GMAT 750 - some thoughts

[sarthaksinha]

Hi guys

I have recently scored 750 (q49v44) on my second attempt (first was 690 Q44 V40 3 months ago). I self studied with help of Manhattan guides, MGMAT CATS, official guides and GMATprep software. I would like to share some thoughts. Before I begin I would like to thank RON PUREWAL. Dear Ron, you explanations on forums and Thursdays with Ron video clips changed my entire approach towards this exam. Thank you so much!!!

GENERAL
Official questions in official guides and GMATprep are actual diamonds - use them wisely
How to review an official question
Once you have solved a set of official questions and are ready to review, follow this process:
For each official quantitative question, go through your scrap paper and for each verbal question go through your thought process when you were solving that question.
Find out what concept or skill were you lacking in when you solved that problem
If you got the question wrong, find out exactly what went wrong - you need to actively ask yourself this question, otherwise you will not get a correct answer.
If you got the question right, find out exactly what you did that worked in that question for you.
Document this insight on an excel sheet - DO NOT document the specifics of the question but only the extracted lesson or takeaway that can be applied to other problems testing the same trick or concept. If you document the specifics of that question, you will not be able to apply the lesson on another problem and you will end up memorizing that specific problem. I actually made a template on an excel sheet with four columns.
1. Source of problem
2. If I see this on another problem
3. I will do this
4. Concept status with colour coding - red, yellow, green (which helped me assess whether the concept has internalized or not - almost all new concepts that I learned started as red and before the exam day, everything was green)
If you manage to do this on all official problems and achieve a green status on all concepts eventually, you are done!
Note that IT DOES NOT MATTER WHETHER YOU GOT THAT PARTICULAR QUESTION RIGHT OR WRONG and IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW DIFFICULT OR EASY THAT QUESTION WAS - there has to be something that you can extract from every single official problem and you MUST extract this "˜something’ from every official problem in OG, verbal supplement, quant supplement and GMATprep. Trust me, if you do this, you will have no time for any other material and this is more than sufficient to achieve a very respectable score.
A word of warning - you can use quant material from test prep companies and GMAT forums but DO NOT use non official verbal material as it can create more confusion and ruin your concepts.
WATCH Thursdays with RON - he is without a doubt the best GMAT instructor in the world. His videos and explanations on forums are priceless.

QUANT SPECIFIC ADVICE
The only thing that I would like to say in quant is that once you cross 45 in quant, the challenge is not in the math but in the logic. Don’t try to solve everything with a textbook approach. Do what works - be logical, be flexible, plug numbers, draw diagrams, visualize things, talk to yourself, imagine yourself in that particular situation - do anything that helps you to break that question and then, when you are reviewing the problems, document that approach in your excel log.
A NOTE ON NUMBER PLUGGING - extremely critical skill that you need to develop if you want to do well on quant if you do not have a math background (like me).I hated number plugging and was very algebra oriented, but after watching Ron’s videos, I realized how powerful this technique is. If you want to learn number plugging and you hate doing it, the best way is practice doing it UNTIMED. Don’t look at the clock, just solve problems by plugging numbers and train you mind to this approach. Once you are comfortable with it, bring back the timer. Infact, if you want to learn any new skill on GMAT and are uncomfortable with it, learn it untimed first.

I can finally say goodbye to the GMAT and move on to applications. I wish everyone all the best and thank all the MGMAT instructors.

Sarthak

[chandrahasreddy]

Hey, Congrats. Excellent tips on how to review problem/ note takeaways.

[adt29]

Hi Sarthak,

Congrats on your score! That's amazing. I scored a 660 in my first attempt and need to cross that 700 mark.

One question- would you mind sharing the excel file that you maintained to track your progress. It would really help me get an idea of how exactly to track proglems. Also, did you use any non-official prep material at all?

Thanks!
Aditi