Super long, rambling post: apologies!
I'm abysmal at maths. I have trouble multiplying decimals quickly, and I was amazed to discover (yes, 'discover'!) that 1/5 equals 0.2. I have friends who are true maths geniuses, and all the Econ majors had no trouble with GMAT quant. I'm an Int'l Rels major -___-;;
I took the GMAT 3 times, the 3rd time this morning. It has been an annoying, stressful path, but I hope this post along with all the other Beat the GMAT posts will encourage people to not give up.
I bought the entire Manhattan GMAT set in 2010, along with the OG 12th Ed./OG Verbal+Quant books. I had a full-time job, and studied extremely sporadically on the weekends. I didn't book a test date, and instead chose to draaaaag out the torment. Unless you're super motivated and disciplined, 'studying' for for 2 years basically turns into a couple of Saturday mornings.
I quit my job of 5 years in Nov 2011. I was feeling the inertia, the comfort of the status quo was getting dangerous, and I was also not happy with some of the arrangements in my position. I was kept pretty busy at work, and I knew that I did not have the discipline to study and work. I finally registered for the test, 8 Dec.
In Nov, I also purchased the Veritas books/online course. I tried to mix the Manhattan/Veritas strategies and tailor them to my abilities. eg. I thought the Manhattan start for RC questions, basically writing out a skeleton of the passage, took up way too much time. So I was supposed to study 'full-time' during Nov, but of course it wasn't as dedicated as it should have been. I also did NO practice tests. I think I was afraid of what score I might get. Readers: this is a mark of stupidity of the highest order.
8 Dec 11: First try - 640: Q38, V40, AWA 6.0
I was disappointed I didn't break the fabled 700 ceiling, but seriously, what did I expect? I registered for a second test date, 14 Feb (yup, for real).
Christmas and Chinese New Year certainly ate into my time. Of course I could have holed myself up away from the celebrations to study, but I didn't. I did do practice tests though, fervently.
3 Jan: Veritas #1: 690, Q42, V46
10 Jan: GMAT Prep/GMAC #1: 700, Q46, V40
18 Jan: Veritas #2: 630, Q41, V37
28 Jan: Veritas #3: 640, Q38, V43
29 Jan: Veritas #4: 650, Q44, V39
30 Jan: GMAT Prep/GMAC #2: 730, Q47, V44
31 Jan: Veritas #5: 700, Q42, V46
1 Feb: Veritas #6: 650, Q43, V39
2 Feb: Veritas #7: 680, Q48, V39
7 Feb: Veritas #8: 590, Q40, V30
8 Feb: Veritas #9: 690, Q48, V41
9 Feb: Veritas #10: 580, Q44, V24
10 Feb: 800score: 730, Q41, V49
11 Feb: 800score: 720, Q41, V46
It probably wasn't the best idea to do practice tests in consecutive days, but by then I just wanted to pound them all out. I found the quant in the Veritas tests a bit too easy vs the real test. The verbal in the Veritas tests was also kind of odd, especially the RC questions (and the passages seemed too easy). 800score was just weird, the verbal didn't seem that easy when doing it, but the score sure is warped. The 800score quant was also weirdly constructed, not real test -style.
14 Feb 12: 2nd try - 600: Q36, V35, AWA 5.5
I was so much more nervous on my second try. I think the whole 'stakes are raised' feeling skyrocketed out of control. I didn't sleep till 3am on the day of the test.
By now, I was going crazy. I didn't want to be the 65 year old rocking away in the rocking chair with old GMAT prep books gathering mold in the attic. I decided to take a week's break, visit friends, get out of my house. I registered for a third try: 22 March.
In between Feb and March: I gave up on Veritas and Manhattan. I purchased GMATPill, the videos were helpful, but I think I was expecting a magic bullet (probably due to advertising, hmm). I think GMATPill does SC best. I certainly liked the guy's point that knowing what 'past participle'/etc/etc meant was not super necessary.
I also reviewed the questions for Magoosh. This time I focused on Magoosh/Official Guide material, and did questions two or three times each. I think this helped. I didn't believe it when I first read about it, as I thought, if you've already done the question once before, you're bound to get it right. Right? But by re-doing the same questions, I picked up on a number of my weak spots, and the weird quant questions started getting a bit clearer. Especially the 'sum of x consecutive integers is y, if y is 50 and the first term is z' type questions.
