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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.
02 Jul 2014, 10:37
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The decision to do MBA was taken by me in 2012. I wrote CAT and XAT (the top Indian MBA entrance exams, also among the toughest in the world) with the slightest of preparations and got pretty decent scores ( 99.75 percentile). Unfortunately Indian b-schools take your schools scores into account hence i failed to convert any college.
So in January 2014 i decided to write GMAT and expand my horizons. I had no idea of GMAT or what was the application process for schools abroad. In Indian b-schools it's a different process altogether bereft of LORs or essays. So I was pretty lost.
Google was my best friend and i did a bit of research. Then i decided to get around to GMAT. I found a coaching centre that was closest to my house (12 k.m) and enrolled by mid Feb. It was a 10 week course. 6 hours per weekend. They also provided a 'red book' (easy questions), OG (intermediate level questions) and a blue book (tough questions)
Here's my progression in those 10 weeks (please note i DID NOT study at home. At all. Everything i did was in the 6-8 hours i spent at the coaching centre every weekend)
Week3:
The math classes were pretty boring since i had already written CAT and XAT which had WAY tougher maths. I ended up finishing 'red book' questions in 3-4 classes. My faculty put me in an advance group so i wouldnt get bored.
Week 5:
Took first mock test. The mock tests didnt give sclaed scores but instead just mentioned how many questions were right. Got 30 correct out of 37 in Quants and 31 out of 41 in Verbal.
Week 6:
Realised (after a discussion with the faculty) that my poor profile would have to be compensated by a fantastic score. Decided my goal was a 750 and nothing lower than that.
Week9:
Finished most of OG. By now i knew that Data sufficiency was my weak spot in Quants and S.C in verbal.
Week 10:
Started on AWA. Spent 2 days on it and then forgot about it.
Week11:
Wrote GMAC tests 3 and 4 (the ones you have to pay for). Got 730 and 710.I wasnt satisfied with my scores since i knew the GMAC tests were pretty simple and i should have scored higher.
Next 3 weeks i wrote 3-4 more tests and after each tests sat for an hour with the faculties and discusses the mistakes.
D-Day arrives-
Week 15:
Was due to write the GMAT on saturday. Spent most of the week chilling. Wrote a mock test on thursday. Got only 710 again but I didnt let it demotivate me. Friday i went out with friends. Returned late at night.
Saturday morning i woke up early, quickly went through my old tests and went over my mistakes. Listened to music on way to centre to keep me calm. At the centre after registeration they made us wait for 20 nerve wracking minutes. While other candidates kept revising their notes i played games on my phone to keep my mind relaxed.
After 20 minutes we were lead to exam hall.
AWA- Wrote decently well. Gave three points to show why the argument was inadequate. Told how the arguement could be made stronger. Unfortunately couldnt spell check as i ran out of time.
IR- Breezed through first two questions. Got stuck on third due to massive calculations. Wasted 10 minutes. Realised my mistake and made a quick educated guess and moved on. I reached the second last question when the timer showed 45 seconds left. Quickly made educated guesses for the last two questions as the clock struck zero.
By this time I Was sweating and shaking since i thought i had messed up the entire IR section. I knew i had to calm myself down so i took the optional break. I went out drank water, walked around a bit to calm myself down. Only when i was sure that my heart beat had returned ot normal i went back inside.
Quants- I was determined not to mess up this section. I was told to ensure that the first 5 questions are correct as this affects your final score. Infact the first few questions were so easy that i can say with 100% certainity that my first 15 or so questions were correct. But then the questions started getting tougher and my certainty level started decreasing. I finished the section with just 5 seconds to spare.
Again a lot of sweat and trembling. Decided to take the break. But this time i returned within 2 minutes.
Verbal- I dont remember much about this section. What i do remember is that for most of the S.C questions i could eliminate 3 options, but deciding between the remaining two was the tough part. When i reached the last question (again S.C !) there was just 1 minute left on the clock. I was stuck on two options as the clock edged towards 0. Finally i randomly picked one of the two options and clicked on finish with 1 second remaining on the timer.
Finally when it came to accepting or discarding the scores (this was before the time when the scores were visible before you could decide to discard them) i had a split second hesiation before accepting but then reasoned that i hadnt done too bad and i surely couldnt have gotten below 700. When i saw that my score was 750(Q/V:49/42) with an 8 in I.R i couldnt believe my eyes and was quickly ushered out of the testing room by the invigilators since i was hyperventilating and was causing a disturbance to the other test takers
All in all i am satisfied with my score. I do have a slight regret that i didnt get 50 in Quants as that would have pushed my score to 760, which would have helped me breach the 750 mark with a comfortable margin instead of being right on the border.
My advice to other aspirants- Start writing tests after 2-3 classes and on a regular basis. Go through the mistakes you make and try to improve on that. This will help you cross 700 easily.
Best of luck to future aspirants !
P.S I got my AWA score. I scored 5. I knew i would miss out on a 6 since i couldnt spell check but i was dissapointed on not scoring a 5.5 atleast.
