Just wanted to say a huge thank you to all the members here! Also wanted to share things that worked for me in the hope that it's useful for someone else out there too!
So here goes! (I started my prep around 30th May)
1) Identify your *specific* pain points early on - For example, I realized that CR was the biggest pain point for me in Verbal while number properties and inequalities were the areas I needed to focus on more in Quant. Zeroing in on these topics early on helped me in my subsequent preparation.
2) Get your fundamentals clear - It's not ok to solve sums for 2 hours, take a break, solve some more sums for 2 hours and make the same mistakes that you made the first time. This is perhaps an obvious point but cannot be repeated enough!
3) Figure out what strategy works for YOU - There's a lot of conflicting information on the net on whether to spend more time on the initial few questions thereby ensuring their accuracy. For me, this suggestion actually helped! Each of the times I increased my pace because I had already taken ~45-50 mins for the first 20 questions (as opposed to <=40 mins), my score suffered. It took me 6-7 CATs to figure this out. I think this sweet spot of accuracy vs speed varies from individual to individual and it's worth spending time and effort to figure out what works best for you.
4) Prep Material - In my opinion (and this is JUST MY OPINION!!
) the MGMAT material is outstanding, especially their explanations. I studied their Sentence Correction and Number Property Guides and both really helped me in clarifying my fundaes. For CR though, I used the PowerScore Bible since it had received overwhelming reviews. My last minute preparation involved going through all the MGMAT flashcards which are available for free on MGMAT's site. The range of topics covered by these flashcards is pretty comprehensive and definitely helped in a last minute revision of my basics. Thanks to Abhay (albatross86) for pointing these out in his own success story post!!5) SC Specific Stuff - I think this is another one of those obvious points that I want to share in case there's anyone else out there who like me is not pay attention to this! Figuring out what's wrong with the original sentence REALLY increases both your speed and accuracy on the SC questions. While it might be tempting to look at the answer choices without first figuring out the mistakes in the original sentence, it helps if you make an effort to understand the specifics of what's wrong! Or that's what happened with me at least once I realized this already well-know fact.
Last but not the least, BEAT THE GMAT FORUM!!! It helped not only to ask questions I was doubtful about but also to answer doubts/questions other members had. Stealing in 10 minutes here and there between work and other stuff ensured that I didn't lose my focus! Plus, responses from certain members really helped me see how to approach certain questions.
So that pretty much sums it I think! In case anyone has any questions they think I might be able to help them with, feel free to ask! I'll do my best to answer!
