720(Q49 V39)- Finally done with it!!

[Kake]

My journey through the GMAT preparation has been very intriguing. It took me 2 months to prepare for the exam.

Before starting my preparation, I had to assess my abilities in the Quant and Verbal sections. So I took a practice test and scored only 500 on it. I was very disappointed with myself.

The next day I bought some good GMAT books to help me through my preparation. I took 1 practice test on every weekend and my score gradually increased from 500 to 670. However, just before the examination day I took another test and score 610 in it. I was tensed and exhausted. Yet, I convinced myself that I had done my best for the exam.

On the test day I was quite nervous and reached the test center an hour earlier. I managed to remain calm and went head on, question after question, in every section. Everything was going fine till I ran out of time in the verbal section(I missed out my last question). I had read in the OG that missing out on any question would result in large penalties, so I was actually considering the option of canceling my scores but then I decided to have them reported.

As soon as my scores appeared I was absolutely amazed. The screen displayed:

Quantitative : 49 (88%)
Verbal : 39 (87%)
Total : 720(95%)
I was overjoyed and could not wait to get out of the test center.

'Beat the Gmat' forum in an excellent place from where I have received tremendous help during the past one month. So I would like to thank everyone here for being so helpful and would also like to wish luck to all the future GMAT test takers here.

BEST OF LUCK FOR YOUR JOURNEY AHEAD

[vibhorsinghal]

congrats buddy....gr8 achievement!!! all the best 4 further process

[rameshthammanna]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

[redmark]

That is so awesome man!! congrats. Can you give us a little more detail about your preparation?

[Kake]

The books I referred to were:
1) Kaplan 800
2) Kaplan Verbal book
3) Official Guide 11th Edition
4) Arco's Super Course

The test softwares I used were :
1) Kaplan Test - I took all 4 tests
2) Gmatprep software - 4 tests(took each practice test twice)

Time spent:
I spent approximately 4hr studying everyday( 30 mins on maths and rest on verbal).

Some important points to remember:
1)Even the OG gives you a false idea of the level of toughness on the Quantitative section. I am an engineer in an Indian University, not Hindi but Maths is my first language. After solving questions from OG and Kaplan 800 I was so confident about Quant that I didn't bother studying hard for it. On the test day I found the actual questions a lot tougher, so even if you are good at maths please do spend some time revising your concepts

2)I feel that that the best way to improve CR is by attempting the 'analysis of any argument' questions. Try to point out at least 3 or 4 flaws in the authors argument. This technique helped me, I hope it helps you too.

[rangerguy2000]

very encouraging to read ur post buddy ... good luck

[Kake]

oops....dint realize how bad my post sounded till I read it again. Sorry, I'll rephrase what I wanted to say. All I'm saying is that if you are expecting above 97 percentile in Quant, you will have to work accordingly. I was overconfident so I could not. I'm just advising you not to make the same mistake. Please disregard everything else I said. If I have caused you all any inconvenience or discouraged you in any way, I apologize.

[aj5105]

Congratulatons Kake.