I unfortunately only discovered GMAT Club two weeks before my first official attempt, but this has quickly become a huge resource for me...so it’s about time I contribute!
Background:I am one year out of undergrad (majored in International Business) and am in a 3-year rotational program at a large biotech company. My plan is to pursue my MBA after I complete this program, so I am getting the GMAT out of the way now. I have never been great at standardized tests but have seen many others in the same boat be able to crack this test.
Goal:Attend a top 10 MBA program
Study materials:
OGMagooshVeritasPractice tests:
Kaplan: 560 (very beginning, no studying)
Veritas Tests 1-6: 630-670 (Q43-45, V33-37)
GMAT Prep #1: 650 (Q48, V32)
GMAT Prep #2: 720 (Q49, V39) (two days before actual GMAT)
Here we go...I began loosely studying this last August with
Magoosh. From August through December, I used this time to brush up on quant and verbal fundamentals. I then ignorantly thought that this would translate to success when I started tackling practice problems - I couldn’t have been any more wrong. In hindsight, I realize that studying each rule/formula/etc. in a vacuum, is not conducive to what the GMAT is testing: reasoning. So, while knowing these fundamentals is essential for doing well, it doesn’t make a difference if you don’t know how to properly leverage them in a non-traditional way. (I think revisiting
Magoosh with what I know now, will be very helpful)
So 5 months had gone by and my practice problem scores were pathetic, I then hit the panic button and invested in
Veritas Prep in mid-January.
Veritas has been extremely helpful in that it demonstrates the application of reasoning strategies that are useful on the different types of GMAT problems. This significantly boosted my confidence as well as my scores.
For the 4 weeks before the exam, I turned up the intensity of the studying. I would get up extra early and study for 2 hours before work, another 1.5-2 hours after work, and a solid 5-6 hours on the weekends. I would alternate between problem sets, strategy reviews, and practice tests. The
Veritas practice tests were a bit discouraging, but I read in many forums that I should just ignore the score and focus on the problems (way easier said than done).
About 2 weeks out, I took a official GMAT practice and scored a 650 (Q48, V32). This was very odd, yet encouraging, because I would normally do much better on Verbal than quant on the
Veritas tests, making me think that
Veritas’ quant is certainly on the difficult side.
And 2 days before the exam, I hit my stride: Official practice test #2, I scored a 720 (Q49, V39). This is the score I was dreaming of and knew I could get if I did my best on both sections. And with this, I was feeling confident for my GMAT on 3-16...
Test day – 650 (Q44, V35). I hit a difficult RC passage halfway through the verbal. This ate up too much time and lingered on my brain for the rest of that section. On quant, I thought I was certainly in the 48-49 range – I was seeing mostly hard question types and was identifying the traps that each problem had (so I thought). Bottom line is that I under-performed – could have been nerves, feeling under-confident on RC and CR, or not having solid enough strategies.
And here we are…2 days after this defeat, but I am fired up to do whatever it takes to get this 700+ score!! I’m curious if there is anyone else out there who has been in, or currently is in, a similar situation. Thanks in advance!
Here's to finally exploring GMAT Club like I should have been doing months ago
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