Finally!!! I beat the GMAT - 740(Q:48,V44)

[Sabari Ram]

Hi everybody...
Finally, I beat the GMAT last wednesday(23/05/2012).
Yes!!Finally, I beat it in my 3rd attempt..
GMAT score : 740 (Q:48, V:44)
97th Percentile

About Me :
**********
Indian Male
Currently in Chennai.

First of all, I would like to sincerely thank every member of the beatthegmat.com community.
I have gained a whole lot of gyan and drawn huge inspirations from here..
Althouh I have not been an active participant in the forums,I have always fallen back on beatthegmat to clear my doubts..
So, without u ppl, my endeavor in cracking the 700 mark would not have been possible.
Thank you very much!!!! :D

Now, this is my experience in the past 2 years...trying to beat the GMAT, I have undergone a lot during the process...

Attempt 1:
*********
I attempted GMAT for the 1st time on 27th Nov 2010.Knowing nothing about the nuances of the exam,I assumed the exam to a piece of cake..
As an obvious consequence,the scores were abysmal..ended up with a mean 530..(forgot the split)...
The failure actually made me realise what the exam was all about...Being a non-native English speaker, I was very weak in the verbal section..
However, feeling tired of lifting the books again, I dumped them in the shelves and completely forgot about GMAT,for atleast 6 months.
One fine day, looking at a friend who was leaving for his MS tickled my GMAT quest...
Pulling myself together, I decided to appear again..

Attempt 2:
**********
After that terrible performance in my 1st attempt,I put a lot of hard work for my 2nd attmept..What made the preparation more difficult was the 6-month gap.

I felt like starting from the Kindergarten..Anyhow,I managed to spare 4 hrs everyday and on weekends, I used to sit for atleast 6 hrs..
Hard work was reflecting in the mocks..Starting with a 700 in the GMATPrep1,I was wavering above 650 in Manhattan online mocks..Again I scored a 700 in the GMATPrep2;my confidence was at an all time high..
Then came the D-Day..6th Sep 2011..
Pressure..Pressure and pressure..When I reached the verbal section, I was blanked out..
Although my score improved a 100 points,I was still dumped well below that 700 mark..
Scored a 620(Q:44, V:32)..:shock:
After all that hard work and preparaton,Seeing that 620 was really humiliating..Didn't know where to hide my face..Couldn't talk to even my friends..Told the

score to my family and switched off the mobile..Walked down the street for some time..
This time, I didn't get that positive spirit which came to me when I failed in my 1st attempt...
All I could see was a depressed and an enervated me...I had made many plans hoping that I would succeed this time..Everything went for a toss..
Skipping a friend's wedding,avoiding treats,losing the chance to perform in a dance competition,letting my girlfriend frown alone on weekends...everything

was a waste now..Not knowing what to do, I came to my room and when I tried to get some sleep,I decided to reappear for one last time..

Attempt 3:
**********
This time,I wanted to put in my fullest efforts..Unfortunately, I couldn't indulge myself completely into the preparation as I did for the previous attempt..However,the preparation for my second attempt helped me a lot.I realised my weak points and tried hard to fill the gaps...
Sticking myself to my preparation plans became a lot more difficult this time..Change in work place..and my wedding arrangements added pressure..However, I took 3 Kaplan mocks,1 Veritas Free online mock,6 MGMAT online and 2 GMATPrep..The scores were so promising(except in the Kaplans) and added confidence.But, I have been through a similar phase during my 2nd attempt and have screwed on the D-Day..So, I was still nervous..

"TH(ird)E" D-Day:
*****************
Woke up at 5:45 AM and got ready in 30 mins..It will take one and a half hours from my place to reach the exam center..considering all that and hoping for all the good,I left my room and reached the bus stop at 06:20 AM.Then came a series of unfortunate events..Waited for the bus for 15 mins..and then came one..Fortunately or unfortunately, I was stuck in traffic for almost an hour..There was an accident on the highway and the traffic was all stopped due to it..I tried hard not to build any pressure..But it didn't work out..Cursing my fate, I reached the local train station and boarded the train at 7:45 AM.Somehow, reached the Pearson building by 08:30 AM..for my 9'0 clock appointment..When I reached the elevator, the watch man said that there was no power..and so what?I had to climb 6 floors in the building to reach the exam center..Amidst all these,I couldn't spare 10 mins to take my breakfast..What a fortunate day? I thought to myself..

Reached the center by 08:45 AM..The Chennai heat added to the pain..Thankfully,the A.C in the exam center chilled me down..took some deep breaths to calm

myself..Left my bag in the locker and sat down for the verifications.All that was running in my mind was whether the misfortune would continue in the exam too?However, told myself not to think about the confusion so far..Somehow, I managed to calm myself and sat for the big thing..

The AWA was a smooth ride..However, now I feel that I could have done better in the issue analysis section.After AWA, I chose to take my 8 mins break...Chewed a snickers bar and a couple of biscuits..stretched a little and sat for the quants section.

