Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Apr 2711:00 AM EDT
-12:00 PM EDT
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors
Apr 2808:00 AM PDT
-11:00 AM PDT
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.
13 Aug 2021, 09:19
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi everyone,
This is my first post here on GMAT Club and I decided to write this post because this website was really useful to me, and maybe someone will relate to my experience and find this post useful. I get really nervous when taking important tests like this, so know that if you do too you're not alone.
I'll try to provide details about my background, goals, materials used, prep experience and scores.
For those who want a TLDR version, the best advice I can give is that through my experience GMAT is 60% content and 40% strategy - I had a really hard time internalizing this. I used to feel like I had to be able to solve everything, and obviously this impacted my score a lot. I went from 610 to 710 in 2 weeks on the official exam by adjusting my timing strategy errors. I'll write more about this below.
This post will be divided into the following sections:
[1] Background and goals
[2] My anxiety and worries - how I handled it
[3] Materials used
[4] The journey - prep and scores
[1] Background and goals:
I'm from South America, work in strategy consulting, have around 4,5 years work experience and graduated in economics. My goal is to get into a top 10 school, and I had a goal of getting at least a 720 on the GMAT. I got my 710 (Q46, V41) yesterday and to be honest I was so relived that I broke the 700 mark but a little sad that I didn't get my 720. I'm still deciding if I'm going to do a retry again or just go ahead with the 710, I'm really exhausted from studying and just want this part to be over - but I'll manage to pull myself together and study more if that's what I decide.
[2] My anxiety and worries - how I handled it
This section is the one I most wanted to write about and what led me to write this post really. A lot of people get nervous or anxious. Sometimes people get a little anxious and sometimes people have serious problems with anxiety. Nothing to be ashamed about, you just have to understand how to deal with it. Personally, I guess I'm a little anxious overall, but not too much. As test day approached however, I was really getting worried and on test day the anxiety really hindered my performance.
One whole week before the test I wasn't sleeping well. I tried but just couldn't. My mind was worried and I was constantly thinking about the GMAT everyday. What if I don't do well? What if I'm not capable? Might seem silly but even the smallest negatives thoughts can have an effect on your psyche. I was trying to reduce my anxiety by studying more during the week to see if it calmed me - in reality it didn't.
I took the official exam on July 29th and scored a 610 - I was really expecting to do better and felt so embarrassed by the score that I canceled it. During the test I was really scared of getting questions wrong. My mind kept thinking: don't get a question wrong or else the algorithm will destroy your chances. I got nervous doing questions, lost track of time. I literally had to guess the last 10 questions on Quant because of time. Went into the second section of the test (Verbal), and was already totally demotivated. I managed time really bad again and didn't even manage to finish, the test ended with like 4 or 5 questions that I didn't even guess.
I left the test center destroyed. I felt awful. I do however think that pain can be a strong motivator for change, and I'm not really one who dwells on the past much. The following day I scheduled a retake for 2 weeks later. I had to schedule the online version because there were no available test center options. I decided that I was going to take the whole two weeks off and focus 100% on my test. I was going to get the 720 that I was aiming for, I don't care if I got a 610, I knew that I had it in me.
First I decided that I was going to diagnose why I performed so poorly. Maybe I wasn't as prepared as I thought, but I knew that I could do better than a 610. I had prepared for a while after all. I really thought it through, and came up with the issues below that hindered me or things that I would have to do differently. If I didn't try things differently then these next two weeks would be a waste. I remember I thought about what someone mentioned to me once, that Einstein said that insanity was doing something the same way and expecting different results. Don't know if he really said this, but I was determined that I had to do things differently.
Issues:
- Test Mindset: Now this might seem really basic, but I had to get that 610 for it to sink in. I had a really hard time to adjust to the idea that you don't have to be able to solve everything - just let go of that question if you can't do it fast, you can still get a high score. I was terrified that I would get questions wrong and the algorithm would punish my score, and I really just felt bad not solving a question. This in turn hugely impacted my score.
The way I changed my approach was by putting put it in my head that the way I was currently doing the test wasn't working, so I was gonna test a different approach: imagine this is a game and you want to get a high score. Learn the rules, test different approaches and find out how to do well in the game. Instead of being worried about the algorithm and getting things wrong, I was simply going to look a question, breathe for 5 seconds, solve it if I was sure and if I didn't know I would just skip it as fast as possible, no regrets. I used 2 Manhattan Prep CATs to test this. The first one I took was using my old approach of being worried and trying to solve everything. Got a Q39. Then on the next Manhattan CAT I took the other approach, just skip it if you don't know and focus on what you are sure. My score went up to Q46. I know the score isn't brilliant but wow, a 7 point difference.