So in January 2014 i decided to write GMAT and expand my horizons. I had no idea of GMAT or what was the application process for schools abroad. In Indian b-schools it's a different process altogether bereft of LORs or essays. So I was pretty lost.
Google was my best friend and i did a bit of research. Then i decided to get around to GMAT. I found a coaching centre that was closest to my house (12 k.m) and enrolled by mid Feb. It was a 10 week course. 6 hours per weekend. They also provided a 'red book' (easy questions), OG (intermediate level questions) and a blue book (tough questions)
Here's my progression in those 10 weeks (please note i DID NOT study at home. At all. Everything i did was in the 6-8 hours i spent at the coaching centre every weekend)
Week3:
The math classes were pretty boring since i had already written CAT and XAT which had WAY tougher maths. I ended up finishing 'red book' questions in 3-4 classes. My faculty put me in an advance group so i wouldnt get bored.
Week 5:
Took first mock test. The mock tests didnt give sclaed scores but instead just mentioned how many questions were right. Got 30 correct out of 37 in Quants and 31 out of 41 in Verbal.
Week 6:
Realised (after a discussion with the faculty) that my poor profile would have to be compensated by a fantastic score. Decided my goal was a 750 and nothing lower than that.
Week9:
Finished most of OG. By now i knew that Data sufficiency was my weak spot in Quants and S.C in verbal.
Week 10:
Started on AWA. Spent 2 days on it and then forgot about it.
Week11:
Wrote GMAC tests 3 and 4 (the ones you have to pay for). Got 730 and 710.I wasnt satisfied with my scores since i knew the GMAC tests were pretty simple and i should have scored higher.
Next 3 weeks i wrote 3-4 more tests and after each tests sat for an hour with the faculties and discusses the mistakes.
D-Day arrives-
Week 15:
Was due to write the GMAT on saturday. Spent most of the week chilling. Wrote a mock test on thursday. Got only 710 again but I didnt let it demotivate me. Friday i went out with friends. Returned late at night.
Saturday morning i woke up early, quickly went through my old tests and went over my mistakes. Listened to music on way to centre to keep me calm. At the centre after registeration they made us wait for 20 nerve wracking minutes. While other candidates kept revising their notes i played games on my phone to keep my mind relaxed.
After 20 minutes we were lead to exam hall.
AWA- Wrote decently well. Gave three points to show why the argument was inadequate. Told how the arguement could be made stronger. Unfortunately couldnt spell check as i ran out of time.
IR- Breezed through first two questions. Got stuck on third due to massive calculations. Wasted 10 minutes. Realised my mistake and made a quick educated guess and moved on. I reached the second last question when the timer showed 45 seconds left. Quickly made educated guesses for the last two questions as the clock struck zero.
By this time I Was sweating and shaking since i thought i had messed up the entire IR section. I knew i had to calm myself down so i took the optional break. I went out drank water, walked around a bit to calm myself down. Only when i was sure that my heart beat had returned ot normal i went back inside.
Quants- I was determined not to mess up this section. I was told to ensure that the first 5 questions are correct as this affects your final score. Infact the first few questions were so easy that i can say with 100% certainity that my first 15 or so questions were correct. But then the questions started getting tougher and my certainty level started decreasing. I finished the section with just 5 seconds to spare.
Again a lot of sweat and trembling. Decided to take the break. But this time i returned within 2 minutes.
Verbal- I dont remember much about this section. What i do remember is that for most of the S.C questions i could eliminate 3 options, but deciding between the remaining two was the tough part. When i reached the last question (again S.C !) there was just 1 minute left on the clock. I was stuck on two options as the clock edged towards 0. Finally i randomly picked one of the two options and clicked on finish with 1 second remaining on the timer.
Finally when it came to accepting or discarding the scores (this was before the time when the scores were visible before you could decide to discard them) i had a split second hesiation before accepting but then reasoned that i hadnt done too bad and i surely couldnt have gotten below 700. When i saw that my score was 750(Q/V:49/42) with an 8 in I.R i couldnt believe my eyes and was quickly ushered out of the testing room by the invigilators since i was hyperventilating and was causing a disturbance to the other test takers
All in all i am satisfied with my score. I do have a slight regret that i didnt get 50 in Quants as that would have pushed my score to 760, which would have helped me breach the 750 mark with a comfortable margin instead of being right on the border.
My advice to other aspirants- Start writing tests after 2-3 classes and on a regular basis. Go through the mistakes you make and try to improve on that. This will help you cross 700 easily.
Best of luck to future aspirants !
P.S I got my AWA score. I scored 5. I knew i would miss out on a 6 since i couldnt spell check but i was dissapointed on not scoring a 5.5 atleast.
souvik101990
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Joined: 19 Mar 2012
Last visit: 11 Nov 2025
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Location: United States (WA)
Concentration: Leadership, General Management
Schools: Ross '20 (M)
GMAT 1: 760 Q50 V42
GMAT 2: 740 Q49 V42 (Online)
GMAT 3: 760 Q50 V42 (Online)
GPA: 3.8
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03 Jul 2014, 11:52
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Awesome, brother. Great debrief. Which schools are you looking at?
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