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18 Mar 2015, 03:53
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Hello GMATClubbers !
First of all, I would like to thank you. Thank you for everything.
Just gave a shot to the GMAT yesterday. That was quite a journey, and without your help, this would have been different.
I got 700 (Q48, V38, IR4) and somehow I feel relieved and proud as well as a bit disappointed.
Disappointed because of my 4 on IR, but relieved because from all my preparation, I never got more than 29 on the verbal part.
My aim was to get a 700, and at the end of my preparation, I was starting to enjoy studying the GMAT.
The minute I saw the score on my screen, I almost jumped off my seat, but did not to respect the others in the room :D
But I also said to myself that with some more preparation, I could do even better.
So I am now wondering if this could be a usefull spending of my time or if I should more focus on the rest of my application.
I have an average GPA, so I was aiming at a 700 on the GMAT to compensate that.
I bought the OG (+ verbal and quantitative additional books), and watched Veritas Prep and MGMAT videos (25h each), studied 2-3h per day during weekdays, and tried to get to 5-9h on saturday and sunday, during 2weeks (so approx 90 efficient hours in total).
I did 2 mock tests from the OG and got 550 at first (which killed me from the inside after all the work I spent in that), then 590...
I used the reset method to get more than 2 tests and got 650 on my third try, then stopped doing that because I had the feeling it would be biased from the fact of getting some questions I already had.
Then I remembered that the books provided me with some extra questions online (wigley), so tried them on the last week of my studies, and wasn't really getting great scores (60-80% right), training on 5 questions batchs.
Overall, this was hard to achieve, concentration decreases after long work days, I used to go out a lot, travel a lot, see friends, eat outside etc. So during all my preparation, I had to cut all these. Hopefully, my gf was helping me a lot taking charge of all the 'couple' activities (healthy food, clean house etc) and supporting me during my studies.
This weekend however I went to London, friday and saturday nights out. Not sure if this was the best to do, but I needed it. Needed to get social, to think about something else. On monday, I had a quick look again on the IR and AWA techniques but couldn't do more and just gave up.
Before going to bed, I looked at Google Map and checked the place on Street view, the road from the Train Station to the place of exam. Then went to bed at 11pm. Woke up at 6am, showered, then took a 3h train at 7am. I had some fruit juice bottle and water bottle with me and a bag of dried fruits/almonds with me. but I wasn't really hungry.
I spent my 3h in the train : 2h sleeping with some minimal music, 40min looking outside and relaxing and 20min just quickly looking at some AWA notes, but I wasn't in it. Starting to get nervous, just enough, not too much.
When I got there, I walked to the place, sunny but cold. The place was empty, the instructor just got there and told me I could start anytime I wanted. My appointment was at 12 but started before.
First 30min were crazy fast, and I am still not sure I expressed myself correctly, I was really stressed. I am still getting back to reality, hence the poor quality of this post.
Next 30min was the same, I even answered randomly to the last 3-4 questions. I just bugged around the 3rd question and wasted a lot of time. If started freaking out.
Then my first 8min break, I went to the restrooms, had some water and just calmed down. Took some deep breath and said to myself that this was the moment to concentrate. This was my chance to show my efforts.
Back in the room, I used the 1min screen instruction to prepare my notebook for the questions.
Then it started, this was going well, got some hard questions, but they mainly looked like what I used to practice. Last 2 questions were random guesses. I was disappointed because at some point I was really ahead of time but I got lost in my minds before the end...
Second 8 minutes break, toilet then water, then I told to myself that this was the last hour to keep concentrated.
Back in the room, I was starting to see hard questions, got the 2 RC quite soon in the questions, so I was happy that I could get rid of these time consuming questions soon in the clock.
However, I spent too much time on the reading part and got stressed. But after a moment, I 'magically' got the logic behind the questions and knew exactly what to read in detail, what to over read, and where to look to answer the questions (even in the following CR questions).
This was starting to seem very logic to me and I was thinking about you guys.
