I just Beat The GMAT!

Like a lot of people, I have toyed with the idea of taking the GMAT for a long time and found so many lame excuses not to take it, being the lazy and ignorant bum I was ( I believe the use of being is correct here…). I have to agree that laziness was the main culprit though. Back in March 09, just a few days before turning 31, I realized that time is running out on me and I better finish GMAT now or else the 18 wheeler truck called “midlife crisis” will run me over pretty soon.

First one week (April 10 – 18, 2009)

The very first thing I did to start off my GMAT preparation is to book the GMAT date. I gave myself 100 days to prepare, I calculated my D-day to be July 18th (my quant skills, you know). I also thought that if I can finish GMAT by July, I’ll have decent time to meet the application deadlines for 2010. Here, I owe one to my friend who ignited some fire in my belly. He himself scored 760 and is at the school of his choice now. He definitely set some expectations for me. That is a different story for another day.

I also started reading some of the success stories on the forums. They are full of inspiration. I have to identify one such special member. NGUFO on BeatTheGMAT forums. Reading her story just inspired me and filled my heart with so much emotion. I downloaded her attachment titled ‘commitment’, took a print out and kept it bedside. Another member that comes to mind is mayonnai5e.

I checked out one of the sample classes offered by Manhattan GMAT on my friend’s suggestion and I came out impressed with the curriculum and I enrolled in the 9 week program immediately. In hindsight, I have to say that it is one of the best decisions I made in my preparation. The moment I opened the fresh box of books, adrenaline started flowing in me and the fire got bigger in my belly.

This is the material that I started with.

All 5 MGMAT Math Guides
All 3 MGMAT Verbal Guides (I bought PowerScore books for CR and SC later… I will take about them in a while)
OG 11
OG Verbal Supplement
OG Math Supplement.

Online resources:
BeatTheGMAT forums
TestMagic Forums
ManhattanGMAT fourms.

Do not gather as many books as you can. Stick to one set of books and finish them. Reading too many books will not get you higher scores.

I prepared a week by week plan of exactly what to study and when to take CAT exams. I started off with sentence correction first, as I was told that this is the single area where you can improve the most. As so many people before me have concluded, I have to say that Manhattan SC guide is the best. How do I know that it is the best when I have not read any other books? Valid question. I will explain that later. I started reading one chapter and then completing the relevant OG problems, always timed.

Always practice the OG problems under timed conditions. Never solve them without time.

But it is not imperative that you solve every SC problem under 60 seconds or even 90 seconds right off the gate. I took about 2 minutes initially, because it takes time to get into the groove and speed is something that can be achieved once you master the content.

Never solve OG problems without first completing the relevant content.

It is a MUST for anyone to buy an Official Guide (hmm… it has no referent there, but that is a placeholder it. Isn’t it?). Official Guide is the Bible of GMAT. Take my word on it and if you already haven’t, go buy one today.

First Two months (April 10 – June 15)

I treated OG questions as very precious. I did not solve any problems other than OG problems, excluding the MGMAT CAT exams. I repeat, no other questions other than OG. I believe that OG questions are unique and other companies can not create questions of such a quality, especially true of verbal. And the explanations provided for the answers are set in stone. They are straight from the horse’s mouth.

Also, every OG question has a lesson to be learned. On overage if I took two minutes to solve a problem, I took 5 minutes to review the question, even when I got that question right. That is correct. Rather than trying to solve too many problems left, right and center, concentrate on a few problems and study the problems you solved.

Remember quality over quantity. And, review is more important than getting the problem right.

If you get a problem correct, you remember very little, but if you get a problem wrong, you’ll never forget the problem. OR you should never forget that problem. I started tracking all my mistakes in an excel sheet and added comments to it after searching in the forums. The best thing about forums is that you get to see many different angles on how to attack a problem. Different people have different amazing ideas.

CAT Exams:

The only CAT exams I decided to take are the PowerPrep (2 exams), GMAT Prep (2 exams) and MGMAT (6 exams). I believe that 10 exams are more than what you need to get into the groove. DO NOT exhaust yourself with every test out there in the market.

