I just Beat The GMAT!

I have been waiting for this moment to share my GMAT experience with everyone. Since past one year, I have been reading the experiences of everyone and hoping that one fine day I will get this opportunity.

Today, I appeared for GMAT and scored 720 (49Q, 40V) - I couldn't attempt last question in verbal.

For those who have already appeared for the GMAT and for some reason couldn't get the desired score, let me share past GMAT scores.

July 2011 - GMAT Score 600 - don't remember the break-up but verbal score was dismal.
Aug. 2011 - GMAT Score 550 - 48Q, 19V I was shattered to see my score. I felt I will never be able to beat this monster.

Aug. 2012 - GMAT Score 630 - 49Q, 28V - After one year of break-up and more focused effort when I saw 630 score I started thinking that was I trying to achieve something that was beyond my reach. This time I had the worst feeling. Because in all mocks I consistently scored 720 and infact in one of the Manhattan test I score 750. So I atleast hoped that I will break the barrier of 700. But when I saw 630, I felt very discouraged, disheartened and what not. It was very difficult time for me. It seemed that everything had come to standstill. Considering that in my life I have never got anything with ease, I decided to give one final shot and took the date after 2 months on Oct. 19.

As the day progressed, the amount of work in the office kept increasing. I could hardly take out any time during week days. Above all, I had to travel because of the kind of job I'm in. So only time that was available was in the bus, train or late night in the hotel.

Finally, today when I to appear for the exam - I decided to attack every question with all the knowledge and skill I have. I kept telling myself that I need not worry about my final score and I should just focus on one question at a time. As always essay, IR and quant went well. Last 75 minutes were left - because of which I was appearing for the 4th time. During the break I had a bite of nutri bar. It was yuk in taste but i guess it gave me mental satisfaction that I won't run out of energy.


I followed following strategy for the verbal section (below strategy will work really well for those who are struggling to improve their score in verbal):

1-10 - 50min remaining
11-20 - 30 min remaining
21-30 - 15 min remaining
31-41 - rest of the time


When I had completed about 12 question and I didn't get any bold face question, I became really nervous. Because in my practice test, everytime I was doing well in verbal I used to get one bold question at around 15th question. But then I told myself, that don't worry about bold question and just focus on question which is there on the screen.

By the time I finished 25 question, I was again losing my confidence as I didn't see any bold face question and I was running behind the clock by approx. 3 questions. Instead of waiting till the end, I decided to guess if I get any difficult question or question that would require more time.

Final 5 min - I tried to ensure that I solve last few questions correctly. But I still missed to attempt the last question.

When I saw the score 720 on the screen, I almost screamed and when the invigilator came, I told him how is it possible that I got this score.

From my experience, I can say for sure that if you decide to conquer something then no matter how many times you fail one fine day you will certainly succeed. Success comes to those who are patient enough to handle the failure.

hey congrats:)
wat all book u followed for quant and verbal.
thanks

Congrats saumil23 great score and improvement! can you tell how did you prepare for verbal the 4th time, how was your verbal preparation different from earlier attempts?

nehas11 wrote:hey congrats:)
wat all book u followed for quant and verbal.
thanks

Thanks Neha

Quant - It has always been my strength so primarily practiced questions during Mocks. But yes, I studied theory from Arun Sharma's CAT book for these topics - Number System, Progression, Permutation, Probability - If you just read the theory and see the solved examples that should be sufficient.

Verbal - OG 13, CR - Power Score, SC - Manhattan GMAT, Thursday's with RON - free videos.


Don't try too many books, focus more on analyzing every question. After a point, mental toughness plays a key role.

simba2012 wrote:Congrats saumil23 great score and improvement! can you tell how did you prepare for verbal the 4th time, how was your verbal preparation different from earlier attempts?

Thanks Simba.

During the 4th time, I revised CR from Powerscore & SC from Manhattan. Additional thing that I did this time was - "Thursday's with Ron". These are free but awesome videos.