All the advises I was reading here and there. I was starting to see the red/green corrections for the SC questions.
It reminded me of when I learned how to drive. After some hours of practice I got this click, and was finally at ease behind wheels and ready to pass my driving license test. This was the same. Just wished to get this click prior to the exam !
T-20min, then T-10min, then T-4min, time was flying. And got 5 questions left. This was going to be hard to finish. I made random guesses to 3 of them and tried to solve the last 2 telling to my self that they should be easy. Then this was over. Filled the questionnaire, and saw the score. Wow.
Now I am done with this, but am I ?
I am still upset of my 4 on IR, and now I want to get more than 700, but don't want to sound ungrateful, don't get me wrong.
I know this is a rather good score, that I studied for it, but I want more !
I wanted to thank you all, even if you don't know me, or even if I wasn't posting on the forum, I was reading you and was getting notes and insights from you. I loved your explanations on questions and got the logic behind the wrong and correct answers. I just needed to concentrate on the verbal part, and pace.
I loved to read this section of the forum as it DID comfort me during my studies, seeing that anything is possible.
My quick tips:
- never give up. Time and effort will make you click at one point. This is NOT a hard exam, this is a logic to get, questions to understand, answers to detect as wrong, and with work, anybody can get this logic
- Know your priorities, and follow them. If you want to get a good score, then cut what would stop you from getting it. This is temporary, friends and family will understand, just explain clearly what this means to you and how they can help and support.
- eat healthy food, don't underestimate the importance of water, vitamins, sports, good food on your body and brain
- don't be too hard on yourself however. If you are social, then allow yourself some bonus time to get out, see friends, or if you are not social but have some hobbies, don't forget them, just reduce the time spent on them, just for few weeks
- don't really focus on the score you get prior to the real exams. Lot of factors are to take into account that can hardly be simulated prior to the real exam. The real goal of the mock tests is to get you used to the questions, to the clock management, to the logic.
- at one point, you will start see some 'themes' for questions, know exactly what kind of questions is that, start writing R=D/T automatically on your sheet etc. this is your chance to work on your weaknesses. concentrate on those common kind of questions, to start being excellent in these. Don't waste your time on particularly hard questions that you won't even get if you don't excel in the 'regular' ones. The hard ones will come when you really feel at ease and start getting a lot of correct answers during your preparation.
- practice the exercises. I know this is a trivial one, but I spent a lot of time on the videos, getting the logic, strategies etc behind the GMAT. This was useful of course, but when I started practicing the questions, I wasn't as good as I thought. More practice would have got me this click sooner than on the exam day, and I might have got a better score. Reading a book is good, doing the exercicss and getting wrong answers, understand why they are wrong, is far better
Please, do not hesitate should you need any advises or should you have any questions, I will be happy to help!
Now my question is : should I try to get a higher score or concentrate on the rest of my applications only...(TOEFL, ESSAYS etc) What would you do ?
Again thank you for all your help, this is amazing.
note: please excuse my writing and typos, just wrote that on the fly, 'recovering' from this stressful journey
day
First of all, I would like to thank you. Thank you for everything.
Just gave a shot to the GMAT yesterday. That was quite a journey, and without your help, this would have been different.
I got 700 (Q48, V38, IR4) and somehow I feel relieved and proud as well as a bit disappointed.
Disappointed because of my 4 on IR, but relieved because from all my preparation, I never got more than 29 on the verbal part.
My aim was to get a 700, and at the end of my preparation, I was starting to enjoy studying the GMAT.
The minute I saw the score on my screen, I almost jumped off my seat, but did not to respect the others in the room :D
But I also said to myself that with some more preparation, I could do even better.
So I am now wondering if this could be a usefull spending of my time or if I should more focus on the rest of my application.
I have an average GPA, so I was aiming at a 700 on the GMAT to compensate that.
