To show the different approaches I had taken to prepare for the GMAT, I divided this post into three parts: 1. preparation for GMAT #1, #2, and #3; 2. preparation for GMAT #4; and 3. preparation for GMAT #5.
Before I start, here is some background information about me. I am a 29 years old Hungarian. I have a Bachelor's degree in Sports Management from Hungary, another one in Business Administration / Economics from the USA, and a Master's degree in Corporate Environmental Management from Finland. I played tennis and ran cross country in DII; and I worked on campus and was also an important member of several student groups at my American university. I worked as an intern for the UN in Costa Rica for 6 and worked for a women's soccer club in Finland as a fitness coach for 4 years and as a soccer coach for 2 years during my Master's studies. I graduated a year ago and left the soccer club around the same time, and I have been unemployed ever since.
1. I took the GMAT the first time while I was still in college during my senior year during the Fall of 2009. I used only the Princeton Review Cracking the GMAT 2010 edition to prepare and took the two GMATPrep practice tests without the AWA. After my one month not so intensive preparation I got a 590. Early 2011, when I was completing my second semester as a Master's student, I decided to give it another go. I prepared using the OGs (general, quantitative, and verbal guides) and taking each of the two free official practice tests two times. The preparation took about 4 months (Now, I would not call it a preparation). I got 640 (46Q and 32V). I decided right away to take the test again later that year. I had other things to do during that summer and my preparation was not adequate either. I used the same guides and same tests as during my last preparation. 5 months after my second test, in October 2011, I got a 610 (45Q and 28V). I failed to answer the last Verbal question because I thought there was not another one. I thought the world will end. So much trouble for nothing...
2. I applied to top US business schools and was rejected 3 times: in 2009, in 2011, and in 2014. This last time I finally realized how important an excellent GMAT score was for admittance into a top MBA program. I knew that I also lack relevant work experience. I was rejected from Stanford, Duke and UNC this spring, and I was not able to get even a job interview. Then, I decided to give GMAT another try. This time I did an extensive research to find the best way to prepare with a minimum budget. My goal was to get into the 700s. I found Magoosh and purchased their $99 plan. I used their 3-month study plan (it was the old plan; a new plan came out in July) for advanced students. You can find that plan on the Magoosh website, but basically it provided me with a detailed day to day 3-month schedule. This schedule was the key for me because it provided me with a guideline that helped me to stay on track with my preparation for 3 months. I used the Magoosh resources (flash cards, online question bank, instructional videos, blogs), the Manhattan practice tests, the 1-10 Manhattan guides, the 2015 OG, the 4 GMAC practice tests (I took them only once each), and I also purchased the Manhattan Advanced Quant book (it was not part of the Magoosh plan) to use during the last 4 weeks of my preparation. I made flashcards to learn certain concepts. I started writing a mistake log after 4 weeks of preparation. I called it "Miss Steak".
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Here are my practice test results:
05/08/2015: Manhattan Prep #1 - 630 (4.5 Integrated Reasoning, 44 Quantitative, 33 Verbal)
06/01/2015: Manhattan Prep #2 - 620 (4.43IR, 41Q, 34V)
06/10/2015: Manhattan Prep #3 - 630 (2.4IR, 40Q, 36V)
06/17/2015: Manhattan Prep #4 - 650 (5.62IR, 44Q, 35V)
06/23/2015: Manhattan Prep #5 - 720 (3.87IR, 44Q, 45V)
06/29/2015: Manhattan Prep #6 - 650 (4.43IR, 43Q, 36V)
07/12/2015: GMATPrep #1 - 720 (8IR, 48Q, 41V) - Detailed scores: 47PS, 49DS, 44CR, 34RC, and 42SC (default exam pack)
07/20/2015: GMATPrep #2 - 690 (8IR, 47Q, 37V) - Detailed scores: 46PS, 48DS, 36CR, 35RC, and 40SC (exam pack 1)
07/28/2015: GMATPrep #3 - 710 (6IR, 49Q, 38V) - Detailed scores: 50PS, 47DS, 40CR, 51RC, and 32SC (exam pack 1)
08/04/2015: GMATPrep #4 - 680 (5IR, 47Q, 35V) - Detailed scores: 48PS, 46DS, 36CR, 31RC, and 39SC (default exam pack)
Actual test:
08/11/2015: 680 (7IR, 49Q, 33V) - Detailed scores: 46PS, 50DS, 41CR, 19RC, 44SC
The Manhattan tests mimic the verbal part of the real GMAT pretty well; however, the questions in the quantitative part involve time consuming calculations and are harder than in the real test. My #5 Manhattan verbal score was elevated because the question bank was running out of hard question. However, the Manhattan tests were good practice overall. The GMATPrep tests were very accurate to predict my actual score. However, I felt that my second test (the 1st in the exam pack 1) could have been better, but there were not hard enough questions since I made only a few mistakes overall. I ended up with my lowest GMATPrep practice score on the actual test. I did pretty well on the actual test, but somehow I really, really, really messed up the RC...
