740(Q49,V41).... One more for the John Doe's : Share GMAT Experience

...and the Jane Doe's
I was shocked to see this score appear on my screen. I couldn't believe for a long long time that I had actually scored 740! I felt like jumping like the guy in the picture below. I am now done with the GMAT for good (but not with GMATClub )
I'm ina hurry now so I'll only post some basic details. I'll be bacl later
Here's my advice on what works:
Join Prep classes (I did) unless you are strong in Quant. If your English is ok, you'll be fine studing for the Verbal yourself.
Prepare yourself before going to the Prep classes. I finished the PR 2007 before my Prep classes started. It certainly made me understand things faster than others in the class.
Listen to the advice of the masters like Praetorian, GMATT73, necromonger.. you get the idea.
Its not the study material you use but how you use it. Praetorian said this and I say it works. Finishing book upon book won't you anywhere unless you use it in the right way.
NOVA is a great book. Get it. I am surprised that people are mostly unaware of it.
The RC approach in PR 2007 worked wonders for me. It's a great approach. Variable speed reading and then eliminate each answer choice until the right one remains. If caught between 2 choices don't try to prove each correct, instead find faults with both.
CR: 2 approaches worked best for me.
The first was
https://www.gmatclub.com/content/courses/verbal/cr.php

The second was Fig's approach. Thank you Fig for your magic

Use Kaplan 800 and any other study material for CR's.

SC: I found out practice works best alongwith Kaplan 800, MGMAT SC, OG-11 and OG-V. Knowing the concepts won't do you much good. Understand them - inside out.

PS: the questions posted on GMATClub are great. I only bought Question Collection 2.0 towards the end of my prep, and I recommend the challenges based on it. THey are good for your confidence becasue you knwo the reall stuff won't be as tough.

DS: I think DS tests concepts. the better you understand the concepts the better you get at DS.

Keep revising. Go over the mistakes you made. Thats all I didin the last week of my prep. Obviosly it works very well.

Here are a few links I found useful on my GMAT journey:

ywilfred's Beginners Forum. Great place to start off and to keep coming back to. Thank you ywilfred. I hope to add some quant notes of my own here in a few days. I'll pm ywilfred to check.
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=17460

ywilfred's SC notes. I read these many times in the first half of my prep.
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... c&start=20

Fig's Absolute practice. Learn from the best in the business . Was a great confidence booster for me.
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=39533

Fig's Sequence & Series practice. I had some twisted variations on this topic on the GMAT. This thread is good practice.
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=42629

Great Resources for Perms & Combs & Probability, although I didn't get any question on these in the GMAT

The Quant notes are great. Go over the first 40 - 45 questions. They will give you useful insight into the world of Quant. I got them from a thread at GMATClub, but can't find it now
EDIT: Here you go
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=35235

Here's something I read many times. It gave me ideas almost everytime I read it. Thank you artshep.
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=40578

And then there is this very special thread. Postive soul is a hero for me, like for many others I'm sure. Read this whenever you feel your target score is impossible to achieve.
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=35919
This thread was a major force in me eventually participating in this forum. Until then I was a lurker.

Dang , I have to rush now. I'll add more details later. But I have to thank riverripper, tennis_ball & kidderek, without their advice all my hard work would have probably come undone hadit not been for their excellent advice. Read here in case you want to know what I'm talking about.
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=44728

Fantastic Stuff. I have read your posts in the past

Good Luck

H

I'm back now and I hope my earlier staccato advice didn't scare you away. I now have plenty of time to tell you about my GMAT journey. I started preparing on 7th Dec'06. My prep classes were scheduled to begin on 17th Dec so I thought it would be a good idea to finish PR 2007 before that so I could understand better in class. I took me exactly 10 days to finish the PR, excluding the questions in the bins at the end. My prep classes were on weekends, 3 hrs each for Quant & Verbal - total 10 classes for each. Our teachers were kind however because once our classes finished they agreed to take a few extra classes for us. That helped. Some of the quant stuff we did in class far exceeded level of the GMAT stuff I came across earlier today. The Verbal questions were never hard enough. Here I must say the CR's that dvtohir posts are much tougher that what I faced today on the GMAT. I am glad (s)he decided to post at GMATClub


