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Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.
A 30 year old's journey to 740 (Q50, V40. IR 6, AWA 6)
The JOURNEY:
I am 30 year old non-native, married male working on a full time 9 to 6 job. I would have applied to a business school two years ago but could not due to personal and professional reasons. So finally at the end of last year when I started shortlisting business schools, reality hit me: the first step to a top tier b-school application is a good gmat score. So I sat down, bought Manhattan GMAT prep material and before diving into the material, took the first mgmat mock test. You can find my progress and scores below but one thing I can tell you is that the experience was not pleasant. I use to be really good at Math, so I was expecting at least the quant bit to be a smooth ride. But by the end of 22nd quant question my brain was frozen, out of breath, and struggling to keep up with the clock. By the time I finished verbal and looked at my score I realized if I want to get into a good business school I have a long way to go.
Next, I started studying, GMATCLUB helped a lot. Debriefs were instrumental in guidance on study plan. GMAT math book pretty much had everything I needed for quant and Manhattan was pretty much everything I was relying on for Verbal. In March once I hit 700 on Versitas mock test I booked a test date in May. The idea was as long as I can get something over 700 I should be okay.
Than 3 weeks from the test I was talking to a recent b-school graduate and he said if at this age you want to get into a b-school than make the best of the things you can control, and GMAT score was one of things he pointed out. His point was for top programs my score should be over schools average. That night I couldn’t sleep. Next day I took the GMAT prep mock test and scored 700 (Q50, V34), I knew I had to do something about my verbal (especially sentence correction). EGMAT being a program exclusively for non-natives was always on my radar, so in a desperate need I bought the EGMAT verbal online. This was probably the best decision I took during my GMAT preparation. Within a week I started feeling the difference. While previously I was mostly able to narrow down to two answer choices in SC, now I was able to successfully answer SC questions correctly with a success rate of over 90%.
I was planning on using EGMAT primarily for SC but it did help me a lot to come with a strategy to tackle CR and RC. The plan was to go through EGMAT prep material in two weeks and then practice a lot of questions in the last week. I had already borrowed older editions of GMAT Verbal review and Quant review (I had already solved latest editions during my preparation) from the local library to build the momentum in the last week.
1 week from actual test, I take my 2nd and final GMAT prep mock test and score 710 (Q50, V36). I am not happy but I am exhausted. 4 months of working full time during the day and studying from 8 to 11 in the evenings have depleted me of all my energy. I havnt had a real weekend in the past two months. So I tell myself to be content with it, and set the last stage of the plan in action. Last week I practiced with a lot of questions. I marked the ones that I got wrong, so I could review them on the exam day just before the actual exam.
Day before THE EXAM DAY:
Going into the exam under stress is the worst thing you can do for your score. You need to be relaxed, so on last evening before the exam I closed my books at around 7. Watched some sitcom episodes, prayed, talked to my family back home.
THE EXAM DAY:
Got up really early prayed and went back to sleep. Woke up at 830, took a walk with my wife and convinced myself that GMAT is insignificant (will give some more detail on this in tips and tricks) and I will fulfill my potential with or without a good GMAT score. I reached the exam center 40 minutes early along with a Gatorade and a nut bar. In the parking lot I looked at the marked questions (the ones I got incorrect in the last week). Went through the mistakes I made on the marked questions.
As soon as I checked in at the exam center they allowed me to start whenever I was ready as long as it’s before 12. So instead of sitting in the lounge in anticipation I opted for an early start.
I had practiced 8-10 essays for AWA so I think I did okay in that section (still waiting for the score). IR was tough, quant was not too stressful, but by the time I started verbal my brain wiring was all messed up. It would have been more messed up had I not attempted so many mock tests.
General TIPS AND TRICKS:
• During the GMAT prep you need to make the preparation the sun around which your life revolves, but before the exam day in order to reduce the stress (which is natural), tell yourself that it’s only a test. You need to convince yourself that this is not a make or break for you, as I said its just another test. Whether you are prepared or not, stress will not help your score.
• If you are alone try finding some supporting company to discuss your progress, the problems you are facing during preparation. Basically vent out your frustration by talking. Luckily I had my wife who was my biggest support during these 4 months of preparation. Had it not been for her, I might have left my prep halfway when I couldn’t cross 660 barrier in mock tests.
