Hello everyone,
Today, I took my 8th official GMAT, but unfortunately I could not reach my ideal score of 700.
I am writing this because I feel like there are not many stories like this, a story that someone took GMAT 8 times and still did not achieve a good score and because I wanted to share my learning and mistakes, hoping that people new to this GMAT journey won't need to take GMAT 8 times and end up not getting their ideal score. And also I would like someone to help me answer some questions too
My profile and the journeyI am a non-native speaker and I grew up in a lower mid class in Asia but lived in an English speaking country for about 6 years or so. went to a normal public school but completed my high school degree on my own after I stopped going to high school because of some mental (?) issue. I finished my Business undergrad degree in an English speaking country, and after the graduation, worked in finance for 3 years.
My journey began around April 2021 as I wanted to get into one of top MBA programs either in the US or in EU. As almost everyone does, I bought some official guides and solved the
OG questions, and after realising that I needed to learn more basic concepts etc, I used several prep courses. After about a year of prep, I took my first official test(online) just to see 360 (Q6 V31). I kept studying, using some prep courses to solidify basic concepts and to improve reasoning process, but it really did not work on the score board. And yes it made me really sad and a little depressed, but thanks to my perseverance or my stupidity lol, I kept going, ended up studying for over 3000 hours and used all the 8 attempts. I am feeling salty but more relieved to be honest. I feel like I am finally free from GMAT. I think without this the limit on the number of attempts, I would have kept going. I probably just needed some reasons that forcefully stop me.
Here are some learnings I would like to share.
Learnings and tips(well I am not sure if I can call it "tips" since I did not get my ideal score, but here they are anyways)
- It is very important to purchase a comprehensive prep course at the early stage of your prep.
- Probably consider working with tutors if you didn't get a good score on your first and second official GMAT or if you think you are not improving at all. The sooner the better. Even if it costs a little more, it is much better than realising it after 6 or 7 attempts because you won't feel too much pressure. So If I were to redo the journey, I would work with some tutors for a few months after I took two official exams. Good tutors can really point out mistakes in your reasoning and I find them super helpful.
- Better not to take it too seriously. I was taking it very very seriously
- Long hours do not mean anything. It is probably a common sense but it is really true that if you want to improve your skills, focus on quality rather than on quantity. But it is sometimes very difficult to do it on your own, because you cannot really see yourself in a complete objective manner, so it's beneficial to have study buddies or work with tutors, who can see what you cannot see. So my point is " work with other people and ask for help as soon as possible". I found a very good study buddy here in GMAT club.
- Perseverance is important but learning when to quit is equally important. I definitely would not say to give up after 2 attempts because you did not grow up or did not work in an environment that helps you get a good GMAT score, it really takes a lot of time for you to improve even a bit, because in my opinion, your reasoning skills and other skills that you gained while growing up are 100% one of the most important factors. But I think for majority of people, it's still achievable so with perseverance and good resources, you can definitely get a good score, but at the same time, if you feel like you are really far off your ideal score after a few attempts, it might be wise to cut a loss and go find what you are good at. There are things that effort and perseverance cannot be helpful for.
Mistakes- Way too long hours for prep and putting GMAT before anything else. I really lost many things during this journey and gained not as much. It's better to have a good balance between studies and social life to keep your mind fresh.
- Too much pressure on yourself. Although I really tried to stop myself from doing this, I could not help but tell myself that if I do not get a good score, I am a loser and I have nothing else to do, almost thinking stupidly that GMAT is the only way to measure my intelligence and it's what defines me as a person. So please don't be so harsh on yourself. Well at the end of the day, even if you don't get a good GMAT score, you still have a chance to go to some b schools or you have something else to do. I ended up seeing a psychiatrist.
Last NotesI wanted to appreciate this awesome community! Without this GMAT club, I would not have been able to keep my motivation up and my perseