Being just another lazy Indian Engineer working in IT(i am honest
), i had beeeeeen planning to take my GMAT for almost an year but never started my preparation until i booked my slot. With time running out for this year's application deadlines, i finally acted in June by scheduling my exam on 31st Aug, giving myself 3 months to prepare. Thanks to my long time planning, i had the whole 60-day BTG study plan in my inbox. I started with practicing quant and building verbal concepts. After completing OG-quant in June, i shifted my complete focus to verbal. I followed Manhattan GMAT strategy guides and practiced from OG.
Just as i was about to accelerate my preparation in early August, a couple of personal emergencies and extensive travels have thrown me off track for 2 weeks. I rescheduled my appointment to 20th Sep, re-started the prep, this time completed the OG-Verbal review. I started concentrating on my weakness-SC, RC. I went through the SC guide multiple times to improve my concepts.
The last 20 days i took as many mocks as i could, 5-mgmat, 3-kaplan and 2-Gmatprep. This improved my exam temperament and concentration. I wasn't scoring well in the mocks, instead of digging into scores i concentrated on concepts, the more mistakes you make, the more you will learn. The last few days i slowed down the practice and prepared mentally for the exam.
On the D-day i reached my center early, the appointment was at 8:45 Am. I was all set to crack it, so was waiting patiently for the center to open. But the center never opened! That was the most frustrating moment. A national strike was called on the Sep 20th in India. I mailed Pearson a week in advance to find out the status, but they didn't have any information. The center closed without any intimation and the Pearson customer care had no clue. I was just shattered and went back to work. I had travel plans after the exam, and didn't want to cancel the trip. I called up the Program Coordinator and blasted her out for the mismanagement. After 2 days of multiple emails and calls to Singapore and US, Pearson called me back and offered a free reschedule(they feel it is a great favor-bullshit). I booked an evening slot on the 27th Sep.
After all the drama and disturbance i didn't go back to books in the last week. On the final D-day, i went to office, completed work, chilled out with colleagues, played Table Tennis
and started to the center. There was a Cafe Coffee Day right next to the center, so had a cappuccino and entered the center. I could start the exam early as there was a slot available. After 4 hours, i saw a 720 on my screen!!!My only formula for success was self-belief. I knew if i could give my best on the day, i will cross the 700 mark. My only strategy was attack each question with all the skills i have, within 2 mins for quant and 1.5 mins for verbal. Never anticipated the score or cared about the toughness of the questions during the exam. I used the 2 breaks to take the pressure off, had a Gatorade and tried to focus on attacking each question.
Final tips-
1)Follow Manhattan GMAT guides.
2)Concentrate on verbal if you are comfortable with math.
3)Manhattan Quant is lot tougher than the actual test so don't worry if you make mistakes.
4)RCs are a short and easy in the exam compared to other practice problems.
5)Never care about mock scores, concentrate on the strengths and weakness.
6)Take mocks with AWA and IR sections.
7)Work on your timing strategy as it is crucial to success.
8)Don't strain yourself on IR if you are planning to apply this year.
9)Create a template for AWA.
10)Your are destined to conquer the GMAT, just BEAT IT!!
Finally, i thank all the BTG community members for the support and motivation you provide. All the best to the test takers.