• Read what other people experienced, but create your own study and preparation plan. You want to do MBA, so treat this as your first management project.
• Do not prepare for GMAT with the mindset that you can always re-attempt the test. As I said earlier during the preparation go with the do or die approach.
• Keep in mind that you cannot get all questions right, but try and get first 10 right, even if it takes a minute or two extra
• GMATCLUB should you favorite website at least for the duration of your preparation. It has the most useful content for GMAT prep available online.
• Keep GMATPrep tests for moments when you need to take a decision e.g. whether you are ready for the test or you should get it postponed (it will cost $50 to postpone the test 7 days prior to the test, and $250 to get it postponed in the last 7 days)
Section wise TIPS AND TRICKS:
DS: Do a lot of practice questions. For this section you need to understand what is required to solve a question, not how to solve a question. Second, if it is too easy its wrong. If you can figure out the answer in first 10 seconds, spend 20 extra seconds to verify the answer. Most of the times you would notice you overlooked some nuance. Those subtleties are the reason you get questions wrong in quant section
PS: Same goes for PS, if it’s too easy, too simple it’s wrong. Spend extra time verifying your answer. Don’t rely too much on memorizing techniques, get your basics (translating problems to tables, sets, and Venn diagrams) right and you will be golden.
SC: My nemesis. A lot of people rightly say that it’s the hardest part of GMAT, and I think it is. But credit goes to EGMAT; they have been able to develop a very mathematical approach to solving SC questions. I would recommend to at least go for their SC module regardless of whether you are a native or non-native. Combine EGMAT with MGMATs SC book to further improve your SC. Create your own flashcards for idioms using MGMAT SC, especially if you are a non-native.
CR: Understand it’s a standardized test, so identify the different categories of CR questions GMAT can throw at you. Really there are not that many. 6 if I remember correctly: weaken, strengthen, assumption, paradox, two part analysis, complete the argument. There might be 2-3 or more depending on how you categorize it. But read the question first before you read the argument to understand what exactly are you looking for.
RC: Practice, practice and practice some more. Work on a strategy, mine was too read few lines, jot down the summary and then proceed. Draw a tree of arguments if you can.
FRUSTRATION:
For some reason it seems MGMAT has recently made their CATs very tough. They don’t do justice to your preparation. While I was hitting 700+ scores on every other GMAT mock test, I was struggling to cross 660 on MGMAT. I feel while normally on GMAT you have to peel one or two layers at max in PS, DS, and CR questions, on Mgmat mock test for majority of the questions you have to peel two to three layers to get to the right solution.
CAT SCORES:
MGMAT1 02/21/2015 – 620 (Q43, V32)
MGMAT2 03/1/2015 – 660 (Q44, V36)
VERSITAS 03/08/2015 – 710 (Q48, V38)
MGMAT 03 04/12/2015 – 670 (Q45, V36)
KAPLAN 04/19/2015 – 710 (never gave me the breakdown)
GMAT PREP 1 05/10/2015 – 700 (Q50, V34)
MGMAT 04 05/03/2015 – 660 (Q44, V36))
GMAT PREP 2 05/10/2015 – 710 (Q50, V36)
GMAT EXAM 05/16/2015 – 740 (Q50, V40)
KEY LESSONS LEARNED: GMAT prep is a very demanding experience, but I think it’s just a trailer to what you can expect in good business schools, and in your jobs afterward. Nothing worth having comes for free, and a good career is definitely something worth having.
BOOKS AND MATERIAL USED:
• Manhattan GMAT Strategy guide set – SC is a must
• EGMAT Verbal
• GMAT Club Math Book V3
• Versitas free test
• Kaplan free test
Exhausting as it was, while writing this very long debrief I have realized that GMAT prep was a lot of fun as well. I owe these good stats partly to my wife, partly to the prayers, and partly to the GMATCLUB and its members. Please do let me know if I can help any member of this wonderful community with the GMAT preparation.
The JOURNEY:
I am 30 year old non-native, married male working on a full time 9 to 6 job. I would have applied to a business school two years ago but could not due to personal and professional reasons. So finally at the end of last year when I started shortlisting business schools, reality hit me: the first step to a top tier b-school application is a good gmat score. So I sat down, bought Manhattan GMAT prep material and before diving into the material, took the first mgmat mock test. You can find my progress and scores below but one thing I can tell you is that the experience was not pleasant. I use to be really good at Math, so I was expecting at least the quant bit to be a smooth ride. But by the end of 22nd quant question my brain was frozen, out of breath, and struggling to keep up with the clock. By the time I finished verbal and looked at my score I realized if I want to get into a good business school I have a long way to go.