I was happy to see few tough questions after 5 to 6 questions..But a simple fraction question came up among the 30+ Qs and made me feel sick..I finished the section well before 2 mins and chose to take the second break..I finished another snickers bar and talked to myslef about the Quants performance..

When I sat for the Verbal section, my screen said that I have exceeded 2 seconds in my 8 min break..The verbal part was little tougher when compared to quants..After some questions, I was desperate to see a BOLD faced CR question..But to my despair,I didnot get one till the end..However, I got few CR questions on the EXCEPT pattern and some tough ones in the SC part..When I came to my last question, I had less than 2 mins..Luckily, it was a SC and I managed to complete it 4 seconds before the end of the exam..

When I reached the report/cancel score section, I was so desparate to see my scores..However, the absence of that BOLD faced CR was prickng me...Clicked on report scores...When I saw that 7 in the hundredth digit, I could not stop myself from smiling..I had tears and sat there for a min staring at the screen to confirm what I saw..Came out of the center and collected my score report..Checked my score once again in the sheet.It said 740 (Q48,V44)..97th percentile..:D:D

I really can't explain that moment of joy:D:D:D..Now although the power was available for the elevator, I chose to walk down the stairs.. :)

I would like to thank my dad,mom and sisters for supporting me whenever I felt down..I would like to thank my close friends who cancelled or delayed their tours just because I couldnot join them..I would also like to thank those 2 bars of chocolate that fuelled me during my exams..And I have no words to thank my dear girl who sacrificed a real lot for the sake of me..


Key Take Aways:
***************
1.)Do not give up if you happen to see a prostrating score once..Just try again..

2.)More important, Do not postpone if you choose to reappear.You may(will) lose the momentum..

3.)Learn to say NO,even when your favourite hero's movie is released or a barbeque treat is thrown by your best friend..

4.)On D-Day, your attitude will matter more than your aptitude...So never,never,never panic..

Taming the beast was not that easy..It looked down on me..made me feel like nothing but crap..subjected me to a lot of frustration and depression..However,one thing that kept me going was HOPE..So just believe that you can..

I will write more about preparation, materials, and mocks in a separate post.

[Mohitbhatia880]

Nice post... congrats

[gmat2805]

Congratulations. I attempted gmat second time a few days back and out of nervousness cancelled my score!. I was doing miserably in quant after first question I really became nervous as I was getting horribly tough questions and in order to solve those I ended up clicking through for more than half te questions due to paucity of time. Please advice on some good resources for improving on quant section for gmat. I used OG 12 , a bit of OG13 and OG Quant Review along with 9 Kaplan CATs in which I scored an average of 630 but even in those I was not doing very well in mathematics but did fine in verbal. Congratulations once again and best of luck with your applications.

[Sabari Ram]

@Mohit : Thanks a lot

@GMAT2805 :
Here are few tips which can help u in organizing ur prep for the Quants section..

-First,identify ur level of expertise in each of the quant topics and arrange them from ur weakest to the strongest area.For example, if ur weakest section is Geometry,keep it as number 1 in the order and so on..This will tell u where to concentrate more during the course of ur preparation.

-Once the list is ready, start preparing from topic 1,which is ur weakest area.Securing the weakest area will boost ur confidence and increase ur probability of success..

-For each topic,allocate a certain number of days(Again,this depends on the topic).Start from the basics and move up the ladder in the increasing order of difficulty.When u do this, collect the questions for each topic from whatever resource u find(obviously in accordance with GMAT) and solve them at the end of each day.

- When u complete a topic, you will have a very good inventory of Qs from easy to difficult levels.Also, please take care to cover Data Sufficiency Qs in each section.When I prepared for my 1st attempt,I committed this mistake of completing only the PS part for a topic and moving on,assuming myself to have mastered the topic.

-To assist ur preparation, please refer to forums such as BeattheGMAT to gain very good tips on short cuts and alternative approaches for solving a problem.U may also try to solve the problems posted by fellow forum mates...Please try to archive them for future reference,again topic wise...

-Now for materials, as u have pointed, OG guides are very good stuff for starting ur preparation.However, the limited number of questions will help u only to get a taste of the different topics tested in the GMAT.You may refer to Kaplan 800, which is really good,actually better for the verbal section.

-Prepare with confidence...U r sure to make it in style...

PS : If u r taking the GMAT after this May, u need to concentrate on Integrated Reasoning too..So plan accordingly...

All the best once again..:)

[mrinal2100]

Hi Ram,
My exam is next week and i took the test from gmatprep2.I scored 650 in that.I felt the quant was little harder and tricky.In the verbal part i face problem in the some of RC questions like what is the point of passage? tone of passage.Even if i understand the passage and am able to comprehend it i get confused in choosing the answers.When i read through the answers i feel more than 1 choice as correct and many times mark the wrong one as wrong.

[vikram4689]

congrats ram, i hope a write a similar debrief in a month. My situation is much similar to you and this time i will be appearing for 3rd time. May be you can help me with problem i am facing:

a) how did you identify your weak areas, it may be a stupid question but i see it as a major stumble on my way to success. sometime i do good at a particular concept (say weaken questions in CR) in a prep test and then in another test i fail to do good at same concept. So, i don't really know whether it is my weak section. And it happens with most of my sections. can you help me to deduce what does it mean...

