I JUST BEAT THE GMAT!!!
Wow, I've been wanting to say that for a long time now, and it feels unbelievably good to finally be able to say it! My story - I took the GMAT in April 2006 and got a 650. At the time, I felt like it was good enough. In fact, I wasn't even sure if I was going to B-school. About 3 months ago, I decided that I was going to retake the test. My target score - 700. I took 6 weeks off of work to focus on studying. (I know- pretty unique situation) Looking back, I didn't accomplish much the first two weeks. I had ordered the Manhattan Review math and verbal study guides (thinking they were the Manhattan GMAT books that everyone raved about). It wasn't until week 3, when I realized that I had bought the wrong set of books. (Boy was I frustrated!) That was also the same time I discovered this website. Life changing.
My entire study regime changed the day I discovered beatthegmat. I got absorbed into the site, reading how other people succeeded. My attitude changed, and I got down to business.
I checked the website everyday, whether it was for motivation or looking for a better explanation to a problem. My weakness was in verbal, and my quasi-strength - Quant. I used the OG 11, OG 12, OG Verbal, Manhattan SC, Manhattan RC, and CR Bible books. (Once I discovered I bought the wrong "Manhattan" books, I tossed those aside and immediately ordered Manhattan SC and RC books). As I progressed through my studying, I felt like I was getting stronger in both Verbal and Quant, but taking practice test after practice test, I didn't notice much improvement. It was extremely frustrating for me... but it just added more fuel to the fire.. i was on a mission. For the last 2 weeks, I locked myself in my room, and studied ~6 hours a day... everyday... even weekends. No days off (except day before test day).
Test day - Everything that could have gone wrong the night before went wrong. I got a call at 4am from my aunt saying that my grandpa was hospitalized. I felt the signs of a UTI coming on the day before (thankfully I had some antibiotics). I couldn't fall asleep after the phone call. My test was scheduled for 12:00. Oh boy - it was going to be a long day. When I got to the test center, I was determined to succeed. I filtered out all the negative thoughts, took a deep breath, and got focused. I was scared that my brain wouldn't be sharp since I had only got 5 hours of sleep the night before. But once the test started, the adrenaline started flowing, and I was on my A game. I felt pretty confident on AWA Argument, but felt very uneasy about my AWA Issue essay. When it was time to do quant, I knew that I had to watch my timing. If I could nail down the timing, I knew I would do well. I also read the questions more carefully - those test makers are tricky! I finished quant with 2 minutes to spare (never happened in my practice tests! I always rushed with usually 3 minutes left and 3 questions). My strategy - if I saw an extremely hard question, I allowed myself 1 minute to try and figure it out. If I wasn't close, I just cut my losses and moved on. Next, was verbal. I've always ran out of time on verbal - spend way too long on RC and CR problems. Today was no different. I ran out of time on the last question, and just guessed. Then it was time for the score report. At this point, I felt pretty good with Quant but very unsure about Verbal. When the score popped on screen - 710. 710! I was screaming with joy inside. I skipped out the test center... I was shaking. I can't believe I did it.
I'm surprised if anybody's still reading at this point. My advice would be - read the blogs to see how other people did it. Take their advice and adopt study habits that you feel will suit you. But create your own study habits as well - each person is unique. Everybody (well most everybody) will get multiple questions wrong on the test. Don't let your pride get in the way... move on to the next question. The Manhattan SC book is great, RC was pretty good as well. OG books are a must. And take lots of practice tests!
Good luck everybody. And if you ever feel like you need a little motivation... this forum is a great place. I don't think I could have beat the gmat otherwise!
