This is my first post.
![:)]( "Smile")
And it's pretty long, be careful!
I started my prep in June 2015. First thing I did was join GmatClub. I read many debriefs and gained tons of insight, and I'm not sure why but I wanted to write one myself when I'm done.
My score isn't all that amazing 720 Q49 V38 IR 7 AWA 5 but it's not bad at all. I'm okay with it.
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Here's my debrief.
Background -
-Engineer so Quant not a problem and CR decent.
-Have been watching English TV shows/movies since, probably, birth so Comprehension and SC were not too bad.
Prep time - June - July
Hours - 1-2 Weekdays 4-5 Weekends (Irregular in June)
Courses taken - none
Money Spent - 0
Mocks (What I remember; all were free)
1. June 10 - Veritas 600
2. June 11 or 12 - Manhattan 600
3. June 24 or 25 - Gmatpill 650
4. July 4 - GmatPrep 1 710 Q50 V37
5. July 12 - Kaplan 750 Q50
6. July 16 - Economist 740 Q50 V43
7. July 25 - GmatPrep 2 750 Q50 V41
Prep material - OG13, OG Verbal Review 16, Verbal Notes (Sumit, Sahil, Spidey, all are similar), Whiplash Verbal Flash Cards, GMATclub 700+ Questions and GMATAvengers group on Facebook.
Preparation (Goal was 700+):
1.I made sure to track my progress. I wrote down what I did every day and planned accordingly for the next 2-3 days. I wasn't very regular, but it still helped a lot. <- Very important.
2.Started with diagnostic test on OG. Got excellent results.
3.Took 2 mocks Veritas, Manhattan - 600 each. Realized I needed a lot of prep.
4.Can't emphasize enough on this - Official Guides are the best source for preparation.
5.I started with OG 13. Timed every question on my mobile. <-Very Important
6.Finished all PS in 2 days. Got 10-15 wrong. Mostly careless mistakes. Figured, PS is okay.
7.Moved to DS from OG13. 2 days again. Got 30-40 wrong. Weakness found. Reviewed every question. Correct ones too, to figure out the OG approach.
8.Started CR from OG13. Got 30-40 wrong and I took longer than 1:40. Another weak area.
9.Reviewed Veritas and Manhattan mocks. Took 4 weekdays just for reviewing. Noted each mistake.
10.Gave GMATpill mock. Quant improved, verbal not so much.
11.Started SC from OG. Pretty bad results. Left half of the questions for later.
12.Read Sumits verbal notes. <-Very helpful.
13.SC improved drastically after the notes. Finished OG 13 SC. Reviewed each answer. Even correct ones.
14.Neglected RC (overconfidence). <- Very stupid.
15.Decided to give first GMATprep. (You only get 2 for free, so use them wisely)
16.Strategy for timing
a.Quant
i.2 min per avg difficulty question
ii.Less than 1 for easy
iii.If a Q takes more than 3, leave it.
iv.Check the clock every 5 questions, which should mean, every 10 min:
1.On 1st Q 75 min remain
2.On 6th Q 65 min remain
3.On 11th Q 55 min remain and so on.b.Verbal
i.SC 1 min per Q
ii.CR 1:30 to 2 per Q
iii.RC 3 min to read + 1min for every Q
iv.The avg time of 1 is pretty weird so I didnt check the clock too much.
v.I just divided the remaining time by 2 and made sure I can do 37-39 Qs in total.
vi.Its a pretty crazy strategy, though. Still, it worked for me.
1.On 6th Q, 66 min remain 6 + 33 = 39 Good.
2.On 10th Q, 50 min remain 10 + 25 = 35 Speed up.
3.On 25th Q, 26 min remain 25 + 13 = 38 Okay.
vii.Ignore this if you want to.17.GMATprep 1 710. Q50 great but V37 mostly RC and CR wrong. Thoroughly reviewed.
18.Burn out. Stopped preparing for about a week.
19.Started RC from OG13. Results were decent. Timing improved since I read a lot.
20.Started practicing GMATclub 700+ for quant and tried the questions posted in GmatAvengers group.
21.Started OG15 verbal review. Tried almost all SC, CR. <- Very helpful
22.Took Kaplan Mock 750. This free test is non-adaptive so I accepted it as 710.
