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Updated on: 23 Jan 2023, 06:43
Originally posted by coccinelle13 on 22 Jan 2023, 21:40.
Last edited by coccinelle13 on 23 Jan 2023, 06:43, edited 2 times in total.
Last edited by coccinelle13 on 23 Jan 2023, 06:43, edited 2 times in total.
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Hi everyone 
,
Sharing my GMAT story so far in the hope that someone might have a minute to give me some advice on how to move forward.
Started working on the GMAT 1.5 years ago (I know, pathetic...). To add some clarity to my background, I did not use quant in several years, and I have a brain of a fish, so that I literally forget everything after a max. of 7 days without using the skill. Before my first attempt I only used the OG and the Manhattan series. There were I believe 30 pages of quant overview in the OG and I did some of the questions (didn't do them all), read through all the Manhattan books and took notes. Took the practice exam and got 300+. Continued with the OG for another while and took the official test, scored 530 (Q32-V31-IR7-AWA5).
Went on to TTP and did both the verbal and quant sections, every single question, every single chapter over the course of 3months, then took the 2nd official exam and scored 650 (Q42-V37-IR6-AWA6). At this point I want to stress that I LOVE TTP. They have been absolutely brilliant, the option to clarify questions with them through chat was absolutely invaluable and exactly what I was looking for. I also really needed the structured approach to know what I need to do next (I know it is all on YouTube for free, but who has the time to figure out which video to watch?). I feel like the reason why I didn't score well is again due to me having a brain of a fish. Although I did study TTP every day, I felt like by the time I got to the end of the course after 3 months, I had honestly forgotten the first chapters I already covered. For anyone hesitating, I would wholeheartedly recommend TTP and if you don't have a brain of fish, you will score wonderfully.
I did want to continue improving but had to take a break to focus again on work. That GMAT break ended up being 2 months and guess what, I forgot it all. I know there are people online who say take some time before your retake, honestly think twice before you do that if you have the choice (unfortunately I had no option but to take a break). So two months later I looked at my flashcards and it was like I had never seen them before, couldn't remember a thing. So I started again, spent 1.5 months reviewing what I had already learned prior to my break, then TTP sent me an email saying they have a discount going on and I was like YESSSSSS! And there I was on TTP again. This time I only did quant and in one month I did the whole Quant course and all Quant questions chronologically again. I don't feel like having done them before made any difference (remember my brain of a fish?) because I was still stuck and needed to revise and reread the passages, but I made it through in a month. Took 3rd official exam and scored 730 (Q49-V41-IR7-AWA5).
At the beginning when I saw the score I was happy, then I went online to check the average score of the only school I want to apply to, and realized this was an average score. Average doesn't sound too promising, so my initial happiness about the score faded rather quickly. I still used the score to apply for R2 this year and decided to continue studying for the GMAT (my GPA is very bad). So my reasoning was, let me focus on this for 3 weeks, retake the exam, and if I improve I can send in my better scores. For the three weeks I went through 24hour GMAT Ninja fundraiser, the whole GMAT Ninja QR, SC, and CR series (yes, all three). Charles is A TRUE NINJA, it should be a prerequisite to watch his videos first when starting to study for the GMAT. While watching all these videos (all of the above must add to about 50 hours of watch time) I couldn't help but feel "I wish I had seen these when I started". It would have been awesome had I known about these things 1.5 years ago, I am sure it would have saved me months of studying. But now, I already had a score of 730, so while it did reinforce some fundamentals, I am not sure watching these videos now and spending so much time doing so was the right strategy for me. I combined watching the videos with going through the 700+ Quant and Verbal question banks posted on GMATClub (the word/ PDF versions free for download). My problem with these was that when I was stuck, it took me a very long time to understand why I went wrong. As in looking up the questions on GMATClub, reading through 30 entries of different people until I got it, whereas due to TTP I was used to seeing a brilliant solution right underneath the problem. As a consequence, I didn't get through too many of these questions before I took the 4th exam three weeks after the 3rd (remember my fish brain, I knew I couldn't push it for too long or I would have forgotten all my TTP skills). I probably went through 150 questions from the 700+ quant GMATClub PDF, 100 questions from the 700+ SC GMATClub PDF. Took the exam and scored 710 (no idea about the breakdown, you can't expect me to remember that when it pops up on the screen for 10 seconds...). Obviously I was very disappointed, I studied about 150 hours between my 3rd and 4th attempt just to see the score drop by 20 points, my aim was to score 750 
So that's where I am now, and I am unsure what to do. If I didn't have a brain of a fish, I would wait and see what happens in R2 (my application is in anyway). However, I have a bad GPA and my GMAT score is only average, so I believe chances of me not even making it for interview are quite high - but how would I know? So waiting for 2 months, for me to forget all about the GMAT world again, and then restart from 0 - I don't think I could do that once again, it was too painful last time. At the same time I cannot focus on GMAT prep anymore as much as I did before, max 2-3 hours a day is what I would be able to put in if I were to continue, so if that is likely not to be enough, then I would have to give up right away since I have to focus on work again. I went through a few similar posts and a couple of names popped up over and over again (I cannot afford private tutoring):
* Magoosh (with 50 point score guarantee): So if I don't score 780 I will get my money back hahaha. Jokes aside, I think after studying for 1.5 years I am at a point where getting the money back after another 2 months of studying would not be too satisfying. Any thoughts on whether this is the way to go?
