I just Beat The GMAT!

1st Attempt
760, 99%
50 Math (93), 44 Verbal (97)

I am a competitive person and relish every opportunity to win. I started off one of my AWA essays with the quote, "Some people see things and they ask 'why.' I see things that never were and ask 'why not?'" Contextualized within my topic, the quote by George Bernard Shaw was a perfect fit. The quote was also a metaphor towards how I saw this test. Throughout my preparations and talking to my friends, everyone encouraged me to be "happy" with a 700+. I am never satisfied with simply being "good" and replied to people by telling them that I'd be disappointed with anything under a 750. They asked me "why?" I always responded with a simple "why not?" If someone else can do it, I can too! If I can do it, any of you should as well!

I took my test yesterday and am grateful for my score. It represented four months of hard work and a commitment to excellence so I am very proud. Most of all, I am privileged to have found this community and your stories inspired to be better. When I was down, your stories challenged me to be better. When I was happy, I constantly dug deeper in an attempt to raise my game even more. Given that I lurked for months and got so much out of this forum, I wanted to take this opportunity and now give back to the community.

I graduated college two years ago in 2007 and have been working in the financial services for the past two years. I was actually laid off a few months ago and it really changed my perspective towards work and life. Instead of a succession of random tomorrows, I was determined to get my MBA and planned out my future.

Although I was rehired immediately (within minutes of being laid off, by a different department in the same firm), I started studying methodically for the past four months. I got to work at 7:30 am, worked non-stop until 5:30 pm, studied until 10:00 pm and went home. Wash, rinse and repeat - day in, day out.

My GPA wasn't high in college so I really needed to dominate on the GMATs. Instead of viewing the GMAT as an obstacle and a challenge, I saw it as a tremendous opportunity where I could compete (on an even playing field) with the best of the best out there and prove that I am as good as any candidate out there. My goal was actually a 770 so I missed out a little bit...

What I did to study was mostly question-focused. I bought maybe 10 books and borrowed 3-4 more... Did questions everyday and was insatiable for more. Really got my mind sharp. By the end of my study cycle, I could literally do 10 math questions (average difficulty ones) in five minutes with one hand tied behind my back. I probably averaged 50 questions a day (with careful analysis of my mistakes) and read materials on top of that. It is all about making an effort to maximize your time. For example, I read verbal materials on the subway rides (to and from work as I live in NYC) and was regurgitating math formulas in the shower (i.e. 13 * 13 = 169, etc...). Of course, when I first started, I studied a lot less and ended up cramming more down the stretch during the last month.

I often felt burned out because I was studying for maybe a few hours a day for an average of six out of seven days. I ended up picking up some bad habits - namely smoking cigarettes. It is funny though, I some of my vices ended up helping me. I am a quirky guy and here is some of the things I did that I think really helped me.

1.) High-Altitude Training = Some Olympic athletes train at high altitudes where there is less oxygen to promote their chances of success in normalized environments. By the second or third months, I was literally studying drunk (or having just smoked) half the time. Sometimes, I would study after a happy hour or sometimes I'd just study while drinking a few beers. Smoking to the same extent... In a weird way, I think this really helped me. When I took the two GMATPrep practice tests and the actual GMAT, my performance really peaked and I was able to bring my A game. Maybe it sounds counterintuitive but weighing myself down for the practice really helped me step it up a notch when it counted. It also makes the studying a lot less "boring."

2.) Studying to the point of fatigue = People here advise against studying to the point where you want to throw up. I sort of did since I averaged around six months of sleep every night and studied until I was sick of the exam. It also kind of helped since I developed this adversarial hatred towards the exam and simply wanted to destroy it. First of all, it helped me excel at speed since there were literally times where I felt compelled to finish 20 questions in five minutes just so I could get the hell home. Secondly, it really motivated to just destroy the test come test day.

3.) I work in an industry where the Series 7 is required. When I first started my job, we were threatened to be fired if we failed our Series 7. I wasn't really worried but two of my friends in my same program were frightened. One very charismatic salesman at work told us that he had a "Study Trick" that was guaranteed to work as hundreds have used it and never failed. What he told me was as follows and the way he sold it (in such slick and smooth fashion) really made me remember it and even abide by it.
Him: Do you like fish?
Me: Yeah. Why?
Him: Tuna fish. Get tuna fish. Do you like pasta? If not, noodles?
Me: Yeah, I like pasta!
Him: The trick is - the night before the exam, have a big meal of tuna fish and macaroni & cheese. I always do it. You know why? Fish expands the brain; mac & cheese are carbs and give you energy. Just eat it and the rest will follow.
Whether it is superstitution or whatever, I followed his advice and have been doing it ever since. The week before my GMAT, I literally ate 15 cans of tuna fish and boatloads of rice. Maybe it helped, maybe it didn't but it provided a nice placebo effect.

