I took the GMAT last Friday and scored 640. I won’t attribute this score to a bad day or anything like that, but would attribute to under preparation.
Couple of things I learned from this exercise.
1) Assuming a 3 month preparation, first month should be devoted to get the basics right as well as to get accustomed with the kind of questions in GMAT. From the start of the second month, you need to take full length tests on a regular basis, say once in a week. This is very important. I don’t know how to stress more on this point. I concentrated on the individual sections and as a whole didn’t quite know where I stood in the overall score. This was the biggest flaw in my strategy.
2) RCs are very important. I think I should have screwed it up in the RC section. I found the RCs to be different from the usual ones I see in the 1000 RC document. Most of the RCs I got were a short single paragraph. The questions are quite tricky and it’s difficult to form the Kaplan’s road map approach. Usually on all forums, we do more number of CRs and SCs. RCs take more time to answer and hence was neglected in the lot and this was my second mistake.
3) The CRs posted on the forums and in 1000CR document is quite good. You need to work these CRs. This will definitely help in the exam.
4) For SC, 1000SC document is more than enough. All questions are in the same pattern as we see in the OG and 1000SC.
I am still contemplating on whether to retake the exam.
