Hello everyone !!
This is Dheeraj and I am presenting my gmat debrief of my very first gmat attempt.
I am not working but still studying my btech(3rd year) in electronics and as you all know it is never early never late for gmat.
I initially started my gmat preparation by joining
Manhattan GMAT's one-on-one classes by sheer encouragement from my mom and dad as I could not come to a conclusion where to start.I had my classes for 20 whole days and Manhattan review,as promised,was very helpful in providing clear insights to the exam.I prefer suggesting teacher-student interactive classes for the beginners rather than online courses because once you get acquainted with the exam format,you can find your own method of preparation later on ,which is why I first wanted to thank my
Manhattan GMAT trainers.
After the coaching in December of 2015,I took a gap for almost 6 months as I thought of having my exam only in January of 2017 and I had 2 semesters of engineering to be completed in between.Finally,during a semester break in June,I started my preparation by solving manhattan guides.I solved them for the whole summer and meanwhile tried some
Manhattan prep CATs provided by them, in which I scored as low as 620 to 660.
I love reading passages and I understand them quite well but used to feel disouraged whenever I saw RCs in a GMAT mock,before I listened to these
egmat RC classes,even though I saw lot of videos and applied lot of tips for how to answer an RC question.Answering certain types of CR questions such as evaluation,and inference was too not very easy for me.Even in SC ,which I thought to be my strengh till then,I scored very low during my mocks.Quants was as scoring as ever anyways.
I then decided to use some other resources, for this was not sufficient for cracking the exam.I then registered in gmatclub which proved to be a great step for my success.From the debriefs present in gmatclub(FB page was which I referred most for debrief readings), I decided to buy
e-gmat verbal live prep course which seemed to be the best for verbal .Gmat club really made my work easy by providing so many forums of informations and discussions.
Here I must mention that the approach
e-gmat follows to make its students perfect in verbal is relly awesome.The methods and reasoning they use is applicable to any kind of gmat question and the point to be noted is that they explain every answer in the exact same way using the same processes so that there will never be any confusion of how to approach a relatively harder question even in such a hurry during the exam.I strongly suggest
e-gmat verbal liveprep for the exam takers who want to improve their verbal scores.I used to think I was pretty good at SC and hence started with CR classes in
e-gmat.The 3 step process was what we normally use to obtain an answer but in an unconventional way.The
e-gmat teaches you to do the same in a methodical approach which is the most required thing to answer fast.I did all my prerequisites and listened to all the CR live classes.After CR I started with RCs as that was my most exhausting part during an exam.The explanation order of each and every comprehension is as perfect as a Leonardo's art.Then I started with SC classes.The training made me so confident regarding verbal that I could answer verbal questions at a strecth of even 3 hours continously without any distraction.
Even after all this,I had my projected scores just 620,640,630,660,640(given by
gmatclub tests,about which I'll discuss later).This literally made my confidence go down to the deepest point I could ever imagne.I thought may be it's just my interest towards the exam that made me think I am eligible for the exam but may be I was not.I felt that may be I had the urge but I had no potential and talent to crack the exam.But I never accept my defeat if I am interested in something which is my major strength-thanks to my parents for developing such strength un me.With this thought in mind that I have always wanted to do an mba and gmat is a lovely gate that could open the route to,my wonderful journey,I again started my preparation,this time using scholaranium,another excellent feature of
e-gmat. I cannot explain how effective was schoaranium in identifying my weak areas and developing my strenghs.
Gmat club tests are another score boosting tools available for all test takers.They provide you with clear answer analyses,with a projecting score ,which gave me an added force to practice more.I mostly used to solve SC questions wherever I came across in the gmatclub.This too helped me a lot to improve my SC scoring abilities.
After all this,the projected score given by
gmatclub tests finally reached 720 from 640.For the first time in weeks I again gained confidence that GMAT was still in my control of action.Then I wrote GMAT prep's CAT for the first time and scored 730.This was yet another good motivation for me.I then took 2 more CATs and scored 730 and 750.Then with a confidence that I was ready for the exam,I went for my GMAT examas scheduled on Jan 5th.
Exams are not something I feel tensed for.So the exam day normal for me.In fact I did not even take a break after IR.IR was pretty easy compared to what I thought it would be like.After I started quants(without taking a break) ,I was shocked by the level of toughness of the first question(or may be I couldn't get it).It took me a whole SIX minutes to solve that question ,still moved on with a slight doubt.Even the second question took me 4 minutes.But I knew I could do well in quants and trusted myself with the time I took for them.As I hoped I didn't find any question in which I could have comitted a mistake thereafter and you wont believe me I still had 10 minutes in my hands when I finished quants
.Then I took a break(I did not have any kind of protien bars or energy drinks but I suggest you to have some liquids).I then started with verbal and got involved in it so much that I didn't even know I reached the last question till the 5 minute countdown started(I hide the timer all the time....I have a good control over timing).
Then came the result for which I waited like for many many years.I scored a whooping 730
with Q51 and V38.I felt I could have scored a little better in verbal but still the score was satisfying.
Finally I want to say 3 things to all gmat test takers
1) As I said,it's never early ,never late for anything and especially for GMAT.Don't feel low if you feel like you don't have enough time.Select rightful resources and concentrate on practicing more and more without giving up at any time.If you feel like giving up,read some debriefs !!
2) Love your GMAT as much as you love your career or the importance of MBA in your career.This played the major role in my GMAT scores.
3) Don't become too apprehensive. You already have the stratgies in your mind,techniques at your thought and confidence in yourself.Never lose them for anything.Peace of mind is as important as presence of mind during the exam as well as before the exam.
All the very best