Next, I started studying, GMATCLUB helped a lot. Debriefs were instrumental in guidance on study plan. GMAT math book pretty much had everything I needed for quant and Manhattan was pretty much everything I was relying on for Verbal. In March once I hit 700 on Versitas mock test I booked a test date in May. The idea was as long as I can get something over 700 I should be okay.
Than 3 weeks from the test I was talking to a recent b-school graduate and he said if at this age you want to get into a b-school than make the best of the things you can control, and GMAT score was one of things he pointed out. His point was for top programs my score should be over schools average. That night I couldn’t sleep. Next day I took the GMAT prep mock test and scored 700 (Q50, V34), I knew I had to do something about my verbal (especially sentence correction). EGMAT being a program exclusively for non-natives was always on my radar, so in a desperate need I bought the EGMAT verbal online. This was probably the best decision I took during my GMAT preparation. Within a week I started feeling the difference. While previously I was mostly able to narrow down to two answer choices in SC, now I was able to successfully answer SC questions correctly with a success rate of over 90%.
I was planning on using EGMAT primarily for SC but it did help me a lot to come with a strategy to tackle CR and RC. The plan was to go through EGMAT prep material in two weeks and then practice a lot of questions in the last week. I had already borrowed older editions of GMAT Verbal review and Quant review (I had already solved latest editions during my preparation) from the local library to build the momentum in the last week.
1 week from actual test, I take my 2nd and final GMAT prep mock test and score 710 (Q50, V36). I am not happy but I am exhausted. 4 months of working full time during the day and studying from 8 to 11 in the evenings have depleted me of all my energy. I havnt had a real weekend in the past two months. So I tell myself to be content with it, and set the last stage of the plan in action. Last week I practiced with a lot of questions. I marked the ones that I got wrong, so I could review them on the exam day just before the actual exam.
Day before THE EXAM DAY:
Going into the exam under stress is the worst thing you can do for your score. You need to be relaxed, so on last evening before the exam I closed my books at around 7. Watched some sitcom episodes, prayed, talked to my family back home.
THE EXAM DAY:
Got up really early prayed and went back to sleep. Woke up at 830, took a walk with my wife and convinced myself that GMAT is insignificant (will give some more detail on this in tips and tricks) and I will fulfill my potential with or without a good GMAT score. I reached the exam center 40 minutes early along with a Gatorade and a nut bar. In the parking lot I looked at the marked questions (the ones I got incorrect in the last week). Went through the mistakes I made on the marked questions.
As soon as I checked in at the exam center they allowed me to start whenever I was ready as long as it’s before 12. So instead of sitting in the lounge in anticipation I opted for an early start.
I had practiced 8-10 essays for AWA so I think I did okay in that section (still waiting for the score). IR was tough, quant was not too stressful, but by the time I started verbal my brain wiring was all messed up. It would have been more messed up had I not attempted so many mock tests.
General TIPS AND TRICKS:
• During the GMAT prep you need to make the preparation the sun around which your life revolves, but before the exam day in order to reduce the stress (which is natural), tell yourself that it’s only a test. You need to convince yourself that this is not a make or break for you, as I said its just another test. Whether you are prepared or not, stress will not help your score.
• If you are alone try finding some supporting company to discuss your progress, the problems you are facing during preparation. Basically vent out your frustration by talking. Luckily I had my wife who was my biggest support during these 4 months of preparation. Had it not been for her, I might have left my prep halfway when I couldn’t cross 660 barrier in mock tests.
• Read what other people experienced, but create your own study and preparation plan. You want to do MBA, so treat this as your first management project.
• Do not prepare for GMAT with the mindset that you can always re-attempt the test. As I said earlier during the preparation go with the do or die approach.
• Keep in mind that you cannot get all questions right, but try and get first 10 right, even if it takes a minute or two extra
• GMATCLUB should you favorite website at least for the duration of your preparation. It has the most useful content for GMAT prep available online.