* EGmat (no score guarantee): They seem to be heavily focused on verbal, I am afraid I might forget my quant (as I seem to already have a bit if I only focus on verbal) - thoughts?
* GmatClub tests: Thoughts?
Feeling while taking the 3rd/ 4th exams: No anxiety (unfortunately) - I am the kind of person who performs better when I have a bit of pressure on, taking the exam at home just feels to me like this is a practice run so I have to constantly remind myself that this is the actual exam (online is the only option for me though). Time-wise I got through the test OK, I also can't say that I feel better or worse about Q vs V, so I feel very lost about what else I can do at this point All I know is that 750 would be my dream score.
If anyone has a minute to spare and can offer some advice on the following two questions, I would much appreciate it.
(1) Should I wait it out and restart in 2 months after getting the results?
(2) If I should continue now, what resources are best for my situation to get a score of 750?
I want to thank TTP and GMAT Ninja for their dedicated work that enabled me to climb from 300+ to 730, if it weren't for my bad GPA I would definitely be over the moon with this score
,Sharing my GMAT story so far in the hope that someone might have a minute to give me some advice on how to move forward.
Started working on the GMAT 1.5 years ago (I know, pathetic...). To add some clarity to my background, I did not use quant in several years, and I have a brain of a fish, so that I literally forget everything after a max. of 7 days without using the skill. Before my first attempt I only used the OG and the Manhattan series. There were I believe 30 pages of quant overview in the OG and I did some of the questions (didn't do them all), read through all the Manhattan books and took notes. Took the practice exam and got 300+. Continued with the OG for another while and took the official test, scored 530 (Q32-V31-IR7-AWA5).
Went on to TTP and did both the verbal and quant sections, every single question, every single chapter over the course of 3months, then took the 2nd official exam and scored 650 (Q42-V37-IR6-AWA6). At this point I want to stress that I LOVE TTP. They have been absolutely brilliant, the option to clarify questions with them through chat was absolutely invaluable and exactly what I was looking for. I also really needed the structured approach to know what I need to do next (I know it is all on YouTube for free, but who has the time to figure out which video to watch?). I feel like the reason why I didn't score well is again due to me having a brain of a fish. Although I did study TTP every day, I felt like by the time I got to the end of the course after 3 months, I had honestly forgotten the first chapters I already covered. For anyone hesitating, I would wholeheartedly recommend TTP and if you don't have a brain of fish, you will score wonderfully.
I did want to continue improving but had to take a break to focus again on work. That GMAT break ended up being 2 months and guess what, I forgot it all. I know there are people online who say take some time before your retake, honestly think twice before you do that if you have the choice (unfortunately I had no option but to take a break). So two months later I looked at my flashcards and it was like I had never seen them before, couldn't remember a thing. So I started again, spent 1.5 months reviewing what I had already learned prior to my break, then TTP sent me an email saying they have a discount going on and I was like YESSSSSS! And there I was on TTP again. This time I only did quant and in one month I did the whole Quant course and all Quant questions chronologically again. I don't feel like having done them before made any difference (remember my brain of a fish?) because I was still stuck and needed to revise and reread the passages, but I made it through in a month. Took 3rd official exam and scored 730 (Q49-V41-IR7-AWA5).