P.S. below are my practice stats:
GMATPrep 1 640 (didn't even look to see my Q/V breakdown)
Manhattan Review 1 650(Q46 V35)
MGMAT1 640 (Q45 V33)
MGMAT2 680 (Q46 V36)
MGMAT3 640 (Q44 V33)
MGMAT4 680 (Q47 V36)
MGMAT5 680 (Q48 V35)
GMATPrep 2 690 (Q47 V38)
The real thing: 710 (Q50 V36)
Wow, I've been wanting to say that for a long time now, and it feels unbelievably good to finally be able to say it! My story - I took the GMAT in April 2006 and got a 650. At the time, I felt like it was good enough. In fact, I wasn't even sure if I was going to B-school. About 3 months ago, I decided that I was going to retake the test. My target score - 700. I took 6 weeks off of work to focus on studying. (I know- pretty unique situation) Looking back, I didn't accomplish much the first two weeks. I had ordered the Manhattan Review math and verbal study guides (thinking they were the Manhattan GMAT books that everyone raved about). It wasn't until week 3, when I realized that I had bought the wrong set of books. (Boy was I frustrated!) That was also the same time I discovered this website. Life changing.
My entire study regime changed the day I discovered beatthegmat. I got absorbed into the site, reading how other people succeeded. My attitude changed, and I got down to business.
I checked the website everyday, whether it was for motivation or looking for a better explanation to a problem. My weakness was in verbal, and my quasi-strength - Quant. I used the OG 11, OG 12, OG Verbal, Manhattan SC, Manhattan RC, and CR Bible books. (Once I discovered I bought the wrong "Manhattan" books, I tossed those aside and immediately ordered Manhattan SC and RC books). As I progressed through my studying, I felt like I was getting stronger in both Verbal and Quant, but taking practice test after practice test, I didn't notice much improvement. It was extremely frustrating for me... but it just added more fuel to the fire.. i was on a mission. For the last 2 weeks, I locked myself in my room, and studied ~6 hours a day... everyday... even weekends. No days off (except day before test day).
Test day - Everything that could have gone wrong the night before went wrong. I got a call at 4am from my aunt saying that my grandpa was hospitalized. I felt the signs of a UTI coming on the day before (thankfully I had some antibiotics). I couldn't fall asleep after the phone call. My test was scheduled for 12:00. Oh boy - it was going to be a long day. When I got to the test center, I was determined to succeed. I filtered out all the negative thoughts, took a deep breath, and got focused. I was scared that my brain wouldn't be sharp since I had only got 5 hours of sleep the night before. But once the test started, the adrenaline started flowing, and I was on my A game. I felt pretty confident on AWA Argument, but felt very uneasy about my AWA Issue essay. When it was time to do quant, I knew that I had to watch my timing. If I could nail down the timing, I knew I would do well. I also read the questions more carefully - those test makers are tricky! I finished quant with 2 minutes to spare (never happened in my practice tests! I always rushed with usually 3 minutes left and 3 questions). My strategy - if I saw an extremely hard question, I allowed myself 1 minute to try and figure it out. If I wasn't close, I just cut my losses and moved on. Next, was verbal. I've always ran out of time on verbal - spend way too long on RC and CR problems. Today was no different. I ran out of time on the last question, and just guessed. Then it was time for the score report. At this point, I felt pretty good with Quant but very unsure about Verbal. When the score popped on screen - 710. 710! I was screaming with joy inside. I skipped out the test center... I was shaking. I can't believe I did it.
I'm surprised if anybody's still reading at this point. My advice would be - read the blogs to see how other people did it. Take their advice and adopt study habits that you feel will suit you. But create your own study habits as well - each person is unique. Everybody (well most everybody) will get multiple questions wrong on the test. Don't let your pride get in the way... move on to the next question. The Manhattan SC book is great, RC was pretty good as well. OG books are a must. And take lots of practice tests!
Good luck everybody. And if you ever feel like you need a little motivation... this forum is a great place. I don't think I could have beat the gmat otherwise!
P.S. below are my practice stats:
GMATPrep 1 640 (didn't even look to see my Q/V breakdown)
Manhattan Review 1 650(Q46 V35)
MGMAT1 640 (Q45 V33)
MGMAT2 680 (Q46 V36)
MGMAT3 640 (Q44 V33)
MGMAT4 680 (Q47 V36)
MGMAT5 680 (Q48 V35)
GMATPrep 2 690 (Q47 V38)
The real thing: 710 (Q50 V36)
