-
anshulkrishna
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 5:08 pm
- Thanked: 2 times
Hi,
Like many out there I have been following posts on beat the gmat, reading success stories and waiting for the day when I will have one to share of my own. After a long wait that day is finally here. I managed to score a 720 Q 49 V 40 AWA 6.0 and trust me there have been seldom moments in my life when I have been happier. The success does not come without a long struggle. I started my journey with the GMAT Feb 2010. I started preparing on my own relying on hearsay and solving recommended books and preps. I did not take any help from any of the training institutes. Today I realize the mistakes that I made. My first mistake was that I never wrote practice tests in totallity. It just used to be the math and english sections with long breaks in between. Seldom did I realize that the GMAT is nothing but a test of stamina and patience as well as the calm in one's mind. I needed to endure a 4 hour exam and trust me I was never there. Then came my second mistake. I took a date in June end and trust me I was no where near my target of 700+. The only prep on which I scored more than 700 was an 800 score prep in which the english score is anyways inflated. I was in a hurry to apply to schools that year and hence I did not correctly guage the level I was at. the result spoke for itself. I could only manage a 670. Q 50 (trust me I was lucky to get such an easy quant section) and V 30. I took a 2 week break to think through what had happened and then comes my biggest mistake. I saw an online ad about an institute that offers a fixed point increase guarantee over my existing gmat score. Still seeing a window to make it to the schools I wanted to get to later in the year, I enrolled and I scheduled my next attempt for Sept 2010. This is the biggest mistake I made. If the first attempt did not go well then what I knew was wrong and I needed to forget what I knew to make a new beginning and trust me 2 months was too short of a time to do so. This is the biggest piece of advice I would like to share with any aspirant. If your first attempt goes wrong, your dream of getting into a good school is not shattered. There is always a next time but you need to be patient before you take the next attempt as something that you are doing is wrong and you need to forget what you know and figure out what you are doing wrong. Another thing I would like to share is that keep the exam seperate from the application. I am not trying to say that dont plan the exam and the application process together, rather just plan the exam in no hurry to apply. This ways you just concentrate on the exam. Anyways, the Sept 2010 attempt ended with a 650 Q 44 and V 34. I guess the score increase guarantee did not hold in my case and I am partially to blame for the same. I still did not give up and decided to give myself a 6 month break, partially to recover from the better part of the year preparing for the GMAT and partailly to figure what was wrong. Feb 2011 is when I started preparing for the exam again. I had no set target to apply and no set date for the exam. I decided not to apply for the test till I thought I was ready. For me being ready was to see a constant score of 700+ constantly in 4 to 5 preps. Its not that I studied continously, I did take time off in between and I did spend time with family and friends whenever I felt like. One thing I did right was to write preps in totallity including AWA and analyzing my mistakes right after the preps. I also spread my preps during different times of the day to figure out what time of the day is my brain most active. Finally in early June I wrote prep 2 and managed a 720. I thought I was ready and scheduled my test for early July. Come exam day I could not believe my result. It was an exact repeat of prep 2. I managed a 720 and I could say that I was able to finally beat the GMAT. When I look back now and I realize what went wrong the only thing that I can tell other aspirants is:
1. Never give up. A bad score is not the end of the road. Perseverance is what finally paid off for me.
2. God forbid nothing goes wrong but if it does then take time to figure what went wrong. There is no hurry to write the exam and no hurry to apply. The B school of your dreams is going to look the same next year as well.
3. Nothing is said in stone, just choose what works for you. The reason I say this is that the experts always say that you should not study a day before the exam and go watch a movie or something. Well that did not work for me in my first 2 attempts. Personally I needed to be close to the exam and needed to practice till the last minute. I am not trying to say that what the experts say is wrong, I am just trying to say is that its upto you to figure out what works for you.
4. Write 4 hour preps. Never skip the AWA section and always time your breaks. Every prep should be as close to the actual exam as possible. Also, always analyze your preps after writing them and dont leave the analysis waiting for long as just as teh prep is fresh in your memory just after writing it.
5. Figure out what time of the day works for you and try booking a slot for that time of the day.
6. There is no short cut for perseverance and hard work.
At the end of the day the feeling if success is something that will live with you for the rest of your life.
