One more thing... I scored a 580 on my GMAT on Oct 30th, 2009.
Fact is, standardized test taking is not my forte, but I am okay with it. I accept it. I learn from it. With that said, here are the steps I took to prepare for the exam and the mistakes I made so that you can learn from them.
My Preparation
Approx Study Time: 1 month
- Went through All the MGMAT Guides ONCE
- Went through PR Cracking the GMAT ONCE (lessons only)
- Went through about 75% of the OG 12th edition ONCE
Tests Taken:
10/24/09 - MGMAT #1 Score: 640 Quant: 45 Verbal: 33
10/26/09 - PR#1 Score: 570
10/27/09 - GMAT Prep Score: 640 Quant: 43 Verbal: 35
10/30/09 - Official GMAT Score: 580 Quant: 37 Verbal: 33 AWA: 5.5
Night before the exam:
- Ate Taco Bell at 11 pm the night before.
- Slept ZERO hours the entire night. It was a mix of throwing off my sleep schedule the whole week before due to so much test taking and studying along with that Taco Bell.
Day of the exam:
- Did zero practice problems that morning because I was so tired
- Drank a Monster energy drink 15 minutes before taking the exam.
- AWA
Felt energized and ready to go for the start of the exam. Breezed through the two essays with time not being an issue. The key to these is to keep it short, sweet, and simple. I had maybe 300 words if that. A great review which I looked at the night before was the PR Cracking the GMAT. If you can get a feel for how to structure the essays, throw in a few book quotes, and have some flow to your writing, this should be the easiest part of the exam.
- Quants
I felt the no sleep here. My brain was wearing down but I carried forward. I missed one or two early questions within the first 10. I honestly was only ready to handle easy to medium difficult questions and I knew that. To ace the quants, I believe you have to know the rules and be able to start on the problems immediately without thinking.
-Verbal
I was completely drained at this point and just wanted the exam to end. The main thing I got from this section was that the SC questions can sometimes be much more wordy than the OG, so be prepared to scratch out the words you don't need in your head in order to identify the noun , verb, etc...
Mistakes I learned from:
- Only studied for one month. This is def not enough. Two months minimum from what I have read. You need about a month to let all the lessons sink in and another month to build endurance for the exam and to gain a rhythm in order to quickly run through the problems without having to stop and think on the real exam
- Did not take even one practice exam until 6 days before the exam. I mainly did this because I was starting from ground zero on 10/01/09 and found it worthless to take a practice exam to get a 450 or so. I should have taken these exams earlier on to build the stamina to take the real thing
- Took 3 exams in 4 days, one of which, I took at 11 pm (PR). I was absolutely fatigued from taking these during my last week. I felt like an endurance runner that was barely breathing after 3 miles and was then expected to run those 3 miles as fast as he could 3 days later
- Only went through the MGMAT Guides ONCE. These are absolutely fantastic. I should have gone through them at least 2 or 3 times.
- Only went through about 75% of the OG-12th Edition problems once. This was by far the worse thing I could have done. You have to go through all of these at least twice and review every single answer choice to gain concept understandings.
- Did not make use of the BTG forum. Every once in a while, I would run into a problem that was not explained well in the OG. I blew it off and kept practicing instead of asking some of my fellow BTG experts for ideas on how to solve. Guess what, I missed ALL those on the real GMAT.
- Ate crappy food and got no sleep. No need to expand on this one. I should have had salad the night before instead. The lettuce has a sleep inducing effect.
- I did not do a single exam with the AWA essays. This was a huge mistake from a stamina standpoint. If you look at my official score. I actually did pretty darn good on the essays and then my scores dipped. I firmly believe that writing the essays took plenty of brainpower that I was normally use to applying to the Quants and Verbal. I know it is a pain to sit through that extra hour writing essays that won't receive a grade on the practice exams but trust me when I say it will definitely be worth it when taking the real thing.
My personal take on how to approach the GMAT from an attitude perspective
I have seen plenty of posts on how to prepare for the the GMAT from a technical aspect but not as much on the attitude and mindset preparation so I wanted to share some small learnings from my own experience for those who are just starting out in the 500 to 600 level and are maybe struggling and getting really down on themselves simply because they are not hitting the 99th%.
1.Self worth is not and should not equate to a High GMAT score.
Do NOT, and I repeat Do NOT let an average GMAT score get you down. In the end, you must remember that taking the GMAT, and more importantly, taking on LIFE, is determined by self-confidence in your abilities, expanding on your strengths, and bringing your limitations up to par. I have read so many depressing posts on here that talk about a 550-630 as being a terrible score and OMG my entire life is over! Can you imagine if we approached everything in life like this?
The truth is, if you got a 580 or similar, its OKAY. Ask yourself if you want to do better? Why better? Formulate a plan based on knowing yourself and where you stand and more importantly TAKE ACTION. Embark on the journey and stop associating your self worth and moods to the practice test checkpoints. Be critical only of the areas you need to work on and that is it. Do not let an average official GMAT score or a few practice scores determine your attitude or self confidence when going in for a retake of this exam.
2. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
To quote someone that probably doesn't even know what the GMAT is...LIL WAYNE (of all people) comes through with my favorite quote of all time...
"Repetition is the father of learning. I repeat, repetition is the father learning. Intelligence. All that comes from repetition. Awareness. Preparation. All that comes from repetition. Money. B$%#@. All that comes from repetition. Rotation, record spins, repetition. T.V. spots, awards, repetition. "
Regardless of whether you like the guy or his music for that matter, you have to respect the fact that when it comes to record sales and business, the man has moved mountains and made more dinero than most of us combined will see in a lifetime. Harvard MBA, or not.
What is the key to beating the GMAT? Lots and lots of focused repetition. I am convinced that the reason I hit a 580 is because I only went through about 70% of the OG manual at about 70% of my max effort, and quote on quote "winged my studying." So ask yourself, "Did I really do enough practice problems based on my starting point at 100% effort?" I think some of you may find that the answer is maybe not. Remember that doing 5000 problems without putting forth 100% of your max effort by reviewing every answer, timing yourself as you do each problem, and most importantly, applying your full concentration to learning the concept, does not equate to QUALITY repetition.
3. Give yourself a real BREAK
Let's face it. If you don't get a 750, life will go on. You will probably still find a great school to attend. Your family will still love you. You will more than likely still have a productive life based on your course of action.
So the day or two before the exam...
Chill OUT! Go have a nice dinner (no Taco Bell), enjoy a little time with your friends or family, and most IMPORTANTLY tell yourself how damn proud you are to be where you are today. Give thanks for how blessed you are to be the incredible human being you are today. This is the first step to gathering up that self confidence so that you aren't hyperventilating, making dumb mistakes, or even worse, having a complete emotional breakdown during the exam.
Remember, if you went through and put the time and effort into studying for it, you will do as well as your abilities allow you to do. Be proud of that. Fact is, some of us will not score a 750, and that is OKAY. Success in life is not determined by the GMAT.
Look at Lil Wayne for that matter...heck, I've done okay for myself so far and I'm just a 580 scrub.
P.S.
I do plan to retake the exam in two months and have put together a specific plan of action for how to improve my score. I will keep you guys posted and I look forward to using each of your inspiring stories and comments as motivation.
