I just Beat The GMAT!

I am in sales and travel is second nature..Sticking to a study schedule was out of question as I could never predict when I have to travel...So even before preparing for my GMAT I knew that I needed much more time than what people would normally require. But as any typical over-confident sales guy, I kept telling myself that I can crack the GMAT and all of a sudden I registered for the GMAT with 6 weeks as prep time..

I did the usual stuff.. I started with the OG and finished off the book in 2 weeks..I used to solve the questions in hotel rooms and sometimes in the flight...Quant and RC were easy, CR was taking some time and SC was a disaster.. However, i did not take too much notice of this and thought that with more practice I will master them all. I got the Kaplan book from the Library and polished off the questions... One thing that I did not do was pay any attention to the time I was taking to solve some questions.. From the 4th week onwards.. I started to give the MGMAT tests.. I used to give the tests late in the night after work .... and in almost every test I did not do the AWA (even though in almost all GMAT blogs, people tell you to do the AWA in every test.. but I chose to ignore the advice... the usual overconfident sales guy!!!)

I got some decent scores -- mostly in the range of 650 to 680 (lower in the MGMAT and more in the GMAT PREP)... I wanted to apply for INSEAD and hence had 700 as my target score... I was confident of achieving it.. On test day.. when I was forced to do the AWA.. I could sense that I was losing concentration in the Quant section and later just lost it in the Verbal section.... When I got my scores.. it was 620... I was immediately humbled... The journey back from the test center to my office seemed to be the longest journey I ever made....

I went through my whole preparation style, analyzed my scores and went through the internet to determine where I had gone wrong...

Here is a gist of my mistakes... (guys be wary of these mistakes.. they can come and bite you during the test)
1. No time management while practicing sample questions.
2. I practiced so many questions from so many sources but NEVER spent time on theory. I also never take note of the errors that I was making
3. I did my tests without the initial AWA section

I registered for the test again and gave myself 10 weeks to prepare... However as luck would have it, I got involved in a very big sales opportunity...I got completely sucked into it and GMAT preparation was thrown out of the window... We won the deal but I had lost 2 months of preparation time and when it finally dawned that I had less than 2 weeks to my SECOND GMAT and I was very badly prepared...

However, luck hits you when you need it the most... I found this post on the BTG site ..

https://www.beatthegmat.com/770-50-q-46- ... tml#166144

I dont know what struck me but the thorough nature in which this post was written made me realize that the guy who has written this seriously believes in what he was taking about and it was focus on CONTENT , CONTENT and CONTENT. I devoured myself over the the MGMAT books ( NP, SC and Inequalities). I would have put in atleast 14 hrs of study everyday.. in office, in the MRT.. I cancelled all travel plans and the next 7 days I only did theory on SC, NP and inequalities and practiced questions on CR and RC from the OG Verbal Guide

I gave the MGMAT tests (THIS TIME ALONG WITH THE AWA QUESTIONS) and I could see a distinct jump in scores

MGMAT 1- 710
MGMAT 2 - 700
MGMAT 3 - 690
GMAT PREP 1 - 720
GMAT PREP 2 - 650 ( This was 1 day before the test but it was a fantastic learning experience.. I was doing so well in my Q, that I lost track of the time, couldnt let go of some difficult questions and ended up missing 6 questions in the quant section .. I resolved to keep track of this issue during test date)

I had done all my tests in the last week before the exam and at the exact time when I would be giving my exam i.e from 9 am onwards with the exact breaks.. During the exam I was very comfortable although I was stuck in some difficult questions in Verbal...I checked the scores and a score of 700 ( 47 Q, 40 V) popped out... I was elated as this was my baseline score for applying to INSEAD...

My preparation style is the possibly the worst style but married working professionals might agree with me on the difficulty in balancing your work, family and preparation for the GMAT... I concentrated on the learnings from my previous failure and it might be useful for some of you.

1. Focus on Content ..MGMAT books are fantastic and they cover almost all topics covered in GMAT... Again go through this post https://www.beatthegmat.com/770-50-q-46- ... tml#166144

2. Definitely go through OG, and Verbal guide ( all questions) and in all practice do keep a track of the time you take.. Practice with time but only after you feel confident of the content... ( I use to do 40 Q in 1 hr 10 mins and 41 Verbal in 1 hr 10 mins)...

3. MGMAT tests and GMAT PREP tests are very close to the actual test results.. Take them very seriously and stick to the official timings.. ALWAYS DO THE AWA section.. I cant stress on the importance of this issue..

I have just submitted my INSEAD application and awaiting further information

All those preparing for the GMAT.. I wish you all the best ... Have a blast of a test!

Cheers!