Anuj 710 [M - 49, V - 38]
Sometime in October last year, I decided to do an MBA and started preparing for GMAT. Without revising a single math or English concept, I gave my first diagnostic test and got a 550. It had been a long gap since I studied last so I was hopeful of improving the score much better. I was as confused with Verbal as others are. I went through Princeton and OG 11 and lots of questions available on net but it was all direction less. Finally I gave my GMAT in December and got a score of 650, an improvement of 100 from the first diagnostic but still below my expectations.
I decided to give it one more shot and this time with some guidance. I searched online and came to know of Kalyan and Csquare Learnings through one of the forums. Luckily I did not go anywhere else and went to Csquare first. I was impressed after talking to them and decided to get coaching from them. I did not check any other institute. It was 3 months of hard work and expert guidance from Kalyan and Csquare before I took my exam the second time in July end.
I did a lot of practice and was getting good scores in GMAT prep software as well as a very good accuracy in OG questions. I was full of confidence before the exam. Anyways, I went for the exam and fared badly in it. I got a 650 again. My Verbal score was less than the first time score. I was extremely disappointed. I could see 2 mistakes in my approach at that time.
1. I was overcautious while attempting all the questions. I was not too keen on skipping the questions at that time.
2. I did not follow some simple strategies which could have saved time. I will discuss those strategies later.
So I was left with very less time for about last 10-12 questions which messed up my score.
Like any normal human being, I was very unsure about taking the test again or just forget about it. Getting the same score twice and after so much practice, getting a lower score in Verbal was shattering.
After talking to Kalyan after the exam, I gained my confidence back. He had full faith in me and wanted me to go for it again. So I decided to go for it again. I took the first available date after a month of my first exam date. I practiced the same content again. Not much difference in preparations as such. Again I took my exam in September.
This time got a score of 710 [M - 49, V - 38].
