720(49,39): MY JOURNEY AND JOKES

Hello Everyone,
I appeared on the GMAT on 14-05-2016-my second attempt-and scored 720(Q49,V39). Here is my journey so far.
I am a marine engineer by profession. I have average academics behind me with adequate extracurricular to balance my overall profile.

I started my GMAT journey back in December, 2016. I slowly finished learning the theory from the Manhattan Guides. I did complete the OG-17 thoroughly. Preparation was going in full pace when tragedy struck. My mother was diagnosed with cancer,again. She went through surgery and a lot of pain. Even though I tried to continue my preparations, I could not focus. I had to manage the time between hospital and studies. The nurses must have thought that I was weird; I would solve a few problems of OG everyday when mother was asleep in her bed.
As matters settled down a bit, I took my first try at the GMAT on 07-02-2017. AWA and IR went well. Quant section went smooth too. And then a kind of shock that blew me off my feet. A sinister combination of fatigue and lack-of-time led me to an abyss. I fell with my face first. It was so hard to retain the focus and comprehend the questions and passages. To make it worse, every question that was answered without confidence made me sink a little more into the ground. In short, I was a bundle of nerves.

I somehow dragged myself through the verbal section. Then there was the final screen that has the ability to elevate you to heights of clouds or punch you deep into the earth. I was horrified. Verbal section showed a score that I had never seen before in the practice tests.
Head hung low, I returned. There was lot to be done and overcome. GMAT-1, Me-0.

Materials Used
1. Manhattan Guides
2. Official Guide
3. Error Log
4. The Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible
5. GMAT Prep
6. Bundle of all GMATPrep Questions from GMAT Club
7. Veritas Prep Data Sufficiency Guide

Mock CATs
18-12-2016 Veritas Prep 1 650 (48,32)
29-12-2016 Veritas Prep 2 640 (48,30)
08-01-2017 Manhattan CAT 1 670 (45,36)
19-01-2017 GMATPrep Exam 1 670(49,32)
30-01-2017 GMATPrep Exam 2 660(48,33)
07-02-2017 GMAT 620(49,26) IR 7

I took a long vacation 15 days and spent some quality time with my family and friends. In retrospection, this was a good idea. It gave me a chance to move back and plan my strategy for the next round. It also provided me cushion time to absorb the shock and recover-I started fresh, only better.

Like Samuel Beckett once said-
Ever tried, ever failed
No matter, try again, fail again
Fail better

To tackle my weaknesses in verbal, I turned to e-GMAT Verbal Live. I religiously followed their study schedule and completed the whole course in little over a month. The course gave me the confidence that I needed in SC and RC. In Scholaranium, I got ample opportunities to solve questions under timed condition, leading to an improved pacing in Verbal. The e-GMAT approach is very unique. It not only transformed my score, but also altered my reading skills for life. I thank Rajat, Payal and the rest of the team for this commendable service.
With my basics in place, now it was time to improve on my speed and strategy. I put aside one month for acquiring those skills. I had the whole month planned-evenly spaced mocks and elimination of my weaknesses in between them. After each mock, I would take some rest before starting the revision, the same day. The detail analysis of every mock is of utmost importance. There is no point of giving a mock if you do not learn something from it-a weakness, a strength or a strategy that might be useful in future. I noted down whatever I had learnt from analysing a mock and worked on those points till the next one. This cycle was repeated in all my mocks.
I took my mocks in as similar conditions as possible to that of a GMAT test centre: Gatorade and bananas in the breaks but no water intake during the sections, exact eight minute breaks and complete test of four sections every time. I took a screenshot of the AWA to review it later. Believe me-compliance to the minute details can come handy in those tricky tense moments of the real GMAT.

I scheduled my exam on 14-05-2017. I reached the test centre in time and had a familiar feeling once I was inside: a good feeling. Did not have to worry about the test centre​ rules and the sequence of the incidents that were to follow; I already knew them. With a smile on my face, I was led into those four hours or so that would eventually define my career. AWA went well with my personal template coming in handy. IR was tough. I took the break and did my drill. Replenished, I returned to face the Quant section. All problem solving sections went well but some data sufficiency questions took more time. Spend more time on the second last question, got it wrong and eventually guessed on the last question-which probably was wrong too.
This sudden shock made me sad. I tried not to brood on my past mistakes during the break and brought myself together. The following section had the power to make or break my months of hard work. On first few question, I took my time. Somehow, the RCs were unforgiving. Just when it was time to speed up and recover the lost time, the algorithm decided to bless me with convoluted passage. There wasn’t a beginning or an end to that passage. After I completely read the passage slowly, I only knew that it was about history and one person was trying to criticize the theories of another person. I failed to find the voice of author anywhere in that cacophony. Nevertheless, I stuck to my strategy and brought to work all my experience from numerous passages that I had solved. The clock was racing to zero when I was done with the passage, so was my confidence level. At some point, I remember leaving the screen and alone and giving myself a self talk. There was no point crying over spilt milk- I told myself. I paced through the last few questions so fast that I ended up having two minutes for the last one. I answered it with a cool head. Then there was some inhuman brutal clicking of the mouse that happened-surely under 2 seconds of time. But those were the longest two seconds of my life. Then there it was on the screen: 720(49,39)-a quant score that I could have been better and a verbal score that was unprecedented in my personal GMAT journey. In short, a bitter-sweet result. Relieved, I left the exam centre. I was done with the GMAT and that feeling cannot be converted into words-probably shouldn’t be.

Materials Used
1. Manhattan Guides
2. Official Guide (All Three)
3. Error Log
4. GMAT Prep with Exam Pack 1 and 2
5. Erasable Scratchpad
6. e-GMAT Verbal Live Course
Mock CATs
26-03-2017 GMATPrep Exam 1(Repeat) 710(49,38)
05-04-2017 GMATPrep Exam 2(Repeat) 710(49,38)
11-04-2017 GMATPrep Exam 3 720(50,38)
17-04-2017 GMATPrep Exam 4 710(50,35)
24-04-2017 GMATPrep Exam 5 710(50,35)
04-05-2017 GMATPrep Exam 6 710(49,38)
14-05-2017 GMAT 720(49,39) AWA-4, IR-5


The Ideas and Tricks I Recommend:

1. A good reading speed without any compromise in comprehension is a must to nail the Verbal Section. Apparently, this is a problem area of non-native English speaking test takers. Thus this problem needs to be addressed early in the preparation stage. I used New York Times to polish my reading and comprehending skills, which came in handy and saved a lot of time for me in the actual test. The English that we read in day to day life: fictions, poetry etc. lack business English content. Reading the newspaper also built up my reading strategy and key-word recognition ability.
2. Do not over exert yourself on the last two options. The one that you think is correct is the correct choice indeed. Compare the last two options and move on. If you don’t do so, you will move into the self-doubt region, leading to loss of not only energy but also confidence. Also, you will lose a lot of time leaving less for easier questions latter in the test.
3. Sleep right. Do not neglect your sleep quality or quantity during the whole phase of preparations. Sleeping well helps you absorb information better, brings more focus into your study sessions and gets more learning done in a shorter period of time.
4. Breathe. I do not know any other way to survive. If you ask doctors, I am sure they will agree with me. When you are making those rapid decisions at the test centre and your brain in burning calories like some neural engine, it needs oxygen. You do not want to starve your brain of this vital nutrient. I had the first word of the paragraph written in tall letters on the top of my erasable scratchpad, just in case. If you have trouble in breathing, practice if beforehand: during mocks or otherwise. A nice breathing pattern keeps you calm and makes you more alert, leading to lesser simple mistakes in the rush hours.
5. Take mocks diligently, till you are comfortable with your score and able to deal with exam related stress nicely. The stamina and the confidence that you gain from the practice will take you far.
6. Slowly start the learning process, digest the information in small packets and do not rush on concepts. If you are having trouble in one area, do not skip it till you are thorough.
7. Don’t overspend your time on the error log. Do note why you made the mistake for sure, and learn how not to repeat it. After all, there are so many new ways to make mistakes; we don’t need to repeat one.
8. Make sure your partner understands your ambitions related to MBA and how important role GMAT plays in achieving them. Before the beginning of any serious preparation, talk out the priority shifts that might occur and how they might affect your relationship. Again, your partner can be a constant source of encouragement to you when you lack that energy or motivation to move ahead.
9. The GMAT demands total immersion. During the whole period of preparation, you must have the passion to ace the GMAT alive inside you. How to do that? It depends where you draw your motivation from. Visit that source as many times as required, especially when you are low and feel like giving up. Talk to yourself a lot.
Let me tell you a joke:
Q: What did 5 and 7 accuse 6 of?
A: You are so mean to us all the time.
I concocted this one sitting on the bed at six in the morning; I had just woken up from deep sleep. Normally I am a guy who would crack jokes on unconventional topics but not on maths and certainly not at that early hour-this was a first. GMAT was in my head all day, even while I was asleep. Be a little crazy; no one ever achieved anything extraordinary without a touch of madness.
10. Let’s face it: we don’t have ages to prepare for the GMAT. We have what we have and we need to make the best out of it. So it is a good idea to allocate your time wisely to different sections. Respect the law of diminishing returns. There is no point in being stubborn for that one point while you can-with the expense of same resources (time and energy)-gain three somewhere else. As important as it is to understand your areas of strength, you must also fathom your boundaries cautiously and move on to work on another section when you are close enough to those ends.
11. Exercise regularly and keep a check on your sugar and junk food intake. These foods dull your mind, leaving you with less energy and focus. Meditate if possible. Try to stay away from activities that involve too much excitement or excessive stress. Alcohol in excess must be avoided during the whole preparation period as they negatively affect your mental ability.
12. Consider this as a preparation for your MBA life and beyond it. This not just a hurdle to cross and definitely not an entrance exam. The results of the effort will stay with you for the rest of your life. I realise, in last few months of preparation, my command over English language has enhanced considerably, so has my ability to communicate in a clear and concise manner. These skills, I believe, will take far in your professional and personal life.
13. Now, I dare you to follow this one: Start writing your GMAT Club debrief from the very first day of your preparation. Why?
It shows commitment. It says you are confident that your story will be worth reading, no matter what scores you secure. It says that you are very sure that you will have something worth sharing at the end of the journey. And it shows intent to help a community that helped you grow.

Best of Luck in your future endeavours,
May the force be with you...
This is Amar signing off for now.