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maroli
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
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- Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:01 pm
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It's been a hell of a ride. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I was a very underwhelming student my whole life. I was particularly dismal at math. I don't think my ability for it is well below average, but it required more studying for me to be successful whereas in most other subjects I could do absolutely no work and get C's. That's not a boast-I'm not one those people who gets all A's without studying. There isn't a day that goes by without me rueing my past academic history. By sheer luck, after graduating from an average school, I managed to land a job in credit risk management for Bank of America cards. In the following years I also worked at HSBC and now work as a Senior Risk Analyst for JPMorgan Chase cards.
In May of this year I decided to pull my stuff together and try for an MBA. Obviously to offset my low GPA (B-), I realised I needed to score a minimum of 700 for admittance into a good school. In May I purchased some Manhattan study guides, and spent a couple hours a day reading them. I didn't attempt any tests, it was more of a casual reading to brush up on the absolute basics. In June, I enrolled in MGMAT for their course. After a few weeks, on June 19th I sat my first practice test. I scored a 540. I was quite disappointed in myself because I felt that I was some way off my goal. My quant was a dismal 29, my verbal was 36. I continued to study 2 hours a day, 6 days a week. I was attending all manhattan classes and doing all the assigned work. I could feel myself getting better, but it's hard to gauge by how much.
3 weeks later I sat again. I figured after an additional 30 or so hours of study, I'd be at around 600. I had originally planned to study 200 hours in total for my gmat. It didn't quite work out that way in the end, but I'll get to that. The next manhattan practice test was a 570. My quant improved, if you can call it that, to 32. My verbal stayed at 36. I wasn't surprised my verbal hadn't improved because whilst I'd done the assigned readings/questions, I was paying it lip service. My natural ability in english meant that my critical reasoning and reading comp was pretty good, but of course the dreaded SC was preventing me from going higher than 36. Again, I was concerned about my rate of improvement. I had planned on sitting the exam in September and it was July and I was 160 points and 40 percentile points short of my goal. I continued to study diligently and do all the manhattan coursework.
A week later, just to assure myself that my low rate of improvement wasn't a fluke, I sat another manhattan exam, this time quant only. I found out in no uncertain terms that scoring that low the second time WASN'T a fluke, as I ended up getting a 27 in quant. I wasn't fully concentrating on the practice test, more browsing and guessing, so I dismissed it as an anomaly. However, at this point I decided to get a tutor for 2 hours a week in addition to going to the manhattan course. I kept doing more and more and more practice problems and I felt confident that I was getting better.
I continued to study 2 hours a day, but the most valuable thing I could do was to mark down every time I couldn't do a problem. I'd then ask my tutor or look at the answer to figure out how to do it, and I'd do it the next day on my own. I'd also try it again a week later to make sure I had it down pat and didn't forget it. I kept drilling thousands of problems anywhere I could find them. The internet, my tutor's handouts, the OG-anywhere. After two months of this, on September 24th, approximately 3 weeks before my test, I sat another Manhattan Exam. This time I scored 700, with a 41 verbal and 43 quant. This would actually be 690 or so in a real gmat exam (given that raw score) but I was ecstatic that I was seeing results. I knew then that my potential was to at least get a 700. I then felt confident enough to sit a gmatprep test, where I scored 720 with a 45 verbal 44 quant. Things were looking up! I sat the remaining MGMAT test, scored a 720 as well. Finally, 3 days before my first actual test, I sat the remaining gmatprep test. Unfortunately, I only scored 690 here, but I wasn't too bugged. Around this time, I started getting pretty excited to sit the GMAT and see all my hard work pay off.
The night before the first exam, I couldn't sleep AT ALL. I must've had 1 hour of sleep total. I still went and sat the GMAT. The quant didn't seem any harder, but shockingly I ran out of time on verbal, which I never do. The end result was a 640, and much worse than I expected. I was despondent...a part of me was sure it was lack of sleep and nerves, but I had hyped the exam so much up in my head, I made it such a central fixture in my life, that it was a massive letdown. For the six months leading up to the exam, I had a LOT of personal issues that were going on that were affecting me quite a bit. I thought that if I studied hard and I gritted through it, I'd prove to myself that I could take adversity in my life and turn it into something positive. I went home feeling depressed...and after a week off, I booked my test for the next month.
This time, I attacked with a little more of a gameplan. I did a lot of problems again, but this time I logged all the questions I did wrong and drilled them over and over. I found as many advanced questions as I could and drilled those as well. I could feel myself improving. Then, I read the entire sentence correction MGMAT guide over and over again. I did the entire OG sentence correction section, and most of the OG PS section. Mentally, I relaxed a whole lot. I told myself that it was just a test, that I could do it again and again until I was satisfied. I didn't tell anyone that I was resitting so there were no expectation and pressure from friends and family. The night before the test, I slept like a baby. I sat the test, was pretty casual, but careful throughout the whole thing (although I ran out of time with one quant question to go). The end result was a Q48 V44 split for 740.
So the distilled version is this
DO
Drill your mistakes over and over until you are comfortable applying the knowledge needed for other similar problems
Find advanced problems to do. This will help you in solving easier problems faster and you learn 'fallback formulas' that are slightly more complicated but can help you if you need an alternate solution.
Lots of practice tests, but don't put your faith in the scoring of random ones. I'd say use GmatPrep at the end to gauge where you are.
Relax and realise it's just a test! Get lots of sleep
DON'T
Underprepare. One or two good scores doesn't mean you won't catch a run of questions you don't know how to do in the real test
Panic if you sit your first practice test and are way lower than you expect. A little improvement can make a big difference
Forget to redo questions that you had trouble with more than once
Get discouraged. Keep trying and trying and trying. Some people get the test faster than others. But grit can overcome!
