Your average med school dropout (570 to 730 in 2 months!)

Find out how Beat The GMAT members tackled GMAT test prep with positive results. Get tips on GMAT test prep materials, online courses, study tips, and more.
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So I dropped out of med school and decided to go for b-school. I did it! I went from 570(Q41,V27)in early March to 730(Q48,V41) in early May. The first time I took the test, I breezed over grammar while studying thinking I knew it...boy was I wrong. After the first test, I practiced for the first month solely on grammar using the Manhattan GMAT SC guide. I made flashcards of every rule from the book and did tons of practice from the official guide. The next month, I worked solely on timing and taking real tests. A good friend who also scored well gave me some advice on timing: just think about the benchmark numbers (ie 60 minutes remaining, 8 questions done) I had to hit and nothing else. He also told me to spend a little extra time getting the first 7 questions right in both quant and verbal sections. Putting these two rules together, it's okay if you miss the first benchmark, but you must make the rest of the benchmarks.

I was doing Manahattan GMAT practice tests and not doing so well on them. I found the verbal portion of manhattan gmat practice tests to be atrocious; they had a few speculative answers in RC and CR and some flat-out wrong sentence correction questions. Also, the essay prompts were a little easier than the official ones. I started only using the IR and Quant sections as practice.

I retook the GMATprep tests scoring 670 on the first one and then 740(Q49,V42) on the second. I took them within a week of one another. What changed you ask? Well, I went through every problem on the first test and made sure I could do it backwards and forwards. I also worked on a few of my weakness areas (see next paragraph).

I had already gone through most of the OG 13 questions in the first few months of studying so I redid a few questions from my weakness areas (SC, percents, decimal/digits, and combinations). I then did practice sets from the official supplemental quant and verbal guides. I did the last 20 or so questions from each section and timed myself to what I would get on the actual test. The only sections I had trouble with were DS and CR. I did a few more problem sets on these topics.

Two days prior to the test, I studied my notecards (I made notecards of all the MGMAT guide books) and took a MGMAT practice test (quant section only) on which I only scored a 42 (timing was way off)! Then, I also did some more official critical reasoning problem sets to get me in the frame of mind of the test writers.

I arrived at the test center early - it was a fancy corporate office building complete with a security guard who knew I was scheduled to test that day. I gave him my name and he escorted me to the testing center. Some hot girl who was also testing that day smiled at me and I just knew I was going to crush the exam.

Side note: I was also on a diet/exercise regimen during my studying - I started eating correctly, exercising, and counting calories. In the 5 months that I studied for the GMAT, I improved my stamina from running only 12 minutes at a time (~1.5 miles) to running 45 minutes (~5.5 miles) at a time. I also lost 10 pounds, gained a six-pack and can do 3 sets of 50 pushups and 2 sets of 47 crunches in 20 minutes. Just like the GMAT, I pushed myself a little harder and a little further each day until I was able to achieve my goal. To clarify, I was never in bad shape to begin with (always was quite good at soccer), but now I'm in great shape.

Update - just got the IR and Essay scores. 7/8 IR and 5.0/6.0 essay. I'm all set!
Last edited by 700orhigher on Sun May 19, 2013 6:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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by faraz_jeddah » Sat May 04, 2013 2:24 am
Quite an inspirational story. Kudos to you for believing in yourself and pursuing what you wanted!

One question though - What was your Macronutrients breakdown?
:lol:

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by 700orhigher » Sat May 04, 2013 5:10 am
Thanks for your post. I tried to follow 30% carbs, 30% fats, and 40% protein at ~1900 calories/day. I ate neither sugar (except from fresh fruit and a small piece of dark chocolate), nor alcohol (except occasionally I had a drink socially), nor junk food/unhealthy snacks - I mostly stuck to greek yogurt, pretzels, and fresh fruit. Also, I started drinking unsweetened caffeinated tea (green or black) in the morning along with a bowl of cereal and some fruit.

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by krishnapv » Tue May 07, 2013 9:03 am
Your story is very inspiring. I am currently studying for GMAT. I plan to take the exam towards end of June. First, I started preparing for the Verbal. It is challenging to maintain a balance among family, work, and study. I would like to know the following.

