I´ve been wanting to write a post like this for a while and I finally get to do it. I hope this helps someone, as many of the posts here helped me. So I'll try to be brief.
Background:
I'm a Mexican female engineer. I wanted to include the female part because someone once told me on average girls do worst at the GMAT than boys. I started studying for the exam on May 2010, took a course with a teacher here in Mexico and studied on my own for about 2 month, took the test in August last year and walked away with a devastating 590. And the worst part was that I got a 36 on Quant (43%) and quant was supposed to be my strong part. And It took me around 6 months to get myself to start studying again. Also, I have a full time very demanding job so focusing on the GMAT wasn't always easy. So I finally started studying again Jan 1st 2011, and took the test this Saturday March 26 and got 690 48 on Quant (82%), and even though I think I could get more, I am really pleased with my score. So here's what I did.
Strategy.
I booked the test first and gave myself exactly 3 months to study. This really worked for me because it forced me to study; I self-studied so the discipline was key, and having a target date from the beginning was a good motivator. I basically used 4 sources:
- Kaplan Premier
- MGMAT Sentence Correction
- Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible
- OG 12th edition.
I read all this 4 book from cover to cover (some sections several times) took very careful notes, did every practice question and really reviewed every wrong answer.
An other thing that was really helpful was the Kaplan's online companion. And of course did many practice tests, which I think is very very important.
Timing
I was really worried about my timing specially on the Quant, the fist time I took the test I ran out of time on the Quant and ended up leaving like 4 questions unanswered, which damaged my score even further. This time around I finished the Quant about 7 minutes ahead of time. What I did for this was time myself on every practice exercise I made. And when taking practice tests I followed this simple numbers:
Min-Quest
60-9
45-16
30-24
15-31
If I wasn't on question 9 by minute 60 I didn't spend more than 30 secs per question until I caught up and so on. The best strategy here is lots of timed practice, and off course, not letting yourself get caught up in problems that are taking too long to solve. If you can't figure out how to solve it after a minute and a half just take a guess and move on.
Others.
Take control of the test conditions. My GMAT appointment was at 8:00 am. Which meant being in the test center around 7:30 which meant leaving my house by 6:30 tops (I live in Mexico City so traffic is an issue) and that meant waking up at 5:30. Something I am not used to doing. I usually wake up at 8 am to get to work at 9. And I am really not a morning person. So I think for me the biggest sacrifice was to make my body adjust to the mornings. For the last month of my preparation I got up every day (including weekends) at 5:30 and got 2 hours of studying before work, and then a couple after if I could leave work relatively early, and went to bed early every night too. This really helped. I was perfectly fresh at the time of the test. Maybe form many people this isn't an issue, but if your test appointment is at a time that's not your best time of the day, adapt your routine to make it the time when you work best.
The week before the test, and test day.
The weekend before the test I took 3 full length (including essays) prep tests (we had a national holiday on Monday, so Monday was part of my weekend) all 3 of them at the time of the actual test. One day I even drove to the test center to measure traffic, and find out how to get there. The first time I took the GMAT I got lost on my way to the test center, which didn't help me stay calmed and focused for the test; so doing this really helped me calm my nerves. That weekend I also reviewed all my notes, and went trough every topic again and made a final review sheet. During the week I went to work as usual, and kept a very steady sleeping and eating pattern. I took a final prep test on Tuesday, and reviewed some more on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday I wrote 2 essays in the morning went to work, got off around 3 and did basically nothing on the afternoon, I watched a movie and some TV, and tried to relax and calm my nerves which I swear wasn't easy. The Saturday of the test, I woke up really early, took a shower, had some breakfast and went to the test center. I got there early and reviewed my review sheets, did a Sudoku puzzle (I read it was a good warm up) and hoped for the best.
Prep Test Scores:
MGMAT 1: 620 Q 41 V 34
MGMAT 2: 580 Q 37 V 33
MGMAT 3: 620 Q 42 V 33
MGAMT 4: 630 Q 43 V 33
I didn't do the last 2 MGMAT Cats; I got frustrated I could never finish a quant.
Kaplan 2 (linear test): 710 Q 47 V 42
Kaplan 1 (book test): 560 (Same day as Kaplan 2)
Kaplan 3: 670 Q 49 V 32
Kaplan 4: 600 Q 39 V 30
Kaplan 5: 640 Q 41 V 36 (weekend before the test)
Kaplan 6: 630 Q 41 V 34
PrepTest 1: 720 Q 49 V 39
PrepTest 2: 670 Q 47 V 35
I've taken this two before when I was studying for my first trial.
Actual GMAT: 690 Q 48 V 35
I really wasn't sure what my grade would be, since my preptest results were not stable at all.
I've extended more than I have hoped, but I just want say one last thing. The GMAT for me was a commitment and a big sacrifice. If you are not an extremely brilliant person or have a genius IQ you have to be willing to make some sacrifices. Give up a little of your social life, sacrifice some outings, and sleep and manage the stress. And give it a 110% of yourself for a limited amount of time. Because then the real work begins.
