BACKGROUND
So, my story began almost two years ago, when I first decided to seriously study for the GMAT as the idea of attending business school was “getting momentum” into my mind. I self-studied for around two months and a half (at the time I was in the US at the University of Missouri – Kansas City for the summer semester, where I was improving my english), and I decided to give it a try. I scored a respectable 680 (Q43, V40) that boosted my confidence and that made me realize that I could make it into a top30 program. At the time, I used the OG 11th edition guide and the 2 official supplemental books (Q and V), plus Princeton Review’s “Crack the GMAT” guide (that I do not suggest except for the AWA part), and I remember to be quite happy at the time. While in the US I met the woman that would become my wife just over one year after, and I started to work full-time as well. So one year passed, with me being more focused on school (I had to write my master’s degree thesis), work (doing both working and studying – especially when you work full-time, it’s not easy!), and my recently-found, lifetime-lasting Love (and consequent wedding last september, which were by the way beautiful and here in Italy, with my family and her family coming all the way from the US and Japan).
And I must say that I owe in great part to my wife whether I found the way to shot “higher” at the GMAT; she believed that I should have tried to improve my GMAT and shot higher to reach my goals, she was sure I could score higher. Basically, she believed in me, while at times I’m such a downer that I lose completely confidence in myself... And I came to realize that it was probably the case to try. I mean, competition was increasing, and that alone would have been a reason sufficient enough to retake! But I also came to understand better what I wanted to do of my life (consulting) and which schools could give me the keys to attain my goals (top15/preferibly top10 schools). And given my non-traditional history+anthropology background… well, the GMAT became increasingly important.
STUDY TIME
Now, I started to study for the test again after settling down with my wife (here in Italy) and after our honeymoon. I started easy at first, around the beginning of November I re-opened the books. But I’ve started studying hard again from the beginning of December, after visiting the first three schools in the US: UCLA, Emory and Vanderbilt. At the time, as I said, I was aiming at top15-30 schools, so I would have been very happy with an Emory or a Vanderbilt (most respectable schools, don’t get me wrong, where I met outstanding students, staff and faculty); but after I visited UCLA I realized why (probably) people emphasises so much the importance of getting into a top15 school if you have certain aims for your career!
And so it began again. I first concentrated on varbal – my stronger part – using all the Manhattan GMAT guides (especially the new SC guide is a must, seriously) and doing a lot of exercises. I found hard to improve verbal though, as I believe that jumping from a 40 to a 42-43 is comparable to jump from 48 to 50 on Q (and after all, 40 is 89% and 42 is 95% in verbal!). But I improved, and I mastered again and even better the concepts behind CR, SC and RC. Basically, I tried to minimize the impact of luck and chance on my V score, and I did well!
After my second wave of school visits in January (end of it – I visited only top programs this time), I started to study for the quantitative part, the real “monster” to me! This time I decided to hire a tutor, under the advise of a friend of mine. I knew that improving my Q skills and score was critical, especially given the lack of heavy Q courses at ug level (only microeconomics and development economics on my pocket). So a strong performance on the Q part of the GMAT was essential. I must admit that my aim was 48 and hence 84%, but still I feel like I scored a touchdown with a 47 (79%), of which I’m particularly proud and happy about!
I used the MGMAT guides (all of them) for Q, my tutor’s help, and material coming from 4gmat.com. The latter is a website I highly recommend you to visit, they have a couple of cheap downloadable ebooks on geometry and number properties that I found most useful.
My tutor helped me a lot with probability and permutation/combination as well as something simple for many people but that I disn’t grasp very well: word problems!
I put a lot of self-effort and practice, instead, on number properties and coordinate geometry, which paid back quite nicely. A suggestion here: study number properties HARD! Almost all the topics that you need are VERY WELL covered on the Manhattan GMAT “Number Properties” book. Mastering those topics is essential, as I feel that those are needed to break into the 46+ score! It’s just my opinion though.
As practicing, well, I practiced a lot! I did not too many tests, but at least one a week in the last six weeks (2 MGMATs, 3 times each the GMAT Preps). Especially on the GMAT Prep it’s AMAZING the number of new questions you can get every time. Ok, you scores will be inflated, but you will get a lot of REAL questions that, honestly, no other test can match; and that even after the third retake!
Another thing: please, if you struggle in math do yourself a favor and buy one-to-four of the GMATFocus diagnostic tests! They are from mba.com (→ from GMAC), and they feature old, retired questions from previous tests. It’s a great tool, and it’s predictions turned out to be very accurate (basically, you do 24 questions in 46 minutes and the test gives you a score range). My last range was 44-50, and I scored 47! Right in the middle! ☺ Logitech can tell you that it was VERY predictable for him as well! Furthermore, they analyze your strenght and weaknesses, so that you can better focus on certain areas instead of others. A great tool indeed!
