730 (Q49, V41) in my 4th attempt

Hi,

I'd like to start this post with a big 'THANK YOU' to my GMAT club members. You guys are phenomenal and have been able to motivate and change people's lives in ways more than you can imagine. I, personally have learnt so much from the different posts and discussions in different forums in GMAT club that helped me get up and fight after every failed attempt. So, like many of you who have motivated me through your posts, I would like to share my GMAT experience here which shows that a little perseverance and willpower can help improve your score.

My GMAT journey started in October 2016. I work for an Indian software firm and is on a deputation in the US. To be honest, I wasn't very motivated at the beginning. I still remember taking my first GMAT prep exam without any preparation and scoring 480. I started my GMAT preparation. I purchased all the three books of official guide (2016 edition) and all books of Manhattan Guides. I found the MGMAT books very thorough and complete, specially the maths ones. I studied hard for 3.5 months - 2 hours in the weekdays and 3 hours in the weekends, took notes and gave lots and lots of practice exams. I guess, I gave almost 15 full length cat tests in MGMAT, Gmat Prep (2 free tests), free CAT tests available online. I finished at least 60% of the verbal questions from the official guide. I was scoring on an average 660 (Q48 V32) in most of the exams. So, my target score around 650-680. I gave my first GMAT exam on Jan 20th and scored 610 (Q48 V26). I was shattered. In none of the practice exams, I had a score as low as the one I got in the real exam. Like many of you I felt, why did it happen with me.

I took a break of 2 weeks and started my preparation again for the second attempt. I purchased the Kaplan book and focused on their verbal course. I knew, I was capable of doing better. I didn't change many things when it comes to my strategy. I knew I was stronger in quant when compared to verbal. So, I tried to focus more on verbal. I gave 4 full length practice tests from Veritas Prep and Kaplan GMAT Prep. I was scoring again in the 650-660 range. I gave my second GMAT exam in March, 2017. The score same, yes, exact same as before - 610 (Q48, V26). I didn't know what to say. I cancelled my scores.

I took a break for a month. I knew there was something wrong in my verbal preparation. I did introspection and I realized that the major thing, which I was not doing at that time was spending sufficient time in error analysis. So, I created error logs and started monitoring the error pattern. I realized that Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension were my weaker areas and need improvement. I purchased the e-gmat Verbal Prep course. Trust me when I say this, e-gmat Verbal course is the best you will get for non-English speaking students. Their SC and CR courses are exceptional. The e-gmat course helped me a lot to improve my verbal skills. To improve my Reading Comprehensive skills, I started reading more and more. My practice exams score improved from 660s to the 680s. I purchased the GMAT Exam Pack 1. I score 670 (Q48 V33) in the first and 680 (Q48 V34) in the second. I was aiming for 680 this time and I felt I was well-prepared compared to the previous times. I gave my third exam on May 20th, 2017. The score flashed on the screen and it was another 610 (Q47 V27). I felt, I was in a limbo and I can never come out of it. I couldn’t figure out what went wrong, what did I do incorrectly. I had a sound strategy, my practice exams were timed and I had maintained error logs. What else I could improve on? I had no answers to these questions. I thought GMAT was not in my destiny and after couple of days of house-arrest I decide to move on in my life.

I became a father in June. With a new baby in the house, I was extremely busy. But, there wasn’t a single day when I didn’t think about my failure in GMAT. There wasn’t a single day I didn’t think what went wrong, what could I have done better. Life moved on, but I couldn’t. I managed to do my 9-5 job but I wasn’t happy. My wife assured me that I should give another attempt, probably the last one but I didn’t know what more I could study. I was scared of another failure. I didn’t want another heart break. But life had probably a better plan for me.

I started preparations for my 4th attempt from July 20th. The biggest challenge this time was to think positive and keep myself calm. So, I started reading stories of inspirational people. One of the most important thing that I realized around this time was that, the most common thing that defined a successful person in any field is how that person has dealt with failure. I read somewhere that whether you have talent or not, is luck. The most important thing in life is the courage to stand-up and fight when you are pulled down. I realized that I lacked self-confidence. I needed to bring my confidence back. I felt, I was lot more calm and composed this time around. Also, I gave the last three exams in the same center. So I decided to choose a different center this time. I entirely changed my strategy this time. I brushed up my verbal notes which I took from e-gmat and started practicing. I used to do at least 25 GMAT club maths problems (I got the access to GMAT Club tests through e-gmat course) and at least 25 verbal questions (from different sources in GMAT club, Official guide, online, etc). I spent more and more time in pre-thinking when it comes to CR and RC in GMAT. Pre-thinking helped me, I wasn’t doing that a lot earlier. I spent more time on analyzing the mistakes that I was making rather practicing more. With this strategy, I was able to make remarkable improvements in verbal scores. I gave 3 verbal tests in MGMAT, 4 full length tests in Veritas Prep and purchased GMAT Prep Exam pack 2. In almost all the exams, I was hitting the 700 mark, with 720 and 730 in few of them. I was hoping for a better result this time, but didn’t have any score in my mind. Also, this time, I was able to choose the order and I decided to go with Quant-Verb-IR-AWA.

I was fairly calm on my test day. I chose the 8:00 am slot because I am a morning person. The test center was an hour away from my home. So, I started early, around 6:30am. I reached the center 30 mins before my exam time. I sat down. I was nervous, but deep down inside, I was more clam this time around. The quant went smoothly. There were few challenging questions, but baring that, it was what I hoped for. I took a break and started with verbal. Verbal was the reason of my failure in previous attempts and I knew I have to do better this time. I knew I can. I was scoring well in the practice exams. 75 mins went in a flash. I thought I did good. I quickly wrapped up IR and AWA. The score flashed on the screen. It showed 730 (Q49 V41). I was elated with joy and happiness. More than anything else, I wanted to prove myself that I could, when my self-confidence hit rock bottom.

Again, I would like to thank many of you, whose experiences have inspired me. My biggest take away from this journey is that, you should not be weighed down by failures. Be positive and have faith in yourself. If you know deep inside that you are capable, nothing can stop you. When it comes to strategy, I would say focus more on error analysis than just practicing. To improve on verbal, you need mainly two things - pre thinking (for CR and RC) and improving your reading habits. Try to find interest in whatever you are reading – fiction, non-fiction doesn’t matter. Just read. And stay positive.

There is no alternate to hard work. Hope you find my post useful.

Thank you.