Hi Folks,
This forum is really valuable to almost everyone who prepares for GMAT and so has it been for me. I always used to read the GMAT debriefs and they helped me a lot. Being done with the GMAT, I feel obliged to share my experience and learnings.
My GMAT journey started in Feb 2021 from a 670 (V31, Q49) in a GMAT Prep Mock and got over in Aug 2021 with a 750 (V40 Q51) (I hope its over, don't want to go through it again)
Journey to the first GMAT Attempt : I used @
e-gmat to prepare for Verbal and Quant and I think the course was good enough. I prepared hard for 3-4 months, in which I daily studied for ~ 5 hours (Wanted a score of 770). Verbal was my weakest suit and as it is the case with most of the Indians.
I was done with
E-GMAT's course by March end and had solved Official Guides as well. I started taking
E-GMAT Mocks after that but was able to score in the range of 720-730 only (with Verbal hovering around 37-39) in my first few
E-GMAT Mocks. I though a little more practice would take me to V42 or V41 but that's not how it works.
I solved tons of questions on GC for a month but my score didn't budge. In fact it started going down. After one month (April End) I gave another Mock and saw a V37. I was frustrated by not seeing an improvement and thought of booking a date for GMAT. I booked a test center appointment for 14th May and started giving GMAT Prep Mocks 10 days prior to that. Following were my scores:
GMAT Prep Mock 2: 750 (V40Q51) - Saw 2-3 repeat questions
GMAT Prep Mock 3: 760 (V40Q51) - Saw 2-3 repeat questions
GMAT Prep Mock 4: 730 (V37Q51)
These scores were better than
E-GMAT Mocks and just when I thought I was ready for the exam, I saw an email from Pearson, 4 days prior to my Exam, that my Exam had been cancelled because of COVID restrictions. Hurriedly I booked next available GMAT Enhanced Appointment for 25th May.
E-GMAT Course: I believe the core of my preparation was led by
E-GMAT only. The course, especially SC and CR are really well structured. The way they suggest you to solve questions, be it Prethinking or Meaning based approach is super helpful and I believe that's what actually helped me to even think of achieving a 750+ score. I was quite happy later on that someone suggested me
E-GMAT and I went ahead with it. Apart from this the main ingredient of this course is the mentorship program. I worked with DJ from
E-Gmat team and I can't still thank him enough for his guidance till the very end. In fact even after scoring a 750, I felt obliged to emailed him the very same day (My subscription of the course had expired 3 months back and I had no touch with the
E-GMAT team since then).
First GMAT Attempt (V38Q50): Having scored 730 in the latest Mock, I was really stressed out if I would be scoring 750+. I started my exam smoothly but in between I got a really tough RC, which completely derailed me. I lost significant time there because of which I panicked and screwed up my second half of Verbal section. Finally ended up scoring V38. I really felt that this online exam was way more difficult than any GMATPrep exam I had given.
After Vebal, I started Quant assuming that I would score Q51 but no, Quant was also way harder than GMAT Prep and I missed 3-4 questions in the end (In all of my GMAT Prep mocks I finished test with 15 mins to spare). I scored Q50 but for me Q51 was the target.
Felt really dejected after looking at a score of 720 (had prepared a lot). Took a few days off and gathered strength to book another appointment and try again after 20 days.
Second GMAT Attempt Preparation: Since I didnt have any ESR I assumed that RC was my weakest area and started working solely on RC. I took leaves from my office and worked even harder. I solved all of the Kaplan RC questions on GC in 10 days and attempted all of the Manhattan Mocks. Apart from this I also solved all of the GMAT Advanced material. Following were my scores in Manhattan Mocks
CAT2: V40Q48 (720)
CAT3: V38Q49 (700)
CAT4: V37Q51 (720)
CAT5:V39Q49 (720)
CAT6: V41Q50 (750)
4 days prior to the test I attempted final 2 GMATPrep Mocks and scored
GMATPrep 5: V37Q51 (730) - No repeats
GMATPrep 6: V47Q51 (780) - No repeats
I had booked a test center appointment but again 4 days prior to my exam it got cancelled. Hence had to give Online GMAT once again.