One week into my preparation, I took my first CAT exam

1. 04/25/2009 MGMAT 1 – 620 Q42/V33

I noticed that timing is my biggest enemy. I could not finish 4-5 math questions and 4-5 verbal questions. The best thing about MGMAT CAT test is that it will give you a very detailed analysis after the test. I noticed that I spent more than 4 minutes on a couple of math problems and more than 3 minutes on quite a few verbal problems. The stubborn person I am, I could not move to next problem without finishing the current one I am having issues with. Later I corrected this issue and learned to let go of the problem.

I wasn’t too discouraged with how much I scored and kept up with my preparation. After all, practice scores not that important. What is important, however, is what you take away from your practice test. There is no point in taking a practice test and not reviewing it. That as good as pouring down the drain 4 hours of valuable preparation time.

One more note about practice tests.

During your practice tests, simulate the real test conditions as much as you can. Complete the test in one setting, taking 10 minute breaks in between.

Oh, by the way, on the official test, the breaks are not 10 minutes anymore. They have been reduced to 8 minute breaks starting from July 17th 2009.

My GMAT was scheduled at 8 AM on a Saturday. So, I took all my practice tests starting at 8 AM on Saturdays. Saturday is not important here, but 8 AM is definitely important. You have to know how you body and mind feels at that particular time when you are scheduled for the test.

Also, one more thing I did, as was suggested by MGMAT, is to mix my study topics. Read SC for a couple of days, then move to Math, after that read some of CR before coming back to SC again. That way, I believe, you retain more than if you complete the whole SC book in a week at a stretch.

It took me about 2 months to complete all the 8 MGMAT books and solve all the OG problems once. During these last 6-7 weeks I took 5 exams and this is how I scored on them.

2. 04/25/2009 – PowerPrep1 – 690 Q47/V38
3. 05/09/2009 – PowerPrep2 – 660 Q48/V34
4. 05/16/2009 – MGMAT 2 - 640 Q42/V36
5. 5/30/2009 - MGMAT 3 - 680 Q47/V35
6. 06/13/2009 - MGMAT 4 - 690 Q49/V35

Couple of things about the exams. As timing was the biggest issue for me, I concentrated more on my timing and from exam to exam, I improved my timing. But still had to randomly guess one question in each section even during my 6th exam. I start using the below time splits and I have to say they worked well for me.

Quant:
7 – 60 (how to read this… By the time you finish question 7, you should have 60 minutes left).
14 – 45
21 – 30
28 – 15

Verbal:
8 – 60
16 – 45
24 – 30
32 – 15

These are very easy to remember too, as they are multiples of 7, 8 and 15.

During the mean time, I decided on the target GMAT score I want to achieve. Q51/V41. Having a target score is very important and I am pretty sure everyone has one.

Also, during those tests, I found that MGMAT verbal questions were not as good as their Quant questions are. So do not pay too much attention on that. Do not pay too much attention on any non-official test for that matter. Use them to improve your timing, to get into the rhythm, and to test your stamina. However, MGMAT Quant questions are really complex and very intelligent. You won’t be getting questions of such pure mathematical difficulty on the actual GMAT, but these tough questions prepare you well.

With roughly one month to go for my GMAT, I had completed reading all the content once and I knew I had to concentrate more on SC and CR. My RC was really solid. I believe it is because of a lot of browsing and reading online articles at work. See, slacking has its own benefits. Jokes aside, in one word this is what I did to improve comprehension. Economist. This is the closest that there is online to the GMAT RC passages. Go to Science section and the articles that you see are exactly what you see on GMAT. Very boring, very uninteresting, and very ‘who cares this stuff’ type. Read 2-3 articles on Economist per day and you’ll do well on your RC. Also, keep an eye on your pacing when you read. I found the strategies of MGMAT to be very useful on how to read the RC passages.

As I heard a lot of good things about PowerScore CR, I decided to get this along with PowerScore SC. I have to say that PowerScore CR is really good. This is clearly written by someone who has a lot of experience in breaking down critical reasoning questions. Each question type is analyzed at a very detailed level. I have to say this is the best book for CR preparation. Although some parts of the MGMAT CR strategy are really good, I did not find their diagramming technique very useful. Note taking in CR is not a good idea in my opinion, but note taking in RC is really helpful.

