So finally the day has come for me to write a debrief. I gave my GMAT yesterday and scored a 700 Q49 V35 .I am relieved but not ecstatic.
I had been procrastinating GMAT for well over 18 months – mostly because work never allowed me 2 months at a stretch. It started last year in March when I gave the first GMATPrep as a diagonostic and got 600 (V23). This prompted me to search for verbal classes and came across Crack Verbal. I attended one sample class and decided to enroll into the Online Live tutoring course. I was a bit sceptical about delivery, quality etc . but everything was outstanding.
The 1.5 month course with Crack Verbal gave a completely different approach on verbal. I dreaded SC and after the course it became my strength. My score jumped from 23 to 35-38 range. Due to work pressures I was not able to finish the preparation and give GMAT last year.
I restarted my preparation in April this year and booked a date in advance for 12th June. Revised Verbal from Crack Verbal recorded classes for last year – yes exact same class – and took MGMAT test to practice full length. Had some health issues leading up to the exam and scored a horrific 640 (Q44 V34) .
I could not believe my quant scores. I never scored below 48 in any of my tests leading upto the exam. I took couple of months off and took a date for 12th Sept – when I scored 700 (Q49 V35) . The reason I am not ecstatic is I wanted to score more in verbal – I still want to infact.And the reason is not ego , its because I could never have believed that Verbal would be more interesting than Quant, that its as essential in daily life as quant. But I think I will continue with my applications for this year.
Below are key takeaways from my experience that I want to share with the community:
1.) ERROR LOGS : Pls trust me on this, I used error logs for only last 30 days of my prep coz I was too lazy earlier but it helped me massively. I could see where I was erring and it made sense to do more questions.
2.) Verbal : Do ONLY Official questions. Nothing else matters. Unofficial content can only confuse you more. If you get a doubt on a particular question – you have to blindly believe GMAC’s response and not question it. I used to research the questions I got wrong on Manhattan and CrackVerbal forums. Also, on Manahattan look for Ron’s post. There is a trove of information there.
3.) Quant : After my shocker, I bought GMATClub tests. They challenge your thinking and approach. I attempted a 37 question set everyday for 10 days straight. Also, if you want to clear your basics Magoosh’s videos are the best out there (yes I bought that too, $99/year is a good deal).
4.) GMATClub : For quant, if you are not reading Bunuel’s responses you are missing a lot. I personally refrained from all other ‘HARD’ questions list. If you want to break into 700, you dont have to solve ‘HARD’ questions.
5.) GUESSING/SKIPPING : Yes, do not even try to solve 37 questions completely on quant – unless you want to go for 51. Probably even then guessing and skipping would work. Its a huge part of your strategy. On my GMATprep re-attempts I would intentionally guess on questions even if I knew I could solve them. Its really important. There is a great post on it on MGMAT blogs.
Thats all from my side. All the best to everybody and I cant thank the community enough!
Cheers!