Hi –

Quick Background : Started GMAT mid of 2012 , Took up an
online course mid way left it due to work pressure. Restarted October 2012 did some
research found CV but joined Kaplan ( alas like Siksha.com advertisement follow
the herd ). Well Kaplan wasn’t bad , improved on Quant . Intial diagnostics score
before Kaplan course started was 600  moved
to 640 – 650 with Q between 49-50 but V remaining constant on 24 .

Tried everything for verbal including all stuffs Arun
mentions not to , like wren and martin , books to improve reading speed et al .

Frustrated did research again came across CV , read about Arun
decide to give it a try by attending a demo class on SC ( my weakest link ) .
After attending Arun’s session felt V can be cracked and found my dronacharya of
GMAT J

Scores improved very well post CV classes reached 680-690.
Decided to give my exam in May due to availability issues had to book Hosur
center. Tragedy struck scored 600 !!! Devastated wrote email to Gowri and with
her patience she convinced me to go ahead a retake as soon as possible.

Scheduled second time for June 19^th ad scored 710
( V 39 , Q 49 ) .

What went wrong in first attempt :

1.      
I am prone to exam anxiety ( has been 15 yrs
since last exam attempt so forgot abt it the recent PMP exam I gave it was all
fine ) so night before exam had sleepless night.

2.      
Exam was schedule for morning slot , Centre was
far from place went earlier than required.

3.      
By the time I entered I was probably exhausted.

4.      
IR , AWA was fine , Q I think post 10^th
question , lost focus and started guessing . Started getting very simple
questions ( literally like 2  + 2 = ? )
relaised something wrong.  Refocused  atleast tried but damage was probably already
done.

5.      
Took the break , By the time V started I was
totally exhausted . finally got the score of 600.

What changed for second attempt.

1.      
Didn’t study much

2.      
Only thing I did was revise all CV questions ,
understand them well.

3.      
Did 3-4 mock tests and focus was on time
management and saving fuel ( brain power ) till end.

4.      
Booked late evening slot , manipal center ( near
to my place )

5.      
Continued to study till exam date , in the sense
casually read some stuff , important to kind of keep brain tuned . Last attempt
I didn’t study anything one day before exam .

6.      
Remained confident during test , Gajini focus
one question at a time.

In fact I did one blunder in one RC some reason didn’t realise
there was one more para and started answering questions , after answering 2
questions realised it but avoided being panicy and focussed on the remaining questions.
May be lucky , that was an experimental RC question.

My suggestions:

FOLLOW EVERYTHING
ARUN SAYS AND THAT’S IT ( DRONACHARYA )

Special thanks to Gowri for all guidance for second attempt.

An excellent 100-point improvement, Srini.

110 🙂 those 10 points are so important after 700

Thanks so much for your kind words Srinivas. Let me also say that at the end of the day – the coach can only do so much. It is your  hardwork and perseverance that has shown the results 🙂

Fortunately , for this phase getting it correct first time CV – Gowri helping out with the same. Thanks.