Our quant teacher recommended that we do the quant in NOVA. That was in January. I promptly did that - was the first one in my class to finish the quant in NOVA. February & March were spent doing what was taught in class. It was difficult to keep up with the assignments they gave us. One week they gave us 400 questions and around 320 questions the very next week! During this time I gave priority to GMAT over everything else and that I believe can happen when you are very strongly motivated to reach your goal. There have been many days when I would wake up, start studying, soon realise I was late for office, change clothes and rush to office. I would later come back from work and start studying immediately. During these days I would frequently skip bathing and even brushing my teeth at times
Meanwhile I also read artshep's post and how he found a grammar book useful for SC's so I bought a grammar too (The only Grammar you'll ever need by Susan Thurman). Like ywilfred's SC notes I read certain chapters (2,3, 4, 5 & 7) of this book many times during the first 2-3 months of my prep. I was now able to identify subjects, objects easily in some complex sentences as well. This book teaches the basic stuff very well but you'll need to build on what you learn here because this book is just not good enough to get you a 40+ Verbal. During the last week of February I took a Kaplan Diagnostic test and got 650. The test showed RC to be my weakest area. I searched for different ways to attack RC's and eventually settled for the PR approach, which is a great approach if used fully.

Once my Prep classes were over in March I started with the OG-11 Quant but that wasn't too challenging so I only did the last 50 questions in PS, last 20 in DS. I did all the SC's using the MGMAT SC. I started with Kaplan800 and that CR & SC were enough to make me believe I hadn't wasted the past few months learning nothing but I knew from others posts about this book that this book hadsome tough questions. In total I revised the SC's & CR's in this book twice. The PS is easy in this book and the DS is ok. The RC's are good practice and my PR approach worked on all of them. I never got more than one wrong in any of the Kaplan800 RC's.

I took a PwerPrep on around 15th April and got 700. I immediately booked a slot for myself for May 02 thinking that would would give me enough time to revise what I had learnt and review my mistakes. I did not hope to improve beyond this level, and I probably haven't. Here's why I think I got 40 extra points today. Firstly, soxy_topacio gaveme good advice on not taking apples with me to the test center. I instead had a banana in each of the breaks and half a chocolate. The effect was almost instanteous. I never felt the slightest fatigue during the entire nearly 4 hour long performance. Thank you soxy_topacio.
I also followed bb's advice here about breaks & the divers reflex.
https://www.gmatclub.com/content/courses/last-week.php
The divers reflex is incredible. Do it during your breaks and you'll be surprised.
My concentration was intensified during the test and I was myself surprised at some of the CR's where I was able to identify some of the weaknesses/ conclusions of arguments that woul dotherwisehave taken me much longer (but they weren't dvtohir's level ) and in DS I was able to pull off similar stuff.

In the end I believe if your motivation is strong you will achieve your target score - t hat got me t o 700. I also believe that it was the between the breaks diet & the diver's reflex that got me the extra 40 points, coupled with my own heightened concentration during the test of course. The rest is history. I have a lot more to tell but this post has become too long for anybody to read I fear. How do others manage to keep theirs so short?

Thank you H. PM me if you ever need me. I am going to end up with lots of spare time now and at least for now I plan to use it for GMATClub.

Excellent score ! :D

I'm very glad for u !... U have made it ! :D :D ... Thanks also for your many kind words ! :D

Where do u plan to apply for?

Thank you Fig
My schools of choice are Darden & RSM.
I have great respect for Darden's commitment to its values and their Honor Code.
RSM because I would love to live and work in a place as wonderful as Holland.
Now after getting 740, I might consider other B-Schools that I had previosly ignored. If I decide on HEC Paris Fig I'll come to you again for advice .

Very, very, very nice score! Congratulations, Vikram! You have deserve it!!!

What do you think about drinking cacao with sugar during breaks? It works great for me. However I have seen somewhere on the forums that it is not advisable to take sugar during the test...