On avg. how many hours did you spend on GMAT? Weedays vs. Weekends
How many practice tests did you take in total?
what are the key lessons that you've learned in each section : CR, SC, RC and Quant?
do you have any suggestions on how to attack the quant portion, esp. Problem Solving?
At what point of phase would you advise to start taking GMAT tests?
In terms of practice questions, is OG the best guide?

Thanks alot!

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by sicadm » Tue May 07, 2013 9:29 am
Hi,

Thank you for sharing this story! Definitely motivational to hear that you were able to change your score so drastically, because I am in a similar situation. In an ideal world, I would love to take a leave of absence from consulting work and focus on nothing but studying for 2 months until I get to a place where my scores are at least high 600's. Since that isn't an option in the short term and I'd like to take this test by September, I'm looking for ways to work in consistent, quality study time while continuing to also work full time.

I have similar questions to krishnapv, in that I am wondering if you worked full time while you were studying or had the luxury of focusing only on prepping for the GMAT since you had recently dropped out of school.

Thanks!
Danielle

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by 700orhigher » Tue May 07, 2013 2:07 pm
krishnapv wrote:Your story is very inspiring. I am currently studying for GMAT. I plan to take the exam towards end of June. First, I started preparing for the Verbal. It is challenging to maintain a balance among family, work, and study. I would like to know the following.

On avg. how many hours did you spend on GMAT? Weedays vs. Weekends
How many practice tests did you take in total?
what are the key lessons that you've learned in each section : CR, SC, RC and Quant?
do you have any suggestions on how to attack the quant portion, esp. Problem Solving?
At what point of phase would you advise to start taking GMAT tests?
In terms of practice questions, is OG the best guide?

Thanks alot!
Hi Krishnapv - glad you found the story inspiring. I spent no more than 3-4 hours a day studying around 5 days a week. I was not working so I had a more relaxed schedule than most. I studied for 5 months in total.

The key lesson is timing, timing, timing. You can know exactly how to solve a problem, but if you can't do it in 2 minutes, it doesn't matter. CR - learn to recognize the type of questions immediately and don't write too much when you're summarizing the paragraph. Also, learn the technical definitions of inference and assumption (MGMAT is good with this). SC - do a ton of practice problems and learn every grammar rule in the MGMAT SC book. RC - write an outline of the passage - never really had much trouble with this section (med school/the MCAT is a lot harder in this area). Quant - PS can take too long if you let it...if you don't know after 2 minutes, just guess. Also, know what types of questions will take too long (your weaknesses) and skip them immediately - don't be stubborn! When studying, take quant topic by topic. MGMAT quant books were pretty good except the Fractions/Decimals/Percents (FDP) book was pretty basic compared to the harder problems in the OG 13.

I would take one full practice test at the beginning to get a sense of where you are and what you should be focusing on. Analyze it fully and make sure you go over every single problem. Make an excel spreadsheet of topics you got wrong (and right). MGMAT has some great analysis tools on this. Now focus on one section (either quant or verbal...read the guides, do practice problems. Now take another full test focusing on scoring well in the section you just learned. Be sure to analyze the full test and go over all the problems. Now study for the next section (quant or verbal...whichever you didn't focus on at first). Take another practice test. Analyze it. Now study for IR. Take another practice test. Finally, study for the essay. Studying for the essay should take 2 days max unless you have serious English writing problems. Now take a ton of practice tests. I took 10 in total so if you are following along, that's 7 more. Make sure you take both GMATprep (official) practice tests twice. One final note is to wind down before test day. 5 days before the test, you should be finished with all practice tests and just do timed problem sets. Yes, OG 13 is best. Relax and get some rest so you are energized for your test.

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by bpolley00 » Wed May 08, 2013 1:54 pm
How would you compare the GMAT to the MCAT as far as difficulty level?

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by kymia » Thu May 09, 2013 12:31 am
Thank you for sharing your story!!!

What is the best way to practice time management?