I also read something on not freaking out over combinatorics and probability, and to really know number properties.
My mood was going up and down, and I must've been a pain to talk to (whinge whinge whinge).
I haven't slept well all this week, not nodding off until 2am-3am. Even the night before the test, I didn't fall asleep until 3am. And it wasn't so much that I was super freaking out, I felt kind of blank and resigned to my fate.
Test day: 22 March 12
My exam was at 9am. I got there around 8.20am, and there were already around 7 people ahead of me in the line. I was still feeling blank.
The essays were fine (I've never had much trouble with the AWA). Then I started the quant, it was going OK until Q5, when I started blanking out on a question. I ended up guessing a couple (too many, I thought) of questions, and I thought I blew it on time management as the test ended before I could hit 'confirm' for the last question. Well, there goes that, I thought. The questions felt tricker than the Official Guide ones, demanding more convoluted calculations, but maybe I just missed something.
Verbal. I got like 3 scientific RC passages. I'm usually OK with RC, but I was getting tired. SC seemed OK, about the same level of difficulty to slightly easier than the OG. I got like 8 CR questions in a row, some obscene amount. I wondered whether that was a sign I was doing well? No idea.
I had to guess the last 3-4 verbal questions in my 14 Feb test, because I was so short on time. I'm usually never short on time in verbal (never in the practice tests). This time, I had around 5 minutes for the last question, an SC question.
I thought I was screwed on the quant, since my last question might've counted as a blank. I sat there mindlessly clicking through the screens. I wondered what would happen if I got a 500-something. My parents were already in the 'don't worry, some people do fine in their careers without MBA degrees' routine, which I saw as them resigning themselves to the fact that their kid is a moron.
When the 710 popped up, I kept rubbing my eyes because I was so scared the 7 was actually a 5. I stopped breathing for a few seconds. I contained myself and quickly left. I have no idea why my quant is higher than the verbal.
Anyways, to those who are studying, keep going! Yes, three times doesn't look as elegant as getting what you want in one go, but if you don't try, you seriously will never know. Do practice tests, keep your spirits up, don't whine and whinge because it'll only make you more depressed!
I'm abysmal at maths. I have trouble multiplying decimals quickly, and I was amazed to discover (yes, 'discover'!) that 1/5 equals 0.2. I have friends who are true maths geniuses, and all the Econ majors had no trouble with GMAT quant. I'm an Int'l Rels major -___-;;
I took the GMAT 3 times, the 3rd time this morning. It has been an annoying, stressful path, but I hope this post along with all the other Beat the GMAT posts will encourage people to not give up.
I bought the entire Manhattan GMAT set in 2010, along with the OG 12th Ed./OG Verbal+Quant books. I had a full-time job, and studied extremely sporadically on the weekends. I didn't book a test date, and instead chose to draaaaag out the torment. Unless you're super motivated and disciplined, 'studying' for for 2 years basically turns into a couple of Saturday mornings.
I quit my job of 5 years in Nov 2011. I was feeling the inertia, the comfort of the status quo was getting dangerous, and I was also not happy with some of the arrangements in my position. I was kept pretty busy at work, and I knew that I did not have the discipline to study and work. I finally registered for the test, 8 Dec.
In Nov, I also purchased the Veritas books/online course. I tried to mix the Manhattan/Veritas strategies and tailor them to my abilities. eg. I thought the Manhattan start for RC questions, basically writing out a skeleton of the passage, took up way too much time. So I was supposed to study 'full-time' during Nov, but of course it wasn't as dedicated as it should have been. I also did NO practice tests. I think I was afraid of what score I might get. Readers: this is a mark of stupidity of the highest order.
8 Dec 11: First try - 640: Q38, V40, AWA 6.0
I was disappointed I didn't break the fabled 700 ceiling, but seriously, what did I expect? I registered for a second test date, 14 Feb (yup, for real).
Christmas and Chinese New Year certainly ate into my time. Of course I could have holed myself up away from the celebrations to study, but I didn't. I did do practice tests though, fervently.
