (got from some friends): Tons of material for practice, Full practice tests of Kaplan, Princeton Review, GMAT prep.
3. Periodic visits to forums such as Beat the GMAT. This is a good forum because it connects you to the GMAT world, esp. serious takers.
4. Do NOT neglect your AWA. AWA essays may be the most neglected aspects of your preparation, but remember - they are the first thing you face in GMAT. And if you are not satisfied with them, it does psychologically impact you for the rest of the exam. Therefore, whenever you do your full test, do write your essays and not skip them.

The best part is - except for the official GMAT preptests, I NEVER scored more that 620 EVER. And I peaked during the main test. Don't know how it happened. I just had decided that I am not going to prepare ever again. I think that did it for me. The fact that if you feel every day during your preparation that you are not going to write the exam again and wreck your daily regimen, it can help. It makes you focus a little more. And it is good for a lot of people to not score very high in your drill before the main test. It keeps you from getting complacent and overconfident. HOWEVER, do NOT feel psyched at any cost. This may sound contradicting but its simple. You may decide to write an exam once and give it a good shot, but need not panic. Life doesn't end with a GMAT score. There are many other opportunities in life. But, practice enough.

Anyways, I feel quite relieved for a job well done. The road's still long though - there's the essays, sending transcripts, getting recommendations, preparing for interviews, the works. But at least, the exam's over.[/u]

hey pallav congrats for the awesome score ,

pls post the complete version

Congrats on your fantastic score!!

I have a question regarding your "study plan." When you say you studied 6-8am in the mornings and 2-3 hours at night, I would assume that was during the weekday? How many hours on the weekend did you study for? The same?

Cheers,
Andrew

Congrats Man

Superb story! Congratulations! Best of luck!

Thanks Andrew, yes the hours I mentioned were during weekdays. During weekends I ensured I took one full test, some section tests - about 4 to 5 hours of study in all, and a lot of rest. Since all my practice was on the computer, and I am an IT professional, I used to feel very groggy at times (with 14-16 hours of sitting infront of the computer, it could get too much). The last week of my exams, I just one full test - since I had exhausted most of my full practice tests, I used to "compose" my own full tests - using the Official Guides. These were not very effective but I could cover all the practice questions in the OG. The Official Guides are absolutely essential from practice point of view.

And yes, eat light too. I had added a lot of low-fat milk and fruits to my diet. I had to skip all my gymming the last two months, because of my studies in the mornings and the evenings - which made cutting down on fatty food all the more necessary.

My Kaplan scores during my preparation:

Test 1: 590
Test 2: 620
Test 3: 570
Test 4: 610
Test 5: 610

(These scores had killed me, until I saw somewhere in these forums that Kaplan scores are not indicative of the real scores. This brought back a lot of confidence in me).

I was somewhat good in math, but still I bought a Princeton Review book on math fundamentals (with all the formulas, short-cuts, tips and tricks). Helped. Still, the bane of my life remained (and still does) Permutation and Combination and Probability. But don't be too scared. The kind of questions you get in the real GMAT are usually simple ones that can be cracked with brute force techniques.

It was my Verbal area that needed a lot of work. My reading comprehension area sucks big time. Therefore I ensured I paced my sentence correction questions well. This helped me give more time in the practice tests to Reading comprehension passages and critical reasoning questions.

Anyways, to each his own technique. These things worked for me. My message however is, never lose heart and just keep practicing. You won't even realize how good you would have become in certain areas just through practice.

My GMAT testprep scores were (the testpreps are freely downloadable from the www.mba.com site and quite easy tests):

Test1: 710
Test 2: 720

Final GMAT score 740 (Q:49, V:41)

Congratz Pallav