I beat the GMAT 740 Q49/V42

Okay-so, I feel it is only fair that I post my GMAT story after continuously turning to others' stories as a means for motivation during the past three months. Yesterday, I took the GMAT for the second time and scored a 740 (Q49/V42). I cannot even begin to explain the sensation I felt after I saw my score. It felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my back. I am noticeably a happier person today (even though I'm terribly hung over!). Let's start at the beginning...

I've always known I wanted to go back to b-school, so the GMAT has always been in the back of my mind. I've flirted with the idea of studying for it since 2009. I gave it attempt in January 2010, but couldn't stick with it because of a lack of discipline and work taking over my life. I had been talking about taking it with people I knew this entire period, so I knew 2011 was time to put up or shut up. I live in NYC, so studying during the summer is simply out of the question. I cannot sacrifice glorious sunshine and day drinking outside to slave away over sentence correction problems. So, I made a plan to start studying after the college football season ended in January and to take the exam before April. I didn't want to spend the money on a course, so I went the self study route. My materials were:

1) OG 12
2) MGMAT Number Prop
3) MGMAT Equations, Inequalities, VICs
4) MGMAT Word Translations
5) MGMAT Sentence Correction
6) KAPLAN's main guide 2009 version (forget the actual title)
7) Spidey's Guide to SC (online for free)
8) Chinese Burn's AWA Template (online for free)

I went through the KAPLAN review sections to get a real quick brush up on topics and then took my first GMAT Prep CAT (no essays) for my diagnostic. I received a 630, but completely bombed the math. I didn't think time mattered, and I just didn't remember basic rules or properties, so I decided to not worry about time. The section ended and I didn't answer 11 questions. I got a low 30 something (37%-tile!) and a 42 on verbal. The verbal was pretty encouraging. I decided to not even focus on verbal much if I was already scoring this high. I put an hour or two in on most weekdays and completely dedicated my weekends to studying for the first four weeks. I pretty much stopped going out and only hung out with my books and my girlfriend (now ex-not entirely unrelated to GMAT stress). I went through the MGMAT quant books listed above and took really good notes. I did the practice problems and OG questions at the end of each section. At this point I retook the GMAT Prep test with the essays and scored a 700 (47/40). Seeing that 7 was really uplifting. However, after four weeks of studying I hit a wall. I went out a few times, stopped studying during the week. I was burnt out and fairly complacent after getting a 7 hundo. I was completely stressed out and not a great person to be around. After slacking for three weeks I got back to it. I switched my focus to the MGMAT SC guide and spent a lot of time going through that book. It is a great guide, but it is a lot of information, and it is hard to really get it to sink in as a functioning base of knowledge. Practice problems and reviewing detailed explanations is key. Over the next few weeks I did OG problems, took MGMAT CATs, and worked on SC. I never did a practice Reading Comp or Crit Reason problem, because they came naturally to me. My MGMAT breakdowns were as follows:

1) 730 Q47/V42 (essays, but I used the pause button a lot on the quant)
2) 670 Q46/V37 (no essays, was distracted during the exam by construction)
3) 670 Q47/V35 (essays, internet went out, had to move to a public area to take the verbal)
4) 740 Q48/V45 (no essays, the SC question bank ran out of hard questions-explained below)
5) Just did the quant section (Q48)

On the first three CATs my average difficulty for Sentence Correction questions was 700+. On the fourth CAT the average difficulty was only 660. I got 13 out of 13 correct (1 500-600 Lvl, 10 600-700 Lvl, 2 700-800 Lvl). The two 800 level questions appeared early during the exam. I was disappointed that MGMAT's question bank dried up. They throw TOO many 700-800 lvl SCs at you on the first few tests and then hardly any on the last CATs. I also retook the GMAT Prep 1 and got a 730, although I recognized some questions.

So, these tests were taken throughout March. Near the end I wasn't studying much. It wears on your soul, and I just didn't have it in me. It consumed my thoughts. I wasn't sleeping well. I wasn't happy. Eventually I decided to sign up for the exam on March 31 to meet my goal of being down before April. A week before the exam I took the second GMAT Prep and absolutely dominated it-770 Q49/V46. I recognized some of the verbal questions from the OG and thought it was easier than the real test would be. I felt ready though. The last weekend I barely studied. I went out and partied and got unfocused. Don't do this. Maintain focus until the end. I took off work the day before the exam. Also, do not do this. Go to work, keep your mind occupied. So, the day of the exam...

