![Smile :)](./images/smilies/smile.png)
I am shooting for US top 10 plus LBS.
My background:
- I am 28 years old
- From Kyrgyzstan (central asian republic)
- 1 year at a ME private equity shop
- 3 years in corporate development at a prominent ME retail conglomerate
- Speak Russian, English languages
Overall, I studied for 4 months with an average of 2-3 hours during workdays and 8 hours (with breaks) during weekends. Quant was my weak point so I mainly focused on it. Verbal, even though I am not a native English speaker, came easier to me. I used OG11, Kaplan Online Premier Program for my prep. On my practice tests, only once I scored a 700 on Kaplan. My average practice tests were around 650. A day before the test, I scored 610 on Kaplan which almost made me panic. But I pulled myself together and went into the test with high confidence. The actual test was quite easier than expected, especially the quant portion. I answered every single question on both quant and verbal. Couple RC passages were quite difficult. Altogether, the actual test was very similar to GMATPrep so I suggest to take as many as of these as you can even if your score will eventually be diluted.
I want to say thank you to Eric and all forum members. I liked to read testimonies of the test takers for my motivation. Studying for this test is very painful, yes, since we sacrifice so much of our time but its all worth it if getting an MBA is what you want. I am very happy to pass this first hurdle and look forward to start writing my essays.
I wish all people who are about to take the test a good luck and please believe in yourself. I went from 620 (my first attempt) to 690 because I refused to give up. Focus, put everything aside for the moment, study hard and you should be ok!