My G-day is the 15-th of May

Great score. No - amazing score. CONGRATULATIONS !!!
Look forward to updates from you on your admissions
Am sure U will get into the school of your choice with such a fantabulous score
Cheers

hey, great work vikram!!!
I have noticed you were working quite hard a few days ago.

Congratulations with the great result!!!

I took the test on the 1 May as well. A bit disappointed though with 640 (Q 48 , V29). I will post my story in a separate thread...

Thank you Nick

I vaguely remember reading somewhere in these forums about avoiding sugar. I suggest you ask soxy_topacio, who gave me great advice on why not to eat an apple during the break or I suggest you start a thread for this. Someone or the other should be able to help. Or you can also follow the advice I got from Kidderek & lepium, who told me to practice this aspect of the GMAT in my practice tests

Thank you GMAThopeful, botirvoy
GMAThopeful, it wasn't too long ago that I read your victory post about how you got 750. I remember salivating while reading that and thinking what a huge score you had. It was very encouraging to know that you got a high V score without any prep classes. I started to believe my prep classes should give me an edge over your self-study
I had joined Jamboree and I would recommend that to anybody.

botirvoy, if your 640 isn't good enough for your target B-Schools then atleast you know you only need to work on Verbal (better than working on both). If you decide on a re-take let me know . I'm sure I can help. Look forward to reading your thread. Good Luck.

740!!! What a fantastic score.
A balanced score too! Great Q and V.

I envy u.

Good luck on your apps!
I'm sure your GMAT score will give you an edge.

Oooooh it feels nice to be envied right now ricokevin
I look forward to reading about your GMAT conquest. I know your Quant skills are superior to mine. Remember this PS you solved, without solving!, for me
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... ht=#306313
and if you are eating such CR's for breakfast by now,
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=44341
then the GMAT is in for quite a mauling at your hands.

BTW, what date is your GMAT?

vikramjit_01 wrote:Thank you H. PM me if you ever need me. I am going to end up with lots of spare time now and at least for now I plan to use it for GMATClub.

Hi ,

Could you advice me on Quants work book for practice?

My weakness is quants and I am currently using the following books for my prep,
Kaplan 2005, OG 11 and Kaplan Math Power.

I was interested to buy NOVA after reading your comments.

Thanks
Harsha

Hey Harsha,

Sorry I couldn't reply any sooner. Here is what I suggest:

I: NOVA is good and inexpensive (Rupees 295 ). If you have the time I recommend NOVA's Quant section.
II: Also, if you are not lazy like me you can start maintaining an error log (unless you already do). I didn't maintainan an error log myself but I would mark questions I found tough or I did wrong in the book itself. I would regularly go back to these questions.
And most importantly,
III: Master the concepts. A 600 level question is not too different from a 700 level question. If you can solve one you can solve the other. A 700 level question will be presented to you in a way that will probe deeper into your understanding of the same concepts. Here's one way to test if you have mastered the concepts fully - Do you frequently go wrong while solving a Quant problem but the solution offered or the OE makes sense to you when you read it? Then you need to work on mastering the concepts.
Start by participating in the Math Discussion forum here and by studying the Advanced & Intermediate Math sections on this site. Don't shy away from posting your comments, offering a solution, asking a question or questioning other's solutions. Remember you learn more from the mistakes you make and the Quant guru's on this site are the ones who have made the most mistakes.

I didn't use Kaplan 2005 or Kaplan Math Power but OG 11 is good, especially the DS. Work with the GMATClub challenges. I only bought Question Collection 2.0 but those questions test concepts in a challenging way.

I have added u in the thread "GMAT Experience Thread - Amazing members stories/advices"... Your story and comments deserve it !

Thanks Fig! ... just following the GMATClub tradition of helping others . I plan to post my quant notes in a day. I hope they'll be of help to members.

Thanks for your valuable suggestions

You are right, I should actively paticipate in the Math Discussion forum


Thank you
Harsha

What kinda prep classes you took? PR, Kaplan?

I went to Jamboree for my Prep classes. I'm not sure if they have study center outside India. You could check their website (https://jamboreeindia.com/).
I'm not sure how it works in your part of the world but here you can attend a class for free and if you like it then you can join. If you are confused about where to go then you could try to attend a free class to see how good the study center is.