• Keep GMATPrep tests for moments when you need to take a decision e.g. whether you are ready for the test or you should get it postponed (it will cost $50 to postpone the test 7 days prior to the test, and $250 to get it postponed in the last 7 days)
Section wise TIPS AND TRICKS:
DS: Do a lot of practice questions. For this section you need to understand what is required to solve a question, not how to solve a question. Second, if it is too easy its wrong. If you can figure out the answer in first 10 seconds, spend 20 extra seconds to verify the answer. Most of the times you would notice you overlooked some nuance. Those subtleties are the reason you get questions wrong in quant section
PS: Same goes for PS, if it’s too easy, too simple it’s wrong. Spend extra time verifying your answer. Don’t rely too much on memorizing techniques, get your basics (translating problems to tables, sets, and Venn diagrams) right and you will be golden.
SC: My nemesis. A lot of people rightly say that it’s the hardest part of GMAT, and I think it is. But credit goes to EGMAT; they have been able to develop a very mathematical approach to solving SC questions. I would recommend to at least go for their SC module regardless of whether you are a native or non-native. Combine EGMAT with MGMATs SC book to further improve your SC. Create your own flashcards for idioms using MGMAT SC, especially if you are a non-native.
CR: Understand it’s a standardized test, so identify the different categories of CR questions GMAT can throw at you. Really there are not that many. 6 if I remember correctly: weaken, strengthen, assumption, paradox, two part analysis, complete the argument. There might be 2-3 or more depending on how you categorize it. But read the question first before you read the argument to understand what exactly are you looking for.
RC: Practice, practice and practice some more. Work on a strategy, mine was too read few lines, jot down the summary and then proceed. Draw a tree of arguments if you can.
FRUSTRATION:
For some reason it seems MGMAT has recently made their CATs very tough. They don’t do justice to your preparation. While I was hitting 700+ scores on every other GMAT mock test, I was struggling to cross 660 on MGMAT. I feel while normally on GMAT you have to peel one or two layers at max in PS, DS, and CR questions, on Mgmat mock test for majority of the questions you have to peel two to three layers to get to the right solution.
CAT SCORES:
MGMAT1 02/21/2015 – 620 (Q43, V32)
MGMAT2 03/1/2015 – 660 (Q44, V36)
VERSITAS 03/08/2015 – 710 (Q48, V38)
MGMAT 03 04/12/2015 – 670 (Q45, V36)
KAPLAN 04/19/2015 – 710 (never gave me the breakdown)
GMAT PREP 1 05/10/2015 – 700 (Q50, V34)
MGMAT 04 05/03/2015 – 660 (Q44, V36))
GMAT PREP 2 05/10/2015 – 710 (Q50, V36)
GMAT EXAM 05/16/2015 – 740 (Q50, V40)
KEY LESSONS LEARNED: GMAT prep is a very demanding experience, but I think it’s just a trailer to what you can expect in good business schools, and in your jobs afterward. Nothing worth having comes for free, and a good career is definitely something worth having.
BOOKS AND MATERIAL USED:
• Manhattan GMAT Strategy guide set – SC is a must
• EGMAT Verbal
• GMAT Club Math Book V3
• Versitas free test
• Kaplan free test
Exhausting as it was, while writing this very long debrief I have realized that GMAT prep was a lot of fun as well. I owe these good stats partly to my wife, partly to the prayers, and partly to the GMATCLUB and its members. Please do let me know if I can help any member of this wonderful community with the GMAT preparation.
1991sehwag
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Last visit: 11 Jan 2017
Posts: 36
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 44
Location: United States
Schools: ISB '17 Kellogg '17
GMAT Date: 05-20-2015
GPA: 3.06
WE:Business Development (Commercial Banking)
17 May 2015, 21:01
Kudos
Bookmarks
Awesome man
Kudos for your determination ; Thank you for this debrief
Kudos for your determination ; Thank you for this debrief
21 May 2015, 09:03
Kudos
Bookmarks
It is wonderful that you scored a 700 and 710 on your GMATPrep tests, but scored a 760 on the actual exam. I just read a post that GMAC that GMAC says that whatever we get on GMATPrep, the actual score can be in +/- 30 score. You obviously are an exception in this regard, in fact a pleasant exception.
Any tips that you would like to give, so that we can also have this pleasant exception:).
Any tips that you would like to give, so that we can also have this pleasant exception:).
