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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.
12 Aug 2020, 08:30
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I think sharing my story is going to be helpful to keep myself motivated. I am going to be retaking it soon, but wanted to debrief my first sit and what I did, and how I plan to go from here.
Background
I am from a finance background. I'm a CFA charterholder, so i'm used to studying and I naively thought oh I could just power through this for a month and a half and get a 700+ score and be on my merry way. WRONG! I have been pretty much studying for the test since July 15th full time and sat for it on August 3rd. I would consider my quant skills okay, and my verbal skills excellent going into the test. As I learned more, my verbal self-assessment was wrong, and grammar is really freaking hard. Reading comprehension however I felt really good about, but obviously I have room to improve.
Here is a brief list of the things I used.
What I learned
Quant
First Magoosh just doesn't feel enough. I think the video lecture series were a really nice first intro into what the GMAT is - and what it's all about, but I don't think I learn well online videos. I tried Math revolution and found the videos horrendous. I can't stand the structure, but still, use the variable approach as my skipping strategy.
I also felt like the timing was my biggest flaw, they are not joking when they say it's a timed test. I finished the actual test with 15 seconds left, and I felt good about that timing, but my actual CATS i constantly didn't finish. I really worked hard to improve my timing but something that I have to improve on still.
Verbal
This is the real "hard part" of the test in my opinion. Math is so logical. When I was taking the math part of the actual test, on the questions I missed I knew what I was missing in terms of knowledge to get the answer right. Verbal? Lol I have no idea on SC why I'm wrong. I can do some simple splits but it's really hard to feel great about verbal. The pacing is also harder here.
On CATS
Do not get in your head about CATs. The manhattan CATs are terrible, and I never scored above a 600 on any of the 3 I took. They should be used as a metric to measure your weakness, not beat yourself up on the test.
On the actual studying process
I have worked hard to focus on quality and not the quantity of studying. I am a huge fan of the pomodoro technique, and I think in this kind of test it really shines. You must practice perfectly and have great form. More junk hours is not going to get a better score, and I think the thing that changed my score the most was going quickly through the Manhattan books 1 week before the test while shooting for 10 pomodoros a day. I did 3/3/3 - study/test/review and 1 pomodoro to plan what I would do next and where to work on. Going forward this will be my main focus of how I will study.
Going Forward / What's Next
This is what I'm excited about. I didn't really get the chance to granularly go through the manhattan books, and I'm going to be doing so again. I think I'm going to give myself until the end of September to take the test again when I'm ready. The August 3rd test date kind of pushed me, and I'm happy I sat for it, but I wasn't ready. I will be next time I take the test.
I really don't even feel like I understood how best to study this test until the week of July 2Xth, just ~10 days from actually taking the test. I'm going to apply what I've learned, and really focus again on another take. I think that the next round I will have many more specific study tips.
My plan of attack is as follows:
I think this is pretty doable over the course of the following 2 months, and my goal of a Q:49 / V:44 is attainable with a lot of effort and focused direction. This is a *complain* of a test, but I can see what I need to do. Hope I can update this debrief w/ that score in a few months.
Background
I am from a finance background. I'm a CFA charterholder, so i'm used to studying and I naively thought oh I could just power through this for a month and a half and get a 700+ score and be on my merry way. WRONG! I have been pretty much studying for the test since July 15th full time and sat for it on August 3rd. I would consider my quant skills okay, and my verbal skills excellent going into the test. As I learned more, my verbal self-assessment was wrong, and grammar is really freaking hard. Reading comprehension however I felt really good about, but obviously I have room to improve.
Here is a brief list of the things I used.
- Magoosh Courses / Q bank
- Manhattan Textbooks (I only started using this July 25th and wish i did it sooner)
- 3 Manhattan CATs
- Some OG but mostly untouched
- Math revolution - but didn't like videos.
What I learned
Quant
First Magoosh just doesn't feel enough. I think the video lecture series were a really nice first intro into what the GMAT is - and what it's all about, but I don't think I learn well online videos. I tried Math revolution and found the videos horrendous. I can't stand the structure, but still, use the variable approach as my skipping strategy.
