I just Beat The GMAT!

After finishing my GMAT yesterday, I feel like I must share the whole process as I read many of these stories to keep me going. My journey took 7 years with lots of breaks and frustrations. My aim has always been to get into a part-time program on the West Coast (Berkeley, UCLA, USC). Here is the short story:

When I was still in college in 2008 I took the GMAT my junior year. I didn't study much, but I thought hey why not. Well needless to say it was quite humbling. I got a 530 (Q40, V21).

I took a break and decided to actually put real effort behind my studying this time. In 2012, I signed up for the Manhattan GMAT live course in Chicago. It was a fun class, but it was very heavily focused on the quant section. As you can see before, my problem was really in the verbal. I read all of the verbal books that were provided by MGMAT. After 9 weeks of studying I got a 560 (Q43, V25). I was so disappointed that I lost all of my motivation. I really thought maybe this test really tested aptitude and I just didn't have it together.

After 4 years of working I decided to give it one more shot. I really read a lot on the forums on the best way to self study. I didn't want to spend another $1000 or more on a course to find out that my score went up 30 points. So I created my own study plan which consisted of the following:

- E-GMAT Sentence Correction Course (completed the course at least 6 times and took notes. **I am a native speaker and this course was still VERY helpful)
- MGMAT Sentence Correction Guide (read this all the way through 2 times)
- Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible (read this all the way through 2 times)
- Kaplan GMAT Math Workbook (just completed this one time through with all practice exercises. Just used to review)
- Ordered subscription for The Economist (read about 4 large articles per week)
- Ordered subscription for Scientific American (read about half of the articles per month)
- Read To Kill A Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby (recommended from another user)
- GMAT OG 2017 (finished every problem in the book once, and ones I missed I did twice or three times)
- GMAT OG Verbal Guide 2017 (did all Sentence Correction twice, didn't complete RC or CR sections)

After I completed the above I started really hitting the GMAT PREP mock exams. I ordered the Exam Pack 1 which includes GMAT PREP 3 and 4 tests. I received the following scores on these:

GMAT PREP 1 - 710 (Q47, V41)
GMAT Prep 2 - 700 (Q47, V39)
GMAT Prep 3 - 610 (Q43, V31)
GMAT Prep 4 - 650 (Q45, V35) (2 repeat questions)

GMAT Prep 3 and 4 really felt a lot more difficult in the verbal sections. The questions got really tough, but turns out it was good practice.

Actual GMAT: The quant felt a lot easier than GMAT Prep 3 and 4. The verbal felt slightly easier, but on par with GMAT Prep 1 and 2. The IR felt a LOT easier on the actual GMAT than the GMAT prep. I wonder if they made it easier...?

Actual GMAT score: 690 (Q49, V35). This was a higher quant score than I ever received on any practice exam, and an average verbal score from my exams. I was so relieved to have this score and now I can finally feel competitive and apply into my desired schools. I plan to apply R1 for fall 2018. I really recommend the curriculum above as I really feel like each piece worked to complete the whole picture. I studied 2 hours every weeknight (worked full time) and 2 hours each morning and 2 hours in the evening on the weekend. It took about 12 weeks to complete the above at that rate. By the way I became a bit obsessed with the exam and was totally distraught when I saw the GMAT Prep 3 pop up with a 610. At that time I took 5 days off to relax which was very helpful. I would recommend this if needed. However, I should say I went to Europe for a week where I still took my GMAT books with me.

Thanks to all that post to this site, it was extremely helpful and I wouldn't know how to get this score without it!