After typing this all out, I realize how long it is, so I apologize for the length - Matt
Life has always seemed to get in my way when it comes to the big things, and studying for the GMAT has been no exception. This whole experience has been difficult in spots, exciting in spots, highs & lows and that horrible middle ground where nothing seems to improve...but I made it! It just took a little longer than I wanted.
I originally started studying late last April (figuring 5 months would give me enough time to study, work on my apps and hit Round 1 at Wharton and Booth), but I had no idea how tough it was going to be to fit everything in.
To start, I had:
-The MGMAT books
-Kaplan 800
-3 OGs (2015, Q-book and V-book)
-GMAC questions and CATs x2
-MGMAT CATs
First Exam-
My first CAT was a 510, but that didn't bother me - there are plenty of stories of people here who started off with low scores and finished with huge scores, so I figured I would figure it out along the way. From there, I hit the books hard and slowly started to improve. The MGMAT books are great, and the Kaplan 800 is okay (although it never felt like there was enough of everything I wanted to practice). Over the next 2 months, my scores creeped upwards - I hit 610 over Memorial Day weekend (which was the first time I scored above 600), then everything hit a wall.
Part of it was my brother's wedding, part of it was summer (it's tough to study when everyone's inviting you to the beach) and part of it was the sense that I wasn't making enough progress. By the end of August, I felt out of energy - and my scores topped out at 630. I got a promotion at work, which was great, but the extra hours I was putting in ate into my study time. It literally felt like I stumbled into my Official exam. I scored 600, but it might as well have been 400. I wasn't shocked, I was angry. I had completely screwed everything up by thinking I could just figure it all out on my own. Round 1 was a wash and I kind of went into a hole for a month.
Rematch-
In mid-October, I got myself back into the study flow (as Round 2 was less than 2 months away and I didn't like the idea of giving up when life got "tough"). After a few weeks of rereading all the books and getting some reps in, I started looking at GMAT courses. I read some posts in the rooms here about all the free materials that GMAT companies let users try, so I used all of the ones that I could find and eventually chose Empower's score booster and a new set of Veritas CATs. I cracked 700 for the first time in December and it felt amazing, but I was only able to do it the one time (my other scores were all in the high 600s).
Bold Move-
My next Official exam was supposed to be on December 22, but as I got closer to it, I started thinking about how competitive Wharton and Booth are. I hadn't used all of the new materials I had purchased and I really wanted to NAIL the GMAT this time. So I made a tough choice and said 'no' to the Round 2 deadlines - and I pushed my test back to allow me to work through all of the new practice materials.
That choice was the toughest part of all of this - tougher than any insane probability question in quant or horrible inference question in RC. I realized that the work that I was doing right then was what would have the biggest impact on my applications. If I could practice a bit more, hone my skills and use of tactics, and nail down all of the little things, then I could improve my score and my chances at getting accepted.
So I kept studying and worked through all of the materials that I had picked up in November (I also used the Veritas Question Bank for some extra practice). I scored above 700 on three of my last four CATs (including a 750) and then I truly felt ready.
Game day-
My GMAT was today and even now the whole test feels like a blur. Through the entire thing, I felt like an ace detective - everything I read was a clue that needed to be noted and organized and at the end of a minute or two (or three), I had solved the mystery and I was on to the next one. I dumped a few questions along the way, but everything else felt doable. Compared to my first GMAT (when I hit the middle of the verbal section and just wanted the test to be done), this one felt more like I was there to do a job - I used just about all of the 75 minutes in each section as I was supposed to. When the 770 came up on the screen, I just sort of nodded to myself. Everything hit me in the elevator though and I actually started dancing in the elevator (so whatever security company has the feed from the camera - I hope it doesn't end on the internet).
Going forward-Round 3 or Round 1?
Now I have an interesting choice - should I go for Round 3 (which is end of March and early April) or wait until Round 1 in the fall (when I might look better to a fresh set of adcomm eyes)? If anyone has any opinions to offer, then I would appreciate it.
For anyone who's looking to take their scores to the next level, here's the best advice that I can muster (it's all based on the harsh truths that helped me to improve):
"¢ If you can't raise your score, then either you're doing something wrong, you're using the wrong prep materials or both. Admit to the problem and change what you're doing. It's not a big mystery. If you need help, then go get it.
