Self-Studying to a 730 GMAT: My Journey with Dustin GMAT
Original Link: https://www.ptt.cc/bbs/GMAT/M.1426157454.A.F81.html
Test Score: First Attempt 730 Q50 V39 IR7 AWA? (2015/3/12)
Educational Background: NTU BA
English Proficiency: Xueceng English 15, TOEFL 97 four years ago
Full-time Student or Working Professional: Resigned, worked until 2/26, two weeks as a full-time GMAT student
Preparation Time: Started preparing in early January 2015 (from scratch, so I spent some time understanding what the GMAT tests). Dedicated preparation time of over one month.
Preparation Materials: OG, PP, GWD, Manhattan (SC), PowerScore (CR)
Zhui Meng Wang, Kaomanfen, GMATClub, BeatTheGMAT
Dustin’s YouTube channel + blog (very helpful!)
WeChat’s “Kao GMAT” app (I used it for practice anytime, like during subway rides or short breaks at work)
Preparation Experience:
The resources I used for my preparation are divided into three stages.
Stages 1 and 2 involved weekday evenings + weekend time. I was also practicing for the company’s year-end party, which was a bit overwhelming…
Stage 3 was after I resigned, and I focused entirely on practicing questions.
(1) Familiarizing Myself with Question Types: Took about a week for the OG diagnostic test.
When you’re self-studying, figuring out where to begin can be tough. I sifted through tons of forum posts, and then, by chance and a friend’s nudge, I found Dustin’s videos. They were a game-changer.
https://www.youtube.com/user/danyuchn/videos
His three videos on self-study laid out a clear path: how to prepare, what direction to focus on, and why summarizing is so important.
(2) Studied Manhattan (SC) and practiced with OG: Took about three weeks.
After the diagnostic test, Sentence Correction (SC) really stood out as a tough spot. So, I dove into the entire Manhattan SC guide. I loved its structured approach; it builds your grammar knowledge piece by piece. What initially seemed like a mess of words started to make sense as I learned to identify the subject, verb, subject-verb agreement, and parallelism. These are the core elements of most SC questions, and once I had a solid grip on them, SC felt much more manageable.
I mostly used my phone for the OG questions. The “Kao GMAT” app on WeChat is brilliant because it times each question. I’d tackle about 20 SC and 20 CR questions daily during my subway commute and short work breaks – that’s about one practice set. Evenings were for thorough review. During this period, I reviewed every single SC question and only the CR questions I got wrong. The timer also gave me a realistic sense of my pace per question, so I didn’t need to focus on timing later; it just became natural during practice tests.
For SC, I recall a forum tip: “For Verbal, learn from native English speakers.” So, when I stumbled on SC mistakes, I always sought out explanations from international forums.
I have to give the “Kao GMAT” app another shout-out. It keeps track of your incorrect answers, which I’d then Google using keywords from the questions. I found GMATClub particularly useful; I’d read explanations from users with “expert” badges. My main goal was to confirm I understood the core testing point and hadn’t missed anything crucial. Over time, my grasp of the testing points sharpened considerably.
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For CR, I found that sticking with Chinese explanations worked well for me, as long as it smoothed out my thought process.
(3) The two weeks before the exam: Regained my freedom and focused entirely on practice tests!
For practice tests, I relied on GWD and PP, doing two sets a day along with thorough review. I always did two Verbal sets and tackled Quantitative based on how I felt. I also used JJ materials (I signed up for Dustin’s Verbal JJ and bought the Math JJ e-book).
Can practice test scores predict your actual exam score? That’s a tricky question. I was pretty anxious before the real test because the GMAT scoring system has so many theories surrounding it, and I wasn’t entirely sure where I stood. Plus, practice tests sometimes throw in questions you might have seen before. So, I used them as a general guide, but they definitely played with my emotions. For example, I aced PP1 with a 770 and felt fantastic, only to get a 670 on PP2, which made me doubt everything. In the end, I focused on the number of mistakes I made and how many I got wrong in CR, RC, and SC – that was the real indicator.
I used the “Kaomanfen” website for practice tests. It’s convenient because you don’t need to download anything, the interface closely mimics the real exam, and reviewing is straightforward.
What’s great about this site is that besides showing your incorrect answers and how long you spent on each question, it also highlights questions where you took too much time. Since many people use it, it provides average time spent and accuracy rates for each question across all users.
During this final stretch, I focused on reviewing my incorrect answers, the questions that took too long, and any I felt unsure about (which I’d flag during the test). As Dustin always stresses, the key is to summarize and pinpoint those recurring weak spots.
Early in my practice test phase, I noticed my RC accuracy was a bit low – I hadn’t really drilled down on that section earlier. So, I decided to try something different and signed up for Dustin’s JJ. (Plus, as a fan, I was curious to see the “real person” who managed to score 760 self-studying! XD). Even though the question bank was about to be updated, I figured I could still pick up valuable RC techniques and structural analysis skills.
After the class, I noticed a definite improvement in my RC flow during my practice test that same afternoon. I then rewatched Dustin’s video on RC structure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpHWkwSdt9g.
It was a real breakthrough. Even when I hit unfamiliar vocabulary in RC, I felt much more confident, and my accuracy went up.
So, to all you self-studiers out there, I can’t recommend watching Dustin’s videos enough. Watch them twice. First, early on in your prep, to get a handle on the overall strategy and direction. You might not catch everything the first time, but understanding the methods is the main goal. Then, rewatch them in the middle to later stages of your preparation. The content will feel much more relevant then, and it’s a great way to ensure you haven’t missed any critical points.
Back to question practice – since Verbal is such a huge part of the score, I was doing at least two sets daily (GWD + PP). If I had extra time, I’d tackle GWD Math (many agree PP Math is on the easier side). While I didn’t always do a full Math practice test every day, I made sure to practice JJ questions to keep my skills sharp. Also, I worked through the Math practice books (Volumes 1 and 2) to ensure I hit that Q50 mark. Don’t just rely on JJ for Math; you need to practice English Math questions consistently!
The “Kaomanfen” website also offers CAT adaptive practice tests, in addition to GWD and PP. These are designed to adjust to your performance, much like the actual GMAT, so I definitely suggest giving them a try. Looking back, the Verbal scores from these CAT tests were the closest to my actual exam score, so they might offer a more reliable benchmark. GWD and PP scores tended to be a bit higher, so you can use those for a confidence boost and some fun! (Self-studiers really need that confidence boost!!!)
Oh, and during the JJ class, Dustin kept mentioning the importance of reviewing the OG again before the exam. I was short on time and couldn’t manage it, but I still highly recommend it to everyone, whether you’re self-studying or taking classes. You’ll likely uncover new insights and get a much stronger handle on the GMAT!
One more time, thank you, Dustin. Your videos have been an absolute lifesaver for self-studiers. I really connect with your mission to build a GMAT platform for learners like us.
Good luck to everyone tackling the GMAT!!!!!!
