Babe Ruth once pointed his bat towards center field...

[rrossjd]

Babe Ruth once pointed his bat towards the center field fence. That's what I did. I signed up for 4 PM start time for my exam. That would ensure my exam would be ending somewhere between 7:20 and 8:00 PM. I had already scored a 680 just a month earlier. But, I wanted my application profile to have the same awe factor Babe Ruth inspired. So, my rematch with the GMAT was set for 4/24 at 4 PM so that I could scored 40 points higher. On my facebook profile, I even updated my status right before my test stating exactly that...

Many failures and shortcomings has left much scar tissue on me. I think I was only able to 'call my shot' on the gmat because falling short was something I had so much experience at... My SAT score was in the pathetic 1100s. My LSAT score for law school was a mere 156. That's in the 59th percentile. Though I now have a bachelor's from Vanderbilt University and juris doctorate from Emory University School of Law, I had to draft supplemental essays arguing that I'm better than a test score... And, I know in my heart that's still true today, even if yesterday's 730 gmat score in the 96th percentile was 4 percentile away from perfect...

And, I would've scored perfect on the GMAT but for my off handed light hearted comment to the proctor during the break, "I think I'm pitching a perfect game." You're not supposed to say that or so the superstition holds that you jinx yourself. But, having had a track record of poor standardized test scores, the one thing that I never had practiced or experienced was not jinxing myself. After all, I did point my bat towards the center field fence right before the exam... That's what's key-- believing in yourself so much that you're not afraid to call your shot right before the exam...

[unforgiven47]

Hi

You inspire me dear.........All the best to you ahead......

Babe Ruth once pointed his bat towards the center field fence. That's what I did. I signed up for 4 PM start time for my exam. That would ensure my exam would be ending somewhere between 7:20 and 8:00 PM. I had already scored a 680 just a month earlier. But, I wanted my application profile to have the same awe factor Babe Ruth inspired. So, my rematch with the GMAT was set for 4/24 at 4 PM so that I could scored 40 points higher. On my facebook profile, I even updated my status right before my test stating exactly that...

Many failures and shortcomings has left much scar tissue on me. I think I was only able to 'call my shot' on the gmat because falling short was something I had so much experience at... My SAT score was in the pathetic 1100s. My LSAT score for law school was a mere 156. That's in the 59th percentile. Though I now have a bachelor's from Vanderbilt University and juris doctorate from Emory University School of Law, I had to draft supplemental essays arguing that I'm better than a test score... And, I know in my heart that's still true today, even if yesterday's 730 gmat score in the 96th percentile is almost perfect...

And, I would've scored perfect on the GMAT but for my off handed light hearted comment to the proctor during the break, "I think I'm pitching a perfect game." You're not supposed to say that or so the superstition holds that you jinx yourself. But, having had a track record of poor standardized test scores, the one thing that I never had practiced or experienced was not jinxing myself. After all, I did point my bat towards the center field fence right before the exam... That's what's key-- believing in yourself so much that you're not afraid to call your shot right before the exam...

[bluegmat700]

rrossjd,

Congrats on the great score, truly inspiring. I took the test 4/24 (for the first time) and scored a 670; like you I need to go up about 40 more points and have exactly 34 days until my next exam date (format changes). How did you manage to raise your score by 40 points in one month? What was you strategy?

Best,

Blue

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

That's what's key-- believing in yourself so much that you're not afraid to call your shot right before the exam...

Excellent advice!
I think a lot of students discount the importance of proper mindset. A math professor once told me that math is 90% confidence (I think he said 90%). While 90% seems a bit high, I think there's a lot to be said about feeling confident (or at least "faking it until you make it")

I wrote an article for BTG that deals with proper mindset. Perhaps others will find it useful: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/04/ ... n-the-gmat

Cheers,
Brent

[rrossjd]

Brent, you are absolutely correct, and I wish I had read that article of yours before my first gmat. What I did wrong that first time was not going in with the proper mindset. In fact, when prompted with the test's query, "To which schools do you wish do send your scores?"-- I decided not to send the score anywhere... Huge mistake. Don't start of the test by getting those early easy questions wrong!

And, to answer bluegmat700's question, the one thing that made the dramatic difference between my first score and second score was my mindset going into the test. Don't get me wrong 680 is a very good score, but 730 requires a completely different mindset. So, this second time, I totally went ahead and listed Stanford, Wharton, etc. to receive my scores. That, in addition, to updating my facebook status 'calling my shot.'

But, it's more than that. I ended up with a 680 that first time, because I kept trying to get every single question correct. What a waste of time. I had to guess on the last few questions. Whereas when taking the 730 gmat, I was so confident in myself that I could completely skip a nonsensical question knowing that it would positively effect my score. And, that's why I really ended up with like 4 extra minutes on each part of the exam and why on 4/24 at 4 PM, when trying to score 40 points higher, I did better-- scoring 4 percentiles away from perfect.

Regards,

Russell Ross