God's Kindness: From 570 to 710 - In a month n a week!

Hi everyone,

Date: Sep 25, 2013 ' Score: 710 (Q48, V40)

Thank you GMAT Club!

Firstly, it's a privilege to be writing my debrief on GMAT Club. I have been such a HUGE fan of this community. I would want to thank bb from the bottom of my heart for coming up with this masterpiece. Over the last two months, I think I have breathed GMAT Club all day and all night long. Bunuel and his fantastic solutions, Krishna, Stacy, Cacass, Souvik, Vercules and so many others who make the verbal forum awesome - I thank you all for contributing toward the success of others - believe me, the fantastic work that you're doing, and the wishes that you garner from so many of us - it's going to take you to the best of heights in this lifetime. My best wishes to everyone out here, who makes sure that GMAT Club remains a beautiful experience for newbies like me.

Onto the GMAT Story now:

I work in the International Tax team of a Big 4, and work is at an all time high around the year. Till about April this year, I was working every weekend, and leaving home post 10pm. Come May, I decided I wanted to get an MBA, make the next move in my career. In the third week of May, I joined some classes near my place (Imperial Hotel, CP, New Delhi), so that I am atleast regular with my stuff. I started to study in the class, and always made an attempt to study 3-4 times a week. There were times I couldn't study for many days at a stretch, but atleast, in my mind, something or the other kept going on.

In August 2013, I realized that there was too much dilly-dallying that had happened. All I was studying was doing the Question of the Day on GMAT Club. I decided to take the GMAT Prep in August (after 4 delays already), and took it on 18 August. Result - scored a terrible 570! Strangely enough, I saw it 'not a very bad performance'. "Ok, a Q40 - I can definitely take it up by 5 points, and a V28, I can definitely score 33-34 with some more basic clarity." With that thought, got back to my studies. All through June to August, I had been suffering from a severe back ache, so that used to take a lot of my time too.

I went on leave starting Sep 1 (exam was on Sep 25), and started to study basics again. Did SC through all the notes I had (those that were given to me in the class), and Quant via a book called NOVA, that was a passed resource from a friend. After about 8-9 days of preparation, I decided needed to take a mock (this was supposed to be my first of a list of 7 I wanted to take before the exam). I banked on the free Veritas test. Result - a 530: Q44, V18! Just a day before, I had taken the free GMAT Club Verbal test, wherein I had scored V39. I gulped down the sadness, smiled at myself, and put it on a bad day. "After all, I had taken the exam after studying for 12 hours - should've taken it fresh. Maybe the Veritas test is crass." But I just couldn't get the V18 out of my head.

I couldn't sleep that night. This was 12 days before my exam. Next day, I woke up at noon and again gave a free Manhattan test. Focus was on Verbal. Did Quant in an un-timed way, and then gave Verbal. Overall score was a 560 - but I was looking at only the Verbal part, since I had given Quant just like that. This time, it was V30. I analyzed this score for about 3 hours and made strategies for all three types of questions hereon. The score also sort of gave a little breather..maybe I can inch my way now. Maybe. So I made a new strategy - I will focus on basics for the next 4 days, give GMAT Prep 1 again, if I am able to score a 650+, I will go for the exam, otherwise, reschedule it.

Studied for 4 days - just basics. Devoted one day to RC completely. Did Quant's basic fundas. Did a huge amount of SC questions. Then prayed to God and gave my GMAT Prep one fine Saturday. Scored a 700. Was so damn happy! Saw atleast 4-5 verbal repeats and 3-4 quant repeats, but I was happy anyhow. Also to note, I had taken this mock without the AWA and IR, unlike the first time. I had my apprehensions around the score, but it was good enough to put the reschedule thought out of my mind. 10 days to go now!

I was studying 8-9 hours per day. Half of that time on GMAT Club. Doing questions left, right and center. There was this compilation I had found on SC - 100 Awesome SC Questions to build on concepts - though I did about 30 of them, these were gold standards, and helped me ace SC in the end. Then, there were the GMAT Prep questions for CR, these again helped me strengthen CR questions, with which I was struggling.

Just 2 days before the exam, I gave my GMAT Prep 2. Saw multiple repeats again - scored a 680 (Q44, V38). I realized that ideally my Q score is hovering in the 45 range and V was at best 35, since there were always 5-6 repeats I could see on the test (this was because I had done those questions somewhere or the other on the GMAT Club forum). I was more or less convinced that I might have to take the exam again - but also confident that this just might work, because I had worked very hard.

Did the AWA via the Chinese Burned Guide, practiced IR, and was good to go for the exam.

The Exam Day

I reached about 10 mins earlier and the center hadn't opened up. My father wasn't well, and I badly wanted to make him proud. A day before the exam, I spent about 2 hours making myself believe things will happen. Reading all those wishes by close friends. Getting motivated by reading some GMAT Club Stories. There is this one particular story I remember - wherein a guy score a 660 in his last mock before the exam, and then went on to score a 730. Went to the INSEAD website, and saw an admit's story, she had scored a 710 in her second retake. I prayed to God, "just help me achieve me 710 somehow - anyhow. I have always helped people by going out of my way, always, this is my time, I should hit it"..

