I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi everyone!

Although I took the GMAT a while ago, it still comes back to my mind every once in a while, mostly because I think I could have done better. I guess this happens frequently.

I started preparing the GMAT in august 2013. The only materials I used were the OG13 and the Supplements, and also two books summarizing the very basic concepts of verbal and math that I got from a friend.

So my preparation consisted in almost two month using much of my free time to complete the questions in the OG13 and some I could find from older editions, while revisiting some questions I had found to be tricky or that caused trouble. Since the very beginning it was clear that I was stron in verbal, specially critical reasoning, so after a while I focused a little more on Quant. It is not that wasn´t doing good on quant, but not having used many math concepts for almost ten years and considering how some questions are ask to fool you, I did not start so fast.

After my first month I decided to take my first GMAT Prep mock test. The experience was mainly positive, I got a 710 (49,39). I was happy for that 49, but not so much for my 39 in Verbal which was supposed to be my strong side and I expected at least a 40.I considered it just a one time thing, a mistake. I kept focusing on math for two more weeks and gave it another try. This second time I had a slow start, and that reflected on my math perfomance, but I managed to finnish strong. The verbal this time went as it was supposed to. Result: 730 (47,42). Even happier.

Thus I thought I was ready for my exam, which I took 2 weeks after my second mock exam. Those two weeks I spent them trying to keep the pace, not to lose focus, but nothing more, since I had proven to myself that I had the skill, I just needed to show it when it mattered.

Exam day:

Classic story: I did not sleep well the night before. Then again, I am used to take exam with very little or no sleep at all since I´ve been a night student all my life; thus I thought I would be able to overcome sleepiness or tiredness in the end. Truth is I wasn´t.

The AWA was easy. Nothing more to say about it. But when IR came I was sure it was not going to be my day. I lacked focus the whole 30 minutes, and some questions, intead of solving them I literally fought them.

After the break, I faced the Quant with the idea of entering the game since question 1. But, again, I struggled to find my rhythym: it took me 4 minutes to not solve the first question correctly (I know, beginner´s mistate, lesson 101...but you arrive at the test centeer and sometimes have doubts and make mistakes you never had). Therefore, I was lacking focus and already running late. All of it worsened by the fact that I was feeling an urging need to use the restroom. It was not until mid-way through this section that I started doing things I was used to. Too late?

I used the second break to go to the restroom and came back knowing that I better shall perform as I was supposed to at Verbal. And I did. It was not my best day (the urging need to used the restroom came back)but I was sure in almost every answer and finnised ahead of time.

Result: AWA 5.5 IR:6 Q:46 V:41

I ended up happy because given the day I was having it was a great result, but was pissed oof by my IR and Quant scores. So the first though I had was: "retake".I had the feeling I could perform better. After a couple days, I realized that 710 was an awsome score and that you can never control what happens on an exam day, no matter how well you have prepared. So retaking the exam could mean a higher score or having an even worse day and fail. So I settled.

Even today I still think about taking it again, not because I think it ouwl critically increase my chances of admission, but because I really enjoyed the GMAT, and have the same feeling you have when playing a videogame: you want to always get a higher score.

My advice: take it seriously, it is an exam that will panlize you if you show up unprepared. Also, success rate when answering questions may very significantly depending on your stamina so rest.

Thanks for your thoughts Rich.

First of all, let me clarify that I am perfectly aware of what a great score a 710 is, and that there are many people that would "kill" to get to 700, and that it is a perfectly fine score to apply. That is why I am happy with it, and not considering to acutally retake. Where I said settled, I should have written "settled". I meant that although I thought I could have gotten a higgher score (as many test takers, I guess), I came to my senses and realized that my initial hesitation was more out of self-satisfaction than actual usefulness, and that I could use that time better.

In any case, it probably sounded silly, and it points out how careful you have to be when expressing yourself, because it is easy to give the wrong impression if you don´t pay atention. I´ll keep that in mind when writing the essays.

I am planning to apply next fall. i am right now shorlisting the schools in which I am interested.

Thank you very much!