3. Let's do this thing one more time. Fortunately, Magoosh had come out with a new 3-month study plan for advanced students in July, so I could continue my preparation with a new plan and quite many new questions, even tough, I already had answered most of the questions I answered during this final 3-month. This new study plan is also available at the Magoosh website, and it is for students who can already get to a high 600s score and want to get into the top 700s. This time I spent about 6-8 hours a day, 6 times a week studying for the GMAT. I decided to come up with a daily timetable to better organize my time. I scheduled my actual test to be at 9:00am because I felt that it was better to wake up early, run and do my core workout, study, have a lunch break, study some more, go to the weight room, and study some more before dinner. I woke up 6am and went to bed at 10pm almost every single day. Finally, I got enough sleep after so many years of neglecting it! I ate fruit and salad at least once almost every day. My breakfast was high in carbs and protein, same for my lunch, and I ate salad for dinner. I only ate out a couple times each month during the weekends. I still ran, worked out, and stretched every single day, and went to the weight room 3 times per week. This time I started my preparation on Monday (Last time I started on Wednesday because the actual test was on Tuesday, so to have exactly 13 weeks to prepare), even if my actual exam was going to be on Tuesday again, but I scheduled my practice exams for Saturday mornings at 9am (I also had some practice exams on Tuesdays because I added some extra to the Magoosh plan). I found it better to do most of the work during weekdays and take the exam during the weekend. I reviewed the exam on Saturdays and/or Sundays. I was never behind with my schedule! I also decided to do some extra practice tests since I had done all of the Manhattan and GMATPrep ones before. I chose Veritas practice test and I incorporated them into my Magoosh schedule. I was taking 2 tests per week for 4 weeks. I started with the Manhattan tests at the end of Week 5. This time I took one GMATPrep test about 1/3 into my preparation to see how I was progressing, then I finished the rest of the Manhattan tests, and took the last 3 remaining GMATPrep tests during my last 3 weeks of preparation. I took the last one on the last Saturday before my actual test. Even if this new Magoosh schedule is for students who could already score comfortably in the 600s, I do not think I could have used it without the older schedule that I completed before this one. This new schedule does not use the Manhattan 1-10 guides, which were essential for me to get familiar with every single GMAT concept following a 4 year break from GMAT, so you would have to be very good (almost at 700 level) in my opinion to get the maximum out of this plan. I did use the Manhattan guides for reviews during my last week of preparation. This plan also included the use of an LSAT prep book that included 10 retired LSAT tests. I can thank my awesome CR and RC scores for the CR and RC sections of the LSAT practice tests. They are a lot harder than GMAT CR and RC, so they made the real test feel like a breeze. I used the 2016 OG and Verbal and Quantitative guides, so I did have some new questions to answer. I did all of the Magoosh questions again. I also had two new mistake log notebooks. One of them was titled "Mist-Ache".
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When I started my GMAT journey 6 years ago, both my Dad and my mentor, who was a father to me (I lived with his family during my stay in the US and he was also my academic advisor during my undergrad studies), were alive. My Dad passed away unexpectedly exactly 5 years ago, and my mentor died in a car crash 18 months ago. They did not live long enough to see me get my Master's degree or achieve my GMAT goal. Therefore, this GMAT preparation was not only about mental, but also about physical and emotional preparation (Did you notice the idiom?
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My exam routine:
- 6am 30 minutes run (I never drink coffee, but running does the trick for me)
- 7am protein rich breakfast (Fuel for your brain)
- 8am dog walking (the test center was about 30-minute walk from my hotel, so I practiced for getting there too)
-9am GMAT time: I drank a cup of water (approx. 0.25L, 1/4 of the content of my liter water bottle) before the exam, and before I began the AWA I did a short breathing routine to calm myself and silence my mind (I also did this when I noticed that I was losing focus between questions); during the first break I ate an organic protein bar with almonds and dark chocolate, drank a cup of water again, used the restroom (not just for the obvious, but also for doing jumping-jacks to get the blood flowing in my body), and did the breathing routine before I started the Quant; during the second break I ate 30 grams of raisins and drank the cup of water, did the same bathroom routine, and did the same breathing routine before the Verbal began.
I was able to do the same routine at the actual tests. In August, I wore crocs, shorts and t-shirts; in November, I wore running shoes, shorts and t-shirts. I was prepared with training pants and a hoodie in my backpack, but I did not need them in the test center. I remember when I dressed up nicely for my 3rd GMAT exam 4 years ago. Don't do it!!! Be as comfortable as possible!!! The day before yesterday, everybody else was dressed up nicely, but my goal was not to dress to impress... I also walked constantly during the breaks again to keep the blood flowing in my body. It might have seemed that I was very nervous.
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My goal based on my practice tests was to get at least 740. I was expecting my Quant to be 50 or 51 (maybe 51 was too high of an expectation) and my Verbal to be between 40 and 45, inclusively. I got 750!!! First, I saw my Quant score: 48, and I was disappointed by it because it was lower than my quant at my previous test 3 months before and at any of my last 4 GMATPrep practice tests. However, the 44 verbal and 750 overall scores seemed like an excellent result. Still, I am a bit disappointed, but since I predicted that my score would have been 780 in the very best case, 750 is right on target (the GMAT has a 30-point margin of error) and I have no right to feel bad about my score.