The actual day of the exam was extremely uneventful. I took the test on a Monday at 1:00 pm. I screwed up big time at work on the Friday right before so I got into work at 7:00 am to hustle and fix my mistake. Worked 110% until 12:20... I was planning to eat two cans of tuna fish and a nice big lunch before leaving at noon. I had to buy some street food on the walk to the subway and eat my lunch (no breakfast nor tuna fish due to the busy-ness) on the subway amongst a group of shocked tourists. Got to the exam center a few minutes late and chugged water right before the exam. Naturally, I was flustered when I began my first essay. I wrote an introduction that didn't seem to pertain to the argument analysis on the second glance and literally lost 6-8 minutes trying to revise it. Second essay went well...

I "hung out" a little too long in the bathroom and started off the math section 30 seconds late. That was alright but the first question hit me like a ton of bricks and completely demoralized me. What appeared to be a standard algebra question took my five minutes to solve. I ended up having to number plug each solution (ended being E.) and finished my first question with less than 70 minutes to spare... The next questions went well but I was very slow... People told me to go into the test with the expectation of the questions getting harder as I did better but I rhetoric didn't reflect reality as accurately. As I got to maybe question 15 of the math, the test literally became impossible! I ended up guessing (50% educated guesses, 50% random guesses) for half the questions that were left. Was not fun...

For my eight minute break, I was dejected and devastated and went to the bathroom to smoke a cigarette. I was freaking out and ended up coming back for the verbal section three minutes late so I had 72 minutes left...

I am running out of time as I have to go somewhere so I'll conclude quickly. Verbal went alright though I spent too much time at the beginning and rushed the last 15 questions.

At the end of the test was not happy and felt I could've done better (I am pretty sure I messed up one or two verbal questions in retrospect). Hit the submit button and wanted to get it all over with. When the number 760 came up on the screen, I couldn't believe it... I was literally shaking and was thrilled. Although I might have done better if I managed my time better, I was ecstatic. If someone told me I could get a 760 before the test, I'd take that and run away like I stole something.

Overall, good experience but don't get discouraged during the test. Even though I truly truly believed I screwed up big time for math, I ended up alright. Verbal exceeded my expectations as that was my weakness going in.

Thanks to the community for the support and I wish you all the best of luck in your GMAT endeavors and with what dreams may come!

Congrats dude...!!!
Very inspiring, thanks for sharing.


Vinayak

Great story man! Your attitude gave you your score. Really happy for you! You know what? I really think I shouldn't have cancelled my score - ha ha ha - maybe I wasn't doing so bad. Lesson learned.

Heartiest Congratulations .You did really well .You smashed the GMAT with full energy , sharp brain and all your hard work .
four months prepration and studying about 5 hrs everyday .
How many hours do you think so you spent per week .
Which book did you cover first for the theory reviewal.
What study plan did you make for you every week and deadlines set or something to finish was on your list?Plz share with us.
What all material you covered in what order? including the tests.

congrats on the great score. it's funny but your experience almost mirrors mine, from the college graduation year to the layoff to the gmat score (except i wasnt lucky enough to get rehired right away ). good luck on all your apps!

Thanks for the comments.

Enki:
I probably spent 20 hours per week on average for the final three months. First month was a honeymoon period where I just read theory and did questions for fun (though maybe still committed a good five hours a week of studying that first month).

I know the people at Manhattan Review (I serve on the Board of Directors of an organization and am the treasurer for the group and our group has many dealings with The Manhattan Review). A lot of my materials came from there. I also have four copies of the official GMAT books (green math, purple verbal, red 12th edition and yellow 11th edition). Took five exams from Manhattan Review, two from GMATPrep, the two or three free ones on this website and four more from CD-roms that Manhattan Review gave me. Some exams I did properly whereas other ones I simply mined for questions.

With respect to studying, I just did a lot of practice questions. Nonetheless, for the actual test, this was not as useful as I'd expected. About one third of the math questions were impossible to solve. When I say impossible - I mean i-m-p-o-s-s-i-b-l-e. There were two to three minute stretches where I tried everything I humanly could and nothing would result. Did a lot of guessing... I am a natural artist with math and can break a difficult math question in many different ways by manipulating formulas and methods. From practice through hundreds of questions, I can probably finish a practice math section in very little time and maintain excellence throughout. So I guess had I done less practice questions and focused more on analyzing extremely math situations, it might've helped more.