GMAT Enhanced Attempt 2 (720, Technical Error): I was really really nervous and anxious before the test and I think it really lowered my performance. First 10 questions seemed again very hard as compared to any Mock. Apart from that there was a lag in the test, in which whenever I used to click on the "Next" button I used to loose 5 seconds. Quant was again very hard and I again missed 4 questions. Finally scored 720 again (V37Q50). Felt so dejected that I almost gave up my dream to apply to M7 after that test (It is hard being an Indian Male).
It felt like I cannot score above 720 and this is my barrier. Though I lost about 4 minutes in Verbal and Quant each due to the lag in the test but I still felt that I couldn't have improved my score even if that Lag wasn't there.
Post 2 Failed Attempts: I started going out, resumed my work, started meeting my friends and started enjoying the life again. In back of my head that pain of working hard but not reaching my target was always there. I took a month and my mind got completely away from GMAT. Then I started thinking why I couldn't reach a 750+ score. I could think of 3 reasons:
1) I was super anxious before both the exams and I couldn't apply myself because of that
2) Working super hard before the tests had really drained me out and I did not approach the test with a fresh mind
3) GMAT Online is harder than any other Prep Mocks, and maybe harder than Offline version as well
After a break for a month, I decided that I would give GMAT one more time. I had promised myself that this time I will not make myself anxious, will not try to solve 100s of questions but will just try to be clear with the fundamentals and will give the exam with a fresh state of mind. I did just that:
Studied for 1-2 hours max in a day. That too for just 10-15 days. I picked up Manhattan SC guide and read it in and out. For CR I completed Bible in a week. Other than this I used to just read Economist articles and review my notes. I also gave a few Manhattan mocks and GMATPrep Mocks (repeats). In GMAT Prep I scored 780 and in Manhattan I scored in a range of 740-760 Verbal ranging from 38-45 and Q from 48-51. For Quant, I just solved Manhattan Mock questions and learnt backdoor tricks to solve a few tough questions (using options, putting values etc).
Finally 2 weeks prior to test I stopped studying altogether, not even 1-2 hours I was putting earlier. I knew that no amount of study could add much value but only reading could help. So I used to read a few Economist articles on a few days, just to stay in touch with reading. I gave my exam with no significant study in 2 weeks prior to the test. I figured out that watching movies and going out with friends helped me in keeping myself away from exam anxiety. 1 day before the test I just watched a movie and went out for a drive.
Final Attempt (Test Center) 750 - V40Q51: The Verbal was comparable with the online version. I think I ran out of time in the end and missed final 2 questions which dropped my score by 10-20 points. However Quant was way easier than the online GMAT. At one point I was nervous that I was getting many easy questions, so I must not be doing well. But ended up scoring a Q51. Finally saw my score on the screen and I was relieved to see a 750. Long battle ended finally.
Key Learnings from my Prep:1) Practicing doesnt help much in GMAT. Solving too many questions is not that useful on GMAT. Rather spend time on fundamentals and analysing already solved questions.
2) Timing is super important in GMAT. You cant front load your accuracy and then miss questions in the end. It will cost you 10-20 points. Always be prepared to skip questions in the middle. It is really difficult to execute that and I missed doing it in my test.
3) Staying fresh and relaxed before the GMAT is super important. This is just not any other test where you can be in stress and still solve questions. Here you require a lot of reading and understanding which takes a hit if you are anxious.
4) Manhattan Mocks are really good. Maybe little on harder side (especially Quant but Verbal also) but they really push you to skip questions and manage your timing. I think their algorithm is over sensitive to last 10 questions but still it forces you towards right habits.
5) GMAT Prep Mocks are not real indicator of difficulty level of GMAT. I gave the exam thrice and I still feel that GMAT Prep is much easier.
6)
E-GMAT's SC course is really good but I still found that Manhattan SC guide complements it and cant be missed.
How I got Refund from GMAT for my second Enhanced GMAT Attempt: There are many students who faced lag in their online GMAT attempt. So did I. I rarely found many who got a refund or retest voucher against that attempt. I sent an email to GMAC and rigorously followed up on email. Finally after 20 days I got a reply from them and they actually refunded my money, which I used to book my test center appointment. If you face this issue, please email it to them and keep following up. It is a costly exam and a candidate deserve a fair attempt or a refund.