Finally, I know my 690 isn't a perfect score, but I think it puts me in the game for the top programs, what do you think???
Background:
I'm a Mexican female engineer. I wanted to include the female part because someone once told me on average girls do worst at the GMAT than boys. I started studying for the exam on May 2010, took a course with a teacher here in Mexico and studied on my own for about 2 month, took the test in August last year and walked away with a devastating 590. And the worst part was that I got a 36 on Quant (43%) and quant was supposed to be my strong part. And It took me around 6 months to get myself to start studying again. Also, I have a full time very demanding job so focusing on the GMAT wasn't always easy. So I finally started studying again Jan 1st 2011, and took the test this Saturday March 26 and got 690 48 on Quant (82%), and even though I think I could get more, I am really pleased with my score. So here's what I did.
Strategy.
I booked the test first and gave myself exactly 3 months to study. This really worked for me because it forced me to study; I self-studied so the discipline was key, and having a target date from the beginning was a good motivator. I basically used 4 sources:
- Kaplan Premier
- MGMAT Sentence Correction
- Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible
- OG 12th edition.
I read all this 4 book from cover to cover (some sections several times) took very careful notes, did every practice question and really reviewed every wrong answer.
An other thing that was really helpful was the Kaplan's online companion. And of course did many practice tests, which I think is very very important.
Timing
I was really worried about my timing specially on the Quant, the fist time I took the test I ran out of time on the Quant and ended up leaving like 4 questions unanswered, which damaged my score even further. This time around I finished the Quant about 7 minutes ahead of time. What I did for this was time myself on every practice exercise I made. And when taking practice tests I followed this simple numbers:
Min-Quest
60-9
45-16
30-24
15-31
If I wasn't on question 9 by minute 60 I didn't spend more than 30 secs per question until I caught up and so on. The best strategy here is lots of timed practice, and off course, not letting yourself get caught up in problems that are taking too long to solve. If you can't figure out how to solve it after a minute and a half just take a guess and move on.
Others.
Take control of the test conditions. My GMAT appointment was at 8:00 am. Which meant being in the test center around 7:30 which meant leaving my house by 6:30 tops (I live in Mexico City so traffic is an issue) and that meant waking up at 5:30. Something I am not used to doing. I usually wake up at 8 am to get to work at 9. And I am really not a morning person. So I think for me the biggest sacrifice was to make my body adjust to the mornings. For the last month of my preparation I got up every day (including weekends) at 5:30 and got 2 hours of studying before work, and then a couple after if I could leave work relatively early, and went to bed early every night too. This really helped. I was perfectly fresh at the time of the test. Maybe form many people this isn't an issue, but if your test appointment is at a time that's not your best time of the day, adapt your routine to make it the time when you work best.
The week before the test, and test day.
The weekend before the test I took 3 full length (including essays) prep tests (we had a national holiday on Monday, so Monday was part of my weekend) all 3 of them at the time of the actual test. One day I even drove to the test center to measure traffic, and find out how to get there. The first time I took the GMAT I got lost on my way to the test center, which didn't help me stay calmed and focused for the test; so doing this really helped me calm my nerves. That weekend I also reviewed all my notes, and went trough every topic again and made a final review sheet. During the week I went to work as usual, and kept a very steady sleeping and eating pattern. I took a final prep test on Tuesday, and reviewed some more on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday I wrote 2 essays in the morning went to work, got off around 3 and did basically nothing on the afternoon, I watched a movie and some TV, and tried to relax and calm my nerves which I swear wasn't easy. The Saturday of the test, I woke up really early, took a shower, had some breakfast and went to the test center. I got there early and reviewed my review sheets, did a Sudoku puzzle (I read it was a good warm up) and hoped for the best.
Prep Test Scores:
MGMAT 1: 620 Q 41 V 34
MGMAT 2: 580 Q 37 V 33
MGMAT 3: 620 Q 42 V 33
MGAMT 4: 630 Q 43 V 33
I didn't do the last 2 MGMAT Cats; I got frustrated I could never finish a quant.
Kaplan 2 (linear test): 710 Q 47 V 42
Kaplan 1 (book test): 560 (Same day as Kaplan 2)
Kaplan 3: 670 Q 49 V 32
Kaplan 4: 600 Q 39 V 30
Kaplan 5: 640 Q 41 V 36 (weekend before the test)
Kaplan 6: 630 Q 41 V 34
PrepTest 1: 720 Q 49 V 39
PrepTest 2: 670 Q 47 V 35
I've taken this two before when I was studying for my first trial.
Actual GMAT: 690 Q 48 V 35
I really wasn't sure what my grade would be, since my preptest results were not stable at all.
I've extended more than I have hoped, but I just want say one last thing. The GMAT for me was a commitment and a big sacrifice. If you are not an extremely brilliant person or have a genius IQ you have to be willing to make some sacrifices. Give up a little of your social life, sacrifice some outings, and sleep and manage the stress. And give it a 110% of yourself for a limited amount of time. Because then the real work begins.
Finally, I know my 690 isn't a perfect score, but I think it puts me in the game for the top programs, what do you think???
