Relieved after 5 years....with a 700 :)

[FROS]

Hello Everyone,

I took my exam on 24th July 2013 in Delhi centre and got a 700 (Q48, V38). I know that a 700 on this forum kind of means nothing as people are scoring 750+ almost every week. However I know that this is probably the best I could do and it has been around 5 years that I have been contemplating taking this test. Though I have been consistent with studies for only about last 4 months. So the value of 700 for me is not less than the value of a perfect score.

I had studied maths only till 10th standard and it has scared me throughout my life. So getting a 48 in Quants is nothing short of a dream come true. Regarding Verbal, I always had a good grammar and initially I used to think that GMAT verbal will be a cakewalk for me however I was hit by the reality very soon and knew that I needed to work equally hard in quant and verbal.

Well, I would not bore you guys by providing unnecessary gyaan as to what to do and what not to do as the forum is full with the right advice and guidance and I might not be able to add anything new. I would attribute my success to the following (not in the order of preference) -

1. manhattan series (esp for quants)
2. consistency in studying (I realized this late that more than hard work, it is consistent hard work which gives results)
3. OG (I did OG 11, 12 and 13 all) - best source for GMAT-like questions practice
4. Beat the GMAT stories on this forum - for motivation and right guidance.
5. It would be unfair if I take all the credit for my score myself. I took skype lessons from a private tutor and it was immensely helpful. I might not have touched the magical figure of 700 without her guidance and help.

And a big thanks to this community. It was success stories on this forum which kept me motivated to crack the GMAT all this while. Thank you so much everyone.

Please feel free to let me know if you need any advice around how I prepared for a particular section. I am not posting it here as I feel there is already so much sound advice on this forum and I might just be repeating that without adding anything new.


Thanks
FROS

[manishkd]

Congratulations FROS!!!

[amita009]

Verbal 38 is amazing. Congratulations FROS!!! I have been a silent observer on this group and gained a lot. But I can't find a way to improve my verbal.

I created an account today only to ask if you could please share the name of the skype tutor you mentioned in your post? I will be highly grateful. Thank you in advance.


Warm regards

[red217]

Congrats FROS!!.. this is a good score (atleast for me it is!!)
i ve been preparing on and off since the last 4 years too, but from the past 1 month ive very serious
I would love to hear your study plan for quant and it scares the hell out of me too.
when i go through the MGMAT guides and feel as if i know everything but when applying it to questions i get stuck and lost.

im currently enrolled in veritas live online course too and i dont find it useful.

thanks

[FROS]

Verbal 38 is amazing. Congratulations FROS!!! I have been a silent observer on this group and gained a lot. But I can't find a way to improve my verbal.

I created an account today only to ask if you could please share the name of the skype tutor you mentioned in your post? I will be highly grateful. Thank you in advance.


Warm regards

Thanks amita009....please check your PM for the details of the tutor....


Regards

[FROS]

Congrats FROS!!.. this is a good score (atleast for me it is!!)
i ve been preparing on and off since the last 4 years too, but from the past 1 month ive very serious
I would love to hear your study plan for quant and it scares the hell out of me too.
when i go through the MGMAT guides and feel as if i know everything but when applying it to questions i get stuck and lost.

im currently enrolled in veritas live online course too and i dont find it useful.

thanks

Hi red217,
Thanks....yeah it is a great score for me too as I know I might not have done better than this
I have come to realize after all these years preparing for GMAT that consistency is very important...rather the most important thing....if you are not consistent in your studies, you are not going to make it to get the maximum score you can get...I had also studied on and off for around 4.5 years and then took the gmat only after 3 months of regular studies (it was my first ever official attempt in 5 years ).I understand that your situation is a bit different as you have kids to take care of.....so I cannot comment as to how you should be going about it...but just dont let any excuses come your way if you really want to go for an MBA with a good score...

