Today I took the GMAT, I scored 550.
Allow me to take you through my GMAT journey to date.
Basic Information
Male.
27.
British citizen, born and raised in London, Indo-Mauritian (remember that SC from OG about Mauritius that's where my parents are from) ethnicity, now living in Los Angeles.
I work for Sony Santa Monica (PS3 games developer of God of War 3, go buy our game
) as a Technical Artist, it's a cross between a programmer and an artist, although I do mostly programming these days.I received a first class honours degree in Computer Visualisation and Animation.
After graduating I worked in the film/post production industry.
I made a transition to games soon after.
Long story short, my previous employer Pandemic flew me over to LA and I've been here for the last 3 years.
Studying for the GMAT
Foreword, working full time and studying is difficult. Most of us have jobs that demand more than 40 hours a week. It has been challenging.
I started studying in February. At this point I didn't really respect the GMAT nor did I know what to expect. I've always been quite good at maths and English (British) is my mother-tongue.
I bought Kaplan Premiere, OG12, Princeton Review in a very blasé manner and started going through the books.
A few weeks passed and I stumbled across BeatTheGmat, after reading the blog and a few posts, I realised I had just wasted my time. I hadn't been reviewing the problems.
Frustrated, I signed up for the Manhattan in-class course.
Those 9 weeks were very intensive, I kept up with the study planner but ultimately I wasn't really mastering the content.
By the end of it I was simply burnt out, but I had improved!
MGMAT 1 620 (Q44, v33) [prior to course]
MGMAT 5 630 (Q46, v30)
MGMAT 6 670 (Q44, v37)
In the meantime, I signed up for Grockit so I could do a few problem whilst at work. I like it and they fixed all the bugs I reported promptly.
After the course I took a few private tutoring sessions to analyse my weaknesses. These were helpful, I was just too sloppy and didn't concentrate/pay attention most of the time.
GMATFocus1 39-46
GMATFocus2 41-48
GMATFocus3 46-50
800 score Q44, I never did the verbal section after reading it was too easy, lol! I couldn't break 44 though.
Paying attention and writing everything down is very important, I applied these techniques whilst taking GMATPrep
GMATPrep 1 670 (Q47, v35)
GMATPrep 2 710 (Q49, v37)
At this point, I realised that I always finish the verbal section with 15-20mins remaining. So I decided to slow down and spend some more time. I also bought and completed the E-Gmat 3 week SC course. I think it is very good and would recommend it to anyone struggling in SC.
GMATPrep 1 730 (Q49, v40) [repeat, included awa's, 2 breaks of 8 mins each, same screen resolution, etc]
GMATPrep 2 720 (Q49, v40) [repeat, included awa's, 2 breaks of 8 mins each, same screen resolution, etc]
Test Day
My test was booked for 8am, I think this was my first mistake. I had always studied in the evenings, and taken CAT's in the afternoon.
I got to the test centre 1/2 hour early as recommended. The sign-in process was pretty straightforward.
AWA's went smoothly. I finished the section with a few minutes to spare and got a new booklet. I spent the remaining minutes writing down my pacing chart for the Quant and verbal section.
I took the break of 8 minutes and did all the things I had planned at home.
1) restroom
2) freshen up
3) a few bites of a cliff bar
4) some water
Quant section, this is where it all went wrong, lol! The first question showed up and I couldn't solve it, I was brain dead, I had to guess. In my experience getting the first question wrong has always stopped me from obtaining a quant score in the high 40's. In actual fact, the problem was simply, and later I realised how to solve it. I progressed through the remainder of the section quickly, too quickly. I looked at the clock and I had 30minutes left with 10 questions to complete, I was guessing far too much! At this point I knew I had performed badly. I think sub-consciously I had given up already.
I took my break at the end of the section, got a fresh booklet. I then started the verbal and just went through it. I remember yawning at some-point and thinking to myself "when is this going to be over."
I accepted my score, saw 550, chuckled to myself and proceeded to leave the testing area.
Next Steps
Clearly, I have weaknesses in my knowledge. Perhaps I overcommitted my study to harder questions, and lack the ability to solve simpler questions.
I am going to try taking a CAT in a library or public, but quiet place. I think it's representative of the test centre.
I will also use a keyboard and mouse instead of my laptop to take a CAT as they use Dell workstations at the test centre.
I need to be more comfortable under pressure.
I will try and take a CAT purposely getting the first quant question wrong to dispel any beliefs that the first question is the most important one.
Questions for the BeatTheGmat community
1) How do I find my weak areas quickly?
Grockit is computer adaptive and has the ability to focus on a single area. I was planning to tackle each area one by one until I start to see the "32" difficultly questions (approximately 700+ questions according to Grockit). It will still be quite time consuming though.
2) When should I reschedule the GMAT? I have 3 weeks off at Christmas and I will be going back to London. I was planning to use these to start my application essays which are due March 3rd. Should I tackle the essays now and return to the GMAT later or vice-versa?
3) Are there any other resources available? I've used Manhattan, OG12 + OG Reviews, GMATPrep, Grockit, E-Gmat, GMATFocus. I think I need to see fresh material.
4) Any other suggestions?
Thank-you all for taking the time to read this lengthy post.
I look forward to your advice.
PS. I'm beaten but not defeated.
). Good luck and try not to overstudy the second time... you already know the material!
