Hi-
at the end of 2007 i took the kaplan course as i was planning on taking the gmat in january. well my girlfiend and i went through a rough time which involved me moving out etc. and i never studied so i postponed the test...actually i just didnt show up which was dumb and cost me 250.
then i decided i was going to play poker full time and dove right into that permanently putting off the gmat, the first few months were crazy fun and i was making averaging 9k/month for the first half of 2008!! omg im the best. well, then variance kicked in and i started to lose...a lot. for someone who never made more than 25k in a year (i am pretty young tho) it was tough to have a day where i lost 3k or more!! it took its toll on my interpersonal relationships as well.
i decided to take some time off and re-evaluate my options. i took up frisbee golf which is the perfect 'sport' as i like to drink and occassionally toke and frisbee golf is played almost exclusively by pot-smoking hippies so i was able to blend in. it took foreever to learn how to properly throw a disc (they're not called frisbees and if you call them frisbees the peace-loving hippies are anything but). Well after a couple of months i got it down and actually got an ace (on a par 3 obv). around the time of my hole-in-one i began dabbling in poker again and again found success. but this time i realized i was bored by poker. i wanted to achieve something more than make money, and it was extremely anti-social. i decided i wanted to go to b-school and pick up an mba in marketing or entrepeneurship (sp?) . so i signed up for the gmat asap so i could make the first round deadline on Nov. 1st.
i started to freak out a week or so before my test. i hadn't looked at my kaplan materials since jan of this year, and never bothered to do any other studying. i figured i'd study for about a week prior to my test as that is as long as i've ever studied for any test my entire life, i mistakenly believed you couldn't really study for this test, it was like the sats.. i was cocky until i found this site and saw some of peoples posts about studying for months!! i panicked and tried to postpone my test but since it was less than a week away i would've had to eat the reg. fee again, and if i did it was doubtful i'd get my scores by the nov. 1st deadline. so i decided to stick to it. i bought the ultimate gmat prep book after reading everyone on here say it was paramount and i have to agree it was more valuable to me than my entire kaplan course. i went and got a tudor for one session, but didnt get too much out of it tbh. he was a very smart guy but it wasn't like he was gonna tell me some magic ansewr in 2 hours. then the saturday before my test (the next wed.) i make another bad decision and take some mushrooms my buddy had. they were extremely fun and mild and we had a great time running around his apartment complex and into the pool. i imagine we terrified more than a few poor souls. i lost antoher day of studing letting my brain recover.
moday i cracked down and studied for 8 hours at least just doing a bunch of DS questions which were always my bain. i felt like i was making ground but still had some real difficulty on them. i sarted to change my slwwp schedule so i could wake up at 7 am which i had done exactly once in the past year in order to make an airplane flight.
TEST DAY...I went to the site the day before which i highly recommend so i arrived early and didnt have to stress. the essay section went well although i got cutoff on the second to last line of my conclusion (the clock still had :30 secs on it so i think i got screwed but never said anything. the next essay went well. i took my break determined to dominate the quant. the first question came up and i blanked. this never happens to me. i was looking at all the information and knew i was given enough to solve the problem, but i just couldn't. it took over 3 mins for me to get it right and i knew i was in trouble cause i was having real issues with my timing on the few practise tests i took. i felt like i did poorly on the quant. and when it was over i skipped my break just to get this test over with. the verbal went better as i knew it was my stronger section and i finshed without have to rush any questions. when that screen came up asking if i wanted my results i almost chickened out but i decided to take them since i could always retake it....it popped up 680..ok.
my question is (my story part was just for fun) should i retake the exam? my first choice is ut austin, which is where i went to undergrad. i have a varied work experience history (bartender after college so i could live by the beach and "find myself"....i found myself in the bathroom face down most nights) then for a startup media company which was interesting and dynamic but the company never got their 2nd round of funding and we had to go our seperate ways. then came poker which i have been supporting myself with for the past year or so.
i should mention i went to ut austin as an undergrad to go to film school. my gpa was 3.6 upon graduation, oh and my brother goes to law school there now if that helps me i dont know.
cliff notes:
-680 gmat
-want Ut Austin where i spent undergrad
-should i retake the exam?