I had also joined some coaching centres during my prep (i joined 2 institutes during these 4 years) and found them complete waste of money. The tutors were only concerned to finish the classes asap so that they can start with the new batches (and get more money). They only used to go as per the students who are very quick and fast in doing questions (infact I used to feel those students anyways did not need the classes...grrr) And I left the second one in the middle and never went back. But I knew that I needed help not only in quants but in verbal too....so I was looking for a private tutor....and I got to know about one such tutor from a friend of mine. He had scored a 740 last year and he recommended this tutor to me. and I am so very thankful to him. I used to think I can never get a decent score in GMAT because I had really bad quant skills. Verbal was something I could still imagine to get over but quant was a major road block....

My tutor helped me work on my basics first. She used to teach me a particular topic and then gave me some pdf files to practice from. I feel doing those questions really helped me work on my basics and then I moved on to manhattan books and did them alongwith OGs.

I would suggest you work on your basics first...try doing manhattan again and again until you understand every concept they teach you in the books. Mark the questions you get wrong in the first attempt and try solving that again after a week and see if you could solve it now. If not, again re-attempt at in a week's time. Then work with Manhattan and OG together. Do not get overwhelmed by the quant questions in the forum...initially I used to do that and trust me in the last 3 months of my prep I hardly checked questions on the forum and it really helped...dont try to do everything....just stick to quality material (I thank my tutor for making me understand this). Infact there were 2-3 topics in quant which used to really scare me - so I decided to leave them (e.g. probability, P&C) as I knew that there will be hardly any questions from these topics and even if I come across them and skip them, I can still manage a good score. My intention was only to score good on GMAT and not to become a master in quants - that mindset has really helped me. But I made sure to do enough practice for all other topics in the quant so that I dont miss any question.

It seems to have become really a long post, I did not intend to write this much ...please ignore the irrelevant stuff....and please let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks.

[arvind21]

Hi :

Your story is very inspiring. My son is also prepairing for GMAT but is very raw in the verbal section. Can you please suggest the measures to improve the verbal score. The teacher who taught you on skype coached you for verbal or quant? Can you please share her details.

Regards

Arvind

[FROS]

Hi :

Your story is very inspiring. My son is also prepairing for GMAT but is very raw in the verbal section. Can you please suggest the measures to improve the verbal score. The teacher who taught you on skype coached you for verbal or quant? Can you please share her details.

Regards

Arvind

Hello Sir,
For verbal section, I completely followed what my tutor suggested....I prepared CR from CR Bible...she suggested as to how I should be going with the book...and for SC it was all the lessons given by my tutor....Manhattan SC is also great book for SC....For RC, it is only reading as much as you can, that will help you. Also an improvement in CR helps in improving RC automatically. because it is all about analyzing the information given and answering on the basis on that.
I took skype lessons for both verbal and quant.
Please let me know in case you might have any specific questions. Thanks.

[arvind21]

Dear Friend:

Can you share your tutors contact details. You can send them on my [email protected].

Thanks

Arvind

[FROS]

Dear Friend:

Can you share your tutors contact details. You can send them on my [email protected].

Thanks

Arvind

Sir, I have sent you a PM. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks.

[davidfrank]

Dear Friend:

Can you share your tutors contact details. You can send them on my [email protected].

Thanks

Arvind

Sir, I have sent you a PM. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks.

Dear Fros,

Can you please share your tutor's info. It would be of great help/

Thanks.
Frank

[red217]

Thanks for advice.
Can you please PM me the tutors details

Thanks

[flyingdagger]

awesome....if anyone can relate to your story i can...it ll be great if could share the tutors contact.....


Regards

[chandannkrishna]

Congrats for your score!!!

No wonder its the consistent hard work and not only hard work that shells out the gold

I will really appreciate if you could give me your tutor's contact details

e-mail - [email protected]

Thnaks
Chandan

[sachinsonu]

congrats!! for the good score, I am struggling with CR particularly Assumptions and Evaluate the Argument Questions, can you please share your strategy on the same ?


regds
sachin