First post here, but I've been silently reading posts throughout my studies. Here my story:
Started studying in October. Bought the 2015 official guide and read the entire book and did every practice problem. My timing was good and I felt strong. I went into the test after a month of studying and was humbled with the 580 that I received (44Q 26V). It was then that all of my hopes and dreams crumbled. I knew that a 100+ GMAT score jump was not an easy feat and that I definitely could not do it. I am a good student, but standardized tests were NEVER my thing. The SAT, ACT, and any other standardized test was always a struggle and never portrayed my true ability. I assumed this would be the same for the GMAT.
I noticed that my Quant score wasn't too bad, and thought that I just needed to improve my verbal. I was on the hunt for a verbal tutor. I scoured this forum, craigslist, yelp, and anything else that would land me with the right tutor. I wound up responding to dozens of posts on craigslist and eventually got a response from Jeffrey Miller at Target Test Prep. After hearing the sales pitch over the phone, i learned that they are a fully quant based curriculum. This was not what I was looking for, but Jeff was quick to point me in the direction of a verbal tutor Neil. That weekend I signed up for Target Test Prep to hone in my quant skills, and I also began working with Neil. For timeline, this was the weekend of November 7th.
After playing around in the TTP curriculum I got addicted. The website was fresh, responsive, and extremely user friendly. It was organized in a way that made the GMAT approachable and totally do-able. I could see my goals and what I needed to do to achieve them. I scheduled my next test for December 12th and made it my goal to complete the curriculum and the practice tests prior to my test. I was motivated to reach my goals, so I made sure I finished each chapter in a timely manner. Every week or so I would meet up with Jeff to do a quick hour tutor session to get into some high level questions and break them down to their core. By the time I finished the curriculum, I was extremely confident in my ability to answer any high level GMAT question that was thrown at me. I wasn't even seeking a Quant course, but I am so happy that I stumbled on this gem. Scott and Jeff at TTP have really created something revolutionary, and if you are not using their curriculum, I believe you are at a HUGE disadvantage.
Neil Lukatch was my verbal tutor and he was absolutely incredible. At first he was teaching me the nitty gritty bits of grammar and I doubted him. I thought he was teaching me things that I did not need to know and that he was wasting my time. Boy was I wrong. I could not have increased my verbal score from a 26 to 41 without his help. He was extremely flexible and would Skype in to work with me from Chicago at nearly any hour. If you want to get serious about your GMAT verbal section than get in contact with Neil. He is a game changer. I also supplemented his tutoring with Magoosh's verbal curriculum. I mainly used magush for their practice questions and their idiom flash cards. It's a good online platform to practice on, but I wouldn't solely use that to study verbal.
I work 40 hours a week, so it was a bit hard finding time to practice. My schedule was basically 2-3 hours on the weekdays doing the TTP curriculum. Then the weekends were ~6 hours plus tutoring with Neil. I think this schedule could be less intense if I had two months to prepare instead of one. During the week when I was at work, I had the TTP youtube channel in my headphones in the background. I played every one of their webinars just to keep the GMAT in my mind. My mind was constantly on the GMAT and I think this is an important mentality to have if you want to take down this test.
I took the MBA.com Practice test and received a 690 (Q48 V37) the weekend before my test.
Week Prior to the Test
The week following that practice test I reviewed the TTP curriculum, but I did not do any more heavy studying. That last week was used to refresh my memory on the older chapters and get my mind prepared. I even had a 100 minute massage the Friday before my test. I think it worked
Test Day
I had almonds on my first break and a banana on my second break. As soon as I saw that 7 pop up on my screen at the end of my test I threw my hands in the air. That feeling you get when hard work pays off is amazing.
The GMAT is do-able. I am not someone who tests well in standardized tests, but I was able to succeed with this test. You can too, you just need the right tools.
For me the formula was Target Test Prep + Neil Lukatch = GMAT 720
Stop messing around with the other material and give these guys a try.
If you have any questions feel free to comment.