I would get really worried about things like I have to get the first 10 questions right, I can't get two questions wrong in a row, etc.. These are all good points, but if you're anxious like me thinking about these things will just put more pressure on you. The way I freed myself from the pressure was by deciding that I wasn't going to care. I'm not going to worry about getting most of the first questions right, I'm not going to worry about getting questions wrong in a row, about guessing two questions in a row. I'm just going to show up and solve what I can. If I have to guess 3 questions in a row, so be it. For me adopting this mindset really helped me.
- Confidence & Speed: Probably the best way to be confident overall is seeing good results. If you're destroying on your CATs, you'll arrive on test day with more confidence. This wasn't really my case so I had to work with what I could in two weeks. I decided that my major gaps were in Quant (I never really managed a high score), Sentence Correction (I would lose a lot of time on SC, I would do CR faster than SC) and my overall test speed. If I could improve these three things I would be much more confident.
I purchased the GMAT Club Tests, only managed to take like 5 tests during the two week period (got scores between 38-44). Really wish I had done this sooner. Just doing these 5 tests really made me more confident and faster in Quant. I had access to Wiley's platform as well since I had purchased the OG and I practiced doing SC questions in 1 minute. I would lose a lot of time os SC, always in doubt between choices. I would second guess my choice, even if it was right and I would get confused with grammar rules or overlook errors that I was capable of identifying. I would try and spot grammar issues and sometimes overlook meaning. The best approach for me was always read for meaning first! I usually could eliminate a few wrongs alternatives just by reading for meaning. Then I would pick off the rest looking for grammar issues. If I got stuck or didn't know I would just go with my gut and choose what I thought was right. I put it in my head that It's one minute or less with SC and wasn't going to keep thinking about it. This approach helped me as well.
Also, both on quant and verbal, I decided to always pause and breathe for 5 seconds after reading and before trying to solve. This was very good. I managed to be able to think about the solution and decide if I was going to try or just guess and move on. If I felt like I wasn't gonna be able to solve it or that it would take long or that it was a topic I just wasn't good at, I would skip it and gain time for questions that I can solve.
I took Manhattan Prep CATs during these two weeks and 1 official mock test. My scores from Manhattan Prep were between 650 and 680, but I didn't give much thought to these scores since they are not official. I was more worried about testing my timing. The official mock I took like 4 or 5 days before retaking the official exam. I was pretty scared to take this mock, but decided that I was going to apply the skills I practiced during these last few days. Scored a 710, which made me happy, just breaking the 700 mark was a motivation for me. I was planning on taking 1 more official mock before test day but decided not to, if I went worse it just would have made me more worried.
- Rested Mind and Relaxed Body: The days before my first official test I was a train wreck, not sleeping well, etc.. When I got there at the test center I was really tired and worried. I studied until the day before my test and I think this really was counterproductive, it didn't allow my mind to arrive rested and focused.
I decided that during these next 2 weeks I would lay down everyday in bed at 21:30 and get at least 8hrs sleep. Wow, don't remember the last time I went to bed so early but this was a great idea. At first I would roll around in bed and not sleep, but I started using the Headspace app to do some guided meditations that helped me fall asleep. Really recommend this if you're having issues sleeping.
I decided to exercise every single day as well. I enjoy running, so I went running everyday. Even on test day for the retake, I went on a jog before the test to get pumped. This was good for me.
The days before my second official test I also decided to study less and just chill. It was hard, but as the test approached I noticed that the more I studied, the more anxious I became. The reason was that I would see gaps that I had when I got questions wrong and this would just make me more worried. As test day approached I started studying a little less each day. On the day before test day I decided that I would just review some errors I got on previous CATs. I started reviewing some errors at 9am but by 12 I was already exhausted and noticed that seeing these mistakes was just making me more anxious. I decided to stop and do nothing else GMAT related. I should have just taken the whole day off from studying. If you get anxious, I really recommend not studying the day before your test. Might seem counterproductive but you'll be more refreshed on test day.
- Test Day Tips: I did my retake on the online version, because there were no available appoints in a test center. This turned out to be nice, doing the test in my environment was really more comfortable for me. If you get nervous, I think this might be a good option for you as well.
