750 GMAT (Q 48, V 45) on Aug 28 - my thoughts...

[the_gladiator]

Here goes:

Verbal Section:

1. Sentence Correction was straighforward(contrary to my experience on the practice tests) - in most cases I was able to zone in on the correct answer fairly quickly.

2. RC - I got 2 small(2 para) , 1 long(3 para) and 1 very long (4 para) passages.

3. Critical Reasoning - A good mix here, straightforward and tricky ones.

 

Quantitative Section:

1. Problem Solving - Nothing out of the ordinary.

2. Data Sufficiency - Even though I'm very happy w/ my score, I'd say I might have missed a few here.

 

A few general thoughts - each one has his or her own style but this seemed to work for me.

1. I cannot stress this enough, it is very important to stay relaxed!!

As a result I was able to focus better and answer questions faster.

2. Compared to practice tests my quantitative score was below par and verbal score was above par.

3. On RCs, make sure you take your time and understand the passage as this will save a lot of time when answering the RC questions.

 

Study Material:

1. Official Guide - complete and individual verbal + quantitative

2. Kaplan - Premier & 800

3. Manhattan Sentence Correction - this was super useful in eliminating silly mistakes in sentences. My SC performance improved dramatically after using this. Plus it comes w/ 6 practice tests.

 

Preparation:

1. 27 days - Started on Aug 1 and took exam on Aug 28

2. 1Q(18 PS + 17 DS) and 1V(4 RC passages + 14 SC + 14 CR) every weekday, more every weekend

3. Basically, I tried all questions in the material above except some SC questions in Kaplan 800.

4. 11 tests ( GMATPrep, Kaplan, Manhattan)

 

Practice Tests:

1. Manhattan - 640, 730, 710, 720, 730

2. Kaplan - 640, 620, 740

3. GMATPrep - 740, 690

 

I was a bit worried after my first 3 tests(Manhattan - 640, Kaplan - 620,640). So I tried the GMATPrep Test next. The software asked me to reset my screen resolution to 1024x768. When I took the next MGMAT/Kaplan tests I realized that the problem earlier was that the text size was really small. Once I changed the resolution to that suggested by GMATPrep, I did much better on the practice tests.

 

Overall, I would not read too much into practice test scores. I'd just try to use them to identify areas of improvement before taking the GMAT.

 

Above all, remember that while everyone strives to ace the GMAT, a low score is not the end of the world. So stay loose while taking the GMAT, it will help you a lot.

 

Good luck!!

[sandeep_chads]

great show buddy. 750 is a very impressive score.

[ankitharish]

congrats mate.Another verbal god........

[rrgmat]

Congratulations, could you please shed some light on verbal part.

[nsb_gmat]

preparation time - 27 days only?

[buji]

Congrats man ...750 with 27days prep ..awesome ....pls share some knowledge to improve the verbal part pls

[the_gladiator]

Thanks sandeep_chads and ankitharish.

 

nsb_gmat - The 27 day preparation was not by design. Work and other factors forced me to make that call. I started with no fixed date in mind and felt after 20 days that I was ready and wanted to take the GMAT soon before I lost momentum over the long weekend(I was going to visit family). The earliest date I could get(I booked only on Aug 21st) was Aug 28.

 

rrgmat and buji:

Verbal was definitely easier than the Kaplan practice tests. Plus everything clicked on test day for me.

SC

A good verbal score always requires a good performance on sentence correction. The majority of the questions( I think 15-16 out of 41) on the GMAT verbal section are SC questions.

Manhattan SC really helped me cut down silly mistakes in SC.

I was diligent about taking the equivalent of atleast 1 verbal(15 SC,12 CR 3-4 RC passages) and 1 quant.(18 PS, 17 DS) every weekday.

Don't get down on yourself if things don't go well initially.

eg. My first few days I was getting about 40% of my SC questions wrong.

But my only SC preparation had been based on the OG SC review section and that is definitely not enough.

I read on these forums that Manhattan SC was good. So I tried it and my SC performance shot up after that.

 

Also, the SC on the GMAT was fairly straightforward, no elaborate tricky questions like on the practice tests.

 

CR was standard - nothing out of the ordinary compared to practice tests.

In most cases, I figured out the answer in 2 passes. I eliminated the obviously wrong ones and narrowed it down to 2-3 in the first pass. I had to read the argument again in some cases before picking the right answer out of the remaining 2-3.

 

RC - here I spent about 3-4 minutes reading the passage slowly and understanding the passage correctly the first time. As a result, I

spent only 30s/each RC question and was able to answer correctly too.

The RC was a lot easier than those long vague Kaplan 800 passages.

Like I mentioned earlier - total of 4 passages:

2 two paragraph, 1 three paragraph and 1 four paragraph.

 

Each person has his or own style but this was my strategy for allocating time:

The questions do not lend themselves to equal time allocation.

eg. 41 questions in 75 min would mean roughly 1min 50s per question.

But critical reasoning and RC require more thorough understanding and hence more time. So I spent more than the 1min 50s or how much ever was needed to get RC and CR right. SC took on an average about 50s - 1min for me. Again what worked for me might not for others, but you can figure this strategy out by taking the practice tests. My last week of prep. involved just taking tests - I took about 12 of them ( 2 per day over the first 5 days and 1 each on the last 2 days before the big one).

 

The main thing is to stay calm during the test. Don't keep thinking that you are taking the GMAT or about what score you might get. Just relax and give it your best shot.

All the very best to you folks!!