https://www.beatthegmat.com/i-cant-belie ... 69249.html
I was on this site about a month ago, frantically searching for what went wrong and how did GMAT wash away all the hard work I had put in. You can find those ramblings in the URL provided in the spoiler. Today, I gave my GMAT for the second time within a 32 day time frame. I was relieved after I saw the score but wish I had scored more in Quant. More on why I didnt in the sections below.
I wanted to share my experience and hope others may pick out something that they find useful in their march to writing the GMAT.
Background: Nothing unique, Indian, IT, worked as a manager for a few big 4 consulting firms before opening up my own shop for IT consulting. Im 34 yr old male, with a 20 month old son with whom I wasnt able to spend enough time during last couple of months and a hectic work schedule.
Reason for Pursuing MBA- Perhaps may change but my initial thoughts are to join MBB firms and then re-start my own firm. God knows whats in store but Ill try.
Preparation(Phase 1)- Prepared for a couple of months. I used the following materials
1) MGMAT books- Good foundation. Read the content thoroughly and practice their questions at the end.
2) OG 13- Practice/Practice/Practice. I finished the book once.
3) GMAT Verbal and Quant review- Practice/Practice/Practice.
After going through various lessons and practicing a bit on the OG I gave the first mock test.
Kaplan- 540(dont remember the break up).
Started practicing little more but built up the number of hours in teh last 1 month before the exam. I was putting in a 1-2 hours early morning and then 2 hours in the evening. Usually I got done with my work by 7 PM and after reaching home Ill spend as much time as I can on studying. Gave the MGMAT mocks and scored between 610 and 690.
MOCK EXAMS
A week before the actual GMAT I wrote my mocks.
GMATPrep1: 760
GMATPrep2:760
GMATPrep1(retake, few similar qstn): 730
GMATPrep(retake...): 740 - 14 hours before exam.
Didnt take much time of work and went for the exam on Saturday. The result wasnt that good. I got 640. I was in shock for some time since I thought the scores were supposed to be pretty close to mocks. While on this site, I got replies from a few folks(thx Rich, Brent) who analyzed and suggested what went wront(please refer to the link on top).
Preparation(Phase 2)- After the initial day of mourning, I decided I wont back down and will give it another shot. This time I was out of questions(had already finished OG and Verbal once and then some) so I purchased some additional stuff.
1) Magoosh- Worth spending the money.
a) Magoosh QUANT- Their quant questions are pretty good. At one point I found myself addicted to
them. Though MGMAT books are great, I think the online platform that Magoosh has gives them some edge, it helped me practice in a timed way on the computer.
b) Magoosh Verbal- Also good. The SC questions are especially of good quality and their video explanations are good too. I wont score their RC sections too high. I found a good number of their answers as arbitary , OG answers made sense and related to the paragraphs. But it could be because I lacked an understanding of the passages. My 2 cents.
2) GMAT Question Pack- These are good. This again provides a very good timed situation "on the computer". Worth spending money IMO. I used to do 20 PS and DS questions and about 10 verbal questions per day.
Phase 2 Mock exams- NO MOCKS A DAY BEFORE EXAM.
GMAT PREP
Test 1- 710- Missed a few questions at the end.
Test 2- 740
Work Decided to take Monday off to write the test on Tuesday. That allowed me to be well rested mentally. I had some family engagements to attend but still managed to revise and write tests.
D-Day
My test was scheduled at 8 AM. The dates were available at the new center which was a 45 min drive so a day before the exam I drove to ensure that I didnt miss out the new location. Had a decent meal night before and went to sleep. Woke up after about 5 hours and couldnt sleep after that, though I felt fresh. Had a decent breakfast at 6 AM and left for the exam center.
At the test center everything went smoothly initially. The AWA was straight forward. I formulated reasonings against the argument and wrote about 25 lines(20 words per line) for the essay. IR was little more tougher than the one I encountered last time. But it went ok.
I then took the optional break to freshen up, had a sandwich and some snacks:almonds and gatorade. Went back and signed in to read this message on the screen
" Your break time has been exceeded by 40 secs. This will be deducted from your available time". Perfect way to start Quant. First question itself took me 4 mins,though it was not that tough. THen I got to the third question thinking Im already behind. However, I didnt panic. I guessed that question since it required some redrawing and 3 calculations for 3 areas, and decided to tackle the rest. The rest of the section went smoothly. In the end I think I messed up the very first and the third question which probably led to 49 instead of 50. Who knows.
Took the second optional break as well.
This time I was careful enough to come back on time. Verbal went fine until I saw the first RC. RC has been my strength in verbal but for some reasons these were really complex passages with very close answer choices. CR was a bit easier than GMAT Prep but SC was pretty expansive covering verbs, modifiers, a few complete sentence underlines etc.I was pretty confident about SC as well. In my mocks I used to finish Verbal ahead of time. However , on the exam I barely managed to finish it. I barely had the time to read the 40th question and on the 41st I just selected an option and didnt even get a chance to click submit.
Click , Click, Click..See your scores?(Y/N)> Y......please wait..750
. Ah, looks ok. Quant 49(81%) cud be better but verbal 44 was not bad. Felt good to finally put this behind me.Lessons Learnt
1) Get your concepts clear. Go through MGMAT books and attempt all questions.
2) Practice/Practice/Practice- I actually saw one question on GMAT that was an exact copy of OG question but with different variables. The OG questions are similar to the Medium and easy questions on the actual GMAT. There are some tough ones as well towards the end of each seciton in OG. Make sure that you practice enough Geometry and probablity questions. Dont leave any topic at the expense of the other HOPING that those wont show up. On one of my mocks I got 3 probably questions. On the test day you will definitely be suprised even if you do your homework.
3) Relax a day before exam- I think this contributed overall to the score I got this time and perhaps this factor(no rest) led to the 640 the first time. I was manging 6-7 work meetings during my day before the exam and still writing mock tests. This time however , I took a monday off and actually didnt work for 3 days including the weekend.
4) Trust yourself- You will doubt yourself numerous times and sometimes you might feel overconfident. However, keep an eye on the rational approach. Analyze any mistakes that you did on the practice questions, mock exams. Keep a mental note(or error log, though I didnt keep the latter). Tell yourself you will do well.
5) Time management- During initial days of study/practice you just need to make sure you are getting the concepts right, though answers may not be correct. Then move to getting correct answers consistently, then move to getting correct answers consistently with the clock ticking in your ears and only then go to Mocks.
6) On the exam- Dont worry too much about the time, though keep checking every 5/6 questions. Also, IF YOU FEEL YOU CANT SOLVE A QUESTION in 3 MINS(ie you already spent 3 mins and are still re-re-re reading the question), make a guess and move on. I did this on my third question.
If you are still reading I would like to thank you. I used to lurk on this site reading good stories about others and used to imagine myself going through the same test experience (compare my mock scores to the post writer's, my study schedule to the writer's ..you got the idea). Hope my post helps someone imagine(and eventually obtain) a good score for themselves.
Trust yourself and never give up!