My practice for verbal definitely paid off. I just did practice question after practice question and reviewed grammar printouts. I probably could've done an even better job of verbal as I was very slow to begin and had to rush through the last 15 questions. If I could give you advice, it would be learn to read fast. Some of the critical reasoning questions on the GMAT had premises and arguments that took up an entire half page with possible choices each a mini-paragraph long. To read carefully and analyze the question alone would've taken more than three minutes so learn to read and digest information fast.

Wow..Thrill..thrilll..thrill all the way till the end of ur post...

Great Score .. Enthralling post!!
Attitude man..attitude..that was something like a athelete's spirit...

Took my test on Sept 14th (Monday) and got my AWA results back yesterday, Sept 20th (Saturday) so was impressed with their turnaround time.

Scored a 6.0 which corresponded to 90th percentile. In the past, a 6.0 is 87th percentile, leading me to believe that the test is getting harder as more and more applications are applying.

Still upset that I got only a 760 since other members on this forum have got a 770 with a 50 quant and 44 verbal. It is grossly messed up that I got a 760 with a 50/44 split since other people are getting 760s with lower splits or 770s with the same split! I am a person who likes to be responsible for his own actions so I am mostly upset because I ran out of time on the last verbal question. I had the right answer down but changed it to the wrong answer as I self-doubted... I realized I knew the right answer the first time just as the time ran out so I pissed away a question... 770 was my goal and I was an inch away. I should've got a 770 and still have a chip on my shoulder. Good thing is - I always play better when I have a chip on my shoulders All in all, I put in a good effort and all I can focus now on are applications.

Realized that I have all these study tips in my head so I'll post a few more...

1.) Verbal - Learn to live and die by the process of elimination strategy. During the time you have to choose schools (unlimited) and instructions time, plot out ABCDE options for all 41 verbal questions. During the test, just cross them out and proceed. The trick is to do this all before the test so you don't waste a single second of test time.

2.) Nerves - Learn the correct breathing techniques to relax you. I realize that everyone reacts differently so practice beforehand. For example, some people relax better by breathing deeply and expanding their stomaches whereas other people relax better by breathing for an extra long burst (10 seconds) and expanding their upper chest... Learn which way works and what truly relaxes you. Breathe and relax during the one minute instruction period before each section.

3.) AWA - Don't expend all your energy for these sections so just take it easy. The trick is to jog and float through this section so you can bring your A game for the quant and verbal. To prepare for an easy AWA showing, just memorize a couple of impactful and meaningful quotes from influential people or make up some stories (as long as you can support the thesis) so you can tell a good AWA story. The key is to write a lot and plug in good examples.

4.) Quant - Know certain formulas like the back of your hand. Know the squares of all the numbers up to 25. Know the multiplication table of numbers up to 20. Know the square roots of all the numbers up to 10. Know the prime numbers up to 200. These are integral to performing on the math section. Numerical fluency allow you to figure out certain questions in a matter of seconds as opposed to wasting crucial minutes in calculations.

5.) Studying - I always studied by doing verbal questions one at a time. I would do a question, check the answer and then analyze. That way, each question was fresh on my mind and I would proceed efficiently. Math questions I would do in 30-40 question blocks. Always circled the questions (even if I got the answer right), where my answer came about through number-plugging or backwards solutions. This allowed me to understand different ways to carve up a math question so I would have four or five different ways of approaching each problem.

6.) Mindset - Go to a happy place right before the test. For example, I realized that I love my work and enjoy coming in every Monday morning. Before my GMAT test on Monday at 1:00 pm, I worked from 7:30 until 12:20 (I was late for the test, btw) to get myself in the zone. Although I got a little fatigued and somewhat stressed out, this strategy got me in gamemode better than had I woke up late and bummed around on the computer for a few hours.

7.) Be Comfortable - As soon as I sat down for my test, I spent five minutes adjusting my chair to make it comfortable. I moved the computer console and monitor back as far as possible to give me more space to use my scratchpad... I moved the monitor around and adjusted the screen to position perfectly. When I was done with the essays, I put the keyboard out of reach so I had an open table to work with on my scratchpad. This all helped a little bit as these nuances calm you and give you the slightest advantage...

8.) Accountability - Share your goals with people. I literally told 15+ people that my goal was 770 and I would be disappointed if I didn't score a 750. This is a mental trick that compels you to be responsible for achieving your goal. By doing this, you step it up a notch in an effort to not look bad in front of your family and friends. And I was fortunate enough to have great friends who supported me and encouraged me to reach my goal.

Feel free to ask me any questions and I will share with you guys additional notes and hints as they come up.

