I just Beat The GMAT!

­I'd like to give a quick debrief of my GMAT Focus journey and provide some helpful tips for anyone seeking a high score.

To give some background, I am typically very strong verbally and usually weaker quantitatively on standardized tests, so hearing about the quant on the GMAT I was quite nervous at the beginning.

These worries were warranted. After studying for about a month and a half using official materials and YouTube videos, I got a 555 on the GMAT Focus, with 35th percentile quant, 66th percentile on DI, and 71st percentile in verbal. I believe my verbal score mainly suffered because of the stress and anxiety that came from my lack of performance on the other sections. Either way, I felt like a chicken running around with my head cut off on the quant.

I honestly felt lost and a little hopeless after getting these results, but I was determined to reach my target score so I didn't give up. After looking around the market for a course, I eventually decided to give Target Test Prep (TTP) a shot. I did their 3-day free trial and was already seeing a big improvement, so I committed to doing the course all the way through.

4 months later, with over 280 hours logged in the TTP course, I just achieved my target score of 675 (96th percentile overall), with 100th percentile verbal, 71st percentile quant, and 79th percentile DI. Here are some tips and insights I would like to pass along:

- Just because you may be weak in either verbal or quant does not mean you can't get your target score. By crushing it in your strong area (90th to 100th percentile), and getting a pretty good score in your weaker areas (70th+ percentile), you can get a very competitive overall score.

- TTP is amazingly thorough and will prepare you for everything you need to get your target score. FOLLOW IT EXACTLY. Do not stray from the study plan they give you. I've seen some complaints about TTP on Reddit and I would be genuinely curious to see if those people actually put in the work and did what TTP told them to do—I'm guessing they didn't and they're looking for someone to blame. Be accountable and trust TTP's process!

- TTP's methodology is brilliant. They focus first on accuracy, and not speed. As they say, the speed comes with time. This ended up being very true for me.

- The TTP course is LONG. If you are already getting a 90th+ percentile in a certain section I would try not to spend as much time on that section as you do on your other, weaker areas.

- TTP tutors are great as well if you need extra help. One problem I was having towards the end was confidence with my quant. I was able to work with Jeff Miller, a TTP instructor, for a few weeks and he really helped tighten up my quant and increase my confidence before test day. I would recommend doing this if you have the means and would like some personalized help.

- The only thing I would do outside TTP is buy the official GMAT Focus question bank on MBA.com. Do all these problems in the last few weeks before your test. Remember that TTP's questions aren't official ones, but they are close. It does help to get familiar with the official ones.

Lastly, I would say you can achieve anything you put your mind to! Getting this score took me a lot longer than I had originally hoped, but the most important thing I did was not give up and put in tons of reps. Be resilient and don't give up! Believe in yourself!

Good luck!