My test was at 11 am. I woke up at 8, had breakfast, went for a jog and then a shower. By 9:30 I was done with my shower. I meditated for like 20 minutes, until around 10. From 10-10:30 I did 10 quick easy quant questions and 5 CR. This was a good quick warm up.
During the test I was always trying to focus only on the question in front of me, always actively reading the question and pausing for 5 sec after reading. This was good to focus on what I really needed to solve. If I didn't know it I would just guess quickly and not waste time.
Once you finish a section, don't think about it. Focus on the next one. I started my retake with Quant. When I finished Quant I felt like I didn't do really well.. I had to rush a bit towards the end and I got 3 combinatorics/probability questions, which was the subject I knew the least. I took my break and went to the bathroom. Washed my face with cold water, drank some orange juice and erased quant from my mind. I would feel sorry for myself after the test if I didn't do well, but not now.
Practice your AWA before the test, there are various templates around. I felt like my essay was horrible, I didn't really write much.. maybe 200-250 words. I wrote 4 paragraphs total, 1 intro, 2 points and 1 conclusion. Ended up getting a score 5, which is fine. I got a little nervous and couldn't come up with points about the topic at the time and even though I didn't write much, my writing was structured because I practiced like 5 or 6 times. If you get nervous practice your AWA so that when push comes to shove you can just autopilot a few structured sentences and phrases.
[3] Materials used:
- Official Guide 2021
- Official Guide Verbal and Quant Review 2021
Well, there's really no way to get around owning the Official Guide in my opinion. Especially because of Verbal, the quality is just on another level from everything out there.
- Manhattan Prep Fundamentals of Math
- Manhattan Prep All the Verbal (only used the Sentence Correction Chapters)
Manhattan prep fundamentals of math is free in ebook format and a great starting point if you're really weak on math (which was my case) or need to refresh the basics. I bought the Manhattan Prep Verbal book but only for the SC chapters. I thought the quality of the SC chapters were good, I can't attest for the parts relating to RC and CR.
- GMAT Club Math Tests
- Manhattan Prep Mocks and Official mocks
I really wished I had used GMAT Club Maths tests earlier - I've only used them for the last 2 weeks. I'm confident that if I had used them for 4 week I could have scored much higher. The quality and level is superb and really gets you ready for the pressure of the GMAT. That being said, I wouldn't rely only on GMAT Club tests, I have the feeling that the GMAT Club tests focus a lot more on math skills (probably by design) and both times I took the GMAT I felt it was more focused on logic and reasoning applying the math. If you used GMAT Club + OG then you have enough to shine on the actual test.
I got some Manhattan mocks with the purchase of the book, I thought they were pretty good for timing strategy, but a little different than the actual GMAT. Still, I think its a great resource for practice.
[4] The journey - prep and scores:
Going into the preparation for my GMAT journey I knew it would be hard, but to be honest I underestimated the difficulty a little. I work in strategy consulting and a lot of people get high scores and today I really admire both those who manage to get a high score with little prep and those who get a high score with a lot of effort - seriously, congrats if you got a score high enough for the schools you want. If you didn't yet, don't give up!
The beginning
I started my actual prep in mid April 2021. I decided not to take a mock in the beginning because I only wanted to take a mock after I covered all the basics. Given the adaptive nature of the test I really didn't see a point in taking a mock early on. I don't regret this decision.
I studied pretty much everyday, usually mixing some math and verbal. I preferred doing both at the same time as opposed to 1 at a time simply because it was lighter this way for me. Focusing on only 1 thing tires me more and I get a little anxious because I worry that my knowledge in one section might be getting worse. I was using only official guide material.
Going into this I thought that my quant skills were pretty good and boy was I wrong. Around the end of April I had to stop doing OG for quant and had to roll back to a more basic approach. I saw that Manhattan Prep's Fundamentals of Math was free in e-book format and decided to give it a go. I did the whole book in about 7-10 days and I'm really glad I did, it really brushed up the basics that I was missing. After this book I switched back to OG.
Regarding Verbal, even though I'm a foreign student the Verbal part was actually easier for me. I'm an avid reader and I guess this really helped because RC and CR are two things I feel confident in. Sentence Correction on the other hand is something I really have a hard time with and quite frankly I hate studying SC. I had to put a lot of effort to reach a medium level on SC, whereas RC and CR I didn't really have to put too much effort into.
So I studied math and verbal like this until more or less the first week of June, which is when I took my first mock.
