So this is my GMAT debrief. It will be as short as can be without omitting what I believe to be key details, but included at the end it a very short list of my stats and material. I am a military veteran currently completing my undergraduate in economics from a large state school. Though I have a relatively high GPA of 3.98 I was terrified of the GMAT. After all the slang name for my job in the military was knuckle draggers ( jet fighter mechanic), and I had attributed my success in college thus far to my discipline, attention to detail, and mostly, luck. I began studying for the GMAT around April 12th. After reading on reddit about this site I came here, and after reading multiple positive debriefs advocate
TTP I decided that should be me first stop. My plan was to begin studying while finishing up the semester and two months later take the GMAT. However, I may of bite of more than I could swallow. I was taking 7 classes, all upper division, and working 30 hours at the same time. I figured tough cookies and I should push harder. Unfortunately I realized that during studying I was not learning anything. In fact the next day I would not remember taking the last quiz or finishing the chapter, and this brings me to my first few tips: pace and rational expectations. I realized my pace was unrealistic and that my expectations were going to hurt me in the long run, so I made the decision to postpone the exam by a month and a half. This allowed me to finish the semester and turn my attention fully to the GMAT. During June I studied everyday 2-6 hours; the average study time moved up from 3 hours to 6 hours by end of June. Funny thing, I did not take a practice test before starting the process and had no idea how I would fare. I thought about it but decided that the assessment would be wasted if I had not completed the
TTP course. When I was close to 70% done with
TTP they introduced verbal, this was a dread for me. I did complete the verbal but was brain-dead through most of it. Anyhow, I finished
TTP and had my first practice test 700 (44Q,41V). It felt good to be in mythical "700" range but I had ran out of time on math and guessed the last 10 or so problems and guessed basically all of verbal. I then bought the Manhattan SC, and I can only recommend it. English is actually my second language as I am an immigrant from Europe so I never truly learned the right rules of English and would always fall for the colloquialism traps, I never even understood active vs passive voice. In school I have been told by multiple professor that my ideas and analytics are incredible but my mechanics and grammar are trash. Manhattan SC more than being informative was quite a fun read ( I also watched GMAT ninja and owe the man a beer), your mileage may vary. In between test I would also read through old
TTP chapters and do problems out of the
OG. Once week or so I took a practice test the results were as follows:
710, 49Q,38V
720, 48Q,41V
690, 47Q,38V ( lost my marbles came to the chat for support lol)
730, 49Q,40V
750, 49Q,44V
This last practice test was 3 days from my test day. With COVID 19 the only test facility I could find was 180 miles away and at 8 am. Eager to just get it over with I decided to go for it. I drove up two days early got a hotel and lightly studied. The week leading up I had barley studied as well, but my last 750 assured me that my memories would not atrophy. I got to the testing center early checked in and started my test. I am not going make a mountain out of a mole hill but several little factors kept me off my game. I walked out with a 690 47Q,38V 8 IR and depression. This is not what I had worked for. So I spent the 4 hour drive home thinking about what I wanted to do. In fact I spent the next two days thinking about what I should do. I decided to take the online GMAT. I scheduled it for 16 days later because I am a loser and did not realize I could take it sooner. Every other day in between fits of disgust I studied for less than 3 hours. I retook test 2 and 4 and received a 770 and 760 with lots of repeats. I figured whatever I am good candidate I will be OK with a 690 this is just a bonus roll. I checked in and spent an hour waiting. I wish the screen at the end of check in would of gave me a warning but whatever. In fact there were more issues so comment if you want details but I will continue. The math felt too easy I was done with 10 or so minutes to spare. Verbal, on the other hand, felt like it was trying to hurt me on a personnel level. My strength in verbal has always been CR and RC in fact on the 690 I had a 51 CR and 47 RC ( my SC was lower than my self esteem post exam) but online flipped that. SC felt easy CR stayed in the middle and RC was hard. I move through and finally reached the break. I came back and felt like IR was hard but I did not care because it was IR after all. Then I freaked out for 6 days until I got my scores today:
740 50Q 41V 8IR, and that's all folks.
On a closing note, work hard and do what feels comfortable. I think I could of done this in a way were my GF wouldn't have felt neglected and I would of done more than become a GMAT machine for 4 ish months, but as they say hindsight is 20/20. In regard to those who have a crap day on their first attempt, just take it again. A lot of people told me to start studying again, I was so grossed out by the thought I would of rather ate the
OG guide and try to absorb the knowledge then read about anything about the GMAT, so I would say do what you can and if your honest with yourself you result will be a reflection within a margin of error of your work.
Time studied: 4ish months
Study material:
TTP, Manhattan SC,
OG, GMAT 18
Official Practice Tests
700, 44Q,38V
710, 49Q,38V
720, 48Q,41V
690, 47Q,38V
730, 49Q,40V
750, 49Q,44V
Repeat Official Practice ( after first official test)
770 50Q,47V
760 50Q,44V
OFFICIAL GMAT:
690 47Q,38V
OFFICIAL ONLINE GMAT:
740 50Q,41V
I told myself that I would write this when I was done and that I would read it once and then walk away from the GMAT, wish you all the best!
23 Aug 2020, 20:37
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