My GMAT Story - 680 to 760 :)

[SnehaD317]

My Prep Story
I have been out of school for a while. So I had to begin my GMAT prep from scratch. I studied for 6 weeks before my first attempt. I referred to the MGMAT study guides, Official GMAT materials. I mainly relied on the MGMAT tests. I was pretty confident that i would do well since I had always been good with Math and was strong on the Verbal front.

First Test Day Experience
I did not manage my time very well in the Quant section and had to rush through the last few questions.
I did not take the optional break before the Verbal Section , and wasted the first few minutes of the Verbal section , worrying that I had not done well enough in Quant.
The result - 680 (Q47 V35 ) :( and even more shocking - my verbal had taken a beating.

I scheduled my second appointment for 35 days later (today !!) , took more tests to improve my time management, went through the O.G problems again, read numerous blog post about test day tips, and just kept my fingers crossed.

Second Test Day Experience
Everything went well! Kept calm and just worked through the problems. And this time, I took both the optional breaks :)
I couldn't believe my eyes when i finally saw my score, and almost snatched the unofficial score report out of the proctor's hand. 760 (Q49 V45) The 99th percentile YOO HOO!

Tips for fellow test takers
1. OG problems should not be neglected. In fact , they should form the base for your prep.

2. Do not be discouraged if score low in the first few tests. Then again, do not get overconfident if you score well. Practice makes perfect. The more you practice, the better you will do on D-DAY.

3. Flash Cards are awesome! You can turn a 10 minute coffee break or any other break into a mini study session. A few of these sessions a day and you would have squeezed in a decent chunk of revision without even realizing it. I LOVED the MGMAT flash cards and had them on my iPhone as well as iPad. I was never without my flash cards :)

4. Review sessions are really essential to effective prep. Once you get a problem wrong and review it, you never forget how its done.

5. Everything matters on test day. A good night's sleep, a good breakfast, a cool head and DEFINITELY taking the optional breaks!

Good Luck!

[IWMTBGL]

Hi,

Congradulations on your score!

I got the same score as you did on your first attempt but this was my second attempt. I am taking again in a month so I would like to know how you jumped your verbal score from 35 to 45. Could you please tell me specifically how you studied and what was it that you did that really helped you? I would really appreciate your comments. Thank you for your help.

[SnehaD317]

For my verbal, I went through each and every question in the OG and the GMAC verbal review in great detail. I especially took note of the questions I answered incorrectly and reviewed them regularly. Practice makes progress! And all this practice helped me.

The Manhattan Strategy Guide for Sentence Correction was extremely helpful. It was my Go-To book for sentence correction. It is a very organized book with a LOT of good information.

The MGMAT verbal tests are bang on target as far as the actual exam is concerned. The type of questions and level of difficulty is very similar. At least twice a week, I tested myself on just the verbal section.

All that being said, this was my preparation before the first test. I messed up my verbal exam because I didn't take the optional break and was still thinking about the Quant even after the verbal section had started.I could not pay attention to the verbal questions.

So between my first and second test, I just reviewed the OG and MGMAT questions again. Also, I downloaded the MGMAT flash cards. They're good for quick revisions.

Hope this helps you!