730 - As cliché as it sounds, persistence pays off in the end!

Six Months. A couple hundred hours. 730. In what has assuredly been one of the craziest years, my GMAT journey was certainly no exception. I hope the below helps provide a frame of reference for applicants who have yet to get their coveted score and remind everyone to keep going until the job is done and they have the score to match all of the blood, sweat and tears that they have put into the beast that is the GMAT.

My Journey
Like many B-School aspirants, I decided that the COVID enforced work from home environment would provide the perfect opportunity to scratch the GMAT itch and hopefully obtain a competitive score to apply Round 1 for 2021 intake. I scoured the GMAT CLUB forums and came across Target Test Prep and decided that their platform would provide the best foundation to get my Quant to a respectable place. I signed up for the flexible three month program and got to work. For the next two and half months I would spend 2-3 hours first thing in the morning going through the lessons and numerous quizzes and felt like I was making real progress on Quant. I briefly started working through the beta version of the Verbal but ceased using it as I was worried about the lack of practice questions which were still being added at the time. Towards the end of the course I started taking Official GMAT practice exams and scoring well (690-720) and thus reinforcing all of the hard work I was putting in. Tip #1 - The Official GMAT practice exams are not necessarily a surefire indicator of success on game day!. My Quant was improving and my Verbal was strong, although there was room for improvement, particularly on SC. After briefly using the E-GMAT course, I decided that it wasn't for me and reached out to GMAT Ninja, with the view to arranging some private tutoring to hopefully correct my SC errors and obtain a Verbal score in the low mid-40's. With the help of Harry Duthie at GMAT Ninja, I was able to improve my SC to a point where I was confident of consistently scoring 40+. Tip #2 - Try not to peak too early and maintain both Quant and Verbal skills as you approach test day. To this point I had finished the entire TTP course at the required benchmarks and had six private tutoring sessions to round out my preparations. I thought I was ready. I was wrong!

First Pass at the GMAT

Test 1 - In retrospect, I was a dead man walking into that testing facility. Due to COVID related capacity issues at many local testing sites, I had to drive two hours from my home and stay in a hotel. Upon arrival, a cloud of dread/anxiety came over me and all I could think about was the test. Having never suffered from test anxiety before, this was very new to me. I'd also never studied so much for one test. I put too much pressure on myself. That being said, it was a good learning experience of what not to do. On to the next one!

Test 2 - This was a gut punch. I distinctly remember thinking to myself during the IR and AWA that I was so thankful to be done with the GMAT and that I could now move on to my applications. Where shall we go out to dinner tonight to celebrate? See, hard work does payoff! Seeing the 680 flash up on the screen was incredibly demoralizing as I remember seeing the traps in the Quant and thinking to myself that I was doing very well. On the positive side, I was doing so well on Verbal that I got an incredibly dense RC passage at the end that I could not have got more than 1 or 2 correct on. A better performance here and I could have been V44, or so I thought.

Test 3 - While I took this before the above-referenced in-person exam, it took over 10 business days to get my score so was unsure how I did when walking in for my second in-person test. I took this test at my office as nobody was around due to WFH. I know many have grumbled about the Online GMAT, but I have nothing but good things to say about it. I sat in the same spot that I had taken all of my official practice exams and did not have to wear a mask or write the essay. My only complaint is the lack of break between Quant and Verbal. Tip #3 - If you're going to take the Online GMAT, practice not having a break at least once or twice. I remember being very fatigued about halfway through the Verbal and I suspect I may have been able to go higher than V42 if I had a bit more stamina.

Time to take stock
I had now taken the GMAT three times and scored remarkably similarly throughout the three attempts. Verbal was strong, Quant was way below what I had been achieving on the Official Practice Tests where I had been scoring Q45-Q49 with a median of Q47. Was I really being plagued by nerves this much? Was that damned mask really influencing my performance that much? Was all this hard work for nothing? Tip #4 - If testing in person, practice with a mask. I did not do this and this may have impacted my performance. At this point I posted on Reddit and and GMAT Club and received some feedback that intimated that I now needed to hone the areas I was weak and start refining. For me, this was the toughest part of the process. I went through the OG question bank one more time and tried to make note of areas where I was weak and then returning to TTP to further sharpen those areas. I did this for a month or so and decided to give it another shot.

Test 4. This was my low point. At this point all the common thoughts started popping up: Why me? I've worked so hard why can't I beat this test? Why would the GMAC issue six practice tests that do not mirror my performance on the real thing? Shall I switch to the GRE? I can probably score some interviews with a 690, right? In retrospect, I wasn't really doing anything in this month to correct any weaknesses that I had. I was re-doing problems I had already done, studying a TTP formula sheet and re-doing a couple of practice tests that I had already taken. If anything, I was stagnating, not improving.

