From 500 prep to 720 Final- Its possible

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From 500 prep to 720 Final- Its possible

by djonga » Sat Oct 24, 2015 10:59 am
Hi guys,

Finally I am done with my GMAT and yes i am relieved. It has been a topsy-turvy ride for about 2 years before finally getting a score that I am ok with. I had, like most, tried to find my inspiration in this forum, and trust me there are some real inspiring stories here! Now that I am done with my GMAT, I just felt it necessary to give something back.
Takeaways:
1. Never allow disappointments decide for you. My first diagnostic test (GMAT prep) ended with a super score of 500, yeah that's right 500, and I was almost done with GMAT before I ever started.
2. It's a clichéd concept, but nevertheless really effective- have an error log handy. This simple good habit can significantly bump up your score more than any incremental volumes of fancy study guides.
3. Be super selective, nit-picky, meticulous, punctilious... (You get the drift) when/if you are selecting any prep course. They are not cheap (well most are not) and no one size fits all. I kind of learned this the hard way (read ~ $2000 wasted in prep courses). That's around 10 GMAT tests gone begging, add to this pulsating levels of good old daily dosages of "Desperation" & "disappointment" and you have, your honor, the recipe of how not to prepare for GMAT.

Biggest learning:
a. Ability to do a problem in five different ways (exaggerated) is a cool showoff but not really practically needed (my opinion). Bad to worse: It's even more impractical when you start mixing strategies and tactics. Worse to Worst: Then end up learning nothing new, get burdened with slacky pace and waste a lot of money and time that can very well be invested elsewhere for a hugely satisfactory result.
b. Every test prep co. has certain things to offer, what's better, almost every prep comes with a free trial period- USE THIS!!! Check if it's OK for you else move on- this will save you a lot of heartburn later. (I, by no means, am trying to take a "holier than thou" stance here, people visiting this forum are well organized to figure things out all by themselves- just read this as an effort to save somebody like "me" from repeating things and feeling the heat.)

Test Day Experiences:
Hit 1:
Was reallyyyyy nervous, had been scoring pretty well (700+) in my mocks, so perhaps had put some extra loads of expectations on myself.... and it did NOT work out.
Began the AWA (5.5) and IR (7) sections well, and by the time I was done with the two, I kind of felt drained. Did try those energy drinks and all sort of things to keep myself pumped- but the only thing that seemed pumped were the questions!!! I was stuck with the 1st question, dilly-dallied for around 3 mins and decided to move on, but not before I was absolutely certain I had got that one INCORRECT.
I tried to save the day and tried to work with other questions well, but guess I could not get over that first question "trauma".

Comedy of HORRORS:
I wanted to use the loo before I started my verbal. By this time I was already a proud owner of a half fried brain, which got fully roasted when it turned out that the loo had ran out of water. After lot of histrionics when I finally managed to start the verbal section, I was a whole 3 MINS late. Remember that dialogue from Secretariat : this horse can't beat a fat man encased in concrete, and is pulled other side by a freight train.... I now know what's that supposed to exactly mean.
Verbal:
I had no idea what I was doing, till I reached Q16- it was over soon, and when I hit submit for scores a 640 popped up ( Q45/ V34).
I was, somehow, not sad, it kind of gave me some sort of confidence to take this monster on one more time. I felt I was hard done that day. I decided to retake as soon as I received my un-official transcripts in hand.

The Comeback:

I was a little early to the center this time. This being a retake I was well versed with the drills and was not flustered. I also did cut out on the energy drink junk this time around and stuck with plain old H2O. Also this time I booked a morning slot- last time it was a slot in the afternoon.

I did AWA and IR, purely keeping in mind I have a bigger battle to fight. Took the 8 mins break, came back and started with Quant, and got stumped once again by the first question !!!
However, more or less the section went OK and I finished everything in time.

Verbal:
No loo break issue this time around, and finished the section on time. Quickly submitted everything and saw a 720(Q49/V39)- I was elated. Collected my score report and left the place- satisfied.

Prep:
I believe Magoosh and EmpowerGmat are great platforms , they worked for me. Rich and Max - Empower gmat guys are real cool guys, and have a very unconventional approaches to things. They follow a very nice narrative to explain things and are very clear in their thought processes to tackle any GMAT question.

Magoosh, well I have no words for this- the price and quality combo is simply unbelievable- just check out their video explanations and you will see what I mean. Big Thumbs UP!!!

Disclaimer: This is no effort to drive you towards any specific platform, you are the best judge. This is all but my personal opinion.

As for the ones that did not work for me- well let those be silent, they might have worked super well for somebody else. ( No one size fits all!!)

To end, this has been a journey with lots of learning, I am not really in favor of putting up specific strategies in forum for SC, CR or any subsection, as I don't really feel I am expert enough to suggest. However, I will end with another quote from secretariat (no it's not my fav movie)
You never know how far you can go unless you run
.
All the best for your prep!!!

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by [email protected] » Sun Oct 25, 2015 9:47 am
Hi djonga,

That's an OUTSTANDING score improvement and final GMAT score! With a 720/Q49, you're in position to apply to any Business Schools that interest you, so you shouldn't hold back when it comes to your applications.

1) Have you thought about which Schools you plan to apply to (and when you plan to apply?)?

Your 'Takeaways" are spot-on; while the overall process of preparing for the GMAT might seem overwhelming, you've pointed out some really important points that everyone should be thinking about (and implementing) during their studies.

Congratulations again on your success.

Another GMAT Assassin has been made!
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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by djonga » Mon Oct 26, 2015 2:22 am
[email protected] wrote:Hi djonga,

That's an OUTSTANDING score improvement and final GMAT score! With a 720/Q49, you're in position to apply to any Business Schools that interest you, so you shouldn't hold back when it comes to your applications.

1) Have you thought about which Schools you plan to apply to (and when you plan to apply?)?

Your 'Takeaways" are spot-on; while the overall process of preparing for the GMAT might seem overwhelming, you've pointed out some really important points that everyone should be thinking about (and implementing) during their studies.

Congratulations again on your success.

Another GMAT Assassin has been made!
Rich
Hi Rick,
Thanks for those lovely comments :). I am planning to apply to CBS,LBS, NYU. Can empowergmat help me?