Finally, my brother sent me this after I didn't do well the first time. I now watch on almost a daily basis and it perfectly sums up my feelings towards this test and my effort. Remember, pushing forward even after you fail and eventually succeeding makes it all the sweeter and you'll prove a lot to yourself!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mMioJ5szc
In May of this year I decided to pull my stuff together and try for an MBA. Obviously to offset my low GPA (B-), I realised I needed to score a minimum of 700 for admittance into a good school. In May I purchased some Manhattan study guides, and spent a couple hours a day reading them. I didn't attempt any tests, it was more of a casual reading to brush up on the absolute basics. In June, I enrolled in MGMAT for their course. After a few weeks, on June 19th I sat my first practice test. I scored a 540. I was quite disappointed in myself because I felt that I was some way off my goal. My quant was a dismal 29, my verbal was 36. I continued to study 2 hours a day, 6 days a week. I was attending all manhattan classes and doing all the assigned work. I could feel myself getting better, but it's hard to gauge by how much.
3 weeks later I sat again. I figured after an additional 30 or so hours of study, I'd be at around 600. I had originally planned to study 200 hours in total for my gmat. It didn't quite work out that way in the end, but I'll get to that. The next manhattan practice test was a 570. My quant improved, if you can call it that, to 32. My verbal stayed at 36. I wasn't surprised my verbal hadn't improved because whilst I'd done the assigned readings/questions, I was paying it lip service. My natural ability in english meant that my critical reasoning and reading comp was pretty good, but of course the dreaded SC was preventing me from going higher than 36. Again, I was concerned about my rate of improvement. I had planned on sitting the exam in September and it was July and I was 160 points and 40 percentile points short of my goal. I continued to study diligently and do all the manhattan coursework.
A week later, just to assure myself that my low rate of improvement wasn't a fluke, I sat another manhattan exam, this time quant only. I found out in no uncertain terms that scoring that low the second time WASN'T a fluke, as I ended up getting a 27 in quant. I wasn't fully concentrating on the practice test, more browsing and guessing, so I dismissed it as an anomaly. However, at this point I decided to get a tutor for 2 hours a week in addition to going to the manhattan course. I kept doing more and more and more practice problems and I felt confident that I was getting better.
I continued to study 2 hours a day, but the most valuable thing I could do was to mark down every time I couldn't do a problem. I'd then ask my tutor or look at the answer to figure out how to do it, and I'd do it the next day on my own. I'd also try it again a week later to make sure I had it down pat and didn't forget it. I kept drilling thousands of problems anywhere I could find them. The internet, my tutor's handouts, the OG-anywhere. After two months of this, on September 24th, approximately 3 weeks before my test, I sat another Manhattan Exam. This time I scored 700, with a 41 verbal and 43 quant. This would actually be 690 or so in a real gmat exam (given that raw score) but I was ecstatic that I was seeing results. I knew then that my potential was to at least get a 700. I then felt confident enough to sit a gmatprep test, where I scored 720 with a 45 verbal 44 quant. Things were looking up! I sat the remaining MGMAT test, scored a 720 as well. Finally, 3 days before my first actual test, I sat the remaining gmatprep test. Unfortunately, I only scored 690 here, but I wasn't too bugged. Around this time, I started getting pretty excited to sit the GMAT and see all my hard work pay off.
The night before the first exam, I couldn't sleep AT ALL. I must've had 1 hour of sleep total. I still went and sat the GMAT. The quant didn't seem any harder, but shockingly I ran out of time on verbal, which I never do. The end result was a 640, and much worse than I expected. I was despondent...a part of me was sure it was lack of sleep and nerves, but I had hyped the exam so much up in my head, I made it such a central fixture in my life, that it was a massive letdown. For the six months leading up to the exam, I had a LOT of personal issues that were going on that were affecting me quite a bit. I thought that if I studied hard and I gritted through it, I'd prove to myself that I could take adversity in my life and turn it into something positive. I went home feeling depressed...and after a week off, I booked my test for the next month.
This time, I attacked with a little more of a gameplan. I did a lot of problems again, but this time I logged all the questions I did wrong and drilled them over and over. I found as many advanced questions as I could and drilled those as well. I could feel myself improving. Then, I read the entire sentence correction MGMAT guide over and over again. I did the entire OG sentence correction section, and most of the OG PS section. Mentally, I relaxed a whole lot. I told myself that it was just a test, that I could do it again and again until I was satisfied. I didn't tell anyone that I was resitting so there were no expectation and pressure from friends and family. The night before the test, I slept like a baby. I sat the test, was pretty casual, but careful throughout the whole thing (although I ran out of time with one quant question to go). The end result was a Q48 V44 split for 740.
So the distilled version is this
DO
Drill your mistakes over and over until you are comfortable applying the knowledge needed for other similar problems
Find advanced problems to do. This will help you in solving easier problems faster and you learn 'fallback formulas' that are slightly more complicated but can help you if you need an alternate solution.
Lots of practice tests, but don't put your faith in the scoring of random ones. I'd say use GmatPrep at the end to gauge where you are.
Relax and realise it's just a test! Get lots of sleep
DON'T
Underprepare. One or two good scores doesn't mean you won't catch a run of questions you don't know how to do in the real test
Panic if you sit your first practice test and are way lower than you expect. A little improvement can make a big difference
Forget to redo questions that you had trouble with more than once
Get discouraged. Keep trying and trying and trying. Some people get the test faster than others. But grit can overcome!
Finally, my brother sent me this after I didn't do well the first time. I now watch on almost a daily basis and it perfectly sums up my feelings towards this test and my effort. Remember, pushing forward even after you fail and eventually succeeding makes it all the sweeter and you'll prove a lot to yourself!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mMioJ5szc
