Background:-
Post my 1st GMAT attempt, I discovered this amazing website while reading one successful reattempt story. Post then I have used GMAT Club exclusively for practicing Quant questions and keeping myself motivated by reading successful reattempt posts. As I happily sit on the other side of the table, I just want to share my experience to give back to this amazing community.
My last GMAT attempt was less than a month ago, on June 28th, and I was shattered to say the least when I saw 640 (Q47, V31) flashing on the hallowed blue and white screen. My objective from the 1st day of my preparations was to cross the 700 threshold. I had already given the GRE 6 years ago and I have a Master's Degree in Engineering from Columbia University. On the wrong premise that I can leverage my GRE skill set substantially in my GMAT preparations, I decided to allot 2 months for GMAT preparation. I have my own firm in New Delhi, India so my I was only able to devote around 3-4 hours on weekdays and 6-7 hours on weekends. Little did I know that I was in for an unpleasant surprise at my first attempt.
I also joined an institute called GMAT Insights during this time. A poor decision in hindsight. NOT RECOMMENDED for anyone looking to cross the 700 barrier.
1st Attempt Preparation:-
As previously mentioned, as I was working full time I had limited time for GMAT preparation and hence decided to focus exclusively on anything official I could get my hands on. I bought the 3 2016 Official Guides and purchased the Exam Pack 1 and 2 from GMAC. In addition to that I had the material provided by GMAT Insight instructors. I developed an approach to cover all this material in 2 months and give the 6 practice tests (4 from the Exam Packs and 2 from GMAT Prep) in the last week before the exam. I followed my strategy to the word and got scores ranging from 640 through 680 in my mock tests. My Quant scores fluctuated from 48-50 and Verbal scores from 30-34. I was disheartened by the fact that I was not crossing 700 but decided that go ahead with the exam hoping against hope that some miracle would happen and I would achieve my target score. Again a poor decision looking back.
1st Attempt:-
I did all the basic things such as not studying before the exam test day, visiting the test center in advance etc. etc. The exam started off with the IR and AWA section and I just breezed through that section and I believe for 8 in IR. I never really studied for IR and pondering over charts, making logical interpretations was part of my when I was a management consultant in the US. In the Quant section, I remember distinctly that there were a few questions where I just got lost in my calculations and simply lost track of time. Consequently I had to guess on the last 4-5 questions. I was particularly irritated post the Quant section as I knew that to cross the 700 mark, I had to do well in Quant which did not happen. I was angry and frustrated in the break (A major mistake) and consequently was not calm in the all important Verbal section. The poor outcome was inevitable.
2nd Attempt Preparation:-
For 3 days after my exam, I mostly spent my time sitting alone at a nearby Starbucks and pondering over what went wrong. I think the fact that I accepted that I was beaten fair and square and the fact that I was willing to acknowledge and learn from my mistakes was the single biggest reason I managed to get my target score. I am a native Hindi speaker and have never been good in English Grammar and honestly have never found it useful in real life. When I gave the GRE, the focus was on Verbal vocabulary and grammar was never really tested. It was a natural outcome that in GMAT Verbal where SC in my opinion holds the key to success I was butchered in this section. I was just following my ear and guess what happens when you employ this strategy. One thing I was clear about post my 1st attempt was that I lacked understanding of the basic fundamentals for the 3 Verbal sections. Also instead of first getting the basics right and then attempting questions, I just did questions from the
OG. I personally feel that
Verbal OG is more of a question bank (An excellent question bank though) than anything else. My topmost priority from that day on-wards was to focus on the fundamentals first and only then practice questions. I looked up the best Verbal books to get the basics right and thanks to this amazing community, zeroed in on the
Manhattan GMAT Verbal Strategy guides. I bought those guides and was really impressed by the brevity and relevance of the material covered. If you are weak in the Verbal section and want to focus on the fundamentals, the 3
Manhattan GMAT Strategy Guides are a must have in my opinion.
As far as GMAT Quant is concerned, I believe that the biggest mistake I made in my first attempt was that I did not practice enough 'elegant' GMAT like questions. The reason I use the word 'elegant' is that I believe that questions on the GMAT Quant are beautifully crafted. If you think about it, there are but a handful of basic concepts that are tested in GMAT Quant. Now to create questions that focus on these core concepts and at the same time are tricky enough to entice careless errors, is an art in itself. I have the greatest admiration for the folk who create these elegant brainteasers. Yes they really are brain teasers as I feel that there would not be even a single official GMAT Quant question which would required more than 2 minutes to solve, provided you have understood what exactly is being asked of you and know that smartest way to get to the answer. In my opinion,
the Official Guide questions are sufficient to get you to a Q45 level, but to increase that score to a Q50 level you really need to practice more of these 'elegant' brain-teasers. I decided to do just that and through this post, I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards Bunuel, a Math genius in my opinion who is kind enough not only to post pertinent questions on this site but also to provide solutions which really train your brain how to think. 'Think More and Write Less' was my mantra in the GMAT Quant section and I would dedicate my Quant results to the GMAT Club and Bunuel in particular. Thanks a TON.
Also this time round I decided to take a week vacation from work, study on my own and ensure that I focus specifically on my weak areas. My schedule in the weeks that followed was to devote between 1 and 2 hours daily on the Quant section and devote all the remaining time to Verbal, especially the Verbal concepts. I decided to retake all the 6 Official Mock Tests and my mock test score this time round ranged from 720 through 760. I was aware that these scores were a little inflated owing to some repeat questions but I felt a lot more confident checking an option this time round, especially in Verbal, as opposed to last time. I think the GMAC Official tests are by far the most accurate predictors of your real score and practicing these questions is a MUST. Not only should you know why an answer is incorrect, but also you should be aware of why the other option is wrong and the underlying logic for the same. All solutions for the official questions can be found online, mostly on this site only so I would highly recommend devoting time scrutinizing your mock test questions.
2nd Attempt:-
After following a rigorous schedule for 1 month, the D Day arrived. One thing in particular I did different on the day before the test this time round was to focus on certain strategies that I wanted to follow on test day. Some of those include remaining calm and composed no matter what, not spending much mental energy in the IR and AWA section and thinking of these sections as a kind of warm up exercise, shutting off for a few seconds and refocusing again whenever I felt overwhelmed etc. The results showed today and I am happy that my perseverance has paid off.
Hope that helps!!!
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25 Jul 2016, 03:29
