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 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.
16 Dec 2022, 13:38
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hey r/GMAT
I've been lurking this sub for several months now and have been looking forward to writing a debrief. I'm not done with my GMAT journey quite yet, but wanted to share some of my updates/ anecdotes in case this helps anyone get over the GMAT bump for Round 2/ Round 3 purposes.
Resources I recommend:
- Target Test Prep for best overall prep help. TTP is the quant killer.
- GMAT Ninja Youtube videos
- 3800 GMAT Unique questions bank
Today: Taking a study break in light of my MBA application timelines changing - I got into a different graduate scholarship program first. I have not yet hit my goal of 750+, but in the new year will be picking up studying again and going hard.
Background: I'm 27 years old and live in the US. I also went to a top 15 US undergrad/ majored in humanities. I currently work in a technical field, but arithmetic isn't common place. My quant background is not strong, but I was goodat math growing up. I do have strong reading/ writing skills (or so I thought) so I didn't spend that much (almost any) time on studying verbal/ SC (this affected me negatively later I will expand on this). I've been thinking about Business school for several years now but didn't have much time to prepare for the GMAT, it was always a looming obstacle in my mind. One thing I've learned the hard way now is that you have to make the time, life will always be busy, you will always have things to work on, the GMAT is a test that rewards investment. You have to ask yourself what score do I need for my goals, and dedicate the time accordingly.
June, 2022: I wanted to benchmark my starting point so I took the official practice test that's available for free on MBA - I scored 590, my quant was very low at 33 while my verbal was an okay 40. After that I started my study journey haphazardly, I received advice from someone very close to me (who is also probably a genius) that they were able to receive 760 in one try by just downloading the official gmat question bank and knocking out 30 questions a day for verbal and quant for a month. This strategy did not work for me as my practice test scores weren't improving. After trying this method for a month I tried out trials from multiple sources (Manhattan, Kaplan, TTP) and ultimately decided on Target Test Prep. There were multiple reasons why I was leaning in that direction but the highlights to me were:
1. People close to me that have received very high (700+) GMAT scores (but started low 550~) have raved about TTP and how accessible it is no matter what your current quant or verbal baseline is.
2. I had time to invest. I was advised that TTP's structured linear course is best for people who can stick to a regimen and follow it. The GMAT covers a massive amount of subject matter, TTP addresses all of them comprehensively, it takes time to digest it all. Though, if you don't have time I don't think that any test prep you use will be as effective as intended.
3. There are lots of anecdotes (like this one) that support TTP on various GMAT communities.
4. Lastly (and most importantly to me) their UX/UI does not suck! This stuff is built for 2022! TTP feels more like a progress buddy than just a study website. It's designed as a real platform where progress can be tracked. Answers to questions are in depth, there are lots of walkthrough video answers... it's a good digital product and if you're studying alone I think that makes a huge difference to have that in your back-pocket.
So, with that in mind I dedicated myself to finishing the entire TTP course in 3 months. It took me close to 180 hours (I know it's a lot) to actually finish all the courses. Here's how that actually went.
August, 2022: I really started using TTP in July... I made it about a quarter way through the course before decided to take my first official GMAT test, I hit 710 in my practice test so I thought I could do well. I got a 650 with a much improved quant but this was still not the score I wanted to so at this point so I doubled down on really using the TTP course as designed.
October, 2022: After 2 months of not studying haphazardly I was able to get a 690 on my second official practice test, its was certainly progress but still not the ultra high score I wanted. At this point I had more or less gone through all the TTP modules, but I realized that I had very little time doing practice questions. The GMAT is a game of its own, it's not enough to know the subject matter, you have to be able to identify the ideas being tested and know the frameworks to approach them with and do so within a span of 2 minutes per question. This second-nature only comes with a lot of practice... and I started to leverage the heck out of the TTP custom test function. I generated test banks of 31 questions (only consisting of medium and hard questions) and did 15 - 20 of those before going into my next test.
November, 2022: After many many custom practice tests on TTP, I took an official gmat practice test and received scores of 750 and 780 respectively. I was so excited and thought I could completely finish on my third attempt. I took my most recent official test and received a score of 720 (48Q, 41V). My quant score improved so drastically I was shocked and the output I was hitting, but I recognized that my verbal (which I had neglected up to this point) help me back from getting those exceptional 99% scores.
And that's my journey up until now. In the new year I will start by doing more custom tests and also finishing all the verbal modules (which have been really helpful so far), but with an extra emphasis on test composure. There's nothing like taking the actual test to prepare you for test day anxiety, so if I could give you any advice it would be to not give up and dedicate the time you want for the score that you need, rinse and repeat. You might not see specifics in my debrief, that's because I literally just followed the test prep guideline on TTP. Sprinkle that in with some official GMAT question banks and trying to make sense of Bunuel's answers on GMATClub.
Stats:
- 180 hours to finish 'studying' (learning new material)
- 45 hours to practice
- 3 official tests
- 6 official practice tests
- 4.5 months of actual run time.
Thanks for reading and I hope this helps give some perspective.
I've been lurking this sub for several months now and have been looking forward to writing a debrief. I'm not done with my GMAT journey quite yet, but wanted to share some of my updates/ anecdotes in case this helps anyone get over the GMAT bump for Round 2/ Round 3 purposes.
Resources I recommend:
- Target Test Prep for best overall prep help. TTP is the quant killer.
