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girlinblack
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I have read through multiple posts on BTG with very useful advice on which books to read, how to plan the GMAT Prep, how to prepare for the test day etc. Instead of going through a detailed account of my journey, I will focus on the materials I referred, what I felt about those different study materials, what I did differently in my two GMATs and how that difference helped me score a 710 the second time.
Quant prep
How much ever books I read for quant, I always felt no one book prepared me completely for GMAT Quant:
- Kaplan : Quant questions seem too simple and different from what you see in a real GMAT. Can be used to practice in the initial days of GMAT prep just to get your brain warmed up.
- MGMAT : MGMAT Strategy guides are very good to understand the concepts. I could clearly see a jump from 40 to 47 in my practice test scores. Quant in MGMAT Practice tests are again good as a stress test. They will train you well to speed up your calculations and think of solutions fast. But do remember the real GMAT Quant is not that computation intensive as you see in MGMAT. Also the real GMAT is much more tricky than MGMAT Quant.
- GMAT Sets, compilation of difficult problems and all other un-official docs that you find over the internet : Believe me, I could not benefit much from them. It is very tempting to solve those difficult problems thinking it'll increase your score but they are too out of the way from real GMAT. Better not to waste much time on those until and unless you are out of material to study.
- OG : Very good resource to start with but real GMAT is much difficult than OG.
- GMAT Prep Questions : None of the quant materials matched the GMAT Prep questions. I practiced thoroughly from a compilation of all GMAT Prep Quant questions and this was the best resource I could find. What you see in the real GMAT is on the same lines as these. As you solve these questions, you'll realize how a question looks so simple on face but has a hidden trick which is so easy to miss if you are not used to solving questions like these.
My Quant score was 48 both in my first attempt & second attempt. Both the times, I focused on practicing from GMAT Prep more than any other resource. I took GMAT Prep multiple times and used it not just to check my score level but as a study material.
In addition, I made detailed notes of my silly mistakes and before every practice test reminded myself of those mistakes.
Verbal Prep
Verbal was the real problem area for me as I am not a native English speaker. For Verbal I again referred multiple books.
- Kaplan : Kaplan is just opposite of what a real GMAT is. In Kaplan, I found CR and RC too tough and SC simple. Where as in real GMAT, RC doesn't scare you as much as it is dreaded. RC is manageable as long as you can manage your time well. CR in real GMAT is also not as cryptic as Kaplan. As a non-native English speaker, SC is tough to crack in real GMAT.
- MGMAT : MGMAT materials also seemed too simple for verbal and I could not derive much value from them. However MGMAT SC Guide is a very good resource to prepare from. If you have time, go through it thoroughly including the advanced chapters and do read them multiple times.
- Crackverbal classes : For me, the real savior for verbal were the classes that I attended with CrackVerbal ( These are conducted in person in Bangalore, India ). I was finding it difficult to identify patterns in verbal and this is where the classes helped. In the classes we went through each SC concept, CR question type and RCs of different lengths and difficulty levels. Discussing problems in a group helped a lot as I could remember the concepts much better. The instructors especially Arun kept the class lively and also conduced multiple classes on advanced concepts which again strengthened my concepts.
My verbal score jumped from 33 in the first attempt to 40 in the second attempt. The biggest difference in my preparation was:
- Timing Timing Timing : The one simple reason I scored 33 in my first GMAT was because I completely mismanaged my timing in verbal. In the my second attempt, I was very clear I had to fix my timing. Read this post by Stacy of MGMAT (https://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/keeping-pace.cfm). I drew out clear time targets for SC, RC & CR and never practiced a question without a timer. I diligently kept a log of my timings to gauge my improvement.
- SC : Timing can not be fixed until you nail the problems faster. This requires absolute clarity with concepts. When I first read MGMAT SC guide, I marked certain difficult sections. I started reading through those sections every day morning. I wanted to remember those concepts crystal clear so that I could recall them faster while answering questions. The best resource to practice SC is GMAT Prep questions. No other resource gave me the taste of real SC as GMAT Prep did.
- CR : There are only a certain question types you get in CR. Once you identify those, do know the wrong and right answer patterns as well. Powerscore CR Bible is a lengthy guide to read. But you can pick only certain topics which you see regularly in GMAT and go through them. It does help in identifying right and wrong answers.
- RC : RC's in real GMAT is not that difficult. OG is a good resource to study RC. For me the key to RC was to get my timing right. I practiced to read the passage in 2-2.5 min and attack each question in 1 min. The moment you get a control over time ( without compromising on your reading quality ), RCs are very much handled. Aristotle RC99 helped me in fixing my timing. The passages in RC99 are way different from real GMAT but going through those long and confusing passages especially under the medium and difficult sections help get my timing right.
Above all, practicing from GMAT Prep, using it as a study material helped me greatly. Crackverbal had prepared some very good study materials compiled from retired GMAT Prep questions and they were the best resource I could get my hands on.
To Summarize, my final set of advice is:
- Never ever practice without a timer. Download any timer you find and always keep a log of your timings.
- Make your own flash cards as each one of us have different pain points. Spend atleast 2 hours everyday reading through those flash cards.
- Don't use GMAT Prep just in the last few days to check on your score level. There is a wealth of study material in GMAT Prep and that is the best material you can find. Over the internet, you can find 2 versions of GMAT Prep - one that you download from mba.com and another older 2006-07 version ( This is not the powerprep one but a later version) . The questions in both of them are different and that gives you a broader range of questions to try out. Start taking GMAT Prep much earlier and take it multiple times to extract all questions out of it. However be conscious not to read too much into the scores you see in GMAT Prep repeats. They are highly INFLATED.