[Sabari Ram]

@mrinal2100 :
Regarding the RC section, I have faced the same issue that u talk about.
Few steps that u may follow to improve the RC section are,

- Take notes while u read the passage.

- Make ur notes as short as possible.It can be a simple flow diagram that u can understand.

- When u stop to take notes, u have the advantage of not getting lost while reading very fast,failing to comprehend the passage.

- Ask questions to urself after each pragraph.For example, What does the author intend to say in this paragraph? How does this paragraph fit with the passage as a whole? Doing this will ensure that u understand the structure of the passage as well.

- Understand and differentiate the facts presented in the passage from the author's opinions.

-For example,
In 1910 over 600,000 Black workers, or ten percent of the Black work force,reported themselves to be engaged in "manufacturing and mechanical pursuits,"the federal census category roughly encompassing the entire industrial sector. The Great Migration could easily have been made up entirely of this group and their families. It is perhaps surprising to argue that an employed population could be enticed to move, but an explanation lies in the labor conditions then prevalent in the South.

In the above passage, the first sentence is a factual statement.Here, the author does not state his own opinion on the issue.He just cites some fact.However, in the third sentence of the passage, he tries to convey his point of view on the issue.Therefore, such statements are answers to questions like what the author intends to say?

-For "tone" questions, u should be wary enough to look for key words that communicate the tone of the passage.For example, the word "surprising" in the above passage is related to the mood/tone of the author.

-Also, taking note of important words from the passage helps u to identify the paragraph in which a word is present and this helps u especially in "specific detail" questions.

-When u have two choices to choose from,check the wholeness of each answer choice and ensure that it does not miss out any point that the author conveys or introduces new idea which the author does not say.

U need not worry that taking notes will eat away extra time.Taking notes will compensate for the time that u spend on each question.Ur probability of getting the question correct will also increase.


Regards,
Sabari Ram

[Sabari Ram]

congrats ram, i hope a write a similar debrief in a month. My situation is much similar to you and this time i will be appearing for 3rd time. May be you can help me with problem i am facing:

a) how did you identify your weak areas, it may be a stupid question but i see it as a major stumble on my way to success. sometime i do good at a particular concept (say weaken questions in CR) in a prep test and then in another test i fail to do good at same concept. So, i don't really know whether it is my weak section. And it happens with most of my sections. can you help me to deduce what does it mean...

@vikram4689:

Thanks for ur wishes..
Inconsistency, as u have stated, may be a result of lack of a constant/correct approach to a type of question.
For example, in a weakening/strengthening question, u should always attack the assumption rather than the conclusion.
For BOLD face questions, u can rephrase the 2 bold faced sentences in ur own words and then try to relate them both.
If u have such constant approaches for each question type, then u may not face the situation that u r in now.

Regards,
Sabari Ram

[mrinal2100]

thanks ram for the reply.One more thing how to cut down on mistake.I have a bad habit of rushing through the answers.In most case like in DI or SC if i see the first answers as somewhat right i mark it as correct.When i go through the review part i find that i made the mistake and i then choose the correct answer even without looking at the solution.

[Sabari Ram]

thanks ram for the reply.One more thing how to cut down on mistake.I have a bad habit of rushing through the answers.In most case like in DI or SC if i see the first answers as somewhat right i mark it as correct.When i go through the review part i find that i made the mistake and i then choose the correct answer even without looking at the solution.

Hi mrinal,
U may employ the following approach to reduce errors that occur due to rushing thru the answer choices..

- Take a resolution that u read all the answer choices before u mark the answer and move on.

- Follow the "surely wrong"/"possibly correct" approach to rectify ur problem.

*In the above said approach, U should read the question and then go thru each of the answer choices.
*While u read each answer choice, u should mark an answer choice as "possibly correct" or "surely wrong".
*For this u may use symbols as a dot(.) for the possibly correct and a cross (x) for surely wrong answers.
*After u have marked few answers as wrong, for example 3 of the 5 answers as "surely wrong", u should analyse the remaining 2 answers that contend for the correct answer.
*Doing this will increase the probability of choosing the correct answer.

All the best for ur preparations.

Regards,
Sabari Ram

[vinay911]

Congrats Sabari Ram ! very well done indeed! you truly inspire a whole lot of us out here.

[Troika]

Congrats on the 740 and thanks for sharing your inspirational GMAT journey!

[Gaurav 2013-fall]

I could see you in your debrief, It felt so honest. Thanks for the debrief. You are a fighter. Always remain so. India needs such fighters.

[njdude2012]

can you please post your test scores? any review about Veritas tests?

Thanks

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

Excellent post, Sabari Ram!

This post should be required reading for everyone who doesn't reach their target score on the first attempt.

I also like your takeaway that says, "Your attitude will matter more than your aptitude...So never,never,never panic.." This is a key factor in achieving a great score.

Cheers,
Brent