640 to 720 GMAT

[lorrainesyma]

I started studying for the GMAT early November of 2013. I only used the official GMAC book and I did all four of the official practice tests. For the math section, I wasn't doing well in terms of timing. Often I would have to rush through the last ten or so questions, which really affected my score. The math itself wasn't so much difficult as it was tedious "” I wasn't really sure about tactics or strategies. My verbal was OK, and I averaged around a 80%.

I took a test mid December, and I didn't do well. I got a 640(Q46, V33). I did rather poorly in the verbal section because I got so tired toward the end of the test and didn't pace myself, so I ran out of time, which never happened to me with the verbal section before.

After Christmas, I started studying again. This time, I used a set of Veritas Prep books that my brother had left behind. Those books really helped me in terms of learning strategies and refreshing concepts, both for the quant and the verbal sections. I felt like I had a better understanding of all the material. I also started to keep an error log of questions I got wrong. I bought the MGMAT practice tests and practiced with those. In the beginning, I wasn't doing very well in terms of timing. The MGMAT Quant section is more challenging than the GMAC tests, but ultimately that really helped me as I fought through the hard questions and got used to pacing myself with questions of that level. I was averaging a 70 "” 75% on the MGMAT quant section, and was getting a 92"” 94% on the verbal. I felt pretty confident going into my next exam, scheduled for mid February. I felt that if I was careful and paced myself, I would be in the 700 range. I spent the day before the exam reviewing my error log.

I ended up getting a 720(Q49; V40), a result I was very happy with. The actual quant questions felt slightly easier, though there were still several that I needed to guess or skip. I felt a like I had performed with the quant section, and I tried to just not think about it during the break right after. I forced myself to eat something before the verbal section (you really should try to eat and recharge because it gets exhausting). With verbal, I paced myself, and when I felt stuck or tired, I would tell myself, you're not doing this test again, this is your last shot, just fight through it. So I kept going, and I ended up finishing the verbal section on dot. I ended up getting a 80% in quant and a 90% in verbal, which was a really ideal result for me.

I would definitely recommend using the MGMAT practice tests because they're actually a little harder than the actual GMAT tests and you'll be in better shape for the exam. Also, even though I haven't used the MGMAT books, I would recommend using a more in-depth practice book set, like the ones from Veritas Prep or MGMAT so you can better understand the material and strategize your approach to questions.