Hey Everyone !
To thank GMAT Club for its immense help in my preparation, I have decided to share my experience of taking GMAT and scoring a 750 in my first attempt.
About Me: I am studying Masters in Transportation Engineering at one of the prominent universities of western Canada. I did my undergrad from National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra and graduated in 2014 and moved to this part of the world the same year. GMAT/MBA was never on my mind, and for the same reason I was absolutely focussed on my course work and some extra curriculars/volunteering here and there. It all changed with the onset of 2015, and I found myself working on a research project funded by the city's airport authority to develop a cost benefit model for a new aviation technology. By the end of the project, I had realized that I would want to delve deeper into business stuff and that I loved the kind of work allotted to me. Long story short, I knew an MBA was on the cards somewhere down the line.
My Journey : It was only when I came back to India last summer (August 2015) that I started reading about some prestigious MBA programs. While studying these, I did realize that the best time to take GMAT would be while I was still in grad school. With that followed heavy research on the test, the ideal preparation time, good tutoring institute (if needed) and some success stories straight from the horse's mouth. I ended up on gmat club reading a couple of debriefs and zeroed in on a few. I would have posted the URLs, but GMAT club won't let me :/
Ordered kaplan refresher books, but quickly realised that it won't help me reach a 700-750 score. Although with 4 CATS and a big clunky book, i would add that the price $30 price tag was not at all bad. Wrote a kaplan test meanwhile, scored a 630 (zero preparation). I had installed the GMAT prep software by then and was working on few problems everyday - found my data sufficiency and CR to be particularly weak. With that started a hunt for a good verbal course. GMAT club came to rescue, and I spent quite sometime deciding on a course ( living on a student budget abroad makes you do a lot of homework before spending money! ). By this time I had also ordered official guides and was working on them as well. Wrote a test, and this time, after 20 days of intensive quant prep, scored a 670 (Q49 V32). Started looking for verbal tutorials -
egmat course, marketed as special course for non native speakers, caught my eye (other than the fact that there were lots of positive reviews for
egmat on gmat club) . Preparation started, and so did my initial hiccups.
Looking back, i should say buying
EGMAT course was one of the best decisions ever. The course content was neatly laid out, their scholarium gives you ample of questions to practice before you jump into serious gmatprep tests - I loved every bit of it. The SC, RC and CR concepts take time to build and would require lots of patience. While I could feel marked improvements in my verbal abilities, my score wasn't ready to budge. I took a test again (kaplan) and scored a 690 (Q49 V35).
I remember feeling stuck at that time and talking to my best friend. One thing, that I can't stress enough, is the importance of hanging on. Have faith on yourself, and never forget to remind the power of trusting yourself. After a month of rigorous
egmat prep (2-3 hours every weekday, 5 to 6 hours weekends) I wrote my last Kaplan test, and scored a 700 (Q49, V37). I purchased the premium membership of GMAT club, and got myself veritas prep tests and two extra gmat prep tests at a reduced price. Trust me, this is one of the best investments you will make in your prep.
Scholarium, like i said before, gives you enough questions to understand your fallacies and improve them. I used to maintain an
error log (a google doc) that was constantly updated depending on the areas that I mastered with the due course of time. After a month of scholarium practice, was the time to write back to back tests. Here's what happened:
2 weeks before the test
GMAT prep 1 : 710 (Q49, V38) (too depressed with the quant score, worked on number properties which i was bombing time and again)
GMAT prep 2: 720 (Q49, V39) (this was after a week of intensive quant prep and my special stress on quant, bombed it again though)
With the last week beginning, my entire stress was to improve on my mistakes. Reviewed scholarium again, revised the Verbal course, gave a final touch to quant.
2 days before the test,
GMAT prep 3 : 740 (Q51, V39) Yay ! I finally aced quant !
GMAT prep 4 : 760 (Q51, V41) Yay again !
The doom's day :
GMAT : 750 (Q50, V41)
I should tell you guys though, my experience of taking gmat wasn't too good. The receptionists weren't super helpful and this cost me my very precious 8 minute break before the quant section.
However, i would suggest to take few deep breaths and take time to settle down if things seem too overwhelming (this is exactly what i did). I know there are tons of people out here who can guide you much better than me as to what books to read. I am no pro at that - however, like i mentioned before, it's the mind that decides the outcomes. Walk into the test room like winner and I'm sure the victory will be yours.
Also, remember to take a few granola bars and drink a fair amount of water before the test and during the breaks. Having faith on yourself will do wonders for you, as it did for me !
Thanks GMAT club and
EGMAT, for providing excellent guidance. I wish every one of you the very best of luck !