I still can't believe this is done! I spent the weekend cycling, boating, imbibing, and feeling generally ecstatic about being done with this test! Now I'm ready for my full report.
Background
I first started looking into MBA programs while I was a senior in college. I knew that it would be a long time before applying to schools would make sense, but I've always been interested in it.
I've now been out of school for over 2 years, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State. I currently work as an R&D process development engineer for a large tech company in the Northwest.
My wife began applying to Nurse Anesthesia schools across the country and seeing her study for GREs really lit a fire under me. I suddenly decided that it was time for me to make my move.
Books
I found this website and began studying at the end of April. All I can say is "wow!" I devoured everything on this site and immediately got hooked on the forum. I naturally like to develop very organized strategic plans for everything I do, but I was a little overwhelmed with all the sections on the GMAT. This site made it very easy to develop a strategy. After a little research, these are the books I ended up buying:
1) Kaplan Premier
2) Kaplan 800
3) OG 11
4) MGMAT SC
5) OG Verbal Review
Studying
I started out doing the diagnostic tests from Kaplan and OG, as well as all the practice problems from Kaplan Premier and was very surprised by the results. I didn't perform amazingly in anything, but I ended scoring significantly higher in verbal than in quant. I felt very rusty going through the quant section and most of my mistakes were conceptual. It scared me a little that I was
THAT rusty, but I guess that's what happens after being out of college for a while!
I followed Eric's, Ursula's, and TwinSplitter's study plans very carefully. I kept track of absolutely every problem I solved and I timed myself with everything. I didn't necessarily have a timing goal, but I just wanted to see how my pace changed as I transitioned from easy to difficult problems.
After going through Kaplan and some OG quant (to sharpen up a little), I took GMAT Prep #1. This was the same day that my wife took her GRE, so I had a perfect environment for taking my first test. My score was:
680 (Q44, V38)
The next day I went through every problem again. I couldn't believe that I even got a 44 in quant after seeing how many stupid mistakes I made.
After that, I started in on full-time studying. This was the progression that I took:
- Brushed up on math concepts with my wife's ARCO GRE/GMAT Math Book (
very basic, not recommended)
- Studied entire Verbal Review book
- Studied PS and DS sections of OG11, creating flashcards as I went
- Studied MGMAT SC book, creating flashcards as I went
- Studied SC, CR, RC sections of OG11 (not all problems)
- Studied all sections of Kaplan 800
This was my progression through all the tests:
GMATPrep 1: 680 (Q44,V38)
Kaplan 1: 550 (Q34,V32)
Kaplan 2: 580 (Q36,V33)
GMATPrep 1 #2: 710 (Q47,V40)
MGMAT 1: 720 (Q45,V42) two weeks before
GMATPrep 2: 720 (Q49,V40) one week before
GMAT: 730 (Q47,V44)
I took off about 3 weeks for vacation, so all of this was done in about 9-10 weeks total.
G-Day
I realized after I posted this the first time that I didn't add much about the actual test day. My test was at 8:00am on Friday. I worked 6:30am-5:00pm Monday-Thursday that week so being up and ready by 8:00am was no problem, although I was a little tired from the week.
I was the first one in the test center and hit the jackpot because of it. I was the only one out of 20 or so people taking the GMAT and the proctor knew that I would be typing a lot for the first hour, so she offered me a solitary, sound-proof booth of my own. I immediately accepted her offer and was totally happy with the environment - no need for ear plugs, headphones, etc.
My essay questions were good (pretty easy), although the AOI took me some time to think through. I'm hoping for a 5.0 on those, but don't care too much.
There were a couple questions that got me early in the quant section. Thinking back on them, I realized the mistakes I made, but such is life. I'm not incredibly happy with my quant score and feel that I could definitely do better, but you win some, you lose some.
My verbal section started off with multiple SC problems, which I wasn't expecting. They got tricky pretty quickly, but I knew I was doing well when I got a ridiculous RC passage about half-way through - very descriptive science passage w/ questions that led to answers that all were worded nearly the same. I also had a bold-faced question at #11 - it was pretty easy to narrow down even though I didn't really practice with those types. In the end, I finished with about 15 minutes left in the verbal section - everything just made sense (I think it was the PB&J
)
As far as food and drink, I ate Grape Nuts in the morning (those tasty little nuggets sure keep you going) and brought a water bottle and a PB&J sandwich for breaks. I didn't feel like eating anything after the essays, but took one bite of the sandwich. After the quant section, however, I felt like I had burnt through a fair amount of energy, so I ate half of what was left of the sandwich.
Overall, a very normal test day with no real hiccups or problems. Everyone at the test center was very nice.
My keys for success
- Even if you don't see improvement right away, or even if you think you're losing ground, don't fret. You actually are learning and it will serve you well if you keep going. I found that, over 9-10 weeks of studying, my biggest improvement came in the last week or so.
- Do 10 problems at a time, under timed conditions. Work to do sets of 10 problems of any difficulty in under 15 minutes. Be diligent about this - it really helps you get a sense of timing.
- If you miss a problem, don't look at the explanations until you've re-worked the problem and/or sufficiently exhausted all the ideas you have about solving the problem. Write down the problem you missed on a flashcard and review it every week.
- RC: Read the passage in less than 2 mins, regardless of length. This allows you plenty of time to re-read sections over and over when answering the 700-800 level questions - you NEED extra time on these questions, I guarantee it!
- CR: Go through Kap800 CR. For some reason, after going through this section, it all made sense. My only advice is to focus only on the conclusion and evidence. It's so easy to read these passages and end up focusing on the wrong thing!
- SC: MGMAT SC is the way to go. I was scoring 70-80% before this book, but never felt like I could really pick the problems apart, it was all "ear". After MGMAT, I knew what to look for. Highly recommended.
- PS/DS: Just do lots of problems, and do the problems that you missed OVER and OVER. Write the problems you missed on flashcards and look at them every week. If you missed it once, it's likely that you'll miss it again unless you pound it into your brain.
Reflections
I realize now that I put much more focus on verbal during my prep because I
ASSUMED that my quant was stronger than my verbal. Even though this may be obvious to most people,
focus on your actual weaknesses, not your perceived weaknesses. I thought because I studied engineering, the math would just come easy, but it does take work to bend your brain around some of the problem types.
And finally, the absolute most important thing you can do is: THFDOALSI! (
j/k that was for you, harry_x1)
Actually, the most important thing you can do is:
BE CONFIDENT! Visualize your success and it will be much more likely to come true.
Thank you so much to Eric and the entire BTG community for all your help!
Eric - I think you may be getting a call from GMAC soon because eventually your website is going to create a significant shift in the percentile ranking tables.
I just hope a 730 is enough to stay in the top 20% by next year.
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