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Apr 2610:00 AM EDT
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The Target Test Prep course represents a quantum leap forward in GMAT preparation, a radical reinterpretation of the way that students should study. Try before you buy with a 5-day, full-access trial of the course for FREE!
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Apr 2808:00 AM PDT
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Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.
Hi GmatClub!
I am writing this to thank you for being the wonderful platform that you are. I am finally done with Gmat after a long journey, and when i reflect now, i realize just how much of the ifs/hows/whys/and buts you removed instantly simply by existing. Gmat Prep would have been so much more uncertain and difficult if I didn't have the help this community provides. Here goes a small(jk..scroll down and see) post to say thanks and to give an idea of my journey for anyone interested! Forgive me if there are language errors(Not something i should say on a gmat forum maybe?)
I come from a highly overrepresented background(Indian, Male, IT consulting), with solid fundamentals on quant(aren't you surprised!) and an above average proficiency in the English language. I had planned to go for the exam back in 2017, but kept postponing it till early Feb 2019, mostly due to a lack of knowledge on how to start. The prep was mostly straightforward. I found that i was naturally good at CR, and RC is ..well.. just CR with a lot more text. SC was much trickier than I'd imagined. The idea of eliminating an answer choice because it's 'wordy', idiomatic usages but no official list of such idioms from GMAC, everyone having their own set of rules and all that. I typically like to analyse the questions i do wrong in detail to prepare strategies for similar questions.. So you can guess how tough it is when the only available explanation for an answer is that it is just 'better' or 'idiomatic'. You'd see a particular question solved using a particular rule one day. Two days later you'd end up eliminating the correct answer on a different question by applying that exact rule and start questioning your entire existence. The amount of anxiety SC has resulted in, I'm afraid it(it refers to anxiety. ambiguity brigade stay away) might've become genetic and could get passed on to future generations(thanks GMAT!)
Anyways, by second half of June/early July 2019, i was doing well on my mocks(720-770ish)
EG mocks were proclaiming me the king of GMAT(740-770. Btw 15 mocks for 50$? How is there such a good thing in this world?)
Princeton and Kaplan were singing songs of my glory(730-750). Even the mighty Manhattan mocks were landing me around 720, so I was fairly confident.
I booked the date a few days in advance. However, one night before my first test attempt, while browsing through the test centre requirements, i realize that only passports were being accepted(no DL, no aadhar) and ofcourse my passport was 1000km away in a different city(I know. I'm an idiot). No show. On my next attempt(August, i think), the test centre's power supply gets shut down(Lol).
I finally take the exam on the third try in late August 2019, and while i thought the exam was going smooth, i couldn't get more than a 700. This is not a bad score by any means, but given my highly over-represented background, and a generic overall resume(not a lot of leadership/extra-curricular experience till then) this score wasn't going to do me any favors either. I was a bit disappointed coming out of the test centre, even felt that i should book another one immediately, but finally decided to restart after a break. The restart wouldn't happen till December however, and just when i was getting into the groove, i came down with some (not so serious) medical issues in January 2020. I was bedridden for weeks, which led me to postpone this again.
And then Covid happened. The fear, the insecurity, the not-knowing what would happen next. I was definitely not going far away from home in that environment. Since i was never interested in a learn-from-distance model, i shelved all plans for GMAT and MBA altogether. For something that was so important just a few months back, it was surprisingly easy to simply let go of it then. (maybe i was just glad i didn't have to do SC again!)
Gmat chapter 2 began early this year in January. By now, although i was doing well in my job, i was getting bored of the same old routine. Career prospects that i wanted to try simply weren't hiring anyone without prior experience. I suddenly realize that i still have a valid GMAT score and i can use that to pivot to the desired role with an MBA. But by now, i also have ~7 years of exp(which would be 8 when the classes start), and closer to 30. This was going to make things slightly more difficult if i delayed further. I decided to retake the exam once more. I was definitely not going to prepare as extensively, and if the score was way lower, id simply try with the 700 i had. When i started though, i surprisingly remembered a lot from my original prep(Sigh! SC we meet again). SC as usual was my mortal enemy and therefore 90% of my preparation volume, and i focused primarily on solving 700/750+ SC questions the forum.
But due to my wider set of responsibilities in the company by now, i was unable to have the same level of focus. I work in ERP Implementation Projects, so my client visits can extend upto several weeks or even months. From Feb-Aug, there were multiple stops and restarts which were extremely frustrating, and by early August, i simply wanted to get done with the exam. I hadn't been as thorough or rigorous as back in 2019, and therefore wasn't as confident, but surprisingly i was much more relaxed about the possibility of getting a lower score.