- Mock 1: Official GMAT Practice Test 1 - 660 (Q46, V36)
Around the first week of June I took the official GMAT Mock. I was kinda let down that I got below a 700 after 2 months of studying. I was pretty surprised because I didn't put too much effort in Verbal but I put a lot in Quant and got 46, which I guess is just average. I was planning on taking the real test at the end of June but decided to schedule towards the end of July because of this 660.
By going though my errors, I noticed that I was getting a lot of silly mistakes on Quant, most of the things I got wrong I felt like I knew how to solve. In retrospect my biggest problem here managing my time, which in June I didn't really think much about. I had to guess like 5 questions in the end. In Verbal I was destroying RC and CR, but was getting almost all SC correction wrong. I felt like this was ok since SC is easier to improve IMO, but still I was shocked at how much I pretty much sucked at SC. My timing in Verbal was so-so, I was guessing like 2 questions at the end.
I decided to buy the Manhattan Prep books for the practice tests and for the chapters relating to SC, since I heard they were pretty good.
- Mock 2: Old Paper GMAT Test - 700 (Don't have the breakdown of what V and Q was, but I remember I improved in Verbal and pretty much maintained Quant)
Took an old paper mock and scored 700, felt like this was an improvement but didn't feel too confident since it was the old GMAT format. Still, was a good practice. I felt like I did better on the test, but felt that it was easier (maybe since its not a CAT). I managed to improve my SC, got around 60%-70% of them right, which for me was a major boost considering I was getting them all wrong.
- Mock 3: Official GMAT Practice Test 2 - 760 (Q49, V44)
Took this around the end of June. WOW! I remember when I was doing this mock I was feeling great during it. I felt like I was nailing quant and did reasonably well in Verbal, didn't expect to get the score I got. I was a bit skeptical but thought that maybe I was around the 700-720 level. The reason I got the 49 in quant was because the stars aligned and I got questions I knew how to solve. A little more luck than skill. Also, I guessed maybe 4 Verbal questions at the end because of time and 3 or 4 quant at the end.
So this was my third mock and I was still not finishing on time and having to guess towards the last few questions. Now I see that because my scores were improving I didn't give it much thought, but this was a big mistake on my part.
- Mock 4: Official GMAT Practice Test 5 - 680 (Q44, V40)
Took this around the second week of July (my test was on July 29th). Felt really bummed out that my score dropped so much, but the reason behind this was because I still had the wrong mindset. I was scared of getting questions wrong, spent too much time trying solve them and ultimately would have to guess too many questions towards the end of the Quant section.
- Mock 5: Official GMAT Practice Test 6 - 620 (Q42, V34)
OUCH! This was 2 days before my official gmat exam. Taking this mock was a bad idea, I had a really terrible headache that day and the apartment under mine was having a party so it was kinda noisy and distracting me. I was also really feeling the pressure of the test approaching, I would freeze on certain questions and was afraid of getting things wrong and the algorithm only giving me easy questions that would ruin my chances.
- Official Test at Test Center (July 29th) - 610 (don't even remember Q/V)
So this was a personal fiasco for me. Wrote about it up top at the beginning of the post, so won't repeat. Scheduled a retake for 2 weeks later determined to get at least a 720.
- Mock 6,7,8: Manhattan Prep CATs - Scores Ranging from 650 - 680
Took these cats to improve my timing, they really helped in that regard.
- Mock 9: Official GMAT Practice Test 4 - 710 (Q49, V37)
Really felt like I handled quant well. The verbal score was lower than what I really thought was my level, but was happy with the quant score. I really put effort into quant so was glad to see the 49.
-Official Test Online Version (August 12th) - 710 (Q46, V41, IR 6 AWA 5)
I reached over 700, thankfully. Would have been really disappointed with myself if I didn't. Feel a little bummed that I didn't get the 720, and especially at getting a 46 in quant because I really was thinking that I was gonna get a 48 or 49. Alas, got 3 comb/probability questions (which I'm not very good at) and I was expecting to get like 1 at most.
They corrected my AWA in less than 24 hours, seriously, I took the test yesterday and today in the morning I had the score.
I'm on the wall with my score because of the low quant, but I'm also kinda tired of studying. Might retake or not, still haven't decided.
Hope that reading about someones experience has helped you in some way.
Good luck
This is my first post here on GMAT Club and I decided to write this post because this website was really useful to me, and maybe someone will relate to my experience and find this post useful. I get really nervous when taking important tests like this, so know that if you do too you're not alone.
I'll try to provide details about my background, goals, materials used, prep experience and scores.
