GMAT Strategy

Hey all,

I took the GMAT yesterday (for the second time) and got a 710, 92nd percentile in verbal and 76th percentile in quant.

I just wanted to share this because I'm that guy who cracks under pressure during tests. I'm the kid who studies for months and months and then takes a practice test and scores far far below where I'm aiming for. I'm also the kid who just couldn't get my act together for the first test. After it was done I wanted to call it quits and just get on with my life.

However I decided to stick it out and give it another shot.

In the end I spent around 7 months studying for this test. It was so frustrating and there were so many times where I felt beaten, but I kept trying. So for those who fall into my category, keep your heads up. This test isn't supposed to be easy, its supposed to frustrate you and bring you down. But stay the course and keep fighting. You really can do it and it will be very worth it.

good post. Inspirational.

batbond007 wrote:good post. Inspirational.

yep indeed it is, man please provide your debrief, there are thousands of people like you, i too

certainly it helps.....thanks for sharing

Thankx for that very inspirational quote. I also fall in that category since i have a slow processor.

Thanks for sharing this. This was definitely inspiration for the weary as I approach my final month of preparation

Congrats...would love to see a debrief.

congratulations goldy14!!!

your post is motivating.
gave my gmat on 28th dec. got 510. my prep tests range from 500-640.But I donot want to give up at this score. aiming 680-700. Signed up for the manhattan gmat 9 week course today. going through their lesson plans and material.
i'm sure motivation from people like you and more preparation will get me through.

Goldy14 wrote:Hey all,

I took the GMAT yesterday (for the second time) and got a 710, 92nd percentile in verbal and 76th percentile in quant.

I just wanted to share this because I'm that guy who cracks under pressure during tests. I'm the kid who studies for months and months and then takes a practice test and scores far far below where I'm aiming for. I'm also the kid who just couldn't get my act together for the first test. After it was done I wanted to call it quits and just get on with my life.

However I decided to stick it out and give it another shot.

In the end I spent around 7 months studying for this test. It was so frustrating and there were so many times where I felt beaten, but I kept trying. So for those who fall into my category, keep your heads up. This test isn't supposed to be easy, its supposed to frustrate you and bring you down. But stay the course and keep fighting. You really can do it and it will be very worth it.

Congrats Goldy14, and it truly is a much needed inspiration for many people like me on this forum who have struggled a lot for this exam.
Less than 15 days to go now for my final attempt. Starting to feel the jitters already.

I'm really happy I can provide a bit of inspiration to everyone! Here's a debrief of my GMAT timeline, sorry its so long.

I took a Manhattan GMAT class in May, with the original goal of taking the test by July or early August (wow did that end up getting pushed back!). Although I think the class was beneficial for some, I just could not keep up with the aggressive syllabus. With a full time job and some other commitments, I fell so far behind and the class was a huge wash for me. It was a really crappy feeling and I felt like I wasted a lot of time and money for nothing.

In late July, i decided to start from scratch. I went back and started on page 1 of all my Manhattan GMAT books. I took detailed notes for every chapter. This was an extremely tedious process and it took about 2-3 months. I did not take any practice tests during that time because I wanted to make sure i knew all the material before wasting any valuable test materials (probably a mistake).

In early September I took my first practice test. To say it was a disaster is a huge understatement. It felt like I had never seen remotely similar questions before and i didn't even come close to finishing in the allotted time. I think I got a score in the mid 500's. I really wanted give up, I felt so bad.

I decided to start spending more time on the OG's. I did tons of quant questions from those books. But MOST IMPORTANTLY, I spent hours upon hours concentrating on why I got specific questions wrong. i was able to see themes in quant mistakes and began focusing my effort on improving in those areas. My test scores went up little by little, but I still felt as if each test was a crap shoot because there was so much I felt that I didn't know. I was still guessing way too much on the quant section.

Finally I decided that i needed to just step up and take the test, and did so in mid november. I am the WORST test taker ever. For some reason I freak out during tests and always seem to crack under the pressure. I got a 650. Not bad, but it was the breakdown that killed me. Though i was in the 89th percentile in verbal, I was in the 53rd percentile in math. I felt absolutely defeated. 6 months of studying and I did that badly in math?! It was miserable

I decided I would take the test again but took a week off from studying. This helped IMMENSELY. I felt less pressure. I knew that although I wasn't happy with my score, it was still decent and would not mean the end of the world. I took the test again on 12/28 with a "who gives a sh**" attitude. And it really paid off. I was calmer, worked quickly and efficiently, and was able to relax (believe it or not). And it worked! 710! 92nd % in verbal and 76% in math, 92% overall.

Sorry that was so long, but I'm sure there are people out there who have similar horror stories. I'm so proud that I stuck with it. My original goal was 680 and I surpassed it. So just to reiterate again, you really can do it. I'm proof. I SUCK at standardized testing and I still came out well. Just keep pushing yourself, it will pay off, I promise.

If anyone wants to know more, just let me know, I'd be happy to help out in any way I can.