Here are my practice test results:
08/22/2015: VeritasPrep #1 - 650 (5IR, 46Q, 33V)
08/25/2015: VeritasPrep #2 - 620 (6IR, 43Q, 32V)
08/29/2015: VeritasPrep #3 - 680 (6IR, 47Q, 36V)
09/01/2015: VeritasPrep #4 - 650 (8IR, 45Q, 35V)
09/05/2015: VeritasPrep #5 - 680 (8IR, 47Q, 36V)
09/08/2015: VeritasPrep #6 - 690 (7IR, 50Q, 35V)
09/12/2015: VeritasPrep #7 - 650 (8IR, 46Q, 34V)
09/15/2015: GMATPrep #1 Retake - 750 (8IR, 50Q, 41V) - Detailed scores: 50PS, 50DS, 38CR, 42RC, 44SC. (default exam pack)
09/19/2015: Manhattan Prep #1 Retake - 680 (5.2IR, 46Q, 37V)
09/26/2015: Manhattan Prep #2 Retake - 690 (4.43IR, 46Q, 38V)
10/03/2015: Manhattan Prep #3 Retake - 690 (3.1IR, 46Q, 38V)
10/10/2015: Manhattan Prep #4 Retake - 740 (5.06IR, 47Q, 45V)
10/11/2015: Economist Brightest Mind MBA Scholarship Contest - 720 (No IR or AWA)
10/17/2015: Manhattan Prep #5 Retake - 720 (5.34IR, 47Q, 41V)
10/24/2015: Manhattan Prep #6 Retake - 740 (4.43IR, 47Q, 44V)
10/31/2015: GMATPrep #2 Retake - 760 (7IR, 50Q, 42V) - Detailed scores: 50PS, 51DS, 48CR, 38RC, 40SC (exam pack 1)
11/07/2015: GMATPrep #3 Retake - 750 (8IR, 50Q, 41V) - Detailed scores: 50PS, 50DS, 42CR, 41RC, 39SC (exam pack 1)
11/14/2015: GMATPrep #4 Retake - 750 (8IR, 50Q, 41V) - Detailed scores: 50PS, 50DS, 41CR, 35RC, 44SC (default exam pack)
Actual test:
11/17/2015: 750 (7IR, 48Q, 44V) - Detailed scores: 48PS, 49DS, 44CR, 51RC, 46SC
The Veritas practice tests were good for practice because I had to work with so many practice tests and questions that I had already done. However, I would not recommend for anybody to take 30 tests, including the two actual tests, in 6 months to prepare for the GMAT. However, the extra practice did help me with my timing at the actual tests. It was perfect. I took the other 10 tests again, but there were 3 months between my first and retakes, so I do not think that being familiar with the questions was the reason for the higher score during my last attempts. I remembered seeing some of the questions before, but I never remembered the solutions. However, it could be a problem if you retake them too soon. I recommend taking each test twice because you will see some new questions during your second attempt. The 1st CAT in the GMATPrep exam pack 1 had again a bit too easy questions because I had only 2 Quant and 5 Verbal mistakes, and still did not get a higher score. However, the GMATPrep Cats predicted very well my actual test result, again. All four types of tests that I took are different, and they serve different purposes. The Manhattan Prep tests are especially good for Quant because they are quite hard. The Veritas tests are good if you need some new questions and new tests to practice. The Economist test was good to win a scholarship (results in December
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Overall, I did better than expected in Quant and worse than expected in Verbal 3 months ago. Now, I did worse than expected in Quant and at the top end of what I had expected in Verbal. I improved from 640 to 750 in 6 months. I studied about 1000 hours, spent about $1500 for GMAT preparation (material, test fees, travel expense to get to the test, and hotel expenses), and I answered about 10000 questions. I wanted to do everything I could, so that I would have no regrets after the test. However, 6 months is a very long time, and it is not for everyone. Was it overkill? I do not think so. I enjoyed what I was doing and how I was transforming my life, so time flew by very fast. I had only 5 days off between my 4th GMAT exam and starting my last preparation, but it was enough for me. It worked for me and I hope that you can get something out of my experience that will help you with your journey.
Don't give up! I failed several times in my life, but most of the time my failure was not only my fault. The first 3 times I studied for GMAT, I was preparing to fail because I did not study the right way. Now, I did what was right for me and what was necessary to get a top score. If you failed before, there is a chance that you did not have the right approach to begin with. Don't regard GMAT as your enemy! That is how I approached it for 4 out 5 times. I wanted to beat it, but I was beating myself. I thought that it was just a stupid test and a way to get into business school. This time, I realized that the concepts behind GMAT are actually very useful not just in business school but also in life (idiom again
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I hope this debrief was helpful by providing detailed information about my 6-year GMAT journey, even if this text is almost as long as my preparation was!
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Cheers,
Andras
Update: My GMAT score is official and the AWA is 6.0.
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