I am being quite prolific and charitable today.

More advice on verbal:
At the same time, really attempt to work smarter. Analyze your errors (especially in verbal) to understand where the errors are. Someone once taught me that English is a language based on order. Unlike languages, the order of the diction and the emphasis with respect to sentence structure could completely alter the meaning of a sentence. For example, "dog's eye" places the meaning on the dog whereas "eye of the dog" places the emphasis on the eye. Sentence correction is a understanding a logic and you have to view every question on a completely different plane. Critical reasoning is a dance around the argument. Focus on the argument, which you should be able to summarize into eight words or less, and find only answer that either weakens, strengthens or elaborates on the argument... For example, your argument is "I studied for two months, I will beat the GMAT." A counter argument on why you can't beat the GMAT could be a simple, "two months is not enough to beat the GMAT." Reading comprehension is based on understanding each reading section. There is no advice other than to read. I probably read 50-70 RC practice sections for practice. It is funny - the materials I used were so bad that the questions and answers were not logical so I didn't even bother doing the questions. I just read and practiced my brain to comprehend authors a lot better. So if you're like me, just read, read and enjoy!


RC Tricks:
Going into the exam, I felt like SC were my biggest weakness. It was ironic since I realized during my last week of studying that my RC was the most shaky. Funny thing about RC is that it is the easiest section for most people going in since most people can get at least a few questions right by understanding the gist of the article. Nevertheless, RC is, in my opinion, the hardest section (of verbal or math) to get 100% on since the nuances are incredible. Often times, each question tests incredibly subtle nuances that allow two or three choices to all seem correct. This is especially difficult when compounded with an impossible article to read.

What I did was practice doing questions. I used a few resources and probably read 120 RC passages to practice. Funny thing is that I didn't have enough time to fully practice so I ended up only doing the reading and not bothering to do the questions. Essentially doing lots of reading and practicing understanding each section was critical. One mental trick I used was to smile while reading each article and pretending to "love" every article I read. It is a mental trick - for instance, trying smiling when you talk on the phone to someone (you'll notice yourself sounding nicer and more engaged).

That is a fantabulous score and an equally inspiring stories, I am sure you will make it big my friend.

You mentioned that the real test was far more difficult than anything you had seen, how do you deal with the crazy number properties Q's that has all varaibles. Also for quant OG is not sufficient, can you recommend something that is even close to the real thing?

Quick q - do you know any material that I can use while driving, I spend almost 2 hours each day driving but can't seem to utilize them. I did buy some vocabulary builder cd's but thats about it

Any thoughts?

Vineetbatra:

I agree with you in that you're wasting two hours of prime studying time. Can you take the bus or train? Even if it takes you three hours instead of two, that is three hours you can pivot into quality study time. Although it'll be some more stressful, it'll actually even save you money economically-speaking.

The quantitative was a lot harder than I expected and it was mostly out of shock. For example, the first question took me five minutes to solve... There were at least 10 questions I guessed on... I suppose I am a good guesser and you can naturally tliminate choices based on even a cursory glance but boy, I never guessed so much in my life.

You just have to approach it with a different mentality. Just give your 110% and leave the rest to God. Know that you've done your best and the rest will follow. I, unfortunately, got razzled by the math and freaked out during my break (which led to me losing precious time for the verbal). I was too stubborn and tried to figure out every math question. For instance, I was able to answer EVERY question for the practice tests. Nothing was too hard and nothing was unsolvable. I remembered for the real test, I guessed on my first impossible question after working hard for five minutes on it. I fought the good fight but should have probably given up on it after 15 seconds. If you go in with the mentality that you won't win every fight*** and just let the test take you wherever it takes you, you'll win out with peace. Look at me... Even though I guessed, the score was still an accurate representation of my skills so I can't complain...

**Remember this quote: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference."**

With respect to number properties, they aren't too difficult. It is a matter of being comfortable memorizing number properties and formulas. Maybe you can do that in the car? Can you answer 24 x 24 off the top of your head? Do you know the square root of 10? If you want to excel, you should be able to tell me the first answer within 1 second and the second answer within 5. Memorize those formulas and you'll go in with the necessary quantitative fluency to excel.

Thanks Eric.

Will continually strive to give back and help the community out.

Good job on the site - it was an invaluable help to me and my studies.

Thanks for the tips Brandon, I have started crunching some numbers while I am driving. Btw when attaching CR's do you read the stem first or the stimulus, also do you make rough notes for CR. I do not do any of the above, though my strike rate in CR is decent my average time is about 2.5 minutes.

Any thoughts?