Wanted to share a post about my GMAT journey which started 2 years ago when I did some quick prep on my own and having no real high aspirations about a high GMAT score, as I was targeting local, part-time programs, with my company paying for the cost of the MBA. I walked away with a 510 (36Q, 25V) and not really affected by the low score as the rest of my background was pretty solid (very high GPA, good work experience in finance, international projects etc).
Fast forward one year later, the company downsized 2/3 of the employees worldwide, 70% of the clients left and I soon found myself with a pink slip on my desk. After getting over the shock of the 'new normal', I realized that this was my opportunity to map out my academic and professional future (to the best of my abilities) and I dived into a high priced GMAT course with one of the big companies.
After using their extremely detailed materials (broken down by topic) as well as practice exams along with a brand new GMAT prep (and hitting 700), I sat for the exam a second time in mid 2009 and walked away extremely disappointed with a 610 (38Q, 35V). I had a very weak math background (hardly one year in high school) and I knew that I had to tackle math head on to achieve an attractive score.
During a trip to Europe I came across a post on BTG (one of my most visited sites during that time) and decided to have a quick chat with the GMAT Ninja (https://gmatninja.com/) and map out a strategy to get me to my target score: 680+. Excited about my future tutor's experience and practical steps, I met with him a few weeks later in NYC and was even more impressed with his method/recommended homework/reading material etc.
My goal was to eliminate the element of surprise every step of the way (especially for math) and my tutor accomplished exactly that: he started out by testing me on several GMAT math concepts and once he grasped my weakness, he would explain the concept in detail and practice this concept through several exercises, increasing the level of difficulty and twisting the question in every way possible until the concept being tested was tattooed in my brain--this allowed me to tap into that brain pattern each time I saw the above concept tested.
Although I'm not a native English speaker, verbal turned out to be my strength. Hence my tutor recommended the toughest material: retired LSAT tests and LSAC study guides with answers/explanations. He emphasized the importance of reviewing the answers (and understanding where I went wrong: missing a detail, rushing through the question, not paraphrasing the argument in my head before trying to answer etc).
The difference between practice this time and the last was tactic: I was only practicing for 2-3 hrs/day, a bit more during week-ends, but this time I was reviewing my work and spending more time on review than actual practice. I even wrote down lessons learned/takeaways so as not to repeat them again.
Day of the test: my exam was scheduled at 8AM. I had a very light breakfast: boiled egg, half a slice of toast and half a cup of cappuccino. Got to the test center early and walked around the block a couple of times just to get the blood circulating. AWA was relatively easy: I got 2 business/marketing concepts which I breezed through. Took the first break: ran to the rest room, splashed cold water into my face and neck to force the bloodstream upwards and ate half a banana (read somewhere that potassium facilitates the blood flow throughout the body). I was almost scared NOT TO SEE any questions that I didn't know how to tackle and though to myself: here we go again--more studying coming up.
I finished up the last few questions feeling pretty down as the questions felt EASY, but I carried on anyway, finished up quant and ran to the rest room to rinse my face with icy cold water again. Ate half a snickers bar and drank some water and walked back in for Verbal. Surprisingly RC didn't feel difficult at all (no science passages, just Finance, Energy, Art History). SC and CR felt much more difficult than anything I'd seen--I took that as a good sign, but didn't obsess too much and I carried on.
Finished with a bit of time left over, hurried through the demographic questions and went I was asked whether I wanted my score report . I hesitated for a second, prayed, breathed deeply and clicked "yes". Then I put my head on the desk and closed my eyes for 5 seconds: the screen came up and I saw 710 (48Q, 39V; 5.5 AWA a week later). Was definitely flabbergasted with the 48 Quant (would have been happy with 44) and disappointed with Verbal (had been scoring between 40-44 in past practice exams for several results of 730: 49Q, 40V and 47Q, 42V).
Overall I was satisfied with the 710, although I do blame myself for scheduling the last practice GMAT prep only 2 days before the real thing: after reviewing the prep and practicing the wrong questions, I was really only left with 1 day off. PLEASE give yourselves at least 5 days off just to chill before the real thing--you'll need all the physical and mental stamina that you've got!
Some of the materials I practiced with:
Practice Materials developed by my tutor tackling each Quant Area with increasing levels of difficulty (practiced 2-3 times)
Official Guides (10th, 11th, 12th editions) along with Verbal and Quant Guides
GMAT Club Question of the Day (going back 2 years since the start for a total of 700 Quant and Verbal Questions)
GMAT Hacks Challenge and Extra Challenge sets (some of the twice)
Manhattan GMAT Tests
GMAT Prep (one repeat, but couldn't remember any of the questions since last practice was 1 year ago).