Honestly, even when I appeared for the 3rd time - my practice scores were 720 above and my verbal score was consistently above 38 but I still didn't score well in the 3rd time. I was actually under lot of pressure to perform as it was my 3rd attempt and was more focused on the end result during the exam rather than on individual questions.

During the 4th time while I was solving the verbal question, I kept telling myself throughout the section that I'm not worried about the score and I just want to ensure that solve the current question on the screen with all the skills I have.

I would strongly recommend - not to refer too many books for verbal. OG, Powerscore, Manhattan SC, RON free videos are more than sufficient to crack verbal.

MOST IMP POINT THAT HELPED ME IMPROVE MY VERBAL SCORE

The timing strategy that I followed for Verbal.

• For the first 10 questions in verbal section - try not to make any mistake or at max 1 mistake

• 1st lot of 10 questions - 25 min - focus more on accuracy
  2nd lot of 10 questions - 20 min
  3rd lot of 10 questions - 15 min - if you are behind time, guess during 3rd lot
  4th lot of 11 questions - 15 min

Number of books & number of forums say that spend not more than 2min per CR question, 1-1.5 min per SC question and 4-6 min for RC. During my 4th attempt - my focus was on maintaining the timing for lot of 10 questions (As written above) than on timing of individual questions.

Also, its not a myth that initial few questions (10 questions) are more important. I would strongly recommend that follow above timing strategy - you will certainly see a improvement in your score.

ALL THE BEST!! Let me know if i you have any question.

One important point that I missed to mention in my previous post was to thank Eric & other BTG members. BTG forum has been most helpful during my preparation. As it is known fact that most imp. aspect about GMAT aspiration to understand why a correct answer is correct and why incorrect answer is not correct. Every time I was stuck, I used to come back to BTG forum to look for answers. I was never disappointed.

It was really inspiring to go through all the amazing stories on BTG forum, how number of BTG members turned unfavorable circumstances into their success stories.

Thanks Eric for starting such a wonderful forum!!!

Hi All,
If anyone need Manhattan 4th GMAT set, drop me a message, I have the soft copy for Quant and Verbal.

Cheers..

Hey Saumil!

Dats brilliant effort n dedication..ur msg hits d forum at right tym.
Good Luck!

Hello ,
Congratulations. thts an amazing score....so did u get a bold face question during the exam ?..I really want to bust that myth of a bold face question for 40+ score in verbal !

rashmilagisetty wrote:Hey Saumil!

Dats brilliant effort n dedication..ur msg hits d forum at right tym.
Good Luck!

Thanks Rashmi.

TanveerKamal wrote:Hello ,
Congratulations. thts an amazing score....so did u get a bold face question during the exam ?..I really want to bust that myth of a bold face question for 40+ score in verbal !

Thanks Tanveer. No I didn't get any bold face question.

Congrats for the great score. .. I particularly like your last quote "Success comes to those who are patient enough to handle the failure."

thanks for the inspiring quote

Congratulations on your score. I appreciate your perseverence.
Recently I too gave GMAT for second time and scored a meagre 600 although I was scoring 700 or above in GMAT preps.
I was too apprehensive to retake. Thanks for the motivation. I really hope its going to help me.

Thanks alot.
Cheers

ashutoshagrawal76 wrote:Hi All,
If anyone need Manhattan 4th GMAT set, drop me a message, I have the soft copy for Quant and Verbal.

Cheers..

Ashu... ill b glad if i could get d copy... plzz mail it 2 me if posible... [email protected] is my id... thanks a ton

Awesome debrief Saumil. Very inspiring indeed.

Could you figure out why it was 630 in the Aug2012 attempt? (considering within 2 months you nailed it with 720)
It will be great if you could throw some light on what were the odds contributing for 630 attempt and your subsequent come-back strategies. There could be some lesson for us to know that even consistent 700+ scores on mocks, dont guarantee the same in Actual GMAT.

Thanks