Before i share my GMAT experience with GMAT club members, i would like to briefly introduce myself.
I am a male, 26 Years old, BBA-finance graduate, and working as an internal auditor in Central Bank of Pakistan. I was taught in an English Medium school since first grade and like many other Pakistani students, i was very satisfied with my spoken English and day-to-day Quant skills.
It was back in 2012 when i started exploring US business schools and decided to take GMAT exam. When i started GMAT preparation by applying self study method, GMAT appeared to me rocket science, especially the VERBAL portion because i had never tried critical reasoning, SC or RC. In short, i was at the abyss of GMAT world. Studying for GMAT was also difficult for me because i started Job right after my Bachelors and my working hours at my first job were very stretched. I usually used to get free from office around 8 pm and by the time i reached home, i used to feel very sleepy. This is a very well established fact that a person cannot concentrate when he feels sleepy and tired. Anyhow, i continued my preparation for GMAT and continued this till September 2012, when i joined a local GMAT preparation institution in Karachi. The local test prep centre was helpful for me to a limited extent because i honed my basic Quant skills there. However, the in-depth tuition of Verbal was still lacking. With my limited preparation, i appeared in first GMAT attempt in Jan 2013 with a hope that some miracle will happen and i will end up with a decent GMAT score. Since something else was written in my fate, i scored 480 in my first attempt contrary to my hopes. I was a bit dejected after my first attempt, but i regained my spirit because i got selected for Central bank of Pakistan, which is one of the very prestigious National institutions.
After settling in my current job, i decided to retake GMAT. Before my second attempt, i did research on internet that how a working professional should prepare for GMAT. While i was visiting various websites, i found a link to
E-GMAT. I visited the
E-GMAT website, and since i was very sceptical this time, i read not only the reviews on gmatclub and
E-GMAT website, but also explored the website to the best extent. I also communicated with Rajat and told him my background and my result in first attempt. I got fully convinced after communicating with Rajat on email and subscribed to the
E-GMAT vonline (later upgraded to VLIVE) course. I started watching the lesson videos and attended as many seminars as i could.
I found the
E-GMAT videos very interesting. The concepts taught in
E-GMAT lessons were very in-depth and as i proceeded with each lesson, i started realizing my mistakes. All the concepts in SC, RC and CR were very helpful. In SC, i was able to strengthen my understanding about modifiers and clauses, Verb-ing and Verb-ed, the pre-thinking in CR and the technique to tackle RC passages gave me confidence. The
E-GMAT course is a very comprehensive option for Verbal preparation.
E-gmat course enabled me with the fundamentals to tackle the CR questions and RC passages.
Since i am an auditor and since i have to travel to various cities of Pakistan for official matters, the span of my preparation kept on stretching and it was in June 2014 when i took GMAT second time. This time, i made the biggest mistake of not managing the time effectively in QUANT portion and as a result, i ended up with 540. Since, i was aware of my mistake, i decided to go for a third attempt and on 8th August 2014, i re-appeared in GMAT exam and scored 620 (Q42, V34).
I know that 620 is not a very impressive score and i could have easily scored 650 had i managed my time effectively in Quant this time too. The extensive practice that i did for Verbal helped me in completing my verbal portion 2 mins ahead of time.
Some of the techniques that i applied to make the most use of
E-GMAT course are as follows:
1. Practice, practice and practice.
2. Make notes of all the
E-GMAT lessons and revise those notes on weekly basis. When you revise the lessons, the concepts embed in your brain and really help in eliminating the wrong answer choices.
3. Watch videos of those concepts repeatedly that you think are still out of your grasp.
4. Attend
e-gmat workshops and webinars as many as you can. Webinars are great tool to enhance your understanding.
5. Read all the posts of
E-GMAT on GMATCLUB website.
6. Read the testimonials on
E-GMAT website to learn from the experiences of successful candidates. Every testimonial is full of motivation.
Some of the tips to all the GMAT aspirants:
1. Never lose hope and stick to your goal of conquering GMAT.
2. Maintain a schedule and stick to it.
3. Try to span your entire GMAT prep over a period of 6 months MAX.
4. Read as many posts as you can on GMATclub because the discussions going on in posts help in strengthening your concepts.
6. Download maximum possible free good quality material from gmatclub and practice the questions.
7. Solve
OG.
8. You can master verbal with extensive practising.
9. Maintain a log and go through it on weekly basis. Don't limit your Log to errors. You can also maintain a log of those discussions that you found interesting and enlightening on gmatclub.
10. Solve Quant questions and solve repeatedly, because repeated practice strengthens your QUANT concepts.
OG 10, 12 and 13 are excellent for QUANT practice. Also, collect as much QUANT questions as you can for practice and try to master difficult questions.
11. When it comes to books, CR bible and
Manhattan books are the best.
12. IMMERSE YOUR SELF IN GMAT.
I know that there are several posts on GMATCLUB that discuss experiences of 700 Scorers, but since there are some candidates who have abilities and calibre similar to mine, those candiates can benefit from the tips that i have written above.
Always remember one thing for GMAT, this is one of the best tests you will ever take in your life. Just keep practising and revising your Concepts and you will succeed one day, Insha ALLAH.
Good Luck to all the GMAT aspirants
Regards,
BABAR