I bought the OG (+ verbal and quantitative additional books), and watched Veritas Prep and MGMAT videos (25h each), studied 2-3h per day during weekdays, and tried to get to 5-9h on saturday and sunday, during 2weeks (so approx 90 efficient hours in total).
I did 2 mock tests from the OG and got 550 at first (which killed me from the inside after all the work I spent in that), then 590...
I used the reset method to get more than 2 tests and got 650 on my third try, then stopped doing that because I had the feeling it would be biased from the fact of getting some questions I already had.
Then I remembered that the books provided me with some extra questions online (wigley), so tried them on the last week of my studies, and wasn't really getting great scores (60-80% right), training on 5 questions batchs.
Overall, this was hard to achieve, concentration decreases after long work days, I used to go out a lot, travel a lot, see friends, eat outside etc. So during all my preparation, I had to cut all these. Hopefully, my gf was helping me a lot taking charge of all the 'couple' activities (healthy food, clean house etc) and supporting me during my studies.
This weekend however I went to London, friday and saturday nights out. Not sure if this was the best to do, but I needed it. Needed to get social, to think about something else. On monday, I had a quick look again on the IR and AWA techniques but couldn't do more and just gave up.
Before going to bed, I looked at Google Map and checked the place on Street view, the road from the Train Station to the place of exam. Then went to bed at 11pm. Woke up at 6am, showered, then took a 3h train at 7am. I had some fruit juice bottle and water bottle with me and a bag of dried fruits/almonds with me. but I wasn't really hungry.
I spent my 3h in the train : 2h sleeping with some minimal music, 40min looking outside and relaxing and 20min just quickly looking at some AWA notes, but I wasn't in it. Starting to get nervous, just enough, not too much.
When I got there, I walked to the place, sunny but cold. The place was empty, the instructor just got there and told me I could start anytime I wanted. My appointment was at 12 but started before.
First 30min were crazy fast, and I am still not sure I expressed myself correctly, I was really stressed. I am still getting back to reality, hence the poor quality of this post.
Next 30min was the same, I even answered randomly to the last 3-4 questions. I just bugged around the 3rd question and wasted a lot of time. If started freaking out.
Then my first 8min break, I went to the restrooms, had some water and just calmed down. Took some deep breath and said to myself that this was the moment to concentrate. This was my chance to show my efforts.
Back in the room, I used the 1min screen instruction to prepare my notebook for the questions.
Then it started, this was going well, got some hard questions, but they mainly looked like what I used to practice. Last 2 questions were random guesses. I was disappointed because at some point I was really ahead of time but I got lost in my minds before the end...
Second 8 minutes break, toilet then water, then I told to myself that this was the last hour to keep concentrated.
Back in the room, I was starting to see hard questions, got the 2 RC quite soon in the questions, so I was happy that I could get rid of these time consuming questions soon in the clock.
However, I spent too much time on the reading part and got stressed. But after a moment, I 'magically' got the logic behind the questions and knew exactly what to read in detail, what to over read, and where to look to answer the questions (even in the following CR questions).
This was starting to seem very logic to me and I was thinking about you guys.
All the advises I was reading here and there. I was starting to see the red/green corrections for the SC questions.
It reminded me of when I learned how to drive. After some hours of practice I got this click, and was finally at ease behind wheels and ready to pass my driving license test. This was the same. Just wished to get this click prior to the exam !
T-20min, then T-10min, then T-4min, time was flying. And got 5 questions left. This was going to be hard to finish. I made random guesses to 3 of them and tried to solve the last 2 telling to my self that they should be easy. Then this was over. Filled the questionnaire, and saw the score. Wow.
Now I am done with this, but am I ?
I am still upset of my 4 on IR, and now I want to get more than 700, but don't want to sound ungrateful, don't get me wrong.
I know this is a rather good score, that I studied for it, but I want more !
I wanted to thank you all, even if you don't know me, or even if I wasn't posting on the forum, I was reading you and was getting notes and insights from you. I loved your explanations on questions and got the logic behind the wrong and correct answers. I just needed to concentrate on the verbal part, and pace.