Time to change it up
At this point I was a bit lost, very frustrated and my ego was definitely bruised. I had gone toe to toe with the GMAT four times and came back each time with my tail between my legs. Knowing that I needed to change things up, I went back to an email I received from Rich Cohen from Empower GMAT and decided to give their Quant Score Booster a try. In my opinion, Target Test Prep is the best resource to learn the content for the GMAT. It allowed me to crush Probability and Permutation Questions, Overlapping Sets, Areas of Equilateral Triangles, you name it. That being said, where I think EmPower pushed me over the top was with the strategy side of things. An emphasis on both "TEST IT" and "TEST THE ANSWERS", knowing which questions weren't worth a thing and that I did need to spend more time on those first 10 questions all helped me on what was my fifth and final attempt. The Empower Quant Booster didn't teach me any concepts that I didn't already know, what it did do was open me up other ways to do problems and give me a framework to ensure that I was picking up all of the Easy and Medium Questions EVERY time. Particularly Data Sufficiency, Rich's emphasis on writing everything down, proving why each statement was either S/I certainly was repetitive yet apparently did the trick!

Test 5. I once again took the exam at my office, trying to mimic the environment from my first online test. Check in process was easy, and I was assigned a proctor in under 5 mins. The Quant section was definitely the most difficult of any I had taken. Numerous multi-shape Geometry questions and none of the 'harder concepts' that I was most comfortable with. I was uncomfortable to say the least. Utilizing everything I had learned I started 'throwing punches' and working through the first ten Q's. I looked up after completing the 10th question and I only had 34 mins left. Not good! I guessed on two questions during the middle of the test recognizing that they were difficult and that the likelihood of me getting them right was low. I honestly don't remember much after this. I had six mins for the last four Q's and I believe that I was able to get them right. End of Quant section - that was rough! Verbal section was fine, nothing terrible and very similar to what I had seen previously. Five min break and then I proceeded with the IR without much fuss. I knew I hadn't repeated the IR 8 from my first attempt, but that was the least of my worries.
Coming out of the exam, I was not confident. The only way I thought I would exceed a 700 would be if I had a very good day on Verbal, which I thought was possible. Fast Forward two days and I received an email letting me know my score was ready. 730! No more GMAT for me - I was done. I haven't been that happy/proud in an awful long time.

Practice Test Results
CAT 1 (6/20/2020) - 680 - Q 44 V 38 IR 7
CAT 2 (6/27/2020) - 700 - Q 47 V 38 IR 5
CAT 3 (7/04/2020) - 690 - Q 43 V 41 IR 7
CAT 4 (7/22/2020) - 710 - Q 49 V 39 IR 4
CAT 5 (8/09/2020) - 730 - Q 48 V 42 IR 8
CAT 6 (9/20/2020) - 720 - Q 48 V 40 IR 3

Resources Used
Target Test Prep - I cannot recommend this product enough for gaining a mastery of the concepts that could be tested on the GMAT. The interface is easy to navigate and they do a great job of getting you to a point where you're on the doorstep of a very good Quant score. While I dabbled with the Verbal module, I didn't use it enough to provide a recommendation. That being said, if it is like the Quant modules, I'm sure it's great.
GMAT Ninja - A huge thank you to Harry Duthie who patiently worked with me to develop a level of consistency with my Verbal and Quant that I did not possess before working with you guys.
Empower GMAT - Rich Cohen, thank you! The insight you provided as to strategy definitely helped get me across the line. Your platform really illuminated the fact that the GMAT is about a lot more than concepts and formulas. There is a definite strategic and psychological element that I did not understand until your course, thank you!
Official Guide - Goes without saying, a great source of questions most like what you'll see on test day.
LSAT Official Test's - I utilized these during the middle of my studies and recommend them if you're trying to eek out the last few points on Verbal. Both the LR and RC passages are tougher than what you'll see on the GMAT so don't get discouraged.
GMAT CLUB Prep Tests - Much tougher than what you'll see on Game day. That being said, the elegant answers provided by Bunuel and other contributors are useful in showing the many possible ways to answer a Quant question.

Final Thoughts
If you've made it this far, I hope that any of the above proves useful in your GMAT preparation. I sit here writing this post still in disbelief that I have joined the 730 club, a stated goal of mine for the last 6 months. As they say, nothing in life worth having comes easy and boy the GMAT was no exception. That being said, half the battle is showing up. Get out of bed at 6:00am to study those special properties of triangles. Instead of watching that second episode of Netflix, do 10 SC questions. The last thing anyone wants to be doing on a Sunday morning is a practice test. Do it anyway. Like many other test takers, my success on the GMAT was built on the back of many small sacrifices by both myself and my family. Do the same and you'll be surprised by just how far you can go!