I have to talk about PowerScore SC. If you have Manhattan SC guide, then PowerScore SC is simply a waste of time and money. This is how I concluded how good Manhattan SC guide is. The detail with which MGMAT explains the Sc topics is unparalleled. PowerScore SC can not hold a candlestick to MGMAT SC. MGMAT presents each topic at a microscopic detail whereas PowerScore gives you a 10,000 feet level overview. Go figure.

Final one month (June 16th – July 17th)

With 4 weeks to go, I took my first GMAT Prep exam. I again ran out of time with one question to go on each Math and Verbal, but I was getting comfortable with the time now. I was not being stubborn on the exam. When I couldn’t solve a problem and when I sensed that I am spending too much time on one problem, I made an educated guess and moved on. It is tough to do but essential.

7. 06/20/2009: GMATPrep1 – 730 Q49/V40

As I was preached and this applies to most others, you can not get every question correct on the GMAT, unless you happen to be one of those GMAT Gods, who can score 800 in the middle of the night, and if you are that person, you wouldn’t be reading this. So, it is very important to recognize when it is time to make an educated guess move on to the next question. Your goal is to get most of the questions right, not every question right. You will invariably get some questions wrong. Even people score around 780 will get some questions wrong. So, don’t sweat over it.

Remember: Lose the battle but win the war

I prepared a more detailed study plan for the final 4 weeks. I allocated 2 weeks for SC and CR review. One week for Math Review, and final week for a review of all the topics. I went through the Manhattan SC Guide a second time and I concentrated more on the topics which I found I was behind (Just to be clear, use of which instead of that is correct here. GMAT has changed its view on this). It is my opinion that as you move towards the higher end of the score spectrum, the tougher and wordier questions contain more modifier and inherent parallelism issues. So I concentrated more on these topics in SC, taking notes. I also bought the new OG 12 just to get extra practice on the newer questions. Along with OG12, I redid the questions from OG11 that I got wrong the first time. MGMAT has an excellent review on OG12 that breaks down the trend of the questions and the differences between OG 11 and OG 12. Very useful stuff.

3 weeks before the GMAT, I took another MGMAT test.

8. 6/27/2009: MGMAT 5 – 730 Q50/V39

For the first time, I could finish each section on time and did not had to guess the final question. I was completely satisfied with my pacing now. As I reviewed my performance, I noticed that I did not spend more than 3.5 minute on any one question. That was a good sign that I was not being stubborn.

I almost forgot to write about my AWA preparation. I wrote AWA essays on alternate MGMAT exams, and on every official practice test. This is not to improve my AWA score but to test my endurance levels and build exam stamina. That extra one hour of thinking and writing essays will take a small toll on your stamina.

With two weeks to go before the GMAT, I took the second and last GMATPrep exam.

9. 07/04/2009: GMATPrep2 – 740 Q49/V41

I was feeling pretty confident about the test now. I had worked on all the aspects of the test that I was weak at and things started to fall into place slowly but steadily. I reached my target verbal score for the first time.

I decided not to take any more practice tests. That is right. The last practice test that I took is two weeks before GMAT. Taking a practice test was draining my energy and I couldn’t get much done for the rest of the day.

For the final two weeks, I started spending more time on the MGMAT forums and especially those posts by Ron Peruwel. He is one of those persons whom I consider GMAT Gods. The best thing about those forums is that you have a separate section for ‘GMAT Prep’ problems. So, you know all the questions you see there are official questions and you can be certain of the question’s authenticity. Moreover, people like Ron break down the question very effectively. If you want more practice with official questions, this is the place to go, because no matter how many times you retake the GMATPrep, you can not exhaust all the problems.

Final Week of GMAT Preparation (07/11/2009 – 07/17/2009)

For the final one week, I made sure that I started solved problems everyday exactly at 8 AM for an hour. I wanted to train my brain for that time of the day. I went to the test center one week before the test to make sure that I am familiar with the driving directions. I checked with the test center to make sure that my name is on the list. I did not want to leave anything to chance.