I slept in and had a solid breakfast. The testing center was a two minute walk from my apartment, so I just relaxed at home. I reviewed my Quant cheat sheet and the AWA template. 11:15 rolled around and I went to go take the exam. I crushed the essays (seriously use Chinese Burn's guide. Follow the structure, write a lot, you will get a 6.0). The first quant question completely stumped me. I had to guess. It threw me off, and the whole section was stressful from that point on. The questions looked more like MGMAT's than GMAT Prep's and seemed hard! I got through it and took my break to get a snack and some water. I gave up caffeine the week prior to the GMAT. Don't do this. Stick to what you know. If you drink coffee, drink coffee. If you don't, do not do it for the exam. I sat back down and started my verbal. About ten questions in...the building's fire alarm goes off. Someone comes over the PA and says it's a false alarm and to ignore it. Ignore it?? Everyone in the room is looking at each other like you have GOT to be kidding me! After wasting about 30 seconds just being dumbfounded by the misfortune I turned back to test. The alarm went on for over 5 minutes. I lost a lot of time here. Once it stopped I picked my pace up, but I was off my game. The reading comp passages were tough. They were science topics that were difficult to follow or read. I knew I missed some here, which isn't good because I usually get almost all my CRs and RCs right to leave room for my weakness (SCs). I had to rush to finish, but I answered everything. When I got to the screen to decide to cancel or submit I sat there debating until the last few seconds, but I couldn't NOT see my score. It came out a 700 Q48/V38. It was a major let down.

For weeks I debated taking the exam again or just being done. I asked for profile evals, emailed schools, and talked with friends. I felt cheated, but at the same time I got a 700 and so badly wanted to put the GMAT behind me. I hated life while studying, and the weather was getting nice. I went out a lot and just had a good time. GMAC informed me I could retake the exam for free because of the poor testing conditions. Eventually, talking to some of my friends who were about to take the exam made me really consider retaking it after I had pretty much written it off. It was now or never, because I was going on my two week vacation mid May. There was no way I was studying during the summer, and there was no way I was going to start all over again in the winter. One day at work I decided to flip a coin (I do this a lot with decisions I'm torn on, big or small-I figure fate knows best.) It landed on heads-I was retaking the exam. I scheduled it. What did I have to lose? I might score below 700, but not by much. It was free. So, I said I'd study for a week and a half, and roll the dice. Well, I didn't really study much. I took the last MGMAT CAT (770 Q49/V45 no essays), but once again the SC bank was useless. I had to take it over a three day period because of work and interruptions. I powered through a full Saturday reviewing past quant errors from CATs. I reviewed my notes. I did 10-20 hard OG questions for quant, RC, CR, and SC (first time I did any practice RC or CR). Then I took it easy the rest of the week.

The day of the exam I played basketball with a friend, ate some Chickpea, and then walked across Brooklyn Bridge to my test center. During the walk I didn't think about the GMAT, I just tried to clear my thoughts and relax. I focused on breathing and keeping my mind at ease. Once again I felt I crushed the essays, although I struggled to think of reasons for my Issue topic. The room was ridiculously hot. The AC wasn't working, so by the time I started the quant section I was literally dripping sweat onto my note pad. I thought here we go again...and to make matters worse, things were not going well. I had to guess on three or four questions, and I wasn't confident on a lot of answers. Then the questions started to seem too easy. Eventually, I glanced at the time and saw I had 11 questions with 16 minutes left. I freaked out a bit and began to consider scoring well below 700, but I stepped up and flew through the next 8 questions. They seemed to be too easy, so I still felt I didn't have a good score, but I was going with my intuition and solving things quickly. On the last question I selected my answer, but didn't get to hit submit. Luckily, the GMAT counts any answer you have selected if time runs out. I regrouped during the break, had a gulp of coffee, and sat down for my verbal section. This went as smooth as possible. I felt confident on most of my Critical Reasoning questions. There was one tough Reading Comp passage, but nothing like the previous test. The SCs weren't easy, but I felt I narrowed enough of them down to 50/50s to do solid. I was a little behind the clock, so I had to rush a few questions to catch up, but I ended up with 6 minutes left to do the last two questions. I finished with two minutes to spare, and had no clue what to expect. I knew I did well on my verbal, but I thought I might have scored a 45-47 on quant. So, I said F it-it is what it is. I clicked to see my results and 740 with a beautiful split flashed on the screen.

I felt pure elation at this point. I beat the GMAT. I made it through all the stress and effort. Retaking it was the best decision I've made (or fate made) in a while. Honestly, I didn't even do it for the score increase. Getting that 740 was for myself-to prove that I was that high of a scorer and to see my goals through to the end. I wrote Q49/V42 as my goal at the beginning, and I achieved just that. Now my mind is at ease, and I'm ready to just enjoy my summer stress free. That's my story...best of luck to everyone still working towards their goal!

PS-I don't feel like proof reading this, so there are probably a lot of errors. I apologize for that!

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