- GMAT Ninja Youtube videos
- 3800 GMAT Unique questions bank
Today: Taking a study break in light of my MBA application timelines changing - I got into a different graduate scholarship program first. I have not yet hit my goal of 750+, but in the new year will be picking up studying again and going hard.
Background: I'm 27 years old and live in the US. I also went to a top 15 US undergrad/ majored in humanities. I currently work in a technical field, but arithmetic isn't common place. My quant background is not strong, but I was goodat math growing up. I do have strong reading/ writing skills (or so I thought) so I didn't spend that much (almost any) time on studying verbal/ SC (this affected me negatively later I will expand on this). I've been thinking about Business school for several years now but didn't have much time to prepare for the GMAT, it was always a looming obstacle in my mind. One thing I've learned the hard way now is that you have to make the time, life will always be busy, you will always have things to work on, the GMAT is a test that rewards investment. You have to ask yourself what score do I need for my goals, and dedicate the time accordingly.
June, 2022: I wanted to benchmark my starting point so I took the official practice test that's available for free on MBA - I scored 590, my quant was very low at 33 while my verbal was an okay 40. After that I started my study journey haphazardly, I received advice from someone very close to me (who is also probably a genius) that they were able to receive 760 in one try by just downloading the official gmat question bank and knocking out 30 questions a day for verbal and quant for a month. This strategy did not work for me as my practice test scores weren't improving. After trying this method for a month I tried out trials from multiple sources (Manhattan, Kaplan, TTP) and ultimately decided on Target Test Prep. There were multiple reasons why I was leaning in that direction but the highlights to me were:
1. People close to me that have received very high (700+) GMAT scores (but started low 550~) have raved about TTP and how accessible it is no matter what your current quant or verbal baseline is.
2. I had time to invest. I was advised that TTP's structured linear course is best for people who can stick to a regimen and follow it. The GMAT covers a massive amount of subject matter, TTP addresses all of them comprehensively, it takes time to digest it all. Though, if you don't have time I don't think that any test prep you use will be as effective as intended.
3. There are lots of anecdotes (like this one) that support TTP on various GMAT communities.
4. Lastly (and most importantly to me) their UX/UI does not suck! This stuff is built for 2022! TTP feels more like a progress buddy than just a study website. It's designed as a real platform where progress can be tracked. Answers to questions are in depth, there are lots of walkthrough video answers... it's a good digital product and if you're studying alone I think that makes a huge difference to have that in your back-pocket.
So, with that in mind I dedicated myself to finishing the entire TTP course in 3 months. It took me close to 180 hours (I know it's a lot) to actually finish all the courses. Here's how that actually went.
August, 2022: I really started using TTP in July... I made it about a quarter way through the course before decided to take my first official GMAT test, I hit 710 in my practice test so I thought I could do well. I got a 650 with a much improved quant but this was still not the score I wanted to so at this point so I doubled down on really using the TTP course as designed.
October, 2022: After 2 months of not studying haphazardly I was able to get a 690 on my second official practice test, its was certainly progress but still not the ultra high score I wanted. At this point I had more or less gone through all the TTP modules, but I realized that I had very little time doing practice questions. The GMAT is a game of its own, it's not enough to know the subject matter, you have to be able to identify the ideas being tested and know the frameworks to approach them with and do so within a span of 2 minutes per question. This second-nature only comes with a lot of practice... and I started to leverage the heck out of the TTP custom test function. I generated test banks of 31 questions (only consisting of medium and hard questions) and did 15 - 20 of those before going into my next test.
November, 2022: After many many custom practice tests on TTP, I took an official gmat practice test and received scores of 750 and 780 respectively. I was so excited and thought I could completely finish on my third attempt. I took my most recent official test and received a score of 720 (48Q, 41V). My quant score improved so drastically I was shocked and the output I was hitting, but I recognized that my verbal (which I had neglected up to this point) help me back from getting those exceptional 99% scores.
And that's my journey up until now. In the new year I will start by doing more custom tests and also finishing all the verbal modules (which have been really helpful so far), but with an extra emphasis on test composure. There's nothing like taking the actual test to prepare you for test day anxiety, so if I could give you any advice it would be to not give up and dedicate the time you want for the score that you need, rinse and repeat. You might not see specifics in my debrief, that's because I literally just followed the test prep guideline on TTP. Sprinkle that in with some official GMAT question banks and trying to make sense of Bunuel's answers on GMATClub.
Stats:
- 180 hours to finish 'studying' (learning new material)
- 45 hours to practice
- 3 official tests
- 6 official practice tests
- 4.5 months of actual run time.
Thanks for reading and I hope this helps give some perspective.
Updated on: 18 Dec 2022, 15:10
Originally posted by GmatKnightTutor on 16 Dec 2022, 15:42.
Last edited by GmatKnightTutor on 18 Dec 2022, 15:10, edited 1 time in total.
Last edited by GmatKnightTutor on 18 Dec 2022, 15:10, edited 1 time in total.
Kudos
Bookmarks
Gratz on the 720. All the best with your next attempt. If you feel your Verbal fundamentals are solid, consider working on your solving approach. Could potentially boost your V41 to a V45. Perhaps work with a study buddy with ace verbal skills. You could teach them Quant in exchange.
-
GmatKnight Instagram - Tutoring Contact
-
GmatKnight Instagram - Tutoring Contact
17 Dec 2022, 10:16
Kudos
Bookmarks
Congratulations on scoring an excellent GMAT score. Your dedicated effort is an inspiration for others. Best of Luck for the applications.