23.Took 2 days reviewing this mock. Continued Verbal Review.
24.Read Sahils verbal notes. Found them to be the same as Sumits.
25.Took Economist GMAT 740 Verbal was harder than GMATprep. But, I read online that their algorithm is in our favor. So accepted it as 710.
26.Burn out. Stopped preparing for 4-5 days.
27.Read Spideys notes. Again similar to Sumits.
28.Did the following in the last week and a half
29.GMATclub 700+ math, and some CR. Gmat Avengers group questions.
30.Whiplash verbal flash cards. Similar again.
31.GMAT Prep 2 750. <- Very happy.
32.Reviewed all mistakes. Mainly DS and CR.
33.Did more GMATclub 700+ questions.
34.Realized that I neglected AWA and IR.
35.IR Practiced GMATPrep Question Bank
36.IR Practiced Veritas Question Bank (free)
37.AWA I read this how-to-get-6-0-awa-my-guide-64327-140.html
38.AWA then this http://tips00.blogspot.in/2012/08/how-t ... -gmat.html
39.AWA Practiced 4 essays, had them rated here http://www.gmatawa.com/<- Very usefulMistakes:
1.Not enough time. I could not balance work, gmat prep and personal life properly. Notice the burn outs. You cant study continuously so reward yourself a little and take breaks.
2.Havent researched schools properly, too busy with GMAT. Not cool. Essays are more important.
3.Focused so much on weaknesses that my strengths (Quant) got affected.
4.Neglected AWA, IR. AWA is not too hard once youre done with Verbal practice, especially CR. But IR needs practice and speed.
5.Hit Pause during mocks. Not cool.
6.Did not give mocks with both AWA and IR. Not cool.
7.Did not eat healthy before the test. Not cool.
8. Assumed GMATPrep to be very close to GMAT. GMAT was actually tougher. <- Very ImportantThe day before the Big Day:
1.Watched some Batman, Hangover, Star Wars. All on TV. Exercised a little. <- Important
2.Stayed away from the laptop. Needed my eyes relaxed for the following day. < - Important
3.Checked the passport and GMAT profile for any discrepancies. Do this a week before too.
4.Ate junk. Not cool.
The Big Day:
1.Woke up with a bad cough. Revised the verbal notes.
2.Reached early. Bought 2 snickers.
3.Center was small but enough area for the test. Comfy seats.
4.They just check your passport, you read some rules, sign, get your palm scanned and get started.
5.Entered the schools.
6.AWA was pretty much like the ones I practiced. No surprises. I just wrote down the template before even reading the question. Read the Q, made notes. Wrote some crappy arguments but in a proper format.
7.IR was hard. All questions were longer than GMATprep. I did not have enough time. Im still happy that I scored 7 but at the time I thought I wouldnt even score 4 or 5.
8.Took the break. Calmed myself. Whats done is done. At least the AWA was decent.
9.Came back with 4 minutes left. Wrote down 2 things on the pad Assume nothing and 0 is not positive.
10.Started Quant. Definitely harder than GMATprep. I was behind my 5 Question 10 minutes strategy by 1 to 2 minutes. The cough did not help. Overall I knew I performed okay but not good.
11.Took the second break. Got some fresh air. Had the first snickers. Came back and wrote down common errors in SC on the pad.
12.Started Verbal. CR was very difficult. All answers looked the same! POE did not work. Had to guess mostly. SC was similar to GMATprep. RC passages were long. Overall tougher than GMATprep.
13.After I was done I was ready to cancel the scores. But I saw 720 (Q49 V38). I shoved my face inside the screen to be sure thats a 7 and not a 6.
14.I took the unofficial report. The guy at the center congratulated me. ![:)]( "Smile")
15.Had the second snickers as a reward.Some Weirdness:
1.I set a reminder on my phone for 9 am every day. It said 800. Kept me motivated.
2.I read a lot of debriefs before I started my prep, I wanted to write one too.
3.I have 500MB of prep books, which I haven't even opened.
I'm preparing for my applications now. The battle has just begun! :D
All the best to everyone! :D![]()
And it's pretty long, be careful!