For the final week, I drastically reduced my study time. You read it right, I reduced, not increased. I made sure that I do not read continuously more than 45 minutes. The thing was I was getting a little nervous thinking about the exam and could not concentrate. I relaxed as much as I can and got plenty of sleep and watched a lot of youtube.

Speaking of sleep, it is essential that you get a good night of sleep not only before the test day but also many days leading to the test. I started going to bed at 10 AM and getting up at 6 AM at least one month before the test to get into rhythm.

I started reviewing one final time, even the topics that I was feeling good about. I did not learn any new thing this one week, rather I reviewed all the content that I had studied so far. I reviewed all the notes that I had prepared, and reviewed all the mistakes that I did so far. I read a few sample AWA essays once in a while to get a feel for what and how to present the ideas.

The day before the GMAT (07/17/2009)
I took the day off from work and completely relaxed. Watched a couple of movies on TV, went out for lunch and spent the lazy afternoon watching youtube. I reviewed one final time the SC notes I made, read some AWA sample essays and by 6PM, closed my GMAT Preparation and stacked all the books away from my eye sight.

The GMAT DAY 07/18/2009
I could not sleep tight the past few nights and this night was no exception. I kept waking up but told myself to calm down. Finally got up at 6AM, had a shower and a healthy breakfast. I solved 5 math questions and 5 verbal questions just to get warmed-up, and drove to the test center. I took with me two bananas, a bottle of water, and some Tylenol, just incase I get headache during the exam.

I had jitters and my heart was beating at cardio target zone all morning. At the test center I was surprised to that many people so early in the morning. There I saw a flyer that said that break time has been reduced to 8 minutes from 10 minutes. My heart started beating faster. The check-in process took about 30 minutes and a proctor led us to the testing room.

The test room was very good and I believe that the room layout is the same anywhere. They offer you earplugs before you enter into the test room. Each work station also has a set of noise cancelling headphones. Seating area was very comfortable. There was little disturbance from other test takers. AWA section was pretty uneventful. I made sure that I used all the key phrases. By the end of the AWA section, I was completely relaxed. My heart was beating at a normal pace and I was feeling very confident. I took the break, ate a banana from my locker, used the rest room, splashed cold water on my face, stretched my arms and legs and by the time I got back to the work station, I had barely 30 seconds left before the start of the Quant section.

Before each section, you’ll have one minute to go over some rules. Use that one minute to compose yourself, to remind yourself that you will do well, and to assure yourself that you’ll beat the hell out of GMAT.

Quant section started off well and I was able to save more than 2 minutes for the last question. I made sure that I get the last question right. Took the break again and followed the same ritual. Ate a banana, took a sip of water, used the restroom and stretched my arms and legs. Verbal section started off OK. First few questions were SC questions and answered them quite confidently. Somewhere in between, there was an enormous RC passage that was too lengthy. Even the answer choices were much lengthier than the normal ones. I must have wasted a lot of time there, but overall I was feeling ok. Final question was a SC and I had more than 2 minutes left for it. I made sure that I get that question one hundred percent right as I realized that it is the last damn GMAT question that I will ever have to answer in my life and I better get it right.

Once I clicked the final answer, the dreaded screen came up asking whether I want to see or cancel the score and the 2 minute clock started ticking down. As I kept telling myself during and before the GMAT that I will beat the GMAT, I was not nervous at all and chose to see the score.

Q 49 87%
V 41 92%
740 97%

All the best everyone !!!

First of all Congratulations. Great Score.

I have a query - What is the reason behind making sure to get the last question right ?

Great post....good job....

madhur_ahuja wrote:First of all Congratulations. Great Score.

I have a query - What is the reason behind making sure to get the last question right ?

Thanks Madhur.

No specific strategy behind getting the last question right. Last question in each section is the last chance I have to inch up the score. If I had gotten that wrong, my score might have gone down by 10 points. And, since I had 2 minutes left for the last question, I had the luxury of going thru each answer choice multiple times just to make sure I did not miss any subtle points. I was just giving my best at the last choice.

Wow my emotions ran high when I was reading through the post. It's sort of like watching a movie where there are suspense, drama, horror and finally victorious. Congrats on the amazing score and I hope you do well in your career.