Hello Everyone!
I found myself in these forums quite frequently in the past few months because I needed extra motivation at times during my GMAT prep. There is no doubt that the studying, in conjunction with a full-time job, for a test like the GMAT is a grueling process. I had often and on studied for the test for about 2 years (not really engaging in the material to the degree I should have). I took a Kaplan prep course to refresh my skills about 2 years ago, and I found it to be helpful to brush up on the basics, but nothing more than that. For proper GMAT prep, you need to engage in the Kaplan books and understand the fundamentals of how to do questions. The class, in hindsight, proved to be way too much money for the value of the course. The best prep for me was definitely
Magoosh, which I will touch on now.
GMAT Prep Plan - When I discovered
Magoosh in December 2014, I decided to enroll in the free week trial to see if I was interested in the product. After doing so for a week, I knew that I needed
Magoosh if I wanted to have any semblance of a chance on the GMAT. I discovered the three month study guide for beginners which was insanely helpful for someone who needed to learn everything properly, from the bottom up. I highly recommend using some sort of study plan - I knew that I could not design one myself, and I wanted to use something that others had seen success with as well. This kept me organized in my studies, and the lesson videos were so easy to watch anywhere (especially at work during lunch breaks, or just for the audio while working). Additionally, the video explanations for each of their 500+ questions helped me digest better ways to solve problems. I followed the study plan pretty religiously up until about two weeks left in my prep. Along the way, and especially towards the end of my prep, I took several CATs to gauge my progress. I will list my scores for them below:
GMAC Software Test #1 - 570 (don't remember split), early January
GMAC Software Test #2 - 620 (don't remember split), late January
Veritas Prep Free Test - 680 (Q48/V37), mid February; I want to say that the quant for this test felt way easier than the other tests.
Magoosh Test (just verbal/quant) - 650 (around Q44/V36), late February
Manhattan GMAT Test - 610 (don't remember split, but my quant wasn't great); this test felt harder than any of the tests i took.
Kaplan Free Test - 650 (Q46/V34)
Retake of GMAC Software Test #1 - 670 (saw a few repeats on each section, but I am not sure that I had the test questions memorized at that point).
My verbal score consistently was in the 34-37 range for any practice test, and I was pretty satisfied with that overall. My quant score seemed to fluctuate quite a bit; I scored between a 42 and a 48 on all of my tests. I used the
OG,
Magoosh, and the
Manhattan GMAT books for my prep. I had the Kaplan book from my course, but I really wanted to hone in on a few materials and run with those. I would watch
Magoosh lesson videos at work, and do practice sets at home every night, about 5-6 days a week. This alone would take 1.5-2 hours. I also started reading all 5 of the
Manhattan GMAT Quant books in late January. I finished up the last of the books in early March, and I found these books to be very helpful. I also felt that I was learning the most when I was hammering practice questions/explanations in mid-late February - when I started to apply the concepts I was learning about in detail from the
MGMAT books and
Magoosh video lessons on the quant practice sets/tests.
I should also mention my target score was a 700. Realistically, I would have been happy with a 650 +, but I wanted to set expectations high, and if I missed, at least I would hopefully miss high. I am a horrible standardized test taker, and I do get a little anxiety when having to take these kinds of tests, but I have never studied for a test more in my life than I have for the GMAT. Overall, when I received my score of a 650 (Q45/V35), I felt mostly neutral, but a little happy as well. My IR score didn't go as well as I had hoped (I got a 4 on it), but I don't think it will be held against me too much (although I would love feedback regarding this
). I left the test center optimistic that I would not have to take the test again.
In terms of grad school - I am only applying to Carnegie Mellon's program this upcoming fall. I live in Pittsburgh now, and have finally convinced my girlfriend to move out here as well. Although it would be convenient to attend CMU, I have studied their curriculum and school quite a bit, and I know that it is a good fit for me. I have been debating the full-time and part-time program, and I think I am leaning towards the part-time program. The average GMAT score for the part-time program is a 650 vs a 690 for the full-time program. Besides it being a little easier to get into, the part-time program would allow me to still earn a paycheck while going to school. I am interested in studying Marketing (brand management, specifically), and although this would be a career change, I think that I could either find a new job within my company in brand management, or find a different company post-grad school to suit my needs.
My background - 25 years old, Indian American (born in the states), 3.45 GPA at a good state school in NY. I have worked for Accenture in the field of procurement doing data analysis and project management for over a year and a half now, and by the time I will have hopefully been admitted into grad school, I will have accumulated over 3 years of experience with my company. I also held a job as a Market Research Coordinator at a market research firm for roughly 7 months prior to joining my current company. I also participate in quite a few extracurriculars at Accenture - I am a LEAN Council reviewer, Co-Chair of the Pittsburgh Analyst Action Team, Relationship Manager for the Corporate Citizenship Team, and Treasurer of the Accenture Toastmaster's club. I was wondering if anyone had any feedback here regarding my chances at being admitted to CMU - any would be greatly appreciated
!
If you're still reading this, thank you very much! I am happy to finally write my own post about my GMAT experience. It took me about 2 years to actually sign up for the test, and I never studied for consecutive months until this past December. Beating the GMAT is doable, but it requires a lot of hard work and time. If anyone has any comments or thoughts about any of this, feel free to comment! I look forward to responding to any questions that come up as well.