I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to post my success story and words of encouragement for all those who are still trying to beat the GMAT! On the morning of my test, I read a few of the posts on here and it really motivated me. So I am just trying to pass it on.

I was confident going into the exam (or trying to be at least). This is pretty much what happened:

Essay - Didn't think I would need all 30 minutes and ended up using every second. I ended up getting a bit nervous while writing the essay and I don't think I was able to articulate everything I wanted to say, but I ended up getting down 5 paragraphs.

IR - I was nervous about the time here but I managed to make it through even with time to spare. I think the questions were be a bit easier than on the practice tests I did.

Quant - Honestly, it felt like a whirlwind. It went by so quickly and I was always behind on my timing. I ended up having to just guess on a few questions that I thought would take too long or where I wasnt confident and I was able to finish the section in time. I felt like it went so bad that after finishing quant, I was already thinking about cancelling my score at the end.

Verbal - I always finished early for verbal in practice tests (5 mins or more to spare). I needed all the time to finish this verbal section today. I didnt even get to do the last question, just had to guess to get an answer in on time. I got 3 short passages and 1 long passage. I thought the SC questions were tricky - always came down to 2 and I had a really hard time deciding.

The End - I felt so discouraged, I thought I bombed the test. I ended up not cancelling the score so I could see where to improve for next time and it was a 720!! I honestly couldn't believe it. I guess its just really hard to assess how you might have done due to being nervous and putting too much pressure on yourself (and the experimental questions, of course). Anyways, I'm ecstatic with my score!

SO TAKE-AWAY MESSAGE:
1. Be confident going into the test
2. Don't give up
3. Believe in yourself during the test

Best of luck everyone!

Congrats
What were your GMAT Quant/Verbal score breakup in 730 ?

Thanks

Congrats! Thanks for sharing your experience! What was your prep like? Were your practice scores comparable to your test score?

Best of luck on your next steps!

CONGRATS! thanks for sharing your valuable experience! my frnd vishisht is going to crack GMAT @2013
he needs some smart prepration like this to crack...welll thanks again for sharing it motivate him a lot...

Best of luck!! for you next target...

Saunak - Quant 49, Verbal 39

AbiNichole - Studied under 2 months (only worked part time though). Was studying around 3 full days/week (8hours) plus 2-3 hours on working days when it got closer. Mainly did practice sets - strictly timed (10-20 questions) because I was struggling with quant timing. Reviewed every single question whether right or wrong, after every set. Always tried to review every method to solve the question. Then I also went back when I was done the OG13 questions and reviewed all the questions I did wrong for quant.

I only did a few practice tests. I didnt do many tests because I found it hard to focus 100% since I knew it was just a practice test. (That's probably not a good strategy at all though). I did the two free ones with the TPR Cracking the GMAT book, one of the GMATPrep tests and the Free Manhattan CAT:

GMATPrep 2 - 560 (before studying) (didnt finish quant)
Manhattan CAT - 610 (didnt finish quant)
TPR 10 - 690
TPR 9 - 640

Vinash - Best of luck!

Hey,Congrats on getting a 720!
Can u tell me what kind of questions u encountered on quant and which topcs' questions were the trickiest/time consuming?

Thanks,
Shreeraj

Great score congrats

Congratulations on your brilliant result ...
This type of success story encourages us.
And for GMAT exam motivation is very helpful.

Good thing you kept it!