At the beginning when I saw the score I was happy, then I went online to check the average score of the only school I want to apply to, and realized this was an average score. Average doesn't sound too promising, so my initial happiness about the score faded rather quickly. I still used the score to apply for R2 this year and decided to continue studying for the GMAT (my GPA is very bad). So my reasoning was, let me focus on this for 3 weeks, retake the exam, and if I improve I can send in my better scores. For the three weeks I went through 24hour GMAT Ninja fundraiser, the whole GMAT Ninja QR, SC, and CR series (yes, all three). Charles is A TRUE NINJA, it should be a prerequisite to watch his videos first when starting to study for the GMAT. While watching all these videos (all of the above must add to about 50 hours of watch time) I couldn't help but feel "I wish I had seen these when I started". It would have been awesome had I known about these things 1.5 years ago, I am sure it would have saved me months of studying. But now, I already had a score of 730, so while it did reinforce some fundamentals, I am not sure watching these videos now and spending so much time doing so was the right strategy for me. I combined watching the videos with going through the 700+ Quant and Verbal question banks posted on GMATClub (the word/ PDF versions free for download). My problem with these was that when I was stuck, it took me a very long time to understand why I went wrong. As in looking up the questions on GMATClub, reading through 30 entries of different people until I got it, whereas due to TTP I was used to seeing a brilliant solution right underneath the problem. As a consequence, I didn't get through too many of these questions before I took the 4th exam three weeks after the 3rd (remember my fish brain, I knew I couldn't push it for too long or I would have forgotten all my TTP skills). I probably went through 150 questions from the 700+ quant GMATClub PDF, 100 questions from the 700+ SC GMATClub PDF. Took the exam and scored 710
(no idea about the breakdown, you can't expect me to remember that when it pops up on the screen for 10 seconds...). Obviously I was very disappointed, I studied about 150 hours between my 3rd and 4th attempt just to see the score drop by 20 points, my aim was to score 750 So that's where I am now, and I am unsure what to do. If I didn't have a brain of a fish, I would wait and see what happens in R2 (my application is in anyway). However, I have a bad GPA and my GMAT score is only average, so I believe chances of me not even making it for interview are quite high - but how would I know? So waiting for 2 months, for me to forget all about the GMAT world again, and then restart from 0 - I don't think I could do that once again, it was too painful last time. At the same time I cannot focus on GMAT prep anymore as much as I did before, max 2-3 hours a day is what I would be able to put in if I were to continue, so if that is likely not to be enough, then I would have to give up right away since I have to focus on work again. I went through a few similar posts and a couple of names popped up over and over again (I cannot afford private tutoring):
* Magoosh (with 50 point score guarantee): So if I don't score 780 I will get my money back hahaha. Jokes aside, I think after studying for 1.5 years I am at a point where getting the money back after another 2 months of studying would not be too satisfying. Any thoughts on whether this is the way to go?
* EGmat (no score guarantee): They seem to be heavily focused on verbal, I am afraid I might forget my quant (as I seem to already have a bit if I only focus on verbal) - thoughts?
* GmatClub tests: Thoughts?
Feeling while taking the 3rd/ 4th exams: No anxiety (unfortunately) - I am the kind of person who performs better when I have a bit of pressure on, taking the exam at home just feels to me like this is a practice run so I have to constantly remind myself that this is the actual exam (online is the only option for me though). Time-wise I got through the test OK, I also can't say that I feel better or worse about Q vs V, so I feel very lost about what else I can do at this point
All I know is that 750 would be my dream score.If anyone has a minute to spare and can offer some advice on the following two questions, I would much appreciate it.
(1) Should I wait it out and restart in 2 months after getting the results?
(2) If I should continue now, what resources are best for my situation to get a score of 750?
I want to thank TTP and GMAT Ninja for their dedicated work that enabled me to climb from 300+ to 730, if it weren't for my bad GPA I would definitely be over the moon with this score
23 Jan 2023, 06:26
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi coccinelle13.
Nice work so far. You've achieved one of the largest score increases I've ever heard about.
Now, to score even higher, you can do a few things.
One is that, when you learn a concept, you can be sure to learn a lot about why the concept works as possible. By understanding what underlies the concept, you'll remember it better.
For example, it's easy to forget the formula for the area of an equilateral triangle. However, if you understand that an equilateral triangle is two 30 - 60 - 90 triangles side by side and see how the area formula is related to that fact, then you can more easily remember the formula.
Another is that you can use the streaks method of practicing to strengthen your weaker areas one by one until you are a master of all of them. Any time a question breaks your streak, identify why and address the issue. For details on the streaks method and how to use it, see this post.
The Best GMAT Practice Methods
Also, since you have a particularly high score goal, you may find that the ideas in this post help you to achieve it.
How to Get a Perfect 800 GMAT Score
Nice work so far. You've achieved one of the largest score increases I've ever heard about.
Now, to score even higher, you can do a few things.
One is that, when you learn a concept, you can be sure to learn a lot about why the concept works as possible. By understanding what underlies the concept, you'll remember it better.
For example, it's easy to forget the formula for the area of an equilateral triangle. However, if you understand that an equilateral triangle is two 30 - 60 - 90 triangles side by side and see how the area formula is related to that fact, then you can more easily remember the formula.
Another is that you can use the streaks method of practicing to strengthen your weaker areas one by one until you are a master of all of them. Any time a question breaks your streak, identify why and address the issue. For details on the streaks method and how to use it, see this post.
The Best GMAT Practice Methods
Also, since you have a particularly high score goal, you may find that the ideas in this post help you to achieve it.
How to Get a Perfect 800 GMAT Score
23 Jan 2023, 06:37
Kudos
Bookmarks
Thank you Marty, I much appreciate you taking the time to reply to my post. Will check out the links you provided, thank you.
Kudos to your team members who helped answer all my questions while I was going through TTP and who enabled me to grasp so many concepts when I was stuck
Kudos to your team members who helped answer all my questions while I was going through TTP and who enabled me to grasp so many concepts when I was stuck