DAY BEFORE TEST DAY
Well, the day before the test, I simply followed the advice coming from many people: I just relaxed! Unfortunately, I live in a very beautiful area of Italy (on the Riviera) but with no big cities around. So I had to go to Milan to take the test, which is a three hour drive from my place. I left the day before the test, slept at a hotel, went to the gym to ease tension down (do that!!), treated with a nice hot bath and some of my favourite food for dinner.
I reviewed some topics here and there thoughout the day, but I fenced the test off of my life for a day, as I didn’t want to get too nervous. Still, it was quite hard to fall asleep, and not even a good UEFA Champions League soccer match on tv could calm me down! ☺ But I managed to sleep for about seven hours, so it was alright.
TEST DAY
Even though my test was at 10.30, I woke up early at 7 for two reasons:
1. I wanted to be fully awaken by 10.30 and I wanted to hear a “good luck” from my wife who’s visiting her family in Japan at the moment.
2. I wanted to head downstairs to the hotel’s restaurant to enjoy a hearty and energy-plenty breakfast: I ate carbs and proteins (two sausages, scrambled eggs, a bread roll and some brie cheese) and natural sugar and vitamins (fruit salad composed by kiwis, pineapples and strawberries + 2 glasses of orange juice). I drank 1 espresso coffee there and another one around 1 hour before the test.
I then took a shower and headed to the test center. Contrarily to the first time I took the test (it was then in Paris), here they waited for all the people expected for the day to arrive before starting the test (all at the same time): so we ended up starting the test at around 11 am instead that at 10.30.
AWA was ok. I mean, you cannot really judge AWA! I got a 5.5 the first time and I did pretty much the same things as today, so I hope to get a 5 at least! ☺ I pretty much followed the above-mentioned Princeton Review’s templates for the two essays… Nothing special, if I almost mistook the analysis of an argument essay with the analysis of an argument one! Luckily for me I realized it in time and I could make some needed changes accordingly. I guess I paid the price of tension… ☺
At the first break I ate some of my energy drink and a mandarin I brough with me, before starting math. Being math my “monster”, I’m happy it comes before verbal, because I was somewhat fresher. I didn’t find it overly difficult, and tension played a part for sure when – on a question – I reached a point where I spent 4 minutes (I’m not kidding!) to figure out that (1/8)^2 is equivalent to (0.25)^3 or something like that!
I found only one combination question, no probability, two geometry questions, one coordinate geometry and the rest pretty much standard word problems, inequalities and number properties. Nothing too new or not seen on GMATPrep or GMATFocus. Oh, I found an interest rate problem (DS).
At the second break I ate two of the wafer biscuits I had brough along (it was past 1pm already, so I needed some food) and I drank some more of my drink. Then I started the verbal part.
I must say, to my surprise, I didn’t meet any bold-faced CR question, and I admit I was happy about that! RC was straightforward overall (I’ve found more difficult questions on MGMAT tests and GMATPrep!) and SC was as usual, except for 2-3 questions that I may have bombed and that were quite odd in my opinion… like testing the past infinitive in a way not-so-much seen on prep tests and material… But overall, not bad. Actually I was expecting a higher V score and a lower Q one, to really demonstrate once more how you cannot rely on your sensations during the test!
After having almost clicked on “cancel score” for error, I patiently waited 4-5 seconds for the score to pop-up… et voilà! 720!! I had officially made it, I had officially beaten the monster! You have no idea how relieved I was, and what a burden I had just unloaded from my shoulders! I felt as happy as I had barely been in my past educational and professional life! And somebody told me that now the fun begins, which I believe to be true! Once you beat the monster, new horizons open in front of you!
This is basically it. I hope you liked my debrief and I hope it can serve you in some way.
On a last note, I would like to thank Eric for setting up this awesome website: you’re the boss Eric, and I wish you all the success and happiness that life can possibly bring! And then I would like to thank all those people that contribute heavily to this website and that help people out in a never-seen-before way: Cramya, Logitech, Ian, Stuart, Sureshbala, Bluementor just to mention the first ones that come to my mind! Guys, I may soon become a moderator of this site, but I feel like a dwarf compared to you! You are the true kings here! I feel that BTGM has teached me a lot, helping me to grasp and improve concepts that were simply hard-stuff for me!
And guys, today I’ve learned an importan lesson: impossible is nothing. For real! I mean, if a social science major; foreigner; with no heavy Q load at university/grad school can make it… well, seriously, everybody can!
And now, let’s the fun begin… ☺
Beat The GMAT - 1st priority
Enter a top MBA program - 2nd priority
Loving my wife: MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL!
REAL THING 1 (AUG 2007): 680 (Q43, V40)
REAL THING 2 (APR 2009): 720 (Q47, V41)
) and a splendid effort. Your never die spirit paid off well my friend. Finally you've ended your really long battle with GMAT and ended in style. .gif)
