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.
Apr 2711:00 AM EDT
-12:00 PM EDT
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors
13 Jan 2022, 10:17
Kudos
Bookmarks
I nervously clicked through to the final screen and…
My GMAT journey started back in 2019, after going through the process of applying to MBB firms as an experienced hire/career-changer. After all MBB firms dinged me due to math mistakes, I self-reflected and admitted to myself that my quant skills had deteriorated significantly (my job does not require any dealing with numbers). A friend recommended that I take up GMAT as a way to renew the basic quant concepts.
The start – Manhattan books
I started off with Manhattan’s books – first the Foundations of Quant book, before moving to All the Quant and doing many of the problems through their app. It was when doing the problems that I saw my issue – I was full of strategy GMAT knowledge, but the basics were still lacking. Frustrated, I researched other ways to brush-up on my quant. I needed something even more basic.
The middle (the hard work and the biggest improvement) – TTP course and Jeff’s instruction
I read many reviews and decided to go with TTP; TTP promised to build knowledge from the ground-up. TTP never promises to be a magic bullet, and team TTP were very open about the fact that completing the course in its entirety (though there are accelerated versions for those who do not need the full course) does take a while. And it did. I started with TTP back in summer/autumn of 2020. The plan was to do the course, take 3 weeks off in December 2020 to revise, and do the test. The plan may have worked had it not been for the interloper – my job. Being a private equity attorney during the private equity boom required constant weekend work and holiday cancellations. People always tell you to study in the morning and I tried – but I got nothing out of it when running on only a few hours of sleep. Christmas holiday had to be cancelled, and GMAT slipped into 2021. 2021 did not end up being any easier. There were weeks where I could dedicate several dozens of hours to TTP, and weeks on end where I could dedicate 0. With this pattern of study, it took me a very long time to finish the course. TTP were great with supporting me, however (special shout out to Jeff!). If I did not understand an explanation, I would ask the team through the online chat, and someone would revert with an alternative explanation. This helped me really understand what was going on. I completed the entire TTP quant course, but only about 70% of their verbal course (which is great, but was never my focus since I work in English, though I’m not a native English speaker).
I took GMAT Online for the first time in November 2021. I read that GMAC recommend desktop computers over laptops so I even bought a new computer which exceeded recommended specs (and in hindsight, I should have spent a bit more…). I started the exam but lag was such that it took 15-20 seconds between each click for the system to register it (imagine: (i) select an answer choice, (ii) click next, (iii) click “yes” when prompted on whether you want to select the choice); I was losing a minute per question. The proctor was helpful and we tried everything; re-starting the internet, switching the network, re-starting the computer, etc. Two thirds through he first (quant) section I ended up switching to my 8 year-old laptop, which performed better. I got a 700, with Q45, but my score got cancelled due to technical issues. But was it really the lag, or were my skills lacking?
I decided to enlist the help of Jeff at TTP. Jeff was amazing and helped me identify (i) the highest-value areas for the scores I was after and (ii) the gaps in my knowledge. I was surprised by how quickly he was able to find gaps – even where I did not know they existed. His strategy tips have also proved to be invaluable and he was very responsive throughout the time we worked together.
I took the GMAT Online again and got a 720, with Q47 and V42 (again with some technical issues). I re-took 2 weeks after and got a 730, with Q47 and V44.
Looking back, I wish I had started my preparation with TTP – but at least this way I am well placed to review TTP and say: thank you team TTP for designing such great course, and thank you Jeff as an instructor. What really helped me was TTP’s system, which laid a clear path from the beginning to end. I just needed to do the allocated task and my skills would improve. Questions in the practice tests at the end of each chapters are chosen by TTP in a manner which renew the skills from previous chapters. This is what refreshed my knowledge after not doing any GMAT for weeks on end. TTP was therefore instrumental, despite not having used all of its optionality. For example, TTP lets one select a target score; the higher the score, the more content and the more harder examples are presented. Their accelerated option is suitable for someone with heavier quant background (definitely not me).
The end – Hee Jean’s instruction
I settled on 730, but my partner bet me that I can get a Q49 with a few more hours of instruction. She’d pay. She bought a package with Hee Jean from Math Revolution. Hee Jean, too, was amazing. Hee Jean is a kind and modest guy who lives and breathes quant – he is also a faculty member at a university in the US. What surprised me the most is how much preparation he would put in before every session. He encouraged me to take a photo of each problem that I took – right or wrong. He reviewed all of my solutions and went through the ones I could have solved more efficiently. He did not charge for all his preparation and review time (which I think he should have!). Hee Jean helped me realise that I was great at hard problems, but needed to work on medium-level problems. He showed me additional tricks (including ones saving me a lot of time) that I was not aware of. I said to him he adds too much value for the small price he charges, and offered him to pay extra (this would go out of my pocket, not my partner's!), but he said he was here to help and all he wanted to see was my reaching my target score. After having worked with Hee Jean, I gave GMAT one final time.
I nervously clicked through to the final screen and…
I made it! 750; a score I was hoping for, with the split I was hoping for: Q49 and V44. Thank you – Jeff and Hee Jean.
Re-take to be in the top 1%? Let's not.
Despite all of the above, my latest score leaves a slightly bitter taste…1% to be in the top 1%. I keep asking myself: should I retake or should I not? I'm on an upwards trend and I've gotten a V49 on one of the practice exams. What if all it takes is an extra attempt? But there is more to life than GMAT and it’s time to draw a line.
