I just Beat The GMAT!

Reading how others beat the GMAT helped me during my journey. So here is my GMAT story of how I went from 580 (Q42 V29) to 720 (Q49 V39) in 1 month.

I took the GMAT 4 years ago just in case I wanted to go to grad school. At the time, I wasn't seriously considering going back to school but nonetheless I took a prep course with Princeton Review and scored 680. I thought it was a great score and left it at that because I honestly did not want to put myself through the torture of retaking the test; the test is mentally draining and I didn't have the motivation to take it again.

Earlier this year, I decided I want to go to grad school but 680 was not enough for my dream school. I was tight on money and since I knew the format of the GMAT, I decided to study independently. I used the Official Guide and Kaplan books to study. After making my way through those books, I got a few books from Manhattan GMAT for extra practice in the areas I felt weak in. The fact that they came with extra online practice and 6 practice tests was also a bonus. The books were great and I felt prepared for the test. (When I took practice tests 4 years ago, I was scoring in the low 600s and ended up with 680 so when I was scoring in the mid to high 600s this time, I felt fairly confident I could get at least 700 on the actual test)

The week leading up to the test, I started to stress and doubt if I was actually ready because my quant score was not where I wanted it to be. (I was aiming for 49 or higher and I had scored in that range a couple of times but lately, I was scoring in the mid 40s) It was during that time that I read about Target Test Prep in a post on Beat the GMAT. Target Test Prep had a 5 day trial for just $1 and I thought it would provide me with some extra practice in quant before the test. $1 for access to over 2000 problems is a really good deal. I probably over did it with the reviewing during the last 3 days leading up to the test.

On test day, everything that could go wrong pretty much did go wrong. First, I lost my ID after I got to the test center. Luckily, I had enough time to find my ID before I was supposed to take the test. After I started the test, things were going fine. (I scored a 6 and 7 on my essay and IR respectively) When I stepped out for the first break, the palm reader had problems reading my palm and it continued throughout the rest of the test. I think this messed with my head a bit. After the break, I sat down to start quant and that is when everything went downhill. The first question I got was easy. I knew how to answer it but for some reason, I couldn't get to an answer. I started to panic and after 4 minutes of trying, I decided to guess and move on. That was the biggest mistake I made! (On one of my practice tests, I had answered the first question wrong but ended up answering the next 10 right and was able to score 50 on quant. I thought I could do the same here but I was so wrong.) Almost half way through the test, I felt like these questions were too easy for me and I was right. I finished the section almost 20 minutes early which NEVER happens to me. After that, I knew I had bombed quant. After you know you messed up on quant, it is really hard to get your head back in the game and focus. As much as I tried to focus, my mind was just not in it and I went through verbal without really knowing what I was doing.

When I got my score of 580, I was shocked. I knew I did bad, but I never thought I could do worse than my first practice test. Before I even started studying, I was able to score 610 so how could I get a lower score than that? I was so disappointed in myself and upset that I had no idea what I was going to do. How was I going to come back from this and would I be able to score higher than a 680? So many questions and insecurities ran through my mind. My friends and family tried to console me and tell me that this was just a freak accident and that I will do better the next time. Deep inside, I knew they right but getting a 580 really shook me to my core. It was during that time that I decided to post on Beat the GMAT about what happened and get advice from others to find out what happened so that I don't make the same mistake the second time around. I received feedback from quite a few experts, which helped me figure out my new plan.

After taking a few days to get over what happened, I decided to retake the test one month later. I really liked what I had seen on Target Test Prep during my trial and I had a conversation with Jeff from Target Test Prep and we talked about how Target Test Prep could help me increase my quant score. I decided to use them to restudy for the test. They had a short term study plan, which I followed 95% of the time. I basically studied one chapter per day and took my time studying the material and making my way through all the problems. They provide you with so many questions to practice each concept that I was able to identify the type of question and how to approach it before I was done reading the question. Their analytics tool was really helpful in showing me which areas I understood well and which areas I could spend some more time reviewing. I felt so comfortable with quant after that 1 month that I was confident I would do better.

For verbal, I had a timing issue. I tend to go really fast as would end 20 minutes earlier every time. The main piece of advice I got was to slow down so while I had to work on that I also wanted to restudy all the material just like quant. I saw a lot of people recommend Powerscore's CR Bible and Aristotle Prep's Sentence Correction Holy Grail. I ended up finding old versions of both online and just read through those. I don't know how different they are from the latest versions but what I read was just as useful. I highly recommend these books because they gave me more insights than any other books I had read.

The day before the test, I put away all my material and did not touch anything related to the test. I didn't do that the first time which I think added to my anxiety about being ready. This time, I spent time relaxing and watching my favorite TV shows to take my mind off the test. Test day comes and I feel ready to beat the GMAT and redeem myself. I was an athlete in high school so I knew how to get my head in the game and just thought back to the times I competed and how I prepped myself mentally during those times and I went into the test nervous but definitely ready. I did bad on IR this time(I scored a 3) but given that I scored a 7 before and that schools are still unsure about what to do with IR, I'm not going to worry about it. This time, I did not have any problems with the hand scanner which was a bonus! During the quant section, I was completely comfortable with the questions. I never felt like the questions were hard but I also didn't feel like they were too easy. I believe that because I did so many problems on Target Test Prep, I just knew how to approach the questions without any trouble. A lot of the questions also looked easy but they had hidden tricks which I was able to catch. This only reinforced my belief that I was doing well. During verbal, I took my time with the questions and I noticed that half way through, I was getting the types of questions that Powerscore mentioned as rare questions that you would only get if you were doing well and so I knew I was doing well on verbal as well. At the end of the test, I see that my score is 720! I was again in shock but this time for the exact opposite reasons from last time. I was so excited and happy that I finally Beat the GMAT!

I knew I had the ability to do well but after scoring so low, I felt like I had let everyone who was cheering for me down. Everyone said it was things outside of my control that caused me to do bad. But the athlete in me kept thinking that if I was actually prepared, then nothing could have tripped me up. The inspiration of others who Beat the GMAT and the help from Target Test Prep helped me a lot. I realized in all of this that I was my own enemy. By changing the way I thought and approached the test, I was able to prepare well and be ready for anything. If you find that you are worried about doing well or needing to do better, just know that you are not alone. We've all been through it and came out on top in the end. It might take some time and lots of effort but you too can beat the GMAT!

Thanks for the excellent post and congrats! How much time did you spend daily focusing on target test prep? Also what did the 1 month study plan look like?

Thanks! I spent on average between 2 to 3 hours each day but it really varied depending on the chapter. There are 20 chapters total and some were short while others were longer. The 1 month study plan basically splits the content into sections called modules. It doesn't really split it into specific days, that would be up to you to decide how you want to split it up.

Each chapter has chapter tests that are split into Easy, Medium, and Hard level questions. Depending on your goal, your study plan will give you a goal for each level. For my goal, I had to score 90% or higher on all Easy level tests, between 80-90% on Medium level tests, and 60-70% on all Hard level tests.

After a few chapters, they have you review the chapters you studied until you feel comfortable and then you take a 37 question test based on questions from the chapters you just finished. It is supposed to mimic the quant section. My goal for this was to score at least 75%. Along the way, they have you take practice GMATs to see if your score has improved and it continues until you are done with all the chapters.

Hi,

First of all congratulations on the brilliant score ! Just had one question in mind. Whats the best way to improve in CR because that is my paint point. I just get lost in trying to understand what the options are actually trying to say.

Cheers