Beat The GMAT a GMAT & MBA community

I have read many posts on this site and found a lot of useful advice so let me first say thank you to the people who posted their stories in the past. I have taken the GMAT 3 times scoring 620, 630, and 740. I am not going to document everything step along my GMAT journey (others have already done a great job at that), I will just provide some data points that I think were helpful for me and hopefully helpful to others.

I first set out to take the GMAT at the beginning of 2010 with the intention of studying for three months. I purchased a number of books that people on this website said were useful (OG 10, Princeton Review, Kaplan 800, Manhattan Sentence Correction). After reading many self study guides from others posts, I put together with my own study plan. I signed up for a test date three months from the day I started studying. I thought signing up for the test would provide me with a goal and an end date to motivate me. I spent a lot of time studying the first month but then the weather started to get nicer and I was easily distracted. I did very little studying during the second month and only really re-engaged about 2 weeks before the exam. I scored a 620 on my first GMAT.

With that result I was discouraged and talked myself out of business school for a while. However, after discussions with colleagues and friends around my industry, I decided that B-school could be very beneficial to my long-term career. I decided to take the exam again. After some research and reflection on my first test, I decided it was worth the money for me to take a prep course. I settled on the online Manhattan GMAT course. I signed up and started the course in early August 2011. At the end of August, I signed up for a test date 2 weeks after the end of the class as I wanted to get a score before many 1st round deadlines. I was very dedicated to the Manhattan course and the syllabus. I followed their in-depth syllabus (in an excel spreadsheet on their website) which covers advance topics and is very detailed about which questions to do on which days and etc. I was very active in every online class and even participated in their one-on-one weekly discussions. I think one-on-one discussions were helpful once I understand that I had to come detailed questions in order to get the most out of it. At the end of the course, I was scoring near 700 on my practice courses and felt like I was prepared for the test. I took the test and scored a 630. After all of that work I improve the bare minimum! I was very discouraged.

I requested a post-exam follow-up with a Manhattan counselor (which they offer if you were unhappy with your results). We went through the review for an hour and he made some comments. I realized that one of my major errors was managing my time and recognizing when it was time to guess on a question and when its worth spending a little extra time.

I then spent the next 2 months reviewing. I did not study as intensily as during the course. I thought I understood the material it was more a problem of focusing for the entire test and time management. I took one practice exam per week and focused mostly on taken time test of 10, 15, and 20 questions. Occasionally re-reading some of the manhattan books (which came with the class) in the areas where I felt weak or unsure after practice test or review questions. I signed up to take the exam two weeks before I took it on December 28th, 2011. I was just giving it one last shot as I really thought I could get near my practice test scores. I took the exam in the afternoon (where as I took the first 2 at 8am).

I scored a 740 (Q48, V44, 97th %).

Important points from my experience:

1. A prep course is definitely worth the money. While some people are great test-takers or have the self-discipline to study in order to achieve a strong result, I am not one of those people (and I suspect most people aren’t either). The courses are worth it, even if it is just to provide structure. I think of it like hiring a gym trainer. When you pay someone you are more likely to show up and get your butt kicked which is good for you in the long run. If you don’t hire that person, it is very easy to become distracted. Be honest with the type of person you are and you will know which way to go.
2. Use all of the time in the essay section and breaks. In my first two exams I wrote the essays in about 20 minutes each and then only used about 3 minutes of each break. On my third try, I wrote the essays in a similar amount of time but used that time to clear my head and refresh myself for the next section. I believe the GMAT is more about remaining focus for the entire exam than anything. Using the extra time helps your stay focused.
3. Figure out when you test best. Take the first couple of practice exams at different times in the day and see how you felt as you go through them (not so much how you score). I just felt more awake and relax taking the exam in the afternoon. I also think I got a better night sleep taking the exam in the afternoon because I knew I wouldn’t over sleep. You need to decide when you function at your peak.
4. Practice OG problems timed in groups of 10, 15, or 20. When I did the OG problems during the course, I would do them timed but only one at a time. I got very good at taking them one at a time. However, I did not build up the stamina to focus as well as manage my time in groups of problems. Basically, I was unprepared to 37 or 41 at one time on the test day. This was the biggest feedback I got from the post-examination. I believe doing 10 questions in 20 minutes or 15 questions in 30 minutes was a big reason for my improvement.
5. Really focus on your weak areas. I actually enjoy math problems and I found it very easy to do math problems instead of verbal problems (my weakness). I used Manhattan’s OG Archer, which records your answers to OG problems and helps you analyze those results. I knew I was weak in reading comprehension but the Archer showed that I was actually strong in passage structure and main idea but weak in specific detail and inference questions. This feedback helped me understand that I needed to spend more time studying specific detail and inference questions as well as extra careful with these questions on the actual test.

I am extremely happy with my improvement but most of all I am happy that I didn’t give up. After my second test I couldn’t read other people’s post about being successful on the test because I didn’t think I was going to achieve my goal. Hopefully the one thing you’ll take away from my story is just keep trying because eventually you’ll achieve your goal.