One night before the exam(no, its not that story again), I took the gmatprep exam 2, and i distinctly remember it going very badly. On both the Verbal and Quant sections i was unable to solve the last few questions and simply had to guess or i ran the risk of not completing. But Gmatprep gave me a 760 on the mock, and i reminded myself to not panic the next day if i thought the exam was going badly. Perhaps it'd infact be so because it was going well and the adaptive test was in turn giving me harder Qs.
And it was good that i got this experience because this was exactly what happened the next day. I had the exact same experience on both sections and i remember reminding myself to stay calm during the exam as well as during the break. After finishing my AWA, when the scores were getting computed, i tell my computer 'Just give me a good score now, im done with preps for good', and what's there!!.. a 740!! I think i felt a sense of relief then more than anything. I knew then that atleast the GMAT leg of my journey was probably over(unless i someday decide to go for the full 800. That's a real possibility given us indians' obsession with exams and high scores :D).
I get the official scores a few days later(GMAT 740, IR 8, AWA 6(chineseburned you are a legend!))
Thank you Gmatclub!! Without you, i can confidently say that the prep would have been way more difficult, a lot more expensive and definitely not as smooth. I could get access to so many resources, ask questions, read opinions, strategies, chat with adcoms, other fellow members, *complain* about SC(What? You thought i wasn't going to take a final shot?), etc. It's honestly amazing that this club exists. Every so often, you come across things in life that you're amazed adds so much value(and also wonder why there aren't more of these in the world). Thank you gmatclub and the admin/moderator team. Thanks for all that you do!!
Also a big thank you to egmat for your meaning based solutioning approach and for your articles on modifiers. Those are real gems(if you didn't know that already), and mikemcgarry for (among other things) your post on why an exam for business schools would prefer a more direct language. It surprisingly helped me notice 'better' answers much more easily once i was able to relate that to how formal documents/emails are written.
TL;DR:
GMAT attempt 1: 700(IR 8, AWA 5) Aug 2019
GMAT attempt 2: 740(IR 8, AWA 6) Aug 2023
Posted from my mobile device
I am writing this to thank you for being the wonderful platform that you are. I am finally done with Gmat after a long journey, and when i reflect now, i realize just how much of the ifs/hows/whys/and buts you removed instantly simply by existing. Gmat Prep would have been so much more uncertain and difficult if I didn't have the help this community provides. Here goes a small(jk..scroll down and see) post to say thanks and to give an idea of my journey for anyone interested! Forgive me if there are language errors(Not something i should say on a gmat forum maybe?)
I come from a highly overrepresented background(Indian, Male, IT consulting), with solid fundamentals on quant(aren't you surprised!) and an above average proficiency in the English language. I had planned to go for the exam back in 2017, but kept postponing it till early Feb 2019, mostly due to a lack of knowledge on how to start. The prep was mostly straightforward. I found that i was naturally good at CR, and RC is ..well.. just CR with a lot more text. SC was much trickier than I'd imagined. The idea of eliminating an answer choice because it's 'wordy', idiomatic usages but no official list of such idioms from GMAC, everyone having their own set of rules and all that. I typically like to analyse the questions i do wrong in detail to prepare strategies for similar questions.. So you can guess how tough it is when the only available explanation for an answer is that it is just 'better' or 'idiomatic'. You'd see a particular question solved using a particular rule one day. Two days later you'd end up eliminating the correct answer on a different question by applying that exact rule and start questioning your entire existence. The amount of anxiety SC has resulted in, I'm afraid it(it refers to anxiety. ambiguity brigade stay away) might've become genetic and could get passed on to future generations(thanks GMAT!)
Anyways, by second half of June/early July 2019, i was doing well on my mocks(720-770ish)
EG mocks were proclaiming me the king of GMAT(740-770. Btw 15 mocks for 50$? How is there such a good thing in this world?)
Princeton and Kaplan were singing songs of my glory(730-750). Even the mighty Manhattan mocks were landing me around 720, so I was fairly confident.
I booked the date a few days in advance. However, one night before my first test attempt, while browsing through the test centre requirements, i realize that only passports were being accepted(no DL, no aadhar) and ofcourse my passport was 1000km away in a different city(I know. I'm an idiot). No show. On my next attempt(August, i think), the test centre's power supply gets shut down(Lol).
