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Dec 1310:00 AM EST
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Have you ever wondered how to score a PERFECT 805 on the GMAT? Meet Julia, a banking professional who used the Target Test Prep course to achieve this incredible feat. Julia's story is nothing short of an inspiration.
Dec 1410:00 AM EST
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Think a 100% GMAT Verbal score is out of your reach? Target Test Prep will make you think again! Our course uses techniques such as topical study and spaced repetition to maximize knowledge retention and make studying simple and fun.
Dec 1411:00 AM IST
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Attend this session to learn how to Deconstruct arguments, Pre-Think Author’s Assumptions, and apply Negation Test.- Dec 15
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Attend this free GMAT Algebra Webinar and learn how to master the most challenging Inequalities and Absolute Value problems with ease. 
Dec 1608:00 AM PST
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GMAT Club 12 Days of Christmas is a 4th Annual GMAT Club Winter Competition based on solving questions. This is the Winter GMAT competition on GMAT Club with an amazing opportunity to win over $40,000 worth of prizes!
08 Dec 2019, 09:45
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Background:
Bachelors: Mechanical Engineering with an MBA degree from a top 15 Indian university
Work Exprience: 7 years
Job Sector: FMCG|Pharmaceutical|Automobile
Function: Sales|Category Management|Brand Management
Work Schedule: 6 days work week. 10 hours office per day + 3 hours of travel
Family : Married to a caring wife who provides all the motivation to take career risks and keep growing professionally
Motivation for second MBA:
- Move to global role managing more diverse geography
- Superior peer to peer learning and networking
- Medium term ROI
- Getting a top global university on resume
GMAT Preparation Journey (720, Q49, V40):
VA:
Ever since my school days my score in Maths has been quite erratic. Hence, I wanted to ensure that my VA score in GMAT was as close as possible to V40.
I had enrolled for e-GMAT to make the preparation engaging, ensure I complete all topics and get feedback on my progress as and when I complete the sections. For verbal I used only the e-GMAT material which was quite comprehensive. Some of things I tried to ensure were:-
- Going through the course in a methodical manner, learning concepts, applying concepts (in application file section) and then cementing the methods using Scholaranium
- Solving fewer questions (for example 100 questions in SC) but doing thorough review of each and every question to understand where I faltered.
I completed the course in around 6 weeks and post that took a custom quiz on every alternate day. Each of my verbal quizzes had 5 questions on SC, 5 question on CR and 2 RC passages. Post each quiz I would spend half and hour analyzing the results.
I was most comfortable in solving CR questions. After a month's practice the RC scores also improved significantly. There was some improvement in SC though it still was my weaker section when I took the GMAT.
QA:
The topics covered in QA are from +2 level for Indian students and hence there was a need to spend some time revisiting them. The e-GMAT course was quite detailed and built all the topics from the very basic level. The only flip side of detailed approach was that it took me more than 2 months to finish the course (considering my pace) and by that time I finished quant I had lost focus in the GMAT prep.
When I regained focus on GMAT it was more than 6 months since I had first started preparing and hence my e-GMAT subscription had expired. Thus I had to purchase an extension to the course. From this stage onward, for quant, I spent time practicing questions from the Official Guide (because my GMAT was less than 2 months ago and I wanted to practice a decent number of GMAT level questions to increase my confidence level).
Mock Tests:
I took a total 5-6 mock tests (whatever free tests were available). Score range was around 680 - 710 (700 or higher in both mocks of MBA.com)
In the last 3-4 weeks all I did was take these mocks and spend time analyzing the errors.
Test-day experience:
I had super-important event in office on the day of the test so reached the center early hoping I would finish the test slightly early.
I started the test 15 mins before the scheduled time and the first section that I attempted was verbal. The verbal-first approach worked for me as I managed to get a V40. The QA section was not as smooth though. The section started well with good momentum in the first 10 questions. However, I lost pace in the next 10 questions and struggled to manage time towards the end. Nonetheless, I was satisfied with Q49 and the overall score of 720 (considering that it was my first attempt).