For those who want a TLDR version, the best advice I can give is that through my experience GMAT is 60% content and 40% strategy - I had a really hard time internalizing this. I used to feel like I had to be able to solve everything, and obviously this impacted my score a lot. I went from 610 to 710 in 2 weeks on the official exam by adjusting my timing strategy errors. I'll write more about this below.
This post will be divided into the following sections:
[1] Background and goals
[2] My anxiety and worries - how I handled it
[3] Materials used
[4] The journey - prep and scores
[1] Background and goals:
I'm from South America, work in strategy consulting, have around 4,5 years work experience and graduated in economics. My goal is to get into a top 10 school, and I had a goal of getting at least a 720 on the GMAT. I got my 710 (Q46, V41) yesterday and to be honest I was so relived that I broke the 700 mark but a little sad that I didn't get my 720. I'm still deciding if I'm going to do a retry again or just go ahead with the 710, I'm really exhausted from studying and just want this part to be over - but I'll manage to pull myself together and study more if that's what I decide.
[2] My anxiety and worries - how I handled it
This section is the one I most wanted to write about and what led me to write this post really. A lot of people get nervous or anxious. Sometimes people get a little anxious and sometimes people have serious problems with anxiety. Nothing to be ashamed about, you just have to understand how to deal with it. Personally, I guess I'm a little anxious overall, but not too much. As test day approached however, I was really getting worried and on test day the anxiety really hindered my performance.
One whole week before the test I wasn't sleeping well. I tried but just couldn't. My mind was worried and I was constantly thinking about the GMAT everyday. What if I don't do well? What if I'm not capable? Might seem silly but even the smallest negatives thoughts can have an effect on your psyche. I was trying to reduce my anxiety by studying more during the week to see if it calmed me - in reality it didn't.
I took the official exam on July 29th and scored a 610 - I was really expecting to do better and felt so embarrassed by the score that I canceled it. During the test I was really scared of getting questions wrong. My mind kept thinking: don't get a question wrong or else the algorithm will destroy your chances. I got nervous doing questions, lost track of time. I literally had to guess the last 10 questions on Quant because of time. Went into the second section of the test (Verbal), and was already totally demotivated. I managed time really bad again and didn't even manage to finish, the test ended with like 4 or 5 questions that I didn't even guess.
I left the test center destroyed. I felt awful. I do however think that pain can be a strong motivator for change, and I'm not really one who dwells on the past much. The following day I scheduled a retake for 2 weeks later. I had to schedule the online version because there were no available test center options. I decided that I was going to take the whole two weeks off and focus 100% on my test. I was going to get the 720 that I was aiming for, I don't care if I got a 610, I knew that I had it in me.
First I decided that I was going to diagnose why I performed so poorly. Maybe I wasn't as prepared as I thought, but I knew that I could do better than a 610. I had prepared for a while after all. I really thought it through, and came up with the issues below that hindered me or things that I would have to do differently. If I didn't try things differently then these next two weeks would be a waste. I remember I thought about what someone mentioned to me once, that Einstein said that insanity was doing something the same way and expecting different results. Don't know if he really said this, but I was determined that I had to do things differently.
Issues:
- Test Mindset: Now this might seem really basic, but I had to get that 610 for it to sink in. I had a really hard time to adjust to the idea that you don't have to be able to solve everything - just let go of that question if you can't do it fast, you can still get a high score. I was terrified that I would get questions wrong and the algorithm would punish my score, and I really just felt bad not solving a question. This in turn hugely impacted my score.
The way I changed my approach was by putting put it in my head that the way I was currently doing the test wasn't working, so I was gonna test a different approach: imagine this is a game and you want to get a high score. Learn the rules, test different approaches and find out how to do well in the game. Instead of being worried about the algorithm and getting things wrong, I was simply going to look a question, breathe for 5 seconds, solve it if I was sure and if I didn't know I would just skip it as fast as possible, no regrets. I used 2 Manhattan Prep CATs to test this. The first one I took was using my old approach of being worried and trying to solve everything. Got a Q39. Then on the next Manhattan CAT I took the other approach, just skip it if you don't know and focus on what you are sure. My score went up to Q46. I know the score isn't brilliant but wow, a 7 point difference.
I would get really worried about things like I have to get the first 10 questions right, I can't get two questions wrong in a row, etc.. These are all good points, but if you're anxious like me thinking about these things will just put more pressure on you. The way I freed myself from the pressure was by deciding that I wasn't going to care. I'm not going to worry about getting most of the first questions right, I'm not going to worry about getting questions wrong in a row, about guessing two questions in a row. I'm just going to show up and solve what I can. If I have to guess 3 questions in a row, so be it. For me adopting this mindset really helped me.
