I just Beat The GMAT!

I've been reading the BTG forums for a couple months now, mainly as motivation and inspiration during the tougher times of studying. I'm excited to say that I've beaten the GMAT today with a 720 score on the first try (Q49 81%, and V40 90%)!! Big shout out to Rich and the EmpowerGMAT team and the MGMAT team as well.

Background: I work full time at a publicly traded REIT as an Acquisitions Manager and graduated from UCLA two years ago with a degree in Business Economics and minor in Accounting.

My road began in January when I made the decision to get the GMAT out of the way this year. (I was deciding between the CFA 1 and the GMAT, and since GMAT scores last for 5 years and there's no time pressure of when to take it, I figured I'd do it first.) At that point I already owned the OG 12 ed and started flipping through that, without a solid plan. I knew from the diagnostics that my quant was weak and my verbal was strong. My friend (to whom I'm very thankful) then lent me her entire stack of MGMAT guides and supplements from her GMAT days. Within a week, I took my first CAT - (700 Q43, V42), which confirmed my fears, I was dismal in math, my verbal basically carried the load.
And so the battle against the quant section began.

It actually surprises many people that my quant is so much weaker than my verbal considering my undergrad major, but for some reason I just couldn't get the math! (And I know there are many people out there that understand my frustrations) To those people, I say, DO NOT GIVE UP. The math, as I later understood, is not hard. The trick is understanding the logic behind the math. I continued to prep, going meticulously through the MGMAT materials for 2-3 hours after work each day, 4-8 hours on the weekends. Here are the results from my ensuing practice tests:

GmatPrep 1/20/2014 700 Q43, V42
GmatPrep 3/1/2014 710 Q44, V42
GmatPrep 4/5/2014 710 Q46, V42
MGMAT 4/27/2014 680 Q46, V37
MGMAT 5/1/2014 640 Q38, V38
MGMAT 5/4/2014 720 Q43, V45
MGMAT 5/11/2014 700 Q44, V40
MGMAT 5/16/2014 700 Q44, V40
MGMAT 5/24/2014 690 Q46, V38
GmatPrep 5/31/2014 740 Q49, V42

As you can see, I did not improve much over the course of the studying. But I was encouraged that I was scoring around 700 on the MGMAT tests. For those that are wondering, it was my experience that these tests are harder than the real thing, the quant sections more than anything. However, they are great practice because any other math problem automatically became easier.

Since I wasn't progressing and I had already signed up for my test I was desperate to find a quick boost to my score. In came Rich and the EmpowerGMAT team. I bought OG 13 and I subscribed to the E-GMAT system for a month and flew through the quant videos. All I can say is I regret not using this system from the beginning in addition to MGMAT. This is the reason my quant score jumped on my last official GMAC practice test. After that final practice test and the 740 score my confidence was high and I tapered off my studying. My test was scheduled for a Saturday and I decided to take off the Thursday and Friday to clear my head. I ran through some easy questions but other than that, just watched some Netflix, spent a lot of time walking my dog, and went to the gym.

Test Day: HAVE EVERYTHING READY TO GO. It is also helpful to scope out the testing location. I went as far as walking to the front door of Pearson the day before just to make sure I knew everything. Nothing messes up good studying than surprises on test day that shake you up. Anyways, I had a good breakfast, and then a small brunch (my test was at 12:00pm), and headed off to the center. Pump up music - End Credits Music from Tron Legacy. Listen to it - it'll get you ready.

The essay was pretty straightforward. I already had a template in my head so I just filled in the details in the 30 mins. The IR was a little harder than I expected and I ended up getting a 6. Apparently, the schools don't look at it that closely? Anyways, after I finished I raised my hand for a break, and I kid you not, the proctor was chatting with her friend for 2 minutes before she noticed me. I went to the bathroom, ate my snack, drank some water, and went back to my screen - 1 min 30secs into the Quant!!

I quickly started the Quant and first question I couldn't solve for the life of me. Panic started to set in. But as Rich suggested, I took a deep breath, took a guess and just moved on. No sense in wasting 3 minutes on a question, albeit the first one, when you just weren't going to get it. There are plenty of opportunities to make it up later on. I was surprised at how easy the questions were. It actually unnerved my a little. Maybe that first question had set me on the path to get a 600.... I finished the quant section with 30 secs left and took my second break. Ate another bar and drank some more water.

I gotta admit, the verbal section really caught me by surprise. It usually comes very easily to me but today's section was filled with SC that had two choices that were very close and RC with convoluted passages. My head was spinning. My verbal was usually the saving grace. I stuck it out and I think I ended pretty strongly.

The moment of truth: I quickly clicked through the final screens and saw my score: 720. I was very happy about the 81% on Quant but was a little disappointed at the 90% on verbal (usually in 96%). Regardless, I'm not retaking.

The future: I'm planning on applying in 2 years so that when I enter B-school I'll have 5 years of work experience under my belt. I'm aiming for the top 10 schools in the U.S. for entrepreneurship and finance. Will my score keep me in the running??

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions on how I prepped. Trust me, I was going through the same things you are...checking on people's practice scores and real scores, looking at people's study material, etc. etc. I'm so happy and relieved to be on this side of the fence now!

Now, go beat the GMAT!

YZ

Congratulations!!!

Thank you for sharing your detailed experience.

Great post! Do you mind elaborating on how you used the MGMAT guides with the Empower course? Did you go through all of the guide books first and then use the empower course or did you alternate between them?

First Time - 720!! (Q49, V40), just brilliant result. If we try with our heart and soul, nothing is impossible - learnt from your experiences. Keep sharing and inspire us to do a good score like you.

Neil,

I did go through all the MGMAT guides first in order to learn all the fundamentals. I had heard great things about the MGMAT content. It was after that when I realized I was no longer improving did I start the empowergmat system. And I didn't even use the whole empowergmat system, only the Score Booster guide, which is a condensed schedule of studying. I found it very useful in my preparations. However, I see no negatives to using both at the same time.

Great Score!!Congratulations on your succees!

Thanks for sharing your experience it was a very helpful debrief. All the best with your applications!