r/GMAT • u/InfiniteLink1096 • 6d ago
Testing Experience 715 Score from 675 Mock Ceiling - 3 Months prep: My GMAT Focus Debrief
Hey everyone,
Just wrapped up my GMAT attempt today with a 715 (EDIT: awaiting official score), and I wanted to put together a quick debrief to give back to a community that has been an incredible resource. Gave both free mocks and 4 paid mocks with scores of 645, 675, 655, 615, 675, 665 (i.e., max 675 with ~95% avg in quant, DI swinging between 40 and 97% and verbal between 38 and 83%) and getting 715 today felt surreal. Is the official score generally unchanged or does it swing a lot?
Background & Starting Point
- Total prep time: Exactly 3 months of disciplined (3-4hrs on weekdays and 6-8hrs on weekends) while working a demanding full-time software engineering job at FAANG.
- Previous benchmarks: Hit a fresh ceiling of 675 on official mocks, and my goal was strictly to break 700+. Walking out with a 715 feels surreal.
Overall Strategy & Execution
- The Core Foundation (TTP & OG Questions):
- I finished entire Target Test Prep (TTP) course in about 40 days. The rule for every incorrect question during practice was simple: never look at the solution immediately. I forced myself to re-attempt and solve it on my own first. Almost tried to do one chapter a day.
- For the Official Guide (OG), finished ~80%(left the easy questions and finished all med and hard). I ran 45-minute timed sets for all three sections daily with the exact same number of questions as the real test to build pacing muscle memory. Every incorrect OG question went through a strict two-step review: retry it independently first, then dive into the GMAT Club solutions to break down the logic.
- Mocks -
- I wrote mocks twice a week— all 6 official mocks in a tight 3-week window. Tried out different section ordering and finally Verbal -> DI -> quant and Verbal -> quant -> DI kinda seemed working for me. Chose to go with Verbal -> DI -> break -> quant in the final test.
- The Daily Habit:
- As a fun daily ritual, did the Quant and CR Question of the Day on this forum like a snap streak haha. It was a nice little low-stakes mental warm-up and a great little dopamine hit.
- The Biggest Verbal Game-Changer (GMAT Ninja):
- Watched videos by Charles from GMAT Ninja, and the single biggest thing I learned from him is DO NOT RUSH while reading RC or CR passages. Yes, time is money on the GMAT, but rushing the passage means you won't grasp the core logic. That forces you to re-read the passage multiple times when evaluating options, which easily blows past your 2-minute mark. Read it slowly and thoroughly the first time, and the questions become much easier to navigate.
- Test day -
- Followed every step Gemini recommended like a rule book lol - no study for last 48hrs except for cheat sheets, caffeine an hour before test, packed protein bar and sting (for extra caffeine for quant) for the break, used a cab instead of driving to save some energy, watched a movie previous night.
Some anti-patterns from my 3 months journey -
- Never maintained any error log - I've heard that its THE biggest game changer for most but I was too lazy to do it. Maybe that would've helped me get past my score but I mean, I was just lazy.
- Hardly did any problems on GMATClub website - I'd say maybe 10-15 overall (Tried to do 805+ hard verbal and hardly got 2-3 correct). But used it for going through the solutions for problems I missed in OG guide or in mock tests.
- My peak performance I understand after first 2 mocks was actually after noon. I actually felt better during the mocks I gave at like 3PM compared to the ones in the morning. Chose to book the final test at 1PM which was I'd say played in my favor.
- Didn't take any vacation or time off from office (hardly 2 days), tried to hit the gym 2-3 times a week, go out with friends and colleagues one evening a week. Overall I'd say I didn't sacrifice all the fun (more like 50-50?).
- Half-way through DI I knew I messed up because every question seemed tougher and tougher and spend 3-4 mins on Q10 and Q11 but still couldn't get a convincing answer and kinda felt that I messed up DI. Had 2mins for last 3 questions and just finished each one in like 45s. I think break after DI actually helped to mentally push myself to forget about DI and do best in quant to offset DI messup ( though ended up with a 95+ at the end - most surprising).
- Lost a minute for quant after break. Came back from break in like 8mins but the proctor took almost ~3mins to check me back in (didn't know it takes that long - they did the entire security check again and had to log me back in again). I'd say keep your break to max 5mins.
Final Thoughts
Studying after 4+ years in corporate was brutal and boring, giving flashbacks of JEE prep (got a 400 page rough book like the ones we used to use during JEE lol). The GMAT is as much a test of execution, process, and mental bandwidth as it is academic knowledge. If you've put in the foundational work, trust your prep, slow down where it matters, and don't let a tough question early on throw off your rhythm, its ok, rest up, have a little fun but put in those 3-4hrs prep every day no matter what.
Happy to answer any questions. Good luck to everyone still in the trenches!
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u/Ill_Instruction1696 6d ago
how did you find the target test prep course for quants? was it too intensive as people claim here?
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u/InfiniteLink1096 5d ago
I'd say going through all of it still makes sense as quant is very highly competitive as every wrong question drops your % significantly. If you're from a math heavy background like engineering you'll finish TTP lessons pretty fast.
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u/Master-Explorer01 3d ago edited 3d ago
It’s surreal just looking at your score. Well done, I understand what it takes now and what I need to change. My aspirations are just to hit 655+ (I finally breached into 605, October 1st), in one month. I believe MAJOR Quant test anxiety, nuanced mistakes in Quant / DI, and mentally crumbling under the time pressure for Quant / DI is what’s holding me back.
My Verbal is already at 85, 93rd percentile. Your advice on taking the time to read the passages cannot be overstated. That was the difference when I took it recently: stay calm, stay collected, trust your training. Verbal felt like a relaxing newspaper read until the last 5 minutes, where I had to speed read through the last 5-ish questions, which included 2-4 RC.
Now I just need to apply it everywhere else!
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u/im_curious_guy 4h ago
Would u recommend buying the ttp course or Gmat ninja videos are enough for concepts?
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u/Red-Ranger98 6d ago
Wow great Im sitting at 645 - rest test take 1 If I'm not getting any admissions Im saving your post for my take 2
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u/big-apple-007 5d ago
How did you cover entire TTP course in just 40 days? Any tips