my tryst with GMAT

GMAT - at first I was overawed and totally scared about the beast... I presumed that taming this beast was by far the most important achievement in the entire journey of an MBA application... I could not be more mistaken...While GMAT score is important, it is definitely not a deciding factor and does not deserve the attention it receives. A 700+ is a good score. A 780 cannot guarantee an admit to top 10 and a 690 may be just fine a score to get you into a top 5...

With that disclaimer...I must add that GMAT did scare the hell out of me... But in the end I received a decent score which made me calm and relaxed during the essay writing phase... So my advice will be to target a 700+ score and focus all the remaining energy on essays which by far is the most important part of your application...it can make or break your dream of entering those hallowed portals of the B-school you always wanted to....

I will talk about my preparation strategy...And hope it gives the flavor of preparation one needs to put in for the exam...

I took a month and a half to prepare.. My office timings were pretty screwed up..12pm-9pm...so I conditioned myself to study at night...i used to come back from office and sleep for 2 hours and then study for some 2 hours... This schedule helped me build up my concentration levels well.. I started with OG, which is the only book one should refer to and did the entire book once... I figured out that my weakness area was SC and perhaps I needed to spend more time on it. To that end I did Manhattan SC guide and clarified all the concepts. After that I again solved the SC section of OG and read the solutions clearly...My accuracy rate had shot up... I did OG once again for all the sections and paid heed to the solutions... While doing OG, one should focus on "how the answers are derived" rather than "what the answer is"... This helps in maximizing accuracy...

Once I finished OG in some 10 days...I took my first GMAT prep test... it went okayish for me and I screwed up a little on timing myself...I tend to panic easily and needless to say...i got mini panic attacks some 4-5 times during the course of that test.. :D The test had many questions from OG and having dont OG twice, I remembered the answers...so doing not so well in the test made me realize that in the coming month, I need to spend most of my time practicing computer based tests..to acclimatize myself with the pressure and build up accuracy... A computer based test is a very different ball game and tests your mental strength more than knowledge level... I spent the remaining month doing computer based tests (Princeton, 800 score.com) and 1000CR and 1000SC for practice...The 1000 series is an excellent practice material...I made ti a point to do atleast 50 questions each day in SC and atleast 30 for CR every day...This gave me a very good practice and kept me mentally stimulated...

Finally the exam date was just a week away...I took 4 days off from work before my exam and practiced OG once again and at the same time continued practicing the 1000 CR and SC series...My exam timing was 5:30pm...So during these 4 days, I practiced a mock test (GMAT prep which I reinstalled and retook again and again)at 5:30pm.... Retaking the GMAT prep tests made me very comfortable with the actual exam pattern and interface....

Finally on the D DAY...I went...took the exam...got a major panic attack in the quants section...felt like I screwed the exam...proceeded to the verbal section..for some reason I found the verbal section super easy...In disbelief of my good luck I proceeded... i was disappointed with my performance..with a heavy heart click on calculate the score...and when I saw a 7**.. I was relieved and yeahh thrilled !!!!! I thanked GOD and took a deep breath of relief saying to myself that this is finally over" :)

So that was my story and just a quick fact...both the contributors of the blog have same score :P

To summarize...GMAT IS NOT THE END OF IT ALL..IT IS NOT "THE" ONLY FACTOR THAT GETS YOU IN....

The materials I referred for GMAT are as follows:

1) gmat Official guide 11 the edition also called OG - the main book which shud be referred (i think the 12th edition is already in the market)
2) 1000 cr and 1000sc for practice once I was done with OG times
3)Practice tests: Princeton, Gmatprep(can be dwnloaded from MBA.COM), and 5 tests from 800 score.com (NO KAPLAN PLEASE)
4) For Sentence correction I used "Manhattan SC guide"

Hope this helps!