I just Beat The GMAT!

I tried to make this short. It really is impossible to make this short given the fact I have taken the exams so many times. At last, I am done. Find my story below.

Short History: I took the GMAT 6, yes, SIX times. My scores in sequence:

3/2007 – 530 (Q:AWFUL V:MEDIOCRE) I really don’t even know what my raw scores were for this exam. I studied for 1 month while studying for the CFA level 1 and finishing up senior year in undergrad.

3/2008 – 610 (Q37 V37)

I sat for the online version of Manhattan GMAT’s 10 week course.

I used the study guides and official guide 11th edition solely. Practice exams were in the mid 600’s. My goal was a 650. As soon as my 610 popped on the screen I knew I could beat the exam so as a knee jerk reaction I signed up to take the exam a month later (turned out to be a mistake).

5/2008 – 580 (Q35 V34)

I did a follow-up exam diagnostic with Manhattan GMAT. I decided to do the course AGAIN, only this time it was condensed over 4.5 weeks.

I also started making flash cards at this point for all types of math problems. I work in private equity but admittedly am not as quick at quant material as my counterparts! I reviewed cards in detail and was moving productively through my 1 month prep, when my grandfather passed.

Needless to say my grandfather’s passing distracted me from my routine and I crapped the bed.

8/2008 – 620 (Q42 V33)

I really pressed into studying this time taking several (4+ Manhattan GMAT exams) with results from 600-700.

I built additional flash cards, which totaled 250. I timed myself on problems and studied literally 2 hours a day for 2 months. I was disappointed when the score appeared but since my quant improved my score barely put me in the inner 80% at Cornell (where I have wanted to go for 2 years).

3/2009 – 600 (Q42 V30)

I changed my strategy a little bit. I studied my flash cards primarily at my office. Previously I studied with a television on in my apartment (NOT ADVISED!) I focused solely on quant because I was certain from my 620 performance that my verbal was solid. I was wrong.

I studied from December until mid March for this exam knowing that Cornell wanted me to be in the 670-700+ range. I literally cried on my drive home feeling hopeless.


5/2009 – 680 (Q47 V35)

I HIRED A MANHATTAN GMAT TUTOR.

Where do I even begin?

My tutor and I addressed everything about my life including diet, exercise, mind-set, confidence. My manager at work joked she was my life-coach. She in a sense was….

I told her from day 1 I would interface with her as if I was in boot-camp and follow her lead. Here are the things she had me do that I believe made the difference:

1. Sleep – No, not just the night before. Every night several weeks before rest the number of hours that it takes to feel your best. My number was 7.5-8 hours a night. I did not get that much every night but I adhered very strictly to it the last week.
2. Diet – Eat healthy food more frequently. I ate healthy before but not frequently enough (office hours are usually 12 hours even in a crappy PE market). I drank strawberry/banana smoothies every morning and night and ate every 2-3 hours during the day.
3. I had a huge issue with 2 things on the exam
a. Trying to gauge how I was doing – I simply learned that 1 question at a time helped me perform better than fretting about how the exam was evaluating me.
b. Timing – Put simply, I spent too much time on problems out of my league. FREEBIES helped me. Freebies are 7 circles you place on your sheet in the quant AND the verbal. When you reach a problem that within the first 30 seconds you do not know how to do, use an educational guess quickly, check a circle and move on. This concept is helpful because first it frees 1.5 minutes that you would have spent for problems you can crush. Second the odds are in your favor! 1 in 4 question is fake! Thirdly, even at the 700 level people are only getting 65-70% of their questions correct!
4. Confidence – Google this: “Shane Battier & New York Times & Statistics”. My tutor assigned me this reading. The article changed my frame of thought. I learned that approaching the GMAT can be more productively if it is done exactly how Shane Battier plays the game of basketball. Read the article, you will be changed.
5. Write everything out – I had a terrible issue with not remembering things through a problem and in many instances forgetting what the question even asked me! Here are some things I would write with a data sufficiency problem:
a. If it was a yes/no question “Y/N” if it was a value question “V”
b. Is x>? BOX around the question
6. Create posters – Yes, it’s very third grade. I made a geometry poster that told me perimeter, area, and volume equations for each shape. The poster also showed me which sides and angles of a given shape were equal. Put them up at your desk at work and in the bathroom. You will know a rhombus when you see one for sure!

Sure my tutor helped me with algebra and helped me think through difficult problems but to be honest, my practice scores on exams while with her were mostly low:

3 weeks prior to exam - Kaplan: 640 (Q41 V40)
1 week prior to exam -Veritas: 610 (Q44 V30)

I used these exams because I had obviously used the GMATPrep like 100 times. After the Veritas exam though I was pissed and decided just for my confidence I had to take one of them to prove to myself I was ready. I scored a 690 (Q49 V35) with a few questions I had seen before.

I am going to bring this to a conclusion – I met with my tutor earlier this week. She wanted me to do NO problems and simply to hit the gym as I have been throughout my time with her. I went Wednesday and last night HARDDDD. I went to bed at 10pm last night and got a solid 9 hours of sleep. My diet timeline for exam day follows:

8:45 – Fruit smoothie – bananas + strawberries + orange juice (Sugar and vitamins)
9:30 – Scrambled eggs with Cheese (Protein) and 1 slice of wheat bread (Carbs)
10:30 – Peanut butter bread (More carbs and protein)
11-11:30 – While driving to the exam I drank another smoothie to get my sugar levels up for AWA
12:30 – After the AWA I was not really hungry but I knew diminishing sugar levels would my brains enemy during the quant section so I ate a pear during break.
1:30 – Following quant I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

*I mention my diet the day of because I felt like in previous exams by the time those last verbal questions come up I have been tired and un-attentive even though I had a power bar before the section. By dosing myself with sugar throughout the day it was released at the right time.

I never felt better taking the exam than I did today. My tutor helped me make a plan, I stuck to it and I have a 680. It’s not a 700, but it’s close enough to what I am capable of to now confidently say, “I beat the GMAT!”

I am here to help --- PM me if you want.

P.S. Looking back if I regret one thing, it was not hiring a tutor sooner. If you have hit a wall after 2 tries, make the investment!