- Confidence & Speed: Probably the best way to be confident overall is seeing good results. If you're destroying on your CATs, you'll arrive on test day with more confidence. This wasn't really my case so I had to work with what I could in two weeks. I decided that my major gaps were in Quant (I never really managed a high score), Sentence Correction (I would lose a lot of time on SC, I would do CR faster than SC) and my overall test speed. If I could improve these three things I would be much more confident.
I purchased the GMAT Club Tests, only managed to take like 5 tests during the two week period (got scores between 38-44). Really wish I had done this sooner. Just doing these 5 tests really made me more confident and faster in Quant. I had access to Wiley's platform as well since I had purchased the OG and I practiced doing SC questions in 1 minute. I would lose a lot of time os SC, always in doubt between choices. I would second guess my choice, even if it was right and I would get confused with grammar rules or overlook errors that I was capable of identifying. I would try and spot grammar issues and sometimes overlook meaning. The best approach for me was always read for meaning first! I usually could eliminate a few wrongs alternatives just by reading for meaning. Then I would pick off the rest looking for grammar issues. If I got stuck or didn't know I would just go with my gut and choose what I thought was right. I put it in my head that It's one minute or less with SC and wasn't going to keep thinking about it. This approach helped me as well.
Also, both on quant and verbal, I decided to always pause and breathe for 5 seconds after reading and before trying to solve. This was very good. I managed to be able to think about the solution and decide if I was going to try or just guess and move on. If I felt like I wasn't gonna be able to solve it or that it would take long or that it was a topic I just wasn't good at, I would skip it and gain time for questions that I can solve.
I took Manhattan Prep CATs during these two weeks and 1 official mock test. My scores from Manhattan Prep were between 650 and 680, but I didn't give much thought to these scores since they are not official. I was more worried about testing my timing. The official mock I took like 4 or 5 days before retaking the official exam. I was pretty scared to take this mock, but decided that I was going to apply the skills I practiced during these last few days. Scored a 710, which made me happy, just breaking the 700 mark was a motivation for me. I was planning on taking 1 more official mock before test day but decided not to, if I went worse it just would have made me more worried.
- Rested Mind and Relaxed Body: The days before my first official test I was a train wreck, not sleeping well, etc.. When I got there at the test center I was really tired and worried. I studied until the day before my test and I think this really was counterproductive, it didn't allow my mind to arrive rested and focused.
I decided that during these next 2 weeks I would lay down everyday in bed at 21:30 and get at least 8hrs sleep. Wow, don't remember the last time I went to bed so early but this was a great idea. At first I would roll around in bed and not sleep, but I started using the Headspace app to do some guided meditations that helped me fall asleep. Really recommend this if you're having issues sleeping.
I decided to exercise every single day as well. I enjoy running, so I went running everyday. Even on test day for the retake, I went on a jog before the test to get pumped. This was good for me.
The days before my second official test I also decided to study less and just chill. It was hard, but as the test approached I noticed that the more I studied, the more anxious I became. The reason was that I would see gaps that I had when I got questions wrong and this would just make me more worried. As test day approached I started studying a little less each day. On the day before test day I decided that I would just review some errors I got on previous CATs. I started reviewing some errors at 9am but by 12 I was already exhausted and noticed that seeing these mistakes was just making me more anxious. I decided to stop and do nothing else GMAT related. I should have just taken the whole day off from studying. If you get anxious, I really recommend not studying the day before your test. Might seem counterproductive but you'll be more refreshed on test day.
- Test Day Tips: I did my retake on the online version, because there were no available appoints in a test center. This turned out to be nice, doing the test in my environment was really more comfortable for me. If you get nervous, I think this might be a good option for you as well.
My test was at 11 am. I woke up at 8, had breakfast, went for a jog and then a shower. By 9:30 I was done with my shower. I meditated for like 20 minutes, until around 10. From 10-10:30 I did 10 quick easy quant questions and 5 CR. This was a good quick warm up.
During the test I was always trying to focus only on the question in front of me, always actively reading the question and pausing for 5 sec after reading. This was good to focus on what I really needed to solve. If I didn't know it I would just guess quickly and not waste time.