Hope this was helpful.
Like many out there I have been following posts on beat the gmat, reading success stories and waiting for the day when I will have one to share of my own. After a long wait that day is finally here. I managed to score a 720 Q 49 V 40 AWA 6.0 and trust me there have been seldom moments in my life when I have been happier. The success does not come without a long struggle. I started my journey with the GMAT Feb 2010. I started preparing on my own relying on hearsay and solving recommended books and preps. I did not take any help from any of the training institutes. Today I realize the mistakes that I made. My first mistake was that I never wrote practice tests in totallity. It just used to be the math and english sections with long breaks in between. Seldom did I realize that the GMAT is nothing but a test of stamina and patience as well as the calm in one's mind. I needed to endure a 4 hour exam and trust me I was never there. Then came my second mistake. I took a date in June end and trust me I was no where near my target of 700+. The only prep on which I scored more than 700 was an 800 score prep in which the english score is anyways inflated. I was in a hurry to apply to schools that year and hence I did not correctly guage the level I was at. the result spoke for itself. I could only manage a 670. Q 50 (trust me I was lucky to get such an easy quant section) and V 30. I took a 2 week break to think through what had happened and then comes my biggest mistake. I saw an online ad about an institute that offers a fixed point increase guarantee over my existing gmat score. Still seeing a window to make it to the schools I wanted to get to later in the year, I enrolled and I scheduled my next attempt for Sept 2010. This is the biggest mistake I made. If the first attempt did not go well then what I knew was wrong and I needed to forget what I knew to make a new beginning and trust me 2 months was too short of a time to do so. This is the biggest piece of advice I would like to share with any aspirant. If your first attempt goes wrong, your dream of getting into a good school is not shattered. There is always a next time but you need to be patient before you take the next attempt as something that you are doing is wrong and you need to forget what you know and figure out what you are doing wrong. Another thing I would like to share is that keep the exam seperate from the application. I am not trying to say that dont plan the exam and the application process together, rather just plan the exam in no hurry to apply. This ways you just concentrate on the exam. Anyways, the Sept 2010 attempt ended with a 650 Q 44 and V 34. I guess the score increase guarantee did not hold in my case and I am partially to blame for the same. I still did not give up and decided to give myself a 6 month break, partially to recover from the better part of the year preparing for the GMAT and partailly to figure what was wrong. Feb 2011 is when I started preparing for the exam again. I had no set target to apply and no set date for the exam. I decided not to apply for the test till I thought I was ready. For me being ready was to see a constant score of 700+ constantly in 4 to 5 preps. Its not that I studied continously, I did take time off in between and I did spend time with family and friends whenever I felt like. One thing I did right was to write preps in totallity including AWA and analyzing my mistakes right after the preps. I also spread my preps during different times of the day to figure out what time of the day is my brain most active. Finally in early June I wrote prep 2 and managed a 720. I thought I was ready and scheduled my test for early July. Come exam day I could not believe my result. It was an exact repeat of prep 2. I managed a 720 and I could say that I was able to finally beat the GMAT. When I look back now and I realize what went wrong the only thing that I can tell other aspirants is:
1. Never give up. A bad score is not the end of the road. Perseverance is what finally paid off for me.
2. God forbid nothing goes wrong but if it does then take time to figure what went wrong. There is no hurry to write the exam and no hurry to apply. The B school of your dreams is going to look the same next year as well.
3. Nothing is said in stone, just choose what works for you. The reason I say this is that the experts always say that you should not study a day before the exam and go watch a movie or something. Well that did not work for me in my first 2 attempts. Personally I needed to be close to the exam and needed to practice till the last minute. I am not trying to say that what the experts say is wrong, I am just trying to say is that its upto you to figure out what works for you.
4. Write 4 hour preps. Never skip the AWA section and always time your breaks. Every prep should be as close to the actual exam as possible. Also, always analyze your preps after writing them and dont leave the analysis waiting for long as just as teh prep is fresh in your memory just after writing it.
5. Figure out what time of the day works for you and try booking a slot for that time of the day.
6. There is no short cut for perseverance and hard work.
At the end of the day the feeling if success is something that will live with you for the rest of your life.
Hope this was helpful.