My GMAT journey started back in 2019, after going through the process of applying to MBB firms as an experienced hire/career-changer. After all MBB firms dinged me due to math mistakes, I self-reflected and admitted to myself that my quant skills had deteriorated significantly (my job does not require any dealing with numbers). A friend recommended that I take up GMAT as a way to renew the basic quant concepts.
The start – Manhattan books
I started off with Manhattan’s books – first the Foundations of Quant book, before moving to All the Quant and doing many of the problems through their app. It was when doing the problems that I saw my issue – I was full of strategy GMAT knowledge, but the basics were still lacking. Frustrated, I researched other ways to brush-up on my quant. I needed something even more basic.
The middle (the hard work and the biggest improvement) – TTP course and Jeff’s instruction
I read many reviews and decided to go with TTP; TTP promised to build knowledge from the ground-up. TTP never promises to be a magic bullet, and team TTP were very open about the fact that completing the course in its entirety (though there are accelerated versions for those who do not need the full course) does take a while. And it did. I started with TTP back in summer/autumn of 2020. The plan was to do the course, take 3 weeks off in December 2020 to revise, and do the test. The plan may have worked had it not been for the interloper – my job. Being a private equity attorney during the private equity boom required constant weekend work and holiday cancellations. People always tell you to study in the morning and I tried – but I got nothing out of it when running on only a few hours of sleep. Christmas holiday had to be cancelled, and GMAT slipped into 2021. 2021 did not end up being any easier. There were weeks where I could dedicate several dozens of hours to TTP, and weeks on end where I could dedicate 0. With this pattern of study, it took me a very long time to finish the course. TTP were great with supporting me, however (special shout out to Jeff!). If I did not understand an explanation, I would ask the team through the online chat, and someone would revert with an alternative explanation. This helped me really understand what was going on. I completed the entire TTP quant course, but only about 70% of their verbal course (which is great, but was never my focus since I work in English, though I’m not a native English speaker).
I took GMAT Online for the first time in November 2021. I read that GMAC recommend desktop computers over laptops so I even bought a new computer which exceeded recommended specs (and in hindsight, I should have spent a bit more…). I started the exam but lag was such that it took 15-20 seconds between each click for the system to register it (imagine: (i) select an answer choice, (ii) click next, (iii) click “yes” when prompted on whether you want to select the choice); I was losing a minute per question. The proctor was helpful and we tried everything; re-starting the internet, switching the network, re-starting the computer, etc. Two thirds through he first (quant) section I ended up switching to my 8 year-old laptop, which performed better. I got a 700, with Q45, but my score got cancelled due to technical issues. But was it really the lag, or were my skills lacking?
I decided to enlist the help of Jeff at TTP. Jeff was amazing and helped me identify (i) the highest-value areas for the scores I was after and (ii) the gaps in my knowledge. I was surprised by how quickly he was able to find gaps – even where I did not know they existed. His strategy tips have also proved to be invaluable and he was very responsive throughout the time we worked together.
I took the GMAT Online again and got a 720, with Q47 and V42 (again with some technical issues). I re-took 2 weeks after and got a 730, with Q47 and V44.
Looking back, I wish I had started my preparation with TTP – but at least this way I am well placed to review TTP and say: thank you team TTP for designing such great course, and thank you Jeff as an instructor. What really helped me was TTP’s system, which laid a clear path from the beginning to end. I just needed to do the allocated task and my skills would improve. Questions in the practice tests at the end of each chapters are chosen by TTP in a manner which renew the skills from previous chapters. This is what refreshed my knowledge after not doing any GMAT for weeks on end. TTP was therefore instrumental, despite not having used all of its optionality. For example, TTP lets one select a target score; the higher the score, the more content and the more harder examples are presented. Their accelerated option is suitable for someone with heavier quant background (definitely not me).
The end – Hee Jean’s instruction
I settled on 730, but my partner bet me that I can get a Q49 with a few more hours of instruction. She’d pay. She bought a package with Hee Jean from Math Revolution. Hee Jean, too, was amazing. Hee Jean is a kind and modest guy who lives and breathes quant – he is also a faculty member at a university in the US. What surprised me the most is how much preparation he would put in before every session. He encouraged me to take a photo of each problem that I took – right or wrong. He reviewed all of my solutions and went through the ones I could have solved more efficiently. He did not charge for all his preparation and review time (which I think he should have!). Hee Jean helped me realise that I was great at hard problems, but needed to work on medium-level problems. He showed me additional tricks (including ones saving me a lot of time) that I was not aware of. I said to him he adds too much value for the small price he charges, and offered him to pay extra (this would go out of my pocket, not my partner's!), but he said he was here to help and all he wanted to see was my reaching my target score. After having worked with Hee Jean, I gave GMAT one final time.
I nervously clicked through to the final screen and…
I made it! 750; a score I was hoping for, with the split I was hoping for: Q49 and V44. Thank you – Jeff and Hee Jean.
Re-take to be in the top 1%? Let's not.
Despite all of the above, my latest score leaves a slightly bitter taste…1% to be in the top 1%. I keep asking myself: should I retake or should I not? I'm on an upwards trend and I've gotten a V49 on one of the practice exams. What if all it takes is an extra attempt? But there is more to life than GMAT and it’s time to draw a line.
