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!