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tim415
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
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- Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 1:43 pm
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GMAT 1: 650 (November 2006)
GMAT 2: 640 (November 2007)
GMAT 3: 720 Q47 V42 (January 2013)
After my 2nd GMAT attempt, I was devastated and felt not only like it was a big waste of efforts and time, but also like I wasn't smart enough or capable of scoring any higher. I wrote off the GMAT at that point and told myself I'd never take it again.
5yrs later, I still haven't gone to business school and my interest in b-school sparks up again. The schools I want to attend require a higher GMAT than what I score and the only thing holding me back from diving in is my fear of taking the exam again and not getting the score I wanted. I didn't want to feel like I did that last time when I invested so much and only have a poor result.
In the end, I stepped up and fear is no reason to avoid the exam and I signed up for the exam again. At this point, I knew I had to do things differently. Here's how I studied for each:
GMAT 1: Princeton review book, Powerprep software (~2 months study time)
GMAT 2: Princeton review book , Powerprep software, OG, MC-Graw Hill or something (~2 months study time)
GMAT 3: Veritas on demand, OG, GMATprep (3 months study time)
Here's what worked for me:
Constant review of challenge problems and concepts. The biggest value I found in taking a course was having access to amazing instructors that will teach you tons in how to solve, how to think, how to approach, and so on.
Consistent studying. I study very consistently, and studying took up most of my non-work activities, but I was conscious to take breaks and do other things.
Tackling problem areas as needed. I ended up skipping a lot of stuff on probability and advanced counting because I knew I was weak in areas such as arithmetic. Nail the fundamentals before you move on. In the end, I only faced 1 question on probability - which I "punted" anyways!!
Getting into the right state of mind. I posted reminder notes around my study area to motivate me. I kept telling myself that I could master this exam, it just took the right focus and effective use of energy. Closer to test day, I watched, listened, and recited positive and inspirational messages to fire me up.
Ruthless practice exam review. I did around 10 practice exams, and towards the latter exams I really started to drill down on all aspects. Every question was reviewed in detail and I made notes on my timing, overall feeling, hangups, accuracy, and so on. This really opened my eyes to what was killing me and what was helping me.
Test day, as many people describe, was quite an experience. Looking back, the biggest tip I can offer is:
Have confidence in your abilities. That means, nail the questions you know - take the necessary time to do the math correctly and check your work, while not wasting time on questions you don't know. I was confident in my abilities, but also kept in mind when I needed to throw questions away. This was huge in not only keeping my confidence up, but also for my timing. Hitting an ugly inequality DS question didn't rattle me as much when I knew I could throw it away after 30s.
No doubt was this a tough road, and I'm still reeling over the fact that I beat the GMAT. I actually used to think I just wasn't smart enough to score over 700. A load of BS nobody should ever accept.
Other resources that I found helpful:
Thursday's with Ron - didn't get to watch too many of them, but I watched/listened to Ron's timing session at least 3 times. This was a game changer for me. Before this, I was doing everything Ron stated not to do.
Veritas and MGMAT blogs - tons of advice and info from excellent people.
Veritas instructors - Looking back, especially since I took the exam twice via self study, I can say that the money I spent for the Veritas course was well spent. The material itself was great, but the instructors made it worth it. They know their stuff, and you know they're a trusted resource. Specifically, David N (Pats fan, I'm gonna say Boston?!), Matt D (Bay Area), Bill R (CA/Nevada) were extremely helpful and awesome. I owe a lot of my success to them. Highly recommend any of them.
Forums - great to read motivating stories from all sorts of people. When I found out I wasn't the only one struggling with this exam it helped me huge in my motivation.
GMAT 2: 640 (November 2007)
GMAT 3: 720 Q47 V42 (January 2013)
After my 2nd GMAT attempt, I was devastated and felt not only like it was a big waste of efforts and time, but also like I wasn't smart enough or capable of scoring any higher. I wrote off the GMAT at that point and told myself I'd never take it again.
5yrs later, I still haven't gone to business school and my interest in b-school sparks up again. The schools I want to attend require a higher GMAT than what I score and the only thing holding me back from diving in is my fear of taking the exam again and not getting the score I wanted. I didn't want to feel like I did that last time when I invested so much and only have a poor result.
In the end, I stepped up and fear is no reason to avoid the exam and I signed up for the exam again. At this point, I knew I had to do things differently. Here's how I studied for each:
GMAT 1: Princeton review book, Powerprep software (~2 months study time)
GMAT 2: Princeton review book , Powerprep software, OG, MC-Graw Hill or something (~2 months study time)
GMAT 3: Veritas on demand, OG, GMATprep (3 months study time)
Here's what worked for me:
Constant review of challenge problems and concepts. The biggest value I found in taking a course was having access to amazing instructors that will teach you tons in how to solve, how to think, how to approach, and so on.
Consistent studying. I study very consistently, and studying took up most of my non-work activities, but I was conscious to take breaks and do other things.
Tackling problem areas as needed. I ended up skipping a lot of stuff on probability and advanced counting because I knew I was weak in areas such as arithmetic. Nail the fundamentals before you move on. In the end, I only faced 1 question on probability - which I "punted" anyways!!
Getting into the right state of mind. I posted reminder notes around my study area to motivate me. I kept telling myself that I could master this exam, it just took the right focus and effective use of energy. Closer to test day, I watched, listened, and recited positive and inspirational messages to fire me up.
Ruthless practice exam review. I did around 10 practice exams, and towards the latter exams I really started to drill down on all aspects. Every question was reviewed in detail and I made notes on my timing, overall feeling, hangups, accuracy, and so on. This really opened my eyes to what was killing me and what was helping me.
Test day, as many people describe, was quite an experience. Looking back, the biggest tip I can offer is:
Have confidence in your abilities. That means, nail the questions you know - take the necessary time to do the math correctly and check your work, while not wasting time on questions you don't know. I was confident in my abilities, but also kept in mind when I needed to throw questions away. This was huge in not only keeping my confidence up, but also for my timing. Hitting an ugly inequality DS question didn't rattle me as much when I knew I could throw it away after 30s.
No doubt was this a tough road, and I'm still reeling over the fact that I beat the GMAT. I actually used to think I just wasn't smart enough to score over 700. A load of BS nobody should ever accept.
Other resources that I found helpful:
Thursday's with Ron - didn't get to watch too many of them, but I watched/listened to Ron's timing session at least 3 times. This was a game changer for me. Before this, I was doing everything Ron stated not to do.
Veritas and MGMAT blogs - tons of advice and info from excellent people.
Veritas instructors - Looking back, especially since I took the exam twice via self study, I can say that the money I spent for the Veritas course was well spent. The material itself was great, but the instructors made it worth it. They know their stuff, and you know they're a trusted resource. Specifically, David N (Pats fan, I'm gonna say Boston?!), Matt D (Bay Area), Bill R (CA/Nevada) were extremely helpful and awesome. I owe a lot of my success to them. Highly recommend any of them.
Forums - great to read motivating stories from all sorts of people. When I found out I wasn't the only one struggling with this exam it helped me huge in my motivation.
