My GMAT day..:)

[gagankhangura]

I had my GMAT exam this thursday and it was a very horrible day till the time my GMAT score flashed on the screen.Before the exam I was very nervous, so nervous that I could not stop smiling (I smile when I am nervous..:P).
The exam began at 6:00PM and while doing AWA, the nerves settled and I was much more comfortable by the time I was done with AWA. Then after taking a break I started with the QA section and in contrast to what most of the GMAT takers say, I felt the QA section to be tougher than that of MGMATs and GMATPreps. In practice tests I have been able to complete the whole QA section at least 10 minutes before time, but on GMAT day it went upto the last minute.
Then again after a two minute break, I started with the verbal section. I knew that verbal was the real threat to my chances of securing a good score as in the practice tests my VA score varied from 35 to 43. I started cautiously and felt the RCs to be easier than those of MGMATs(In MGMATs my accuracy in RCs has been less than 50%) . I felt the level of the other two sections was not very different from the ones in the MGMATs and GMATPreps. I completed my VA section with a minute or two to go.
Even though I did the best I could, I didnt feel good. But when I saw the score, I again went into the smiling phase though this time it was not the nervous smile.I scored 760(50,44).

The ManhattanGMAT strategy guides were the only material that I used for preparing for GMAT and I doubt I could have got this much score by preparing from any other source. All thanks to ManhattanGMAT for providing an excellent source of GMAT preparation.

[raghavendermba]

Hey Gagan,

Congratulations on your excellent score.
I have my GMAT 1 and a half week from now.
In my first 4 MGMAT CATS, I scored between 680-700 and 720 in GMAT Prep1. With Verbal ranging from 34-39 in MGMATs.

Could you please post your GMAT PREP scores and what did you do in the last 2 weeks to push your verbal score higher.

Thank you,
Raghu

[gagankhangura]

Hello Raghav

Thanks.

I scored 760(51,43) in GMATPrep1 and 740(51,40) in GMATPrep2.

The only change I made in my approach was in the way I attempted the RCs. In the mocks I used to go through the passage twice or even more than twice. In the first read, I just skimmed through the passage and then, while answering the questions I had to read the paragraph in parts again.I thought by following this strategy I could do the RCs in lesser time but it didn't help much. Looking at the dipping accuracy in the RCs, I tried reading the passages without keeping in my mind any time limit during the two mocks before the actual GMAT. There was no plan to not read passage again while answering but I didn't feel the need to read the passage again. With this I ended up realizing that reading carefully costs about 1 to 2 minutes and saves at least 30-40 secs while answering the questions. And this at least in my case improved the accuracy in RCs.
Wish you good luck for your GMAT:)