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15 Sep 2014, 14:21
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My profile (24, Female, 3 Year Analyst Training Program at Bulge Bracket Firm (Transaction Banking/Cash Management)
My road to GMAT started with a Manhattan GMAT course. Despite an AMAZING (highly recommended) teacher, I did little homework and relied on the 4 hours of class each week to miraculously teach me how to excel at the test. After the course was over, I felt no where near ready to take the exam.
I decided that I needed to get some return out of that $1000+ investment so I put in 3-4 months of studying. 3-4 days a week, 5 hours a day, practice tests on weekends. My practice tests hovered in the 680-720 range and in June '14 I took the test for the first time.
Test Results 1 (710 - 47Q, 41V, 8IR, 6Essay) - not bad for a first test. I struggled with wanted to retake the test or not. The thing that pushed me to give it one more shot was that I believed I really messed up the math section - leaving the last question blank and running out of time. Against all warnings, I let myself get caught up on a work/rate question that ate 5 minutes of precious time. The rest of the section was scrambled and frantic. I clearly knew my weakness was math and planned to retake it - focusing on studying only math for the next test, as I felt my verbal and IR sections were fine.
I meant to take the test again after 2 months- but procrastination came and I didn't feel like studying. I pushed back my test another month and thought about canceling it once and for all. After all 710 was still top 10%. I decided what the hell, I'll just take it and if I struggle with math again on test day- I'll just cancel the test. After all, I had already spend the $$$ for the test.
Finally Test 2 day came around, and at that point I had a 3 month break with absolutely no studying. I took 1 practice test this whole time, and spent no more than cumulative 3 hours studying during the 3 months. I did however, vacation, relax, and drink a lot. I quickly reviewed math formulas at a Starbucks an hour before the test.
Test 2 results were SHOCKING. 740 (49Q, 42V, 8IR, 6Essay).
Not advocating for my study techniques, but I did want to write this post for people who are contemplating retaking after receiving an 'ok' score the first time. Do it! It doesn't hurt to try. The best lesson I learned is that there is such thing as first time jitters and burnout. Sometimes some rest and break from the GMAT helps you think of things in a whole new way!
My second bit of learning comes to the math questions - last time I was very intent on getting everything correct in under 2 minutes. This time- I took a few random guesses when I felt like I was spending too much time. I also took shortcuts in PS like just solving for the units digit and looking from the answer choices for a match. These techniques really helped me keep on pace for the section.
My road to GMAT started with a Manhattan GMAT course. Despite an AMAZING (highly recommended) teacher, I did little homework and relied on the 4 hours of class each week to miraculously teach me how to excel at the test. After the course was over, I felt no where near ready to take the exam.
I decided that I needed to get some return out of that $1000+ investment so I put in 3-4 months of studying. 3-4 days a week, 5 hours a day, practice tests on weekends. My practice tests hovered in the 680-720 range and in June '14 I took the test for the first time.
Test Results 1 (710 - 47Q, 41V, 8IR, 6Essay) - not bad for a first test. I struggled with wanted to retake the test or not. The thing that pushed me to give it one more shot was that I believed I really messed up the math section - leaving the last question blank and running out of time. Against all warnings, I let myself get caught up on a work/rate question that ate 5 minutes of precious time. The rest of the section was scrambled and frantic. I clearly knew my weakness was math and planned to retake it - focusing on studying only math for the next test, as I felt my verbal and IR sections were fine.
I meant to take the test again after 2 months- but procrastination came and I didn't feel like studying. I pushed back my test another month and thought about canceling it once and for all. After all 710 was still top 10%. I decided what the hell, I'll just take it and if I struggle with math again on test day- I'll just cancel the test. After all, I had already spend the $$$ for the test.
Finally Test 2 day came around, and at that point I had a 3 month break with absolutely no studying. I took 1 practice test this whole time, and spent no more than cumulative 3 hours studying during the 3 months. I did however, vacation, relax, and drink a lot. I quickly reviewed math formulas at a Starbucks an hour before the test.
Test 2 results were SHOCKING. 740 (49Q, 42V, 8IR, 6Essay).
Not advocating for my study techniques, but I did want to write this post for people who are contemplating retaking after receiving an 'ok' score the first time. Do it! It doesn't hurt to try. The best lesson I learned is that there is such thing as first time jitters and burnout. Sometimes some rest and break from the GMAT helps you think of things in a whole new way!
My second bit of learning comes to the math questions - last time I was very intent on getting everything correct in under 2 minutes. This time- I took a few random guesses when I felt like I was spending too much time. I also took shortcuts in PS like just solving for the units digit and looking from the answer choices for a match. These techniques really helped me keep on pace for the section.
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