3 Jan: Veritas #1: 690, Q42, V46
10 Jan: GMAT Prep/GMAC #1: 700, Q46, V40
18 Jan: Veritas #2: 630, Q41, V37
28 Jan: Veritas #3: 640, Q38, V43
29 Jan: Veritas #4: 650, Q44, V39
30 Jan: GMAT Prep/GMAC #2: 730, Q47, V44
31 Jan: Veritas #5: 700, Q42, V46
1 Feb: Veritas #6: 650, Q43, V39
2 Feb: Veritas #7: 680, Q48, V39
7 Feb: Veritas #8: 590, Q40, V30
8 Feb: Veritas #9: 690, Q48, V41
9 Feb: Veritas #10: 580, Q44, V24
10 Feb: 800score: 730, Q41, V49
11 Feb: 800score: 720, Q41, V46
It probably wasn't the best idea to do practice tests in consecutive days, but by then I just wanted to pound them all out. I found the quant in the Veritas tests a bit too easy vs the real test. The verbal in the Veritas tests was also kind of odd, especially the RC questions (and the passages seemed too easy). 800score was just weird, the verbal didn't seem that easy when doing it, but the score sure is warped. The 800score quant was also weirdly constructed, not real test -style.
14 Feb 12: 2nd try - 600: Q36, V35, AWA 5.5
I was so much more nervous on my second try. I think the whole 'stakes are raised' feeling skyrocketed out of control. I didn't sleep till 3am on the day of the test.
By now, I was going crazy. I didn't want to be the 65 year old rocking away in the rocking chair with old GMAT prep books gathering mold in the attic. I decided to take a week's break, visit friends, get out of my house. I registered for a third try: 22 March.
In between Feb and March: I gave up on Veritas and Manhattan. I purchased GMATPill, the videos were helpful, but I think I was expecting a magic bullet (probably due to advertising, hmm). I think GMATPill does SC best. I certainly liked the guy's point that knowing what 'past participle'/etc/etc meant was not super necessary.
I also reviewed the questions for Magoosh. This time I focused on Magoosh/Official Guide material, and did questions two or three times each. I think this helped. I didn't believe it when I first read about it, as I thought, if you've already done the question once before, you're bound to get it right. Right? But by re-doing the same questions, I picked up on a number of my weak spots, and the weird quant questions started getting a bit clearer. Especially the 'sum of x consecutive integers is y, if y is 50 and the first term is z' type questions.
I also read something on not freaking out over combinatorics and probability, and to really know number properties.
My mood was going up and down, and I must've been a pain to talk to (whinge whinge whinge).
I haven't slept well all this week, not nodding off until 2am-3am. Even the night before the test, I didn't fall asleep until 3am. And it wasn't so much that I was super freaking out, I felt kind of blank and resigned to my fate.
Test day: 22 March 12
My exam was at 9am. I got there around 8.20am, and there were already around 7 people ahead of me in the line. I was still feeling blank.
The essays were fine (I've never had much trouble with the AWA). Then I started the quant, it was going OK until Q5, when I started blanking out on a question. I ended up guessing a couple (too many, I thought) of questions, and I thought I blew it on time management as the test ended before I could hit 'confirm' for the last question. Well, there goes that, I thought. The questions felt tricker than the Official Guide ones, demanding more convoluted calculations, but maybe I just missed something.
Verbal. I got like 3 scientific RC passages. I'm usually OK with RC, but I was getting tired. SC seemed OK, about the same level of difficulty to slightly easier than the OG. I got like 8 CR questions in a row, some obscene amount. I wondered whether that was a sign I was doing well? No idea.
I had to guess the last 3-4 verbal questions in my 14 Feb test, because I was so short on time. I'm usually never short on time in verbal (never in the practice tests). This time, I had around 5 minutes for the last question, an SC question.
I thought I was screwed on the quant, since my last question might've counted as a blank. I sat there mindlessly clicking through the screens. I wondered what would happen if I got a 500-something. My parents were already in the 'don't worry, some people do fine in their careers without MBA degrees' routine, which I saw as them resigning themselves to the fact that their kid is a moron.
When the 710 popped up, I kept rubbing my eyes because I was so scared the 7 was actually a 5. I stopped breathing for a few seconds. I contained myself and quickly left. I have no idea why my quant is higher than the verbal.
Anyways, to those who are studying, keep going! Yes, three times doesn't look as elegant as getting what you want in one go, but if you don't try, you seriously will never know. Do practice tests, keep your spirits up, don't whine and whinge because it'll only make you more depressed!
