Wow!
Never thought I'll be writing this. I'll try to keep this as concise as possible.
Profile: Indian, Engineer, Male Age: 28
2011 - Graduated
2012 - Rejected by almost all top b schools in India - Realized the need to go abroad
July 2013 - 1st GMAT attempt. Studied only Manhattan and
OG for 2-3 months. Scored a 650 (Q49 V31)
Applied to Krannert and Rice with a 650 - Interview calls from both but no convert
May 2014 - Got a call from NUS for there MSc program because of strong technical background
June 2015 - Graduated from NUS and had a job offer in hand 4 months before before graduation.
July 2015 - MBA bug hits again. Started preparing with
e-GMAT.
November - December 2015 - Health issues strike - Sinus goes bad - Underwent surgery in December. Also screwed up a few things in my personal life - goes into depression for first time in life
January - February 2016 - Spent fighting depression, improving health and coming over personal setbacks - Started mindfulness meditation
Mar 2016 - 2nd attempt - scored 680 (Q51 V30)
May 2016 - 3rd attempt - scored 660, cancelled, (Q49 V31)
July 2016 - 4th attempt - scored 680 (Q49 V33)
Realized I may not improve further. Didn't wanted to miss R1 deadlines hence started preparing applications for ISB, INSEAD and Judge - Looking for 1 year MBA.
October 2016 - 5th attempt - scored 740 (Q50 V40)
Applying to US top 10 and LBS along with schools mentioned above.
What made the difference?
INTROSPECT - Yup, I read a lot of debriefs and realized everyone has unique deficiencies. Identify and hit them. I've intentionally skipped my preparation details as I believe they won't help anyone. I would rather use this forum to help you guys introspect. Here's what I suggest:
After every mock test list down 3 (maximum 3) things that you need to improve. Even if you write 1-2 things, its fine. Now, don't write CR/SC/Quant etc. etc. BE SPECIFIC...And make sure you tackle them before you next mock...
Few examples:
I was not confident solving probability questions though I got them write
I was nervous during the start of the test hence couldn't focus
I realized the break was too small and I couldn't rest my brain enough
My sleeping patterns effected my test performance
I'm attempting majority of SC questions based on gut and not able to apply rules
My mind wanders during the test and I start thinking about my work/bf/gf/parents etc. etc. during the test
I keep changing postures while taking the test hence not able to focus for a long time
My hairs start itching hence I'm scratching the head most of the time and loose focus
I'm not good at drawing geometry figures on rough paper hence am not able to approximate angle measurements
I can't remember or frequently forget probability/geometry/sets rules or formulas
These are general examples. Please be as precise and honest as possible.
Get it?
It may be anything the sun...It can be your mood, place, clothing, eating habits, exercise, meditation, eye sight, lack of conceptual knowledge, lack of application, lack of rest - ANYTHING...identify 1-3 things at a time and work on them...For the study part, go into the details and precisely find out the gaps. For eg. I always struggled to remember formulas for overlapping sets. I just couldn't remember them. I know its stupid. What did I do? I learned to derive them. I was never short of time on quant so I had the luxury to spend those extra 30sec - 1 min to derive the formula. Result? I approached set problem with 100% confidence. I know if I forget the formula I'll spend additional 30 sec and derive it.
Again this is one small example. You'll have multiple things like these that you'll identify during the process.
If you guys need any more details about my preparation schedule and material I used, feel free to respond to this thread and I'll be happy to share whatever details you guys want.
And last but the most important thing.
Have faith in yourself and NEVER EVER GIVE UP!!! Even my father got frustrated of me giving GMAT every 2-3 months. But you just can't give up. Once you give up, it's over - forever.
Hope it helped. I'll look forward to answering any specific questions that you guys might have.
<ignore typos>
Congrats on the great score. Apart from the details you mentioned-could you please detail what made the difference in prep to get Verbal to V40.Also, tips on a Q50 will help.
close
Updated on: 05 Jun 2017, 01:42