"¢ Every sentence in a GMAT question matters, so you should be thinking about what each sentence tells you while you're reading it. Write things down so you don't have to read everything twice. (thanks for this Rich, but hearing you say it again and again drove me a little crazy). The exception is RC - many RC sentences are just description or are there to give you context for the main ideas.
"¢ Learn ways to double-check your answers. For quant, make sure that you can do the math and know how to use the tactics (testing values and the answers, number properties and so on).
"¢ For verbal, make sure you really know why the wrong answers are wrong, learn the flavor of each RC and CR question type. The better you really know each type, the easier it is to know what you're looking for. That's took a lot of work, but it paid off.
"¢ Specifically, train to know what kind of information you're looking for before you read the 5 answers on a CR or RC question.
"¢ Also, don't get caught up with technical grammar rules. You're not taking a grammar test, you need to know how to get GMAT SC questions right, and do so rapidly. There are only 8 major error types to get down.
"¢ DS is worth a lot of points so spending lots of time practicing is worth it in this category. Make sure you have all of the different tactics for DS questions down cold. You can get to a certain point where you can almost see through what the test-writers are trying to test you on.
"¢ Take the full practice CAT every time. Doing one in any other way is pointless if you want to be ready for the real GMAT.
"¢ Rushing in to take the GMAT when you're not ready is a painful mistake. Things won't magically get better on the Official exam. I thought I could do it on my own, and that mistake ended up costing me more than had I just done it right the first time.
"¢ All of the little things matter - sleep, breakfast, snacks, how you sit in your chair, all of it, so pay attention to these details when you practice and when you take the GMAT.
"¢ There's a difference between being a genius and making smart choices. I am not a genius, but that doesn't matter because I didn't have to be one on test day.
PS-Thank you all for what you do for this site. Rich, Brent and Mitch - you guys are amazing. The devotion you've all shown to teaching us the secrets of the GMAT seems almost super-human. To everyone who is still studying (or just starting their studies), you too can improve. Just be ready to make the hard choices and work to make good decisions, or better yet, learn from my mistakes.
Matt
Life has always seemed to get in my way when it comes to the big things, and studying for the GMAT has been no exception. This whole experience has been difficult in spots, exciting in spots, highs & lows and that horrible middle ground where nothing seems to improve...but I made it! It just took a little longer than I wanted.
I originally started studying late last April (figuring 5 months would give me enough time to study, work on my apps and hit Round 1 at Wharton and Booth), but I had no idea how tough it was going to be to fit everything in.
To start, I had:
-The MGMAT books
-Kaplan 800
-3 OGs (2015, Q-book and V-book)
-GMAC questions and CATs x2
-MGMAT CATs
First Exam-
My first CAT was a 510, but that didn't bother me - there are plenty of stories of people here who started off with low scores and finished with huge scores, so I figured I would figure it out along the way. From there, I hit the books hard and slowly started to improve. The MGMAT books are great, and the Kaplan 800 is okay (although it never felt like there was enough of everything I wanted to practice). Over the next 2 months, my scores creeped upwards - I hit 610 over Memorial Day weekend (which was the first time I scored above 600), then everything hit a wall.
Part of it was my brother's wedding, part of it was summer (it's tough to study when everyone's inviting you to the beach) and part of it was the sense that I wasn't making enough progress. By the end of August, I felt out of energy - and my scores topped out at 630. I got a promotion at work, which was great, but the extra hours I was putting in ate into my study time. It literally felt like I stumbled into my Official exam. I scored 600, but it might as well have been 400. I wasn't shocked, I was angry. I had completely screwed everything up by thinking I could just figure it all out on my own. Round 1 was a wash and I kind of went into a hole for a month.
Rematch-
In mid-October, I got myself back into the study flow (as Round 2 was less than 2 months away and I didn't like the idea of giving up when life got "tough"). After a few weeks of rereading all the books and getting some reps in, I started looking at GMAT courses. I read some posts in the rooms here about all the free materials that GMAT companies let users try, so I used all of the ones that I could find and eventually chose Empower's score booster and a new set of Veritas CATs. I cracked 700 for the first time in December and it felt amazing, but I was only able to do it the one time (my other scores were all in the high 600s).