I finally take the exam on the third try in late August 2019, and while i thought the exam was going smooth, i couldn't get more than a 700. This is not a bad score by any means, but given my highly over-represented background, and a generic overall resume(not a lot of leadership/extra-curricular experience till then) this score wasn't going to do me any favors either. I was a bit disappointed coming out of the test centre, even felt that i should book another one immediately, but finally decided to restart after a break. The restart wouldn't happen till December however, and just when i was getting into the groove, i came down with some (not so serious) medical issues in January 2020. I was bedridden for weeks, which led me to postpone this again.
And then Covid happened. The fear, the insecurity, the not-knowing what would happen next. I was definitely not going far away from home in that environment. Since i was never interested in a learn-from-distance model, i shelved all plans for GMAT and MBA altogether. For something that was so important just a few months back, it was surprisingly easy to simply let go of it then. (maybe i was just glad i didn't have to do SC again!)
Gmat chapter 2 began early this year in January. By now, although i was doing well in my job, i was getting bored of the same old routine. Career prospects that i wanted to try simply weren't hiring anyone without prior experience. I suddenly realize that i still have a valid GMAT score and i can use that to pivot to the desired role with an MBA. But by now, i also have ~7 years of exp(which would be 8 when the classes start), and closer to 30. This was going to make things slightly more difficult if i delayed further. I decided to retake the exam once more. I was definitely not going to prepare as extensively, and if the score was way lower, id simply try with the 700 i had. When i started though, i surprisingly remembered a lot from my original prep(Sigh! SC we meet again). SC as usual was my mortal enemy and therefore 90% of my preparation volume, and i focused primarily on solving 700/750+ SC questions the forum.
But due to my wider set of responsibilities in the company by now, i was unable to have the same level of focus. I work in ERP Implementation Projects, so my client visits can extend upto several weeks or even months. From Feb-Aug, there were multiple stops and restarts which were extremely frustrating, and by early August, i simply wanted to get done with the exam. I hadn't been as thorough or rigorous as back in 2019, and therefore wasn't as confident, but surprisingly i was much more relaxed about the possibility of getting a lower score.
One night before the exam(no, its not that story again), I took the gmatprep exam 2, and i distinctly remember it going very badly. On both the Verbal and Quant sections i was unable to solve the last few questions and simply had to guess or i ran the risk of not completing. But Gmatprep gave me a 760 on the mock, and i reminded myself to not panic the next day if i thought the exam was going badly. Perhaps it'd infact be so because it was going well and the adaptive test was in turn giving me harder Qs.
And it was good that i got this experience because this was exactly what happened the next day. I had the exact same experience on both sections and i remember reminding myself to stay calm during the exam as well as during the break. After finishing my AWA, when the scores were getting computed, i tell my computer 'Just give me a good score now, im done with preps for good', and what's there!!.. a 740!! I think i felt a sense of relief then more than anything. I knew then that atleast the GMAT leg of my journey was probably over(unless i someday decide to go for the full 800. That's a real possibility given us indians' obsession with exams and high scores :D).
I get the official scores a few days later(GMAT 740, IR 8, AWA 6(chineseburned you are a legend!))
Thank you Gmatclub!! Without you, i can confidently say that the prep would have been way more difficult, a lot more expensive and definitely not as smooth. I could get access to so many resources, ask questions, read opinions, strategies, chat with adcoms, other fellow members, *complain* about SC(What? You thought i wasn't going to take a final shot?), etc. It's honestly amazing that this club exists. Every so often, you come across things in life that you're amazed adds so much value(and also wonder why there aren't more of these in the world). Thank you gmatclub and the admin/moderator team. Thanks for all that you do!!
Also a big thank you to egmat for your meaning based solutioning approach and for your articles on modifiers. Those are real gems(if you didn't know that already), and mikemcgarry for (among other things) your post on why an exam for business schools would prefer a more direct language. It surprisingly helped me notice 'better' answers much more easily once i was able to relate that to how formal documents/emails are written.
TL;DR:
GMAT attempt 1: 700(IR 8, AWA 5) Aug 2019
GMAT attempt 2: 740(IR 8, AWA 6) Aug 2023
Posted from my mobile device
23 Sep 2023, 08:50
Kudos
Bookmarks
Gratz on the 740. All the best going forward.
-contact: gmatknight site | gmatclub dm
-contact: gmatknight site | gmatclub dm
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