Long road from 310 to 660

I took my last GMAT today and I am glad I took this road to learn the valuable lessons that I did.

My GMAT experience started as a sophomore in college. I was rejected by my business school in ungrad because I didn't have an A in all the prerequisites. I wasn't going to wait another year, so I needed a way to be educated in business. I learned about MBA's at a campus career fair and little did I know it would take my 3 years to get a score that satisfied me.

1st time
I took an in-person GMAT course on campus in January 2019 during my junior core classes (do not recommend). It was about $725, which was a lot for a poor student, but I found that it wasn't helpful. It was 6 weeks of meeting 2 times a week for 4 hours per session. The baseline I took without studying was 310 GMAC1. I was shocked. It would take a miracle to get even close to 700. The classes taught me what the test was but did a bad job of trying to teach about 40 students who were at very different levels. I realize now that I wasn't putting the time in to really study the material because my GPA always came first. I scored a 485 GMAC2 by the end of the course and took a break. Only start studying if you can really commit 2-3 hour a day for an extended amount of time. I'd say 3-4 months.

Come summer, I landed a summer internship and had free time now to study after work. I booked a test at the end of my internship. My error here was that I thought I'd be magically ready at that time. I'd say only book a test when you feel ready and you've consistently scored what you want to score on the official exam. Slots open up all the time or even the GMAT Online is a good option. I hammered at the OG for 3 straight months. I did the one of the six Kaplan tests every other week or so. I learned later that this was completely the wrong approach. I learned that I was not stepping back when I got questions wrong but just practicing to get them wrong. I did not look at the concepts as a whole but just question after question. I did improve some but not much. I got my Kaplan scores to about 610 (Q40,V33) consistently and I was feeling okay by the time the summer was over. Another error I made was I put my GMAT the same week as my intern presentation to management. Do not book a test day near anything that will cause you stress. You will regret it. I scored a 500 official for my first try and it destroyed my confidence. I didn't want to talk about GMAT for a while. I didn't study until about one year later. If you are studying GMAT, DO NOT do what I did. Take a few weeks off max if you need to get your life together again, but do not take more or else you will lose all that you worked for.

2nd Time
In January 2021, I decided to get back on the horse. Although, this time I had a full time job and a wife to take care of and give my attention. I had met some coworkers who were also studying, but they were Harvard bound guys. Do not compare yourself with other people. It will only hurt you. The more you focus on other's successes, the less you focus on yourself and where you are going.

My approach this time was Manhattan Guide. This was about $150 I believe and it came with a self study guide. I read through the book and did the questions from the OG that it suggested. This did not help me. I was following what they THINK will help me. I discarded Manhattan and their uber hard CATs. I focused again on the OG while scoring around 630 on my Kaplan tests. I made the same mistakes again thinking that Kaplan and OG will save me, but it did not in the end. At last I heard about the gmatclub and I wish I had way sooner. Here, I found TargetTestPrep that was the #1 course written all over the place. I only did it for 2 months though and my official score was only 550 (Q38,V28). I was so hurt that after all I did, I couldn't make solid progress. Mind I was about 9 months total into studying at this point.

3rd Time
January 2022, I applied to my target school with the GMAT waiver, but they already had my previous scores on record. They gave me a score of 640 to aim for. This time, I was determined to do all of TargetTestPrep. I had only completed about half last time. I didn't do any CATs until after I had gone through all the lessons and chapter tests. Looking back, I think you don't really need to do 100% unless you are a perfectionist and want a high score that they will rave about. It took me about 3 months to do 85% of TTP. It was SUPER helpful to be able to focus on one subject and just drill it until you know your stuff. Buy all the GMAC CATs. You won't regret it. After scoring a 640 a few times in the GMAC tests, I felt I was ready. I went to the testing center and scored a measly 560 (Q44,V21). Certainly, I didn't do all that work for 10 points. I studied before and after work until my eyes started to hurt for one more month I told myself.

Last time
I scheduled an Online GMAT. I took the extra month to get my timing down. My verbal suffered bad because RC took so much time out of my tests. For one month I just did OG and custom tests from TTP. This transition helped my score immensely as I took a GMAC CAT every week. I'd say only do GMAC tests because they mimic the real thing. I could see my quant and verbal scores going up steadily to my highest Q47 and V35, but not together sadly.

Today the online GMAT had some technical issues, so I had to have some serious patience as the software did not work for about 90 mins past my appointment. They also told me my scratchpad was not allowed and that I needed a real whiteboard, so that threw another wrench in the experience. I did the entire GMAT without writing anything because the online whiteboard is literally trash. The miracle of the day was I scored a 660 (Q45,V35) without a scratchpad and I am happy with it.

The GMAT is a beast. A dragon that needs to be slayed by you and you alone. Thank you for all the posts from tutors, students, ninjas, and GMATers alike! I could not have done this without gmatclub. Would y'all recommend to take the test a 5th time in this situation?