Thanks
Mona

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by 700orhigher » Fri May 10, 2013 10:20 am
bpolley00 wrote:How would you compare the GMAT to the MCAT as far as difficulty level?
MCAT requires more specialized knowledge (science) as well as critical thinking. I'd say the MCAT is harder - even on the math (physics/chemistry) problems there's generally a lot more information to sift through. Also the Verbal section is a lot harder on the MCAT than on the GMAT. MCAT Verbal just has passages (like RC), but they're very tricky and vague...evidence is always implicit, not stated directly as in the GMAT. However, the math is definitely harder on the GMAT, although that's not saying much since it still isn't above high school level.
Last edited by 700orhigher on Fri May 10, 2013 10:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

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by 700orhigher » Fri May 10, 2013 10:28 am
kymia wrote:Thank you for sharing your story!!!

What is the best way to practice time management?

Thanks
Mona
Do timed problem sets using questions from the OG and the official supplemental review books. Start at 5 problems and make sure you can do them in the appropriate amount of time (ie 10 minutes for Quant), then do 10 problems, then do 20 problems. Once you can do 20 in a row on the harder problems (highest numbered questions) on time with a high percentage correct, you're all set for the test. Make sure you practice all the categories (PS, DS, CR, RC, and SC).

Hint: you may have to skip some questions to make time so make sure you know your weaknesses and what types of questions are time sinks. But be sure to go over these questions when you review your problems sets.

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by bpolley00 » Fri May 10, 2013 2:24 pm
700orhigher,

Thanks for the reply, that is kind of what I figured as one of my good friends just got done with the MCAT and did real well, so it is interesting to hear from someone who has taken both. You would obviously hope the MCAT is harder than the GMAT .......

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by Matt@VeritasPrep » Sat May 11, 2013 11:21 am
700orhigher wrote:I made flashcards of every rule from the book and did tons of practice from the official guide.
That's outstanding - you would've made a great med student!
I was doing Manahattan GMAT practice tests and not doing so well on them. I found the verbal portion of manhattan gmat practice tests to be atrocious; they had a few speculative answers in RC and CR and some flat-out wrong sentence correction questions.


Not to speak for a company I don't work for, but "flat-out wrong sentences" and "atrocious" verbal answers are absolutely typical of the challenging verbal questions on the GMAT. Most of the SC questions about the 90th percentile are difficult not because of the rules being tested but because the "best" answer is a lousy sentence that wouldn't pass muster at any well-edited newspaper. To really excel at SC you have to follow the GMAT's rather arbitrary preferences as closely as Ned Flanders follows the Bible ("I've done everything the Bible says - even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!")

CR is the same way: most of the hardest questions are hard because of the answer choices, not the arguments themselves. (They don't seem to do this in RC, though.) If you compare GMAT CR to LSAT CR this difference is especially pronounced: on the LSAT you're looking for a good answer to a difficult argument; on the GMAT you're weighing degrees of wretchedness as you hunt for the least bad answer. This doesn't show up in the publicly released questions that much (most of the stuff in OG 13 isn't like this), but it absolutely does on the CAT above the 95th percentile.

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by 700orhigher » Sat May 11, 2013 11:44 am
Matt@VeritasPrep wrote:
I was doing Manahattan GMAT practice tests and not doing so well on them. I found the verbal portion of manhattan gmat practice tests to be atrocious; they had a few speculative answers in RC and CR and some flat-out wrong sentence correction questions.


Not to speak for a company I don't work for, but "flat-out wrong sentences" and "atrocious" verbal answers are absolutely typical of the challenging verbal questions on the GMAT. Most of the SC questions about the 90th percentile are difficult not because of the rules being tested but because the "best" answer is a lousy sentence that wouldn't pass muster at any well-edited newspaper. To really excel at SC you have to follow the GMAT's rather arbitrary preferences as closely as Ned Flanders follows the Bible ("I've done everything the Bible says - even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!")
No I mean all answer choices violated GMAT-specific grammar rules/preferences. No choice was correct for those SC questions from Manhattan GMAT. This is not indicative of what I saw on the actual test nor in the official GMATprep practice tests. However, I would agree that some of the high level CR questions were more about choosing the least wrong answer, even on the official tests.