This is not the debrief that most test prep companies want you to hear. It will not profess that if you study 100-200 hours or follow a certain regiment that you will score the all-important 700+ (or ideally 730+ for most of you). But, it will tell you how the GMAT can positively change your life, regardless of the time spent studying.
My Background and Why it Matters
The bottom line is that standardized tests rely heavily on the test taker’s foundational Quant and Verbal background. In my estimation, this is by far the biggest determinant of how long one must prepare for the GMAT. If you are expecting to increase your Quant score from Q30 to Q50, or Verbal from V30 to V40 in a few months but lack a deep background in these subjects, think again.
Despite the test prep company claims, rapid improvement is extremely rare. If you ace Quant and/or Verbal on the GMAT, you must fall into one of three categories: a) you have a deep Quant and/or Verbal background, perhaps you majored in Math or Humanities in college (any college, really), b) you are one of the rare few who magically aces standardized tests with little (<200 hours) studying and whom I have seldom observed, or most likely c) you outworked the rest of the field, though this is counterintuitive, as I describe below.
I, probably like you, fall into the third category. I was a Finance major in college, I worked in investment banking for two years, I quit to travel for about 8 months before COVID, and I then spent 7 months studying for the GMAT.
Despite many ridiculous stereotypes about finance/banking, these fields require little knowledge that is applicable to the GMAT. In school, finance formulas have at best tangential relation to the arithmetic required on GMAT Quant problems. Investment banking does not provide this material either. In fact, the majority of GMAT Quant is unrelated to Finance and requires more fundamental math understanding (ie. number properties and permutations). This knowledge is simply not taught in anything but MATH courses, not finance, not accounting, not consulting, not biology, not economics but MATH. So, if you are in a pseudo-Quant field and think you will have less of a struggle, think again. Also, consider that Indian engineers who do have this Math background represent an overwhelming portion of the competition. To compete, you must learn these skills bottoms-up.
As for Verbal, if you are not (or have never been) a voracious reader, or you were not a humanities major (voila, a major that requires lots of reading), you are likely in for a struggle similar to that for Quant. I am lucky to have struggled through AP and Honors English courses in high school that slightly prepared me for Verbal. My background helped me immensely in Sentence Correction – this was the only section in which I could pick answers that “sounded right” out of thin air. Every other section was a bare-knuckled brawl, day in and day out for 7 months.
As the saying goes, the only way to conquer something is to love it; you must learn to love reading to succeed in Verbal. The beauty of reading is that GMAT improvement is a secondary benefit. More importantly, reading enhances and broadens your perspective on life itself… See attached for my reading list during the 7 months of my studies.
Phase I: The Myth of Outworking the Field
On April 1, 2020, I started hitting the books as hard as possible. I read enough of these debriefs to know that some people have to outwork others and this has always been my fate. I figured I’d pick a test prep provider and muscle through as much content as possible.
Unfortunately, I did not do adequate research on test prep companies and landed on
Magoosh. Though Mike McGarry, a man you may become familiar with on your journey, was extremely helpful, the
Magoosh course is insufficient if you need to move mountains in either Quant or Verbal. In short,
Magoosh’s course is not nearly structured enough, or prescriptive enough, to get most students where they need to be.
I initially spent 6-8 hours per day pounding through
Magoosh’s material and
OG problems. After 2-3 months of studying, I continually scored in the low 600s on CATs, despite already exceeding the 200 hours that I read might be all I needed. I also read that taking CATs every 10 days would be a great barometer of my progress. This was one of my biggest mistakes. Wholesale GMAT improvements do not come in 10 days. 10 weeks, maybe but still unlikely.
Phase II: Less is More – Studying Smart
Frustrated by my lack of progress, I found
Target Test Prep (“
TTP”).
TTP is a top-flight provider for Quant. I followed
TTP’s study plan exactly.
The initial strategy modules of
TTP essentially read my mind about what mistakes I thought I made in Phase I. As
TTP prescribed, I stopped watching lesson videos at 2x speed with partial attention. Instead, I wrote physical notes for every
TTP module, made physical flashcards for especially relevant material/errors, and limited all study sessions to 2-3 hours, with a firm cap of 4-5 study hours per day. I finished the
TTP curriculum in about 3 months and was ready to begin the “practice test phase,” as
TTP prescribes.
