I promised that I would update my post once I finally sat for the GMAT. I have found it helpful to read about the experiences of other test-takers and wanted to pay it forward and share my own experience.
I sat for the GMAT on Jan 5th of this year(after postponing the exam twice).
Final Score:
Scaled Score Percentile
Quantitative 46 68
Verbal 44 97
Total 720 94
Analytical Writing 5 57
Integrated Reasoning 7 81
Most of my study time was spent on Quant. I'm a native English speaker so Verbal and Analytical Writing did not particularly stress me out. Integrated Reasoning is relatively new so I didn't spend a lot of time there, gambling that most MBA programs are not placing a lot of emphasis on this score yet. I did however attend a MGMAT Intro to IR course. The class was complimentary and I purchased, "Integrated Reasoning and Essay GMAT Strategy Guide", as an introduction.
Since my previous post, I have done the following:
- Finished all the Verbal Questions in the Official Guide that I did not complete as of my previous post.
Worked on all the questions in the MGMT Advanced GMAT Quant Study Guide that came with my MGMAT Advanced Data Sufficiency class. A lot of these questions were very difficult, either because it took a long time to solve or otherwise. I would definitely say these questions were a lot harder than the questions on the actual exam. On the positive side, when you start doing regular questions on the practice exams, they will seem easy.
Worked on the 400 or so practice questions available on GMAT Prep.
Unfortunately, the timed CAT exams were stressing me out so I was continuously putting them off. This was precisely the reason why I should have been practicing with the CATs early. Working on timing and test-taking strategy is an important part of GMAT preparation that I unfortunately put off till the end.
I took time off from work for the last week of December and the first week of January to complete my studies. This was when I did most of my CATs. (This was a very bad move. Future GMAT-takers, do your CATs early in your preparation!)
These were my CAT scores during the last 2 weeks.
GMAT Prep #2
Quant 42, Verbal 38, IR 8 Total 660 (Unfortunately, if you did not flag a question for review on the GMAT Prep exam, you cannot go back to review the question. I find this completely not helpful. The makers of GMAT Prep informed me that the feature will be added to future versions of GMAT Prep, but not in time to help me. I moved on to the MGMAT practice exams where you are able to go back and review questions that you answered incorrectly.)
MGMAT CAT #1
Quant 39, Verbal 40 Total 650
MGMAT CAT #2
Quant 40 Verbal 45 Total 700 IR 3 (Finally broke 700, but the IR score is low)
MGMAT CAT #3
Quant 37 Verbal 38 Total 630
MGMAT CAT #4
Quant 38 Verbal 35 Total 610
I finally stopped doing CATs. Doing them day after day was exhausting and it showed in my scores. I can usually get a decent Verbal score when rested and fully concentrating. I took a break and did some light studying and reviewed flashcards that I made while studying the MGMAT Strategy Guides. I also discovered that I was getting the same type of Quant questions wrong on the CATS over and over again. There were simple formulae in the Strategy Guides to remedy this. Plug and chug! I'm not getting those wrong again.
Unfortunately I also developed insomnia the last 3 days leading up to the exam. But fortunately, the test gods were kind to me, the insomnia relented the night before the exam and I was able to get a decent 6 hours of sleep. I felt wide-awake the next morning but still packed gatorade and starbucks in my locker at the exam site to keep my sugar and caffeine levels up.
I scored a 720 on the exam which is higher than any of my practice CATs. It is possible guys. Keep the faith and do your CATs!
I work full-time and am planning to apply to either NYU part-time (GMAT not required) or Columbia EMBA (GMAT Range: 600-740). I think my score is competitive and am not planning to retake the exam. Good luck to future test-takers!
