I just Beat The GMAT!

My journey through the GMAT was a long one, over a year. To begin with, I'm not a great test taker - I've struggled with standardized tests since I was a child. I also experienced a few major live events that caused me to put my studying on pause. The main theme of my prep, though, was not giving up. So my main advice is that if you want to do well on the GMAT and go to business school, you must believe in yourself and not give up, even if the process is not as seamless as you would have liked. Additionally, don't compare yourself to other people - we are all different, have different skill sets, and excel in different things. That's really what makes the world go round. The GMAT is in many ways, a mental game.

Here's my story: I started studying for the GMAT by taking a math refresher course at NYU, which was really a pretty big waste of time. I should have just started studying actual GMAT problems initially because the math from high school (highest level of math tested is algebra) will come back, quickly. Next I took a couple online classes from "Manhattan Review", which should not be confused with "Manhattan Prep". Manhattan Review's classes were pretty terrible, so I decided to sign up for an in person Manhattan Prep class. Manhattan Prep was very helpful for me in understanding the full breadth of the GMAT. The course reviews each major category of problems from a high level and teaches that all of them have a different approach, tips & tricks, etc. Manhattan Prep was a great prep for the verbal section; however, the quant review was really just too surface level for me to have a thorough enough understanding to tackle the GMAT. I think that perhaps the Manhattan Prep's quant review was competitive years ago, but today it just doesn't cut it. So many people are scoring so well in quant, offsetting the above average scores that would once get the high GMAT scores everyone is chasing.

After taking Manhattan Prep's course, I took a few practice tests and was still scoring pretty low. I actually scored a 470 once and was a little heart broken because I'd been working so hard. At that point, I decided I needed a little more personalized help, so I started working with a private tutor at Varsity Tutors. Varsity Tutors employs a wide variety of tutors; most I had experience with were tutoring on the side just to make a little extra cash. They were not fully dedicated to helping people succeed on the GMAT nor did they have a curriculum to help people do so. Every session was pretty random, and honestly I don't know if it was very helpful.

Finally, I was connected with Jeff Miller at Target Test Prep through the Forte Forum MBALaunch program. We did a 30 minute initial consultation call where I told him about my extensive effort thus far in my preparation. I explained to him how I was feeling a bit hopeless, and he assured me that I was not the only person who felt this after having gone through Manhattan Prep and that it was actually quite normal to need much more prep after that course. So Jeff invited me to try Target Test Prep's online platform/curriculum for free for a week. I found it very comprehensive and helpful. Since I had already done so much prep, though, I really blew through all of the coursework as quickly as possible and didn't spend as much time really learning the curriculum as I should have. I felt prepared and took the test - scored a 640. I was really bummed.

After scoring the 640, I contacted Jeff again, and he proposed we start a more personalized approach. So for the next coupe of months, Jeff and I would meet once or twice a week via WebEx to do private tutoring after I covered each section in the curriculum. I really think that I could have only done this part of my prep (Target Test Prep + private tutoring with Jeff) plus the verbal from Manhattan Prep and that would have sufficed for my preparation. Unfortunately, I spent loads of time on preparation that really was not helpful. I took the test a second time a few months later and scored a 730. I was shocked! I had only been hoping for a 670 to be at the bare minimum average at my target school, never really thought at 730 was attainable. I did work very hard for it, though, so I'm beyond happy with the payoff.

A few tips:

Schedule: You really have to commit to a schedule - I tried to avoid this at first, and I got nowhere fast. I think it's best to chose a date that you want to take the GMAT, book it and then plan backwards from there. I had a physical paper calendar where I wrote in what I would study each day in order to cover all the material I felt I needed to by test day. I also woke up 4 hours before work to study and studied after work. Be sure to allow some time for vegging out (Fridays are good for this) and also some time for friends. Otherwise you'll start resenting the GMAT because you'll feel like you're life has been taken away. I also found that after about 4 hours of studying in any given sitting you'll stop digesting things. So on the weekends you may find it best to wake up and study for a bit, take a long break to perhaps see friends, and then study more in the evening.

Studying: Note cards are really your best friend when studying for the GMAT. Write anything that is memorization based: idioms, comma rules, number properties, multiplication, etc. I carried my note cards around with me in my workbag so that I could pull them out on the subway or while waiting for someone, etc.

Choosing a Test Day: I chose to take my test on a Tuesday after a long weekend because I knew that testing on the weekend after a long work week was not going to work for me. I needed the weekend to de-stress from the workweek and mentally prepare myself for the test.

Choosing a Test Time: I chose to take my test the second time 1:30 PM because I know I'm not a morning person and the afternoon is really when my brain gets going. I took the first test at 8:00 am, which was a big mistake. First off, you have to arrive at the test at least 30 minutes early, and I live in New York so that means I needed to leave by around 6:45 am in order to ensure I got there on time. And that meant I had to get up at 5:45 am! Needless to say, if you're not used to those hours, beware.

Before Test Day: In the few days leading up to test day, any additional prep you do likely will not help a whole lot if you've been prepping for weeks/months before. Take the days leading up to relax a bit, especially the day before - do not touch study materials the day before. You've worked hard to prepare - you've got this!

GOOD LUCK!