I also felt like the timing was my biggest flaw, they are not joking when they say it's a timed test. I finished the actual test with 15 seconds left, and I felt good about that timing, but my actual CATS i constantly didn't finish. I really worked hard to improve my timing but something that I have to improve on still.
Verbal
This is the real "hard part" of the test in my opinion. Math is so logical. When I was taking the math part of the actual test, on the questions I missed I knew what I was missing in terms of knowledge to get the answer right. Verbal? Lol I have no idea on SC why I'm wrong. I can do some simple splits but it's really hard to feel great about verbal. The pacing is also harder here.
On CATS
Do not get in your head about CATs. The manhattan CATs are terrible, and I never scored above a 600 on any of the 3 I took. They should be used as a metric to measure your weakness, not beat yourself up on the test.
On the actual studying process
I have worked hard to focus on quality and not the quantity of studying. I am a huge fan of the pomodoro technique, and I think in this kind of test it really shines. You must practice perfectly and have great form. More junk hours is not going to get a better score, and I think the thing that changed my score the most was going quickly through the Manhattan books 1 week before the test while shooting for 10 pomodoros a day. I did 3/3/3 - study/test/review and 1 pomodoro to plan what I would do next and where to work on. Going forward this will be my main focus of how I will study.
Going Forward / What's Next
This is what I'm excited about. I didn't really get the chance to granularly go through the manhattan books, and I'm going to be doing so again. I think I'm going to give myself until the end of September to take the test again when I'm ready. The August 3rd test date kind of pushed me, and I'm happy I sat for it, but I wasn't ready. I will be next time I take the test.
I really don't even feel like I understood how best to study this test until the week of July 2Xth, just ~10 days from actually taking the test. I'm going to apply what I've learned, and really focus again on another take. I think that the next round I will have many more specific study tips.
My plan of attack is as follows:
- Manhattan SC book with a super fine read through
- Powerscore CR book with super fine read through
- Manhattan RC with super fine read through
- Test and error log over and over until I am feeling better
- Attack more of the bunel sets on quant
- Maybe look at the Kaplan quant series for more info
- Actually do the OG set
I think this is pretty doable over the course of the following 2 months, and my goal of a Q:49 / V:44 is attainable with a lot of effort and focused direction. This is a *complain* of a test, but I can see what I need to do. Hope I can update this debrief w/ that score in a few months.
TheUltimateWinner
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Concentration: Finance, Technology
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Schools: Harvard '24 Judge '23 LBS '24 McCombs '24 Mendoza Tepper '24 Ross '24 Cox Marshall '24 Fisher Kelley '24 Jones McDonough '24 Owen '24 Terry BU Simon '24 Katz GWU Mason Babson Gabelli Foster '24 Goizueta '24 Scheller Stern '23 CBS '23 Booth '23 Haas '25 Wharton '25 Stanford '26 Johnson'23 Fuqua '23 Kellogg '23 Kenan-Flagler'23 INSEAD Aug 22 intake Olin '23 Said '23 Sloan '23 Carey Arizona "22 Yale '23 UC Davis Madison '23 Anderson '23 Carroll Carlson '23 Darden '23
Posts: 2,465
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2,461
12 Aug 2020, 09:33
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knowledgemule
knowledgemule
Quote:
Did you take magoosh online course or purchase only their on-demand videos?
Quote:
Can you explain a bit about their variable approach? Is it really helpful?
12 Aug 2020, 09:36
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I purchased their ondemand videos. I would love to take an online course, but think that my study style historically has been best suited to self study. I still really like their question bank.
The variable approach is a really solid method for DS skipping. Pretty much you can figure out very quickly if statement 1/2 has what you need to solve. It is not good enough to get you to the right answer every time, but in my eyes is a quick skipping strategy with improved odds.
The variable approach is a really solid method for DS skipping. Pretty much you can figure out very quickly if statement 1/2 has what you need to solve. It is not good enough to get you to the right answer every time, but in my eyes is a quick skipping strategy with improved odds.
