Admitted to Kellogg with 680 GMAT

I still pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming - I got into Kellogg !!
Wanted to share my bit if it can help

I wanted to share my journey of a dream come true - Admitted to Kellogg. My story might be a perfect example of how a low score GMAT (680) with strong essays can still let you achieve your dream if you have perseverance and will for it.

Challenges

I started my journey in Jan 2016 when I started preparing on my own using Official books and Kaplan books.
My challenge was majorly time but when you have dream to achieve you give in everything . I let go off my sleep and used all the night time and early morning time to study. It was very difficult journey for me as I used to study once my kids would sleep. 9 pm to 12 pm and then 2 hours early morning was only time I would get to study. My weekend were even more busy with kids but I would arrange playdate for kids or get nanny help so I can give mocks.

Mocks
I used GMATPrep official and gave some mocks but I reached a plateau after 2 months. This is where I started looking out for course that can help me reach next level . Kaplan online was first one I started with but I needed something more visual than reading books/articles.

E-GMAT
What I liked about E-Gmat was video explanation - its much faster to understand and has stronger grasp. I was working mom of 2 kids and I didn’t have much time to read and re-read. Videos spoke very quickly with me and quickly grasp concepts. I would highly recommend it for anyone aiming high scores.

Scholaranium was very helpful to find my weak areas and also concepts such as pre thinking helped me ace my CR.

Quant
Maths was never a problem for me. I started with 44 and wanted to go to 48-50. I learnt some very basic of DS and made sure I understand all tricks that GMAT plays with. GMAT Club was great source of various tricks and types of problems that GMAT throws on candidate.

Verbal
Verbal wasn’t very easy for me as I am non-native. I focused majorly on making SC and CR my strength as I knew RC was my weakness. I worked on SC like a math. I made posters to jot down points and made pictures which would speak to me and put it in my room. I used to look at them every morning so they become reflex for me. Writing down difference between use of such as and like and difference between because and As - I pen down everything that wasn’t becoming natural to me after reading about it few times. I believe in power of picture and power of repeating . Every morning or even during the day I would keep looking at those difference and revising them and slowly I ingested them and they became my reflex.

Play at ur best

Focus on ur strength and use it wisely. If math is your strength , then you should target atleast 50 in quant. And even within each section find your own strength that you can play with. Like for me , with in quant , I wasn’t best at probability so I worked on it at last and did some basics so I don’t let questions of 600 level or 650 level go by.

General
Also I do think initial 10 questions in Verbal and Quant are important. Search gmatclub for some research people have done on it. I have also used gmatclub a lot to search for answer but rely on experts for their answers. When you don’t do question right , spend time to understand why you didn’t. Was it concept you are not clear about or was it silly mistake ? Work on it accordingly.

Also liked e-gmat mocks , they are very close to GMAT test and Kaplan Test are pretty close to real GMAT test as well. Gmatclub test are tougher but they help you prepare for difficult questions.

After GMAT - Consultant for applications
Most important thing after GMAT exam is to introspect yourself which I did with Alok Sir (getyourmba.in) . He makes you think what your really want in life and it helps you make your authentic story for essays and interviews. He is very dedicated

Essay Editing
Once you know your basics , all you need is good editing service ( Essaylever) cos you eventually repeat so much content in most of applications. They are very reliable and economical as well. I had hard time lines to meet and essaylever never let me down on that.

All this together has helped me achieve my dream and I cannot explain how it feels. One thing I do believe is if you deserve it , you work hard and you have the will and dedication , you will achieve your dream.


Summary

Books used - Kaplan , Official Guide + LSAT books for CR
Online - Kaplan , E-GMAT , Gmatclub( followed Bunell , VerbalBot, VeritasPrepKarishma , souvik101990)
Test - Kaplan Online , GMATPrep and GMATClub Test
Career Counselling/Creating your authentic Story for Essays - https://www.getyourmba.in/ - Alok Mangal
Essay Editing - Essaylever (https://www.essaylever.com/)
Interview call - Tepper , Kellogg , Kenan Flagler , ISB , IIM-A
Offer - ISB , Tepper and Kellogg
Joining Kellogg 2017