sorry for the length
thanks
alex
at the end of 2007 i took the kaplan course as i was planning on taking the gmat in january. well my girlfiend and i went through a rough time which involved me moving out etc. and i never studied so i postponed the test...actually i just didnt show up which was dumb and cost me 250.
then i decided i was going to play poker full time and dove right into that permanently putting off the gmat, the first few months were crazy fun and i was making averaging 9k/month for the first half of 2008!! omg im the best. well, then variance kicked in and i started to lose...a lot. for someone who never made more than 25k in a year (i am pretty young tho) it was tough to have a day where i lost 3k or more!! it took its toll on my interpersonal relationships as well.
i decided to take some time off and re-evaluate my options. i took up frisbee golf which is the perfect 'sport' as i like to drink and occassionally toke and frisbee golf is played almost exclusively by pot-smoking hippies so i was able to blend in. it took foreever to learn how to properly throw a disc (they're not called frisbees and if you call them frisbees the peace-loving hippies are anything but). Well after a couple of months i got it down and actually got an ace (on a par 3 obv). around the time of my hole-in-one i began dabbling in poker again and again found success. but this time i realized i was bored by poker. i wanted to achieve something more than make money, and it was extremely anti-social. i decided i wanted to go to b-school and pick up an mba in marketing or entrepeneurship (sp?) . so i signed up for the gmat asap so i could make the first round deadline on Nov. 1st.
i started to freak out a week or so before my test. i hadn't looked at my kaplan materials since jan of this year, and never bothered to do any other studying. i figured i'd study for about a week prior to my test as that is as long as i've ever studied for any test my entire life, i mistakenly believed you couldn't really study for this test, it was like the sats.. i was cocky until i found this site and saw some of peoples posts about studying for months!! i panicked and tried to postpone my test but since it was less than a week away i would've had to eat the reg. fee again, and if i did it was doubtful i'd get my scores by the nov. 1st deadline. so i decided to stick to it. i bought the ultimate gmat prep book after reading everyone on here say it was paramount and i have to agree it was more valuable to me than my entire kaplan course. i went and got a tudor for one session, but didnt get too much out of it tbh. he was a very smart guy but it wasn't like he was gonna tell me some magic ansewr in 2 hours. then the saturday before my test (the next wed.) i make another bad decision and take some mushrooms my buddy had. they were extremely fun and mild and we had a great time running around his apartment complex and into the pool. i imagine we terrified more than a few poor souls. i lost antoher day of studing letting my brain recover.
moday i cracked down and studied for 8 hours at least just doing a bunch of DS questions which were always my bain. i felt like i was making ground but still had some real difficulty on them. i sarted to change my slwwp schedule so i could wake up at 7 am which i had done exactly once in the past year in order to make an airplane flight.
TEST DAY...I went to the site the day before which i highly recommend so i arrived early and didnt have to stress. the essay section went well although i got cutoff on the second to last line of my conclusion (the clock still had :30 secs on it so i think i got screwed but never said anything. the next essay went well. i took my break determined to dominate the quant. the first question came up and i blanked. this never happens to me. i was looking at all the information and knew i was given enough to solve the problem, but i just couldn't. it took over 3 mins for me to get it right and i knew i was in trouble cause i was having real issues with my timing on the few practise tests i took. i felt like i did poorly on the quant. and when it was over i skipped my break just to get this test over with. the verbal went better as i knew it was my stronger section and i finshed without have to rush any questions. when that screen came up asking if i wanted my results i almost chickened out but i decided to take them since i could always retake it....it popped up 680..ok.
my question is (my story part was just for fun) should i retake the exam? my first choice is ut austin, which is where i went to undergrad. i have a varied work experience history (bartender after college so i could live by the beach and "find myself"....i found myself in the bathroom face down most nights) then for a startup media company which was interesting and dynamic but the company never got their 2nd round of funding and we had to go our seperate ways. then came poker which i have been supporting myself with for the past year or so.
i should mention i went to ut austin as an undergrad to go to film school. my gpa was 3.6 upon graduation, oh and my brother goes to law school there now if that helps me i dont know.
cliff notes:
-680 gmat
-want Ut Austin where i spent undergrad
-should i retake the exam?
sorry for the length
thanks
alex
....or at least the way you put it.