What lies ahead?
Since I plan to join a course starting in fall 2021 I plan to take one more retake in Feb 2020 (the average Indian score for most colleges is around 30 points higher than the overall score of all students, hence I think it makes sense to take one retake). The idea would be to try and push the quant score up a bit.
That's all about my first GMAT experience. Wishing everyone planning to take the test all the best. Feel free to ping me in case you need any suggestion. Also, kindly let me know in case you have any suggestions for me (in terms of retake as well as the overall second-MBA plan).
Bachelors: Mechanical Engineering with an MBA degree from a top 15 Indian university
Work Exprience: 7 years
Job Sector: FMCG|Pharmaceutical|Automobile
Function: Sales|Category Management|Brand Management
Work Schedule: 6 days work week. 10 hours office per day + 3 hours of travel
Family : Married to a caring wife who provides all the motivation to take career risks and keep growing professionally
Motivation for second MBA:
- Move to global role managing more diverse geography
- Superior peer to peer learning and networking
- Medium term ROI
- Getting a top global university on resume
GMAT Preparation Journey (720, Q49, V40):
VA:
Ever since my school days my score in Maths has been quite erratic. Hence, I wanted to ensure that my VA score in GMAT was as close as possible to V40.
I had enrolled for e-GMAT to make the preparation engaging, ensure I complete all topics and get feedback on my progress as and when I complete the sections. For verbal I used only the e-GMAT material which was quite comprehensive. Some of things I tried to ensure were:-
- Going through the course in a methodical manner, learning concepts, applying concepts (in application file section) and then cementing the methods using Scholaranium
- Solving fewer questions (for example 100 questions in SC) but doing thorough review of each and every question to understand where I faltered.
I completed the course in around 6 weeks and post that took a custom quiz on every alternate day. Each of my verbal quizzes had 5 questions on SC, 5 question on CR and 2 RC passages. Post each quiz I would spend half and hour analyzing the results.
I was most comfortable in solving CR questions. After a month's practice the RC scores also improved significantly. There was some improvement in SC though it still was my weaker section when I took the GMAT.
QA:
The topics covered in QA are from +2 level for Indian students and hence there was a need to spend some time revisiting them. The e-GMAT course was quite detailed and built all the topics from the very basic level. The only flip side of detailed approach was that it took me more than 2 months to finish the course (considering my pace) and by that time I finished quant I had lost focus in the GMAT prep.
When I regained focus on GMAT it was more than 6 months since I had first started preparing and hence my e-GMAT subscription had expired. Thus I had to purchase an extension to the course. From this stage onward, for quant, I spent time practicing questions from the Official Guide (because my GMAT was less than 2 months ago and I wanted to practice a decent number of GMAT level questions to increase my confidence level).
Mock Tests:
I took a total 5-6 mock tests (whatever free tests were available). Score range was around 680 - 710 (700 or higher in both mocks of MBA.com)
In the last 3-4 weeks all I did was take these mocks and spend time analyzing the errors.
Test-day experience:
I had super-important event in office on the day of the test so reached the center early hoping I would finish the test slightly early.
I started the test 15 mins before the scheduled time and the first section that I attempted was verbal. The verbal-first approach worked for me as I managed to get a V40. The QA section was not as smooth though. The section started well with good momentum in the first 10 questions. However, I lost pace in the next 10 questions and struggled to manage time towards the end. Nonetheless, I was satisfied with Q49 and the overall score of 720 (considering that it was my first attempt).
What lies ahead?
Since I plan to join a course starting in fall 2021 I plan to take one more retake in Feb 2020 (the average Indian score for most colleges is around 30 points higher than the overall score of all students, hence I think it makes sense to take one retake). The idea would be to try and push the quant score up a bit.
That's all about my first GMAT experience. Wishing everyone planning to take the test all the best. Feel free to ping me in case you need any suggestion. Also, kindly let me know in case you have any suggestions for me (in terms of retake as well as the overall second-MBA plan).
08 Dec 2019, 10:04
Kudos
Bookmarks