Once you finish a section, don't think about it. Focus on the next one. I started my retake with Quant. When I finished Quant I felt like I didn't do really well.. I had to rush a bit towards the end and I got 3 combinatorics/probability questions, which was the subject I knew the least. I took my break and went to the bathroom. Washed my face with cold water, drank some orange juice and erased quant from my mind. I would feel sorry for myself after the test if I didn't do well, but not now.
Practice your AWA before the test, there are various templates around. I felt like my essay was horrible, I didn't really write much.. maybe 200-250 words. I wrote 4 paragraphs total, 1 intro, 2 points and 1 conclusion. Ended up getting a score 5, which is fine. I got a little nervous and couldn't come up with points about the topic at the time and even though I didn't write much, my writing was structured because I practiced like 5 or 6 times. If you get nervous practice your AWA so that when push comes to shove you can just autopilot a few structured sentences and phrases.
[3] Materials used:
- Official Guide 2021
- Official Guide Verbal and Quant Review 2021
Well, there's really no way to get around owning the Official Guide in my opinion. Especially because of Verbal, the quality is just on another level from everything out there.
- Manhattan Prep Fundamentals of Math
- Manhattan Prep All the Verbal (only used the Sentence Correction Chapters)
Manhattan prep fundamentals of math is free in ebook format and a great starting point if you're really weak on math (which was my case) or need to refresh the basics. I bought the Manhattan Prep Verbal book but only for the SC chapters. I thought the quality of the SC chapters were good, I can't attest for the parts relating to RC and CR.
- GMAT Club Math Tests
- Manhattan Prep Mocks and Official mocks
I really wished I had used GMAT Club Maths tests earlier - I've only used them for the last 2 weeks. I'm confident that if I had used them for 4 week I could have scored much higher. The quality and level is superb and really gets you ready for the pressure of the GMAT. That being said, I wouldn't rely only on GMAT Club tests, I have the feeling that the GMAT Club tests focus a lot more on math skills (probably by design) and both times I took the GMAT I felt it was more focused on logic and reasoning applying the math. If you used GMAT Club + OG then you have enough to shine on the actual test.
I got some Manhattan mocks with the purchase of the book, I thought they were pretty good for timing strategy, but a little different than the actual GMAT. Still, I think its a great resource for practice.
[4] The journey - prep and scores:
Going into the preparation for my GMAT journey I knew it would be hard, but to be honest I underestimated the difficulty a little. I work in strategy consulting and a lot of people get high scores and today I really admire both those who manage to get a high score with little prep and those who get a high score with a lot of effort - seriously, congrats if you got a score high enough for the schools you want. If you didn't yet, don't give up!
The beginning
I started my actual prep in mid April 2021. I decided not to take a mock in the beginning because I only wanted to take a mock after I covered all the basics. Given the adaptive nature of the test I really didn't see a point in taking a mock early on. I don't regret this decision.
I studied pretty much everyday, usually mixing some math and verbal. I preferred doing both at the same time as opposed to 1 at a time simply because it was lighter this way for me. Focusing on only 1 thing tires me more and I get a little anxious because I worry that my knowledge in one section might be getting worse. I was using only official guide material.
Going into this I thought that my quant skills were pretty good and boy was I wrong. Around the end of April I had to stop doing OG for quant and had to roll back to a more basic approach. I saw that Manhattan Prep's Fundamentals of Math was free in e-book format and decided to give it a go. I did the whole book in about 7-10 days and I'm really glad I did, it really brushed up the basics that I was missing. After this book I switched back to OG.
Regarding Verbal, even though I'm a foreign student the Verbal part was actually easier for me. I'm an avid reader and I guess this really helped because RC and CR are two things I feel confident in. Sentence Correction on the other hand is something I really have a hard time with and quite frankly I hate studying SC. I had to put a lot of effort to reach a medium level on SC, whereas RC and CR I didn't really have to put too much effort into.
So I studied math and verbal like this until more or less the first week of June, which is when I took my first mock.
- Mock 1: Official GMAT Practice Test 1 - 660 (Q46, V36)
Around the first week of June I took the official GMAT Mock. I was kinda let down that I got below a 700 after 2 months of studying. I was pretty surprised because I didn't put too much effort in Verbal but I put a lot in Quant and got 46, which I guess is just average. I was planning on taking the real test at the end of June but decided to schedule towards the end of July because of this 660.