Phase III: Elation, Devastation – Variability and Practice Tests
After enduring the strenuous
TTP course, I was excited to resume my practice tests. I took a
Kaplan test and saw my first 700+, which was deceiving ecstasy. I knew I earned that score, but I was naively confident that if only I shored up the silly mistakes I’d eclipse even 750+.
Sure enough, the next two tests were 680, then a 650. I was crushed. So, Jeff from
TTP called me (for free), and we determined that I had sufficiently mastered easy-medium level questions and needed to endure harder
OG questions for ~one month or longer. After one month of humiliation, answering 30%-50% of Advanced
OG Quant questions right, I reluctantly signed up for the GMAT in hopes of squeaking in my 700 before round 2 deadlines passed.
Phase IV: Triumph
8:00 AM, November 6, 2020 was D-Day, H-Hour. I woke up at 3:30 AM, went for a walk, took deep, slow breaths, and marveled at how lucky I was to undertake the whole journey. Sure, I had irrationally been an anxious wreck, unfairly equating my self-worth with the GMAT for much of the process. But having a North Star, be it the GMAT, completing an Ironman, or whatever else one may struggle with and against, is a blessing in itself. I sipped in the cool Florida air, strutted with irrational confidence, and prepared to face the GMAT officially for the first time since my 510 three years earlier.
Around 11:15 AM, I pressed “submit” on the essay. I shielded the screen with my scratchpad and slowly removed it. I raised my arms in utter shock, and threw fist pumps like I was a 5’10’ Jewish Tiger Woods at my version of Augusta, for I saw a V42, Q47, IR 6, and a total score of 720. The universe did its thing.
Postscript - Beyond Studying: Snake Oil, Exercise, Meditation, and Other Considerations
In my quest for excellence, I tried everything I could beyond pure studying to gain an edge. I even ventured into the world of nootropics (AKA snake oil), taking capsules like L-Theanine and the magic mushrooms, Lion’s Mane. They did nothing.
I also optimized every other aspect of my life for the GMAT. That meant considering how physical, social, psychological, and other factors impacted my learning. I re-acquainted myself with the concept of sleeping 8 hours per night. I made a positivity journal. I considered the effects of taking a walk after finishing lunch but before studying. I pondered whether living with my parents created malicious anxiety or resentment that decreased my scores. I took an intensive 8 week meditation course. Many of these topics are worthy of posts on their own, but below are my main recommendations for learning optimization outside of studying:
1. Sleep 8 hours per night
2. Read at least 30 minutes per day, with increasing complexity as your reading improves
3. Exercise 30 minutes-1 hour per day, no less than 3-6 days per week
4. Read Jon Kabat-Zinn’s “Full Catastrophe Living” and follow exactly his 8-week meditation program
a. This means that you will be meditating or doing yoga at least one hour per day for 8 weeks
5. Maintain friendships – call friends every week, better yet visit them or live with them if possible – this will introduce levity to your studies
6. Consider experimenting with a rare “Amish Day,” in which you do not touch a phone or screen for 24 hours. You will spend this time reading, meditating, exercising, or doing whatever else passes the time
7. Walking – the more the merrier, there is a mystical brilliance to this practice. Research will back me up
8. No alcohol
Signing Off and Thank You’s
If you are like me, the GMAT will be an absolute, somewhat existential struggle for you. However, I believe there is infinite value in such a struggle. You may need to quit your job, making the GMAT your full-time pursuit for however long it takes. You will need to make other sacrifices, too. But ultimately, if it calls you, the GMAT will change your life.
GMATNinja, your answer explanations were great and, most importantly, usually provided comic relief and a touch of humanity that ushered me through the often robotic struggles,
mikemcgarry, your fascination with problems in
Magoosh’s videos moved the needle. Hearing you describe a question as “A fascinating question about Garibaldi!” was hilarious but inspiring,
Bunuel, I could always trust your problems to be certifiably GMAT-like, unlike much of the hogwash out there,
bb and whoever else maintains this forum, thanks for creating the best test prep forum in the world. If you wanted to, I’m sure you could expand this to create a Khan Academy-esque competitor, but I admire the purity of the content here nonetheless. Onward, upward, hope you all continue to mold the universe.
08 Nov 2020, 08:54
GMAT Reading List.pdf [97.53 KiB]
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