Bold Move-
My next Official exam was supposed to be on December 22, but as I got closer to it, I started thinking about how competitive Wharton and Booth are. I hadn't used all of the new materials I had purchased and I really wanted to NAIL the GMAT this time. So I made a tough choice and said 'no' to the Round 2 deadlines - and I pushed my test back to allow me to work through all of the new practice materials.
That choice was the toughest part of all of this - tougher than any insane probability question in quant or horrible inference question in RC. I realized that the work that I was doing right then was what would have the biggest impact on my applications. If I could practice a bit more, hone my skills and use of tactics, and nail down all of the little things, then I could improve my score and my chances at getting accepted.
So I kept studying and worked through all of the materials that I had picked up in November (I also used the Veritas Question Bank for some extra practice). I scored above 700 on three of my last four CATs (including a 750) and then I truly felt ready.
Game day-
My GMAT was today and even now the whole test feels like a blur. Through the entire thing, I felt like an ace detective - everything I read was a clue that needed to be noted and organized and at the end of a minute or two (or three), I had solved the mystery and I was on to the next one. I dumped a few questions along the way, but everything else felt doable. Compared to my first GMAT (when I hit the middle of the verbal section and just wanted the test to be done), this one felt more like I was there to do a job - I used just about all of the 75 minutes in each section as I was supposed to. When the 770 came up on the screen, I just sort of nodded to myself. Everything hit me in the elevator though and I actually started dancing in the elevator (so whatever security company has the feed from the camera - I hope it doesn't end on the internet).
Going forward-Round 3 or Round 1?
Now I have an interesting choice - should I go for Round 3 (which is end of March and early April) or wait until Round 1 in the fall (when I might look better to a fresh set of adcomm eyes)? If anyone has any opinions to offer, then I would appreciate it.
For anyone who's looking to take their scores to the next level, here's the best advice that I can muster (it's all based on the harsh truths that helped me to improve):
"¢ If you can't raise your score, then either you're doing something wrong, you're using the wrong prep materials or both. Admit to the problem and change what you're doing. It's not a big mystery. If you need help, then go get it.
"¢ Every sentence in a GMAT question matters, so you should be thinking about what each sentence tells you while you're reading it. Write things down so you don't have to read everything twice. (thanks for this Rich, but hearing you say it again and again drove me a little crazy). The exception is RC - many RC sentences are just description or are there to give you context for the main ideas.
"¢ Learn ways to double-check your answers. For quant, make sure that you can do the math and know how to use the tactics (testing values and the answers, number properties and so on).
"¢ For verbal, make sure you really know why the wrong answers are wrong, learn the flavor of each RC and CR question type. The better you really know each type, the easier it is to know what you're looking for. That's took a lot of work, but it paid off.
"¢ Specifically, train to know what kind of information you're looking for before you read the 5 answers on a CR or RC question.
"¢ Also, don't get caught up with technical grammar rules. You're not taking a grammar test, you need to know how to get GMAT SC questions right, and do so rapidly. There are only 8 major error types to get down.
"¢ DS is worth a lot of points so spending lots of time practicing is worth it in this category. Make sure you have all of the different tactics for DS questions down cold. You can get to a certain point where you can almost see through what the test-writers are trying to test you on.
"¢ Take the full practice CAT every time. Doing one in any other way is pointless if you want to be ready for the real GMAT.
"¢ Rushing in to take the GMAT when you're not ready is a painful mistake. Things won't magically get better on the Official exam. I thought I could do it on my own, and that mistake ended up costing me more than had I just done it right the first time.
"¢ All of the little things matter - sleep, breakfast, snacks, how you sit in your chair, all of it, so pay attention to these details when you practice and when you take the GMAT.
"¢ There's a difference between being a genius and making smart choices. I am not a genius, but that doesn't matter because I didn't have to be one on test day.
PS-Thank you all for what you do for this site. Rich, Brent and Mitch - you guys are amazing. The devotion you've all shown to teaching us the secrets of the GMAT seems almost super-human. To everyone who is still studying (or just starting their studies), you too can improve. Just be ready to make the hard choices and work to make good decisions, or better yet, learn from my mistakes.
Matt
Last edited by mattCFA2 on Wed Feb 11, 2015 6:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
