560 --> 640 --> 690.

[jacobzac]

Dear all,

Till date,I was a silent visitor to this forum.

But today I am posting this because, my experiences with GMAT might help someone out there on the D-day. It's gonna be a long post so brace yourselves. So here are my test details.

GMAT 1 - 560 Q42 V28 ( It was in Aug 2008).

Was so shattered. Went into Post-GMAT trauma, hibernated for 2 years and resurfaced on July 2010. i.e i started to prepare again on July 2010.

GMAT 2 - 640 Q47 V31 ( Oct 15 2010).
GMAT 3 - 690 Q47 V38 (Nov 15 2010). 77/83 split

Mistakes I did in GMAT 1 & Lessons learnt:
1. Did only 50% of OGI. BIG MISTAKE. OGI is your bible and do treat it like one.
2. Took the GMAT Prep practice tests by omitting the essay section. so the test scores I received were highly inflated. On the test day my stamina ran out, by the time i reached the first RC in Verbal.
3. Went into Post GMAT trauma for too long. I should have considered GMAT 1 as a practice test and then studied smarter and harder. So when i resurfaced in 2010, it was very difficult for me to start studying again. In other words, I had lost my touch.

Mistakes I did in GMAT 2 & Lessons learnt:
1. Time management. I allotted 2 mins per Question for Quants and it worked very well for me. I followed the same strategy in Verbal too. i.e I allotted 1.8 minutes for each Verbal Question. BIG BIG MISTAKE. The time allotment should be different for SC, RC and CR questions.
2. I didn't practice RC before hand. Even though I am a non-native speaker of English, I am a voracious reader. So I never thought RC would be a problem. But I was wrong. you need to extensively practice it in simulated exam environment. Believe me, It's very diffcult to read ( let alone comprehend ) a lengthy & boring RC passage after 3 hours of brain racking.
3. Dont waste time on Hard Quant problems, which are way out of your league. Just take an educated guess and move on, so that you can have more time on other solvable questions.

How I increased my Verbal score from 31 to 38 in 1 month ?
1. Time management. I searched the forums after my GMAT 2 and I stumbled upon Stacey Koprine's advice on Verbal Time Management. ( Big thank you Stacey...You saved my Verbal ). It goes this way.
a. 60 - 75 seconds for SC. Max 90
b. 2 mins for CR. Max 2.5 min
c. 2.5-3.5 min for reading RC passage, depending on toughness.
d. 1 minute for answering general RC questions.
e. 1.5 minute for answering other RC questions.

I followed this religiously in GMAT 3. For example, If i was stuck on a SC question after 90 seconds ( as I was on couple of times ), I made an educated guess and moved on.

2. RC strategies. There are many RC strategies out there. I tried various ones, and sticked to the one I was comfortable with ( which was reading the full passage carefully, and jotting down points if required ).

People to Thank:
1. Stacey Koprine - Thanks for your wonderful time management strategies.
2. Ron Purewal - Thanks for your wonderful explanations of GMAT prep questions in forums. Helped me a lot.
3. All the people who cared to share their GMAT experiences here. It really helped me, formulate my study plan.

[bansalvikrant]

Thanks for sharing ! It is quite useful and encouraging.

[rikhia]

Hi! what does OGI mean?