The first time I took the GMAT was one of the worst days of my life... After studying an average of 10-15 hours a week for the past four months (self-study: Manhattan GMAT and Magoosh), my expectations were high. My practice test scores and growing confidence all pointed towards an upper 600's score. So when the screen showed 660 (39Q, 42V), I was devastated. However, that devastation quickly turned to frustration, and that frustration became the fuel that drove me to continue my pursuit of a 720.
At this point, I knew that if I were going to achieve an elite score, I would need to hire professional help. Previously, I had been hesitant to hire a tutor due to cost and uncertainty about whether tutoring would actually be effective or not. But I realized two things: 1) A couple thousand dollars spent on tutoring is just a drop in the bucket compared to what we will all be spending on business school. And 2) Elite, impact players, whether it be in athletics or business, all receive professional help or coaching at some point. Tiger Woods hires swing instructors, Lebron James hires shooting coaches, and Fortune 500 businesses hire consultants. If professional help works for them, why shouldn't it work for me?
With that in mind, I began searching for a tutor, and finally settled on Jeff Miller of Target Test Prep. The TTP curriculum is solely Quant focused, which was perfect for me as Quant was clearly my weakest area. Given that I already had a high Verbal score, I knew that I could see the biggest gains by focusing only on Quant. The curriculum is broken down into 20 different modules and includes literally thousands of practice problems covering everything that you will need to be successful come test day. The thing I liked most about the curriculum is how detailed and thorough the explanations and lessons are. Given that I hadn't dealt with most of the quant concepts in a while, this was a huge plus for me.
I would work through one to two modules a week, and then meet with Jeff via WebEx for a 2 hour session to review and work through different aspects of those modules. During our session, Jeff would give me a few problems that would gauge my understanding of a specific topic, and depending on the outcome we would either work more problems on that topic or move onto the next. I'm not going to lie, in the beginning, the concepts felt way over my head, and I had serious doubts about whether I had the intellectual capability to get the Quant score I wanted. But Jeff was patient and thorough, and over time, things started to click and I began to develop a confidence and understanding that would lead me to the score I wanted. Occasionally, Jeff would recommend that I take an MBA.com practice test. Afterwards, I would email screenshots of all the quant problems to him and we would review and work through any problems I missed during our next session.
So after 2+ months of working through the TTP curriculum, weekly tutoring sessions with Jeff, and a few more practice tests, I was finally ready for my retake. I went into the test center calm, confident, and prepared, and walked out with the 720 (47Q, 42V) that I had so desperately craved. The early morning study sessions, weekends devoted to practice tests, and countless other social sacrifices had all been worth it.
So in summary, let me leave you with two pieces of advice:
At this point, I knew that if I were going to achieve an elite score, I would need to hire professional help. Previously, I had been hesitant to hire a tutor due to cost and uncertainty about whether tutoring would actually be effective or not. But I realized two things: 1) A couple thousand dollars spent on tutoring is just a drop in the bucket compared to what we will all be spending on business school. And 2) Elite, impact players, whether it be in athletics or business, all receive professional help or coaching at some point. Tiger Woods hires swing instructors, Lebron James hires shooting coaches, and Fortune 500 businesses hire consultants. If professional help works for them, why shouldn't it work for me?
With that in mind, I began searching for a tutor, and finally settled on Jeff Miller of Target Test Prep. The TTP curriculum is solely Quant focused, which was perfect for me as Quant was clearly my weakest area. Given that I already had a high Verbal score, I knew that I could see the biggest gains by focusing only on Quant. The curriculum is broken down into 20 different modules and includes literally thousands of practice problems covering everything that you will need to be successful come test day. The thing I liked most about the curriculum is how detailed and thorough the explanations and lessons are. Given that I hadn't dealt with most of the quant concepts in a while, this was a huge plus for me.
I would work through one to two modules a week, and then meet with Jeff via WebEx for a 2 hour session to review and work through different aspects of those modules. During our session, Jeff would give me a few problems that would gauge my understanding of a specific topic, and depending on the outcome we would either work more problems on that topic or move onto the next. I'm not going to lie, in the beginning, the concepts felt way over my head, and I had serious doubts about whether I had the intellectual capability to get the Quant score I wanted. But Jeff was patient and thorough, and over time, things started to click and I began to develop a confidence and understanding that would lead me to the score I wanted. Occasionally, Jeff would recommend that I take an MBA.com practice test. Afterwards, I would email screenshots of all the quant problems to him and we would review and work through any problems I missed during our next session.
So after 2+ months of working through the TTP curriculum, weekly tutoring sessions with Jeff, and a few more practice tests, I was finally ready for my retake. I went into the test center calm, confident, and prepared, and walked out with the 720 (47Q, 42V) that I had so desperately craved. The early morning study sessions, weekends devoted to practice tests, and countless other social sacrifices had all been worth it.
So in summary, let me leave you with two pieces of advice:
- 1) Seek professional help and tutoring early, from the very beginning. Remember, if you want to be the best, you need to work with the best.
- 2) Never give up. No matter how disheartened you feel, there is always a way if you are willing to put the work in. You may just need to change your approach and try something new like I did.
"A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done"