My debrief has come quiet late as I took my second GMAT in Aug.
I have already applied to B-schools in R1. Eagerly waiting for the results
A bit about me : 30 / F / Indian / Entrepreneur
Quant prep
How much ever books I read for quant, I always felt no one book prepared me completely for GMAT Quant:
- Kaplan : Quant questions seem too simple and different from what you see in a real GMAT. Can be used to practice in the initial days of GMAT prep just to get your brain warmed up.
- MGMAT : MGMAT Strategy guides are very good to understand the concepts. I could clearly see a jump from 40 to 47 in my practice test scores. Quant in MGMAT Practice tests are again good as a stress test. They will train you well to speed up your calculations and think of solutions fast. But do remember the real GMAT Quant is not that computation intensive as you see in MGMAT. Also the real GMAT is much more tricky than MGMAT Quant.
- GMAT Sets, compilation of difficult problems and all other un-official docs that you find over the internet : Believe me, I could not benefit much from them. It is very tempting to solve those difficult problems thinking it'll increase your score but they are too out of the way from real GMAT. Better not to waste much time on those until and unless you are out of material to study.
- OG : Very good resource to start with but real GMAT is much difficult than OG.
- GMAT Prep Questions : None of the quant materials matched the GMAT Prep questions. I practiced thoroughly from a compilation of all GMAT Prep Quant questions and this was the best resource I could find. What you see in the real GMAT is on the same lines as these. As you solve these questions, you'll realize how a question looks so simple on face but has a hidden trick which is so easy to miss if you are not used to solving questions like these.
My Quant score was 48 both in my first attempt & second attempt. Both the times, I focused on practicing from GMAT Prep more than any other resource. I took GMAT Prep multiple times and used it not just to check my score level but as a study material.
In addition, I made detailed notes of my silly mistakes and before every practice test reminded myself of those mistakes.
Verbal Prep
Verbal was the real problem area for me as I am not a native English speaker. For Verbal I again referred multiple books.
- Kaplan : Kaplan is just opposite of what a real GMAT is. In Kaplan, I found CR and RC too tough and SC simple. Where as in real GMAT, RC doesn't scare you as much as it is dreaded. RC is manageable as long as you can manage your time well. CR in real GMAT is also not as cryptic as Kaplan. As a non-native English speaker, SC is tough to crack in real GMAT.
- MGMAT : MGMAT materials also seemed too simple for verbal and I could not derive much value from them. However MGMAT SC Guide is a very good resource to prepare from. If you have time, go through it thoroughly including the advanced chapters and do read them multiple times.
- Crackverbal classes : For me, the real savior for verbal were the classes that I attended with CrackVerbal ( These are conducted in person in Bangalore, India ). I was finding it difficult to identify patterns in verbal and this is where the classes helped. In the classes we went through each SC concept, CR question type and RCs of different lengths and difficulty levels. Discussing problems in a group helped a lot as I could remember the concepts much better. The instructors especially Arun kept the class lively and also conduced multiple classes on advanced concepts which again strengthened my concepts.
My verbal score jumped from 33 in the first attempt to 40 in the second attempt. The biggest difference in my preparation was:
- Timing Timing Timing : The one simple reason I scored 33 in my first GMAT was because I completely mismanaged my timing in verbal. In the my second attempt, I was very clear I had to fix my timing. Read this post by Stacy of MGMAT (https://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/keeping-pace.cfm). I drew out clear time targets for SC, RC & CR and never practiced a question without a timer. I diligently kept a log of my timings to gauge my improvement.
- SC : Timing can not be fixed until you nail the problems faster. This requires absolute clarity with concepts. When I first read MGMAT SC guide, I marked certain difficult sections. I started reading through those sections every day morning. I wanted to remember those concepts crystal clear so that I could recall them faster while answering questions. The best resource to practice SC is GMAT Prep questions. No other resource gave me the taste of real SC as GMAT Prep did.
- CR : There are only a certain question types you get in CR. Once you identify those, do know the wrong and right answer patterns as well. Powerscore CR Bible is a lengthy guide to read. But you can pick only certain topics which you see regularly in GMAT and go through them. It does help in identifying right and wrong answers.
- RC : RC's in real GMAT is not that difficult. OG is a good resource to study RC. For me the key to RC was to get my timing right. I practiced to read the passage in 2-2.5 min and attack each question in 1 min. The moment you get a control over time ( without compromising on your reading quality ), RCs are very much handled. Aristotle RC99 helped me in fixing my timing. The passages in RC99 are way different from real GMAT but going through those long and confusing passages especially under the medium and difficult sections help get my timing right.
Above all, practicing from GMAT Prep, using it as a study material helped me greatly. Crackverbal had prepared some very good study materials compiled from retired GMAT Prep questions and they were the best resource I could get my hands on.
To Summarize, my final set of advice is:
- Never ever practice without a timer. Download any timer you find and always keep a log of your timings.
- Make your own flash cards as each one of us have different pain points. Spend atleast 2 hours everyday reading through those flash cards.
- Don't use GMAT Prep just in the last few days to check on your score level. There is a wealth of study material in GMAT Prep and that is the best material you can find. Over the internet, you can find 2 versions of GMAT Prep - one that you download from mba.com and another older 2006-07 version ( This is not the powerprep one but a later version) . The questions in both of them are different and that gives you a broader range of questions to try out. Start taking GMAT Prep much earlier and take it multiple times to extract all questions out of it. However be conscious not to read too much into the scores you see in GMAT Prep repeats. They are highly INFLATED.
My debrief has come quiet late as I took my second GMAT in Aug.
I have already applied to B-schools in R1. Eagerly waiting for the results
A bit about me : 30 / F / Indian / Entrepreneur