I was taking the exam at Yusuf Sarai, New Delhi. I spoke to the test center people about my back issue, and that I would have to stand in the middle of the exam or take breaks. They were very helpful, and even offered a pillow to me. I had taken 3 bananas (as read in one of VeritasPrep Krishna's advice), and an apple, along with mywaist belt just in case the pain becomes too much to handle.

AWA went off smoothly. I did things exactly the Chinese Burned way. Struggled a lot with IR. My advice to anyone would be to figure out IR was before the last few days. Took a loo break, spoke to myself on the Q strategy. I had always missed out questions in Quant, never reaching beyond 28 or 29. Plus, the other issue was atleast 4-5 careless mistakes. Since I had taken just 3-4 mocks, I had not been able to work too much on the careless mistakes part. Well, the break soon finished and I was ready to face it head on. What I foresaw was something I had never expected. My speed was much slower than any of my previous mocks. The questions were more difficult than anything I had ever experienced. Nothing like the stuff I had prepared for. And way beyond GMAT Prep standards. I just held on to my horses and saw it one question at a time. I was taking about 3 minutes per question. Did some intelligent guessing on 2-3 DS questions between the 18th to 23rd questions. In the end, with 3-4 minutes remaining, I was on Q. 28. Started to randomly select any option - if I could read a question, well enough, if it's long, a random guess is all I could afford. With some 30 seconds remaining, I knew the last question, had seen that type before. Put my cursor on the correct choice 0- and bang! The section was over.

I knew I was gone. This would be fetching me a sub-40 score for sure. What now - I started to make strategies for the retake in those 5 minutes. Probably next time I will follow Bunuel religiously, take GMAT Club Quant tests, do this, and do that. Took a loo break, had two bananas, and told myself it's not over yet. My favorite, Verbal, is left. Let's just try and score a 40 here, so that next time I can take that egmat guarantee and study with them.

Verbal started. This was again tougher than what I had expected, but fortunately enough, this was an area where I had practiced like crazy (just for the love of it - 50-60 SC questions on GMAT Club every day - and reading up every question with complete analysis). Did RC (had done just 5-6 passages in my entire last 45 days). Did CR (the GMAT Prep [practice was helping). By the time I was on last question, some 2 minutes were left. I attempted it with some guesswork, and got done. Boom! Test Over.

Answered those standard questions. Reported my questions. And then just went still. 710 - I couldn't believe that!! This was the number I was dreaming of. This was the number I asked God for. I heaved a sigh of relief. Took my unofficial report, called my parents, and started to text all my well wishers. I was very happy.

Things I did differently, but they might just not work for everyone

1. In my first week of leave (25-15 days before the exam), I was going for 2 hours every single day to get treated for my back problem. This worked for me. I used to interact with so many people, I was never stressed. These were people who did not know the GMAT or work-lingo. Talking here was fun.

2. For the entire duration of my exams, I walked every night for 1 to 1 and a half hours. Spoke to myself. Used to forget everything and listen to slow music. It made me calm. More calm than I had ever left. I did this till the very last day, and I think this is one major reason for being confident in the exam hall on the final day.

3. Focused on basics. NOVA for Quant and RC, my Sir's notes for SC, and the GMAT Prep Questions for CR. I also did about 300 questions in the last week, based on GMAT Prep, for Number System, Inequalities, Geometry and Co-ordinate Geometry. I never focused on P n C and stuff. I knew it was way too tough to invest time in. If at all a question came, I would try to do it the counting way. That's what I did in the exam as well.

4. GMAT Club - all the way! I have given some 1000+ kudos' in a month. Every single question was analyzed in great detail by me. My quantum was limited, but I made sure the little that I am doing, I analyze it very well.

5. Took just 3 mocks, and stayed as close to the GMAC practice material as possible - Trust me on this one. If analyzed properly, the official material is way too much to finish. I never gave a lot of mocks. Maybe that's not the right way to go about things, but it worked for me.

Twist in the Story

I received the official score reports today. Though an AWA is a 6 on 6, I have scored a 0%, on IR, a score of 1. Shell shocked! Need advice from this community on how to approach things now. Will the admissions committee look into it too deeply? I have 2 and a half years of experience with a Big 4, some start-ups, lots of extra curricular, etc. Though I believe I have a good profile (not sure how good it is for the top schools I dream of), but my being on the lower side in terms of years of experience, and this IR score of 1 are worrying me. What schools can I apply to? How to go about things? Will be very grateful, like always, for any kind of advice. I had been looking at the top schools in the US and ISB, India. Rejected LBS and INSEAD since they are high on experience, and mine would be just about 3 years before admit.

Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, Yale, Chicago Booth, ISB, Said (Oxford), MIT Sloan, Kelloggs - how to go about things? Also, what are the scholarships for international students? Is it true that the total cost would go upto some INR 2 crore+. Is there an ROI that justifies that kind of investment? Please do help guys, keeping the whole picture in your mind. I can always send my CV via email if someone can help me out.

And yes, for all my friends out there, wishing you the very best. Mine is not a great score, but I am sure all of you would do amazingly well and score a 730+, or even higher on the GMAT. If I can be of any help to anyone, please feel free to reach out to me. Thanks a lot.