I loved to read this section of the forum as it DID comfort me during my studies, seeing that anything is possible.
My quick tips:
- never give up. Time and effort will make you click at one point. This is NOT a hard exam, this is a logic to get, questions to understand, answers to detect as wrong, and with work, anybody can get this logic
- Know your priorities, and follow them. If you want to get a good score, then cut what would stop you from getting it. This is temporary, friends and family will understand, just explain clearly what this means to you and how they can help and support.
- eat healthy food, don't underestimate the importance of water, vitamins, sports, good food on your body and brain
- don't be too hard on yourself however. If you are social, then allow yourself some bonus time to get out, see friends, or if you are not social but have some hobbies, don't forget them, just reduce the time spent on them, just for few weeks
- don't really focus on the score you get prior to the real exams. Lot of factors are to take into account that can hardly be simulated prior to the real exam. The real goal of the mock tests is to get you used to the questions, to the clock management, to the logic.
- at one point, you will start see some 'themes' for questions, know exactly what kind of questions is that, start writing R=D/T automatically on your sheet etc. this is your chance to work on your weaknesses. concentrate on those common kind of questions, to start being excellent in these. Don't waste your time on particularly hard questions that you won't even get if you don't excel in the 'regular' ones. The hard ones will come when you really feel at ease and start getting a lot of correct answers during your preparation.
- practice the exercises. I know this is a trivial one, but I spent a lot of time on the videos, getting the logic, strategies etc behind the GMAT. This was useful of course, but when I started practicing the questions, I wasn't as good as I thought. More practice would have got me this click sooner than on the exam day, and I might have got a better score. Reading a book is good, doing the exercicss and getting wrong answers, understand why they are wrong, is far better
Please, do not hesitate should you need any advises or should you have any questions, I will be happy to help!
Now my question is : should I try to get a higher score or concentrate on the rest of my applications only...(TOEFL, ESSAYS etc) What would you do ?
Again thank you for all your help, this is amazing.
note: please excuse my writing and typos, just wrote that on the fly, 'recovering' from this stressful journey
day
24 Mar 2015, 09:25
Kudos
Bookmarks
wow...amazing score! congrats.
Well I have heard that Bschools don't put that much focus on IR unless you really have a too low score. If at all you want to retake then it should not be because of IR (4 is a decent IR school I guess - it is not great but should not work against you). You should only retake if you are sure to get a 740+ score and if you think that will really make a difference to the schools you are applying to. Because a 700 is a very strong score and makes you eligible to apply any Bschool of your choice, beyond this only a strong application will help more.
I have heard people getting rejected with a 760+ score. So it is really the overall profile you have and not just the score.
Just my two cents! Wish you all the best
Well I have heard that Bschools don't put that much focus on IR unless you really have a too low score. If at all you want to retake then it should not be because of IR (4 is a decent IR school I guess - it is not great but should not work against you). You should only retake if you are sure to get a 740+ score and if you think that will really make a difference to the schools you are applying to. Because a 700 is a very strong score and makes you eligible to apply any Bschool of your choice, beyond this only a strong application will help more.
I have heard people getting rejected with a 760+ score. So it is really the overall profile you have and not just the score.
Just my two cents! Wish you all the best
25 Mar 2015, 18:27
Kudos
Bookmarks
Wow,
Congratulations on a great first attempt score! I am very impressed, "only" two weeks of study and such great improvement! I had my first attempt and completely flopped, so I've planned about 3 months of study. I'd be ecstatic if I get 700. I would probably not retake if I was you. The advice you have posted is very motivating though, so thanks for sharing. Good luck with whatever you choose to do
Congratulations on a great first attempt score! I am very impressed, "only" two weeks of study and such great improvement! I had my first attempt and completely flopped, so I've planned about 3 months of study. I'd be ecstatic if I get 700. I would probably not retake if I was you. The advice you have posted is very motivating though, so thanks for sharing. Good luck with whatever you choose to do