I am done with the GMAT, but the experience will stay with me for a lifetime. Thanks BTG and thanks GMAT ninja--would have been a different story without you :0)!
Best of luck to everyone!
Fast forward one year later, the company downsized 2/3 of the employees worldwide, 70% of the clients left and I soon found myself with a pink slip on my desk. After getting over the shock of the 'new normal', I realized that this was my opportunity to map out my academic and professional future (to the best of my abilities) and I dived into a high priced GMAT course with one of the big companies.
After using their extremely detailed materials (broken down by topic) as well as practice exams along with a brand new GMAT prep (and hitting 700), I sat for the exam a second time in mid 2009 and walked away extremely disappointed with a 610 (38Q, 35V). I had a very weak math background (hardly one year in high school) and I knew that I had to tackle math head on to achieve an attractive score.
During a trip to Europe I came across a post on BTG (one of my most visited sites during that time) and decided to have a quick chat with the GMAT Ninja (https://gmatninja.com/) and map out a strategy to get me to my target score: 680+. Excited about my future tutor's experience and practical steps, I met with him a few weeks later in NYC and was even more impressed with his method/recommended homework/reading material etc.
My goal was to eliminate the element of surprise every step of the way (especially for math) and my tutor accomplished exactly that: he started out by testing me on several GMAT math concepts and once he grasped my weakness, he would explain the concept in detail and practice this concept through several exercises, increasing the level of difficulty and twisting the question in every way possible until the concept being tested was tattooed in my brain--this allowed me to tap into that brain pattern each time I saw the above concept tested.
Although I'm not a native English speaker, verbal turned out to be my strength. Hence my tutor recommended the toughest material: retired LSAT tests and LSAC study guides with answers/explanations. He emphasized the importance of reviewing the answers (and understanding where I went wrong: missing a detail, rushing through the question, not paraphrasing the argument in my head before trying to answer etc).
The difference between practice this time and the last was tactic: I was only practicing for 2-3 hrs/day, a bit more during week-ends, but this time I was reviewing my work and spending more time on review than actual practice. I even wrote down lessons learned/takeaways so as not to repeat them again.
Day of the test: my exam was scheduled at 8AM. I had a very light breakfast: boiled egg, half a slice of toast and half a cup of cappuccino. Got to the test center early and walked around the block a couple of times just to get the blood circulating. AWA was relatively easy: I got 2 business/marketing concepts which I breezed through. Took the first break: ran to the rest room, splashed cold water into my face and neck to force the bloodstream upwards and ate half a banana (read somewhere that potassium facilitates the blood flow throughout the body). I was almost scared NOT TO SEE any questions that I didn't know how to tackle and though to myself: here we go again--more studying coming up.
I finished up the last few questions feeling pretty down as the questions felt EASY, but I carried on anyway, finished up quant and ran to the rest room to rinse my face with icy cold water again. Ate half a snickers bar and drank some water and walked back in for Verbal. Surprisingly RC didn't feel difficult at all (no science passages, just Finance, Energy, Art History). SC and CR felt much more difficult than anything I'd seen--I took that as a good sign, but didn't obsess too much and I carried on.
Finished with a bit of time left over, hurried through the demographic questions and went I was asked whether I wanted my score report . I hesitated for a second, prayed, breathed deeply and clicked "yes". Then I put my head on the desk and closed my eyes for 5 seconds: the screen came up and I saw 710 (48Q, 39V; 5.5 AWA a week later). Was definitely flabbergasted with the 48 Quant (would have been happy with 44) and disappointed with Verbal (had been scoring between 40-44 in past practice exams for several results of 730: 49Q, 40V and 47Q, 42V).
Overall I was satisfied with the 710, although I do blame myself for scheduling the last practice GMAT prep only 2 days before the real thing: after reviewing the prep and practicing the wrong questions, I was really only left with 1 day off. PLEASE give yourselves at least 5 days off just to chill before the real thing--you'll need all the physical and mental stamina that you've got!
Some of the materials I practiced with:
Practice Materials developed by my tutor tackling each Quant Area with increasing levels of difficulty (practiced 2-3 times)
Official Guides (10th, 11th, 12th editions) along with Verbal and Quant Guides
GMAT Club Question of the Day (going back 2 years since the start for a total of 700 Quant and Verbal Questions)
GMAT Hacks Challenge and Extra Challenge sets (some of the twice)
Manhattan GMAT Tests
GMAT Prep (one repeat, but couldn't remember any of the questions since last practice was 1 year ago).
I am done with the GMAT, but the experience will stay with me for a lifetime. Thanks BTG and thanks GMAT ninja--would have been a different story without you :0)!
Best of luck to everyone!
