10th of september 2008 I wrote my GMAT at Kolkata India. I secured 710 (more than what I expected). Wanted to write this for sometime did not get time so PAYBACK time guys!
Starting with who I am???
I am someone, Software Test Engineer with a big IT company. My age is 24 years and my heighest education is B.E. I have more than two years of experience in software testing.
I want to do an MBA but never knew what to do and where to start, have appeared in CAT a couple of times but lack of preparation has always let me down. I guess I am not the person who can sit and prepare for an exam. With time running against me and admission to a good Grad school getting tougher by the day, I had only one option: GMAT. Working in IT sector in India means you spend 12 hours a day in the office (mostly chatting and lazing around) and with me not happy with sitting at home and studying, office seems a good timepass. and one day suddenly god know what prompted me, and I registered for GMAT (3 August 2008). I had been doing a bit of disclosed paper tests from ETS since January and analyzing my mistakes (around 15-20 questions per week). Thinking that I had to give GMAT some day.
The very instant I confirmed my registration a chill ran down my spine. I realized that I was in deep shit and had wasted my hard earned $250. Sitting like a studious kid I chalked out my plan on using next 27+10 days = 37 days to crack GMAT and get 780
. At this instant all books I knew was - GMAT official Guide (and I did not want to waste money on this)
Plan 1: complete GMAT official SC+RC+CR+Quant asap and then again complete GMAT Official SC+RC+CR+Quant. 15 days before exam give first GMAT Prep then again 7 days before give second GMAT prep exam.
I had heard about GMAT exam a lot of times, a friend of mine who has left his MBA in Pittsburgh midway to work as a consultant in Europe had scored 760 a couple of years back. I have heard and read that GMAT is tough exam and a score of 750+ is considered very good. As I am a day dreamer too, I always thought of getting something around 780-790. Never thought less.
Started fine with 2 hours of study everyday for first seven days but then with work pressure and other distraction went down to an hour everyday or sometimes nothing.
10 days into the training I realized things are not going fine and I am loosing focus. I made sure I studied at least three hours on weekdays and ten to 12 hours on weekends.
Study material : GMAT official only. I completed GMAT official Quant in 3 days then for next 20 days I was struck in SC, then CR and RC. after 15 days (18th September) I found that my SC was bad and I took up Manhattan SC review and Spidey's notes. (Spideys Notes ROCK!!) I improved majorly on SC with Spidey.
23rd september, 20 days of practice and I realized that some practice on actual test was required, I gave the first power prep exam late in night without having dinner and irritated with stuff around me. to my shock I scored 680 (too bad I thought) and found that my RC was 30% correct others were fine.
I had excuses, late night no food etc. I could not find a way to cover up my RC..... god help me.
In a couple of days more I completed whole of official guide. Only to realize that my score was not to expectation and I had nothign more to study. then came the defining moment, A movie I was eagerly waiting for (ROCK ON) released and somehow I lost focus and went to see it first day. and then for next two days I was just day dreaming. wasted two days and lost focus.
3rd september, one month into the exam I said lets go for second GMAT power prep. I wrote my essays (I had not even seen essay till now) then moved on to quant I knew I can do it very good and with breaks as I would have taken in real exam and with full focus I completed my second power prep.
As soon as the scrore screen popped up I crashed on my seat. Score = 540 Quant 46, Verbal : 22
It took me 3-4 hours to recover and I realized that I was back to square 1, with a week left (this week I was to attend office all day the project I was on was in bad state and no leaves) I somehow talked to people about this they encouraged me, some asked me to re-schedule the exam.
Worst part was that I had not told anyone about it, not even my parents who could have supported me or encouraged me.
I sat down for next 2 days I thought all is lost and kept thinking what I could do. Sometimes out of your desperation you waste more that what you have. Try to calm down as soon as possible and re-start with your effort (took me two days).
I again gave the second power prep, This was all I had. This time going through the whole course, essay, quant and verbal I scored 640 to my relief,
Pain Area - Reading Comprehension - all answers wrong. My friend Moti (one who got 760) analysed my exam and told me following golden rules to GMAT:
1. Focus on first 10 Questions,
2. Find your weakness and spend more time on those questions.
3. Stay calm GMAT is not end of the world, Brad Pitt never wrote GMAT.
I knew my weakness and flaw in my technique, but I had no time to work on it. two days before GMAT, I did not sleep, read Spidey's notes twice.
Worked in office for 8 hours and then studied 10 hours. Had my heart in my mouth for last three days.
Best part of my preparation was that I always analyzed where I went wrong and remembered my mistakes. Moreover 15 days before my exam I knew I lacked in concentration and sitting 4 hours at the same place was something I never did. I used to exercise half an hour daily
running 10 minutes, 25 push ups and 50 sit ups. This gave my body adequate strength to stay concentrated through the exam.
The D day, Exam was scheduled for 1415 hrs at Xentis technolabs, Kolkata India.
I studied till 5 am the night before, going through all the questions in GMAT Official, and reading last minute advices on all forums on internet.
Slept for four hour woke up at 9.00 am
I feel people disturb their natural sleep cycle by sleeping properly or more than required before the exam which is not good. I left for the exam center.
Had good breakfast and on my way had coconut water and ate the coconut too.
As always I was late (I forgot to mention I have never made it on time in past 24 years). Exam was scheduled for 2:15 and I was stuck in traffic jam half a kilometer before the venue at 2:00 ( Kolkata sucks when it rains, and for the area around Rabindra Sadan, where I had my exam, It gets water logged even if a dog pisses on the road)
I ran half a kilometer in drizzle to reach at the center just in time.
Three people came out of the exam room with scores 650, 720 and 550.
Essay was good, quant was good , I took all my breaks and utilized the time to keepmy focus, and moved to the rest room for change and in the rest room talked to myself in the mirror, telling myself, "Amit one more section, come on come on"
Verbal, my Waterloo was next and I just made sure my first 10 questions were right, gave a little more time to RC and left everything to GOD,
As sson as I ended my exam I thought cancel it?????leave the score????? then I said lets do it, and for next 10-12 seconds the screen kept processing and I felt as if ages had passed, and then I saw the score
YOOOOOOOOOOOO
710
Quant 50
verbal 35
I was so happy
To summarize:
Preparatory material:
1. GMAT official Quant + Verbal
2. Spidey notes
3. Forums
GMAT prep softwareexercise daily,
be calm in the exam
focus on your weakness and focus on the first ten questions they are the most important.
God bless you all!!!