By going though my errors, I noticed that I was getting a lot of silly mistakes on Quant, most of the things I got wrong I felt like I knew how to solve. In retrospect my biggest problem here managing my time, which in June I didn't really think much about. I had to guess like 5 questions in the end. In Verbal I was destroying RC and CR, but was getting almost all SC correction wrong. I felt like this was ok since SC is easier to improve IMO, but still I was shocked at how much I pretty much sucked at SC. My timing in Verbal was so-so, I was guessing like 2 questions at the end.
I decided to buy the Manhattan Prep books for the practice tests and for the chapters relating to SC, since I heard they were pretty good.
- Mock 2: Old Paper GMAT Test - 700 (Don't have the breakdown of what V and Q was, but I remember I improved in Verbal and pretty much maintained Quant)
Took an old paper mock and scored 700, felt like this was an improvement but didn't feel too confident since it was the old GMAT format. Still, was a good practice. I felt like I did better on the test, but felt that it was easier (maybe since its not a CAT). I managed to improve my SC, got around 60%-70% of them right, which for me was a major boost considering I was getting them all wrong.
- Mock 3: Official GMAT Practice Test 2 - 760 (Q49, V44)
Took this around the end of June. WOW! I remember when I was doing this mock I was feeling great during it. I felt like I was nailing quant and did reasonably well in Verbal, didn't expect to get the score I got. I was a bit skeptical but thought that maybe I was around the 700-720 level. The reason I got the 49 in quant was because the stars aligned and I got questions I knew how to solve. A little more luck than skill. Also, I guessed maybe 4 Verbal questions at the end because of time and 3 or 4 quant at the end.
So this was my third mock and I was still not finishing on time and having to guess towards the last few questions. Now I see that because my scores were improving I didn't give it much thought, but this was a big mistake on my part.
- Mock 4: Official GMAT Practice Test 5 - 680 (Q44, V40)
Took this around the second week of July (my test was on July 29th). Felt really bummed out that my score dropped so much, but the reason behind this was because I still had the wrong mindset. I was scared of getting questions wrong, spent too much time trying solve them and ultimately would have to guess too many questions towards the end of the Quant section.
- Mock 5: Official GMAT Practice Test 6 - 620 (Q42, V34)
OUCH! This was 2 days before my official gmat exam. Taking this mock was a bad idea, I had a really terrible headache that day and the apartment under mine was having a party so it was kinda noisy and distracting me. I was also really feeling the pressure of the test approaching, I would freeze on certain questions and was afraid of getting things wrong and the algorithm only giving me easy questions that would ruin my chances.
- Official Test at Test Center (July 29th) - 610 (don't even remember Q/V)
So this was a personal fiasco for me. Wrote about it up top at the beginning of the post, so won't repeat. Scheduled a retake for 2 weeks later determined to get at least a 720.
- Mock 6,7,8: Manhattan Prep CATs - Scores Ranging from 650 - 680
Took these cats to improve my timing, they really helped in that regard.
- Mock 9: Official GMAT Practice Test 4 - 710 (Q49, V37)
Really felt like I handled quant well. The verbal score was lower than what I really thought was my level, but was happy with the quant score. I really put effort into quant so was glad to see the 49.
-Official Test Online Version (August 12th) - 710 (Q46, V41, IR 6 AWA 5)
I reached over 700, thankfully. Would have been really disappointed with myself if I didn't. Feel a little bummed that I didn't get the 720, and especially at getting a 46 in quant because I really was thinking that I was gonna get a 48 or 49. Alas, got 3 comb/probability questions (which I'm not very good at) and I was expecting to get like 1 at most.
They corrected my AWA in less than 24 hours, seriously, I took the test yesterday and today in the morning I had the score.
I'm on the wall with my score because of the low quant, but I'm also kinda tired of studying. Might retake or not, still haven't decided.
Hope that reading about someones experience has helped you in some way.
Good luck
Yogananda
Joined: 26 Jan 2020
Last visit: 06 Oct 2025
Posts: 252
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 166
Location: India
Concentration: Technology, Strategy
Schools: IIML IPMX'25 (A)
GPA: 4
WE:Information Technology (Computer Software)
13 Aug 2021, 12:04
Kudos
Bookmarks
13 Aug 2021, 20:23
Kudos
Bookmarks
Congratulations and well done for the score and, more than that, for your approach and attitude 🙂
And thank you for an excellent debrief. It has so many major and minor lessons for all test takers. For example, the point about "always read for meaning first" in SC.
Posted from my mobile device
And thank you for an excellent debrief. It has so many major and minor lessons for all test takers. For example, the point about "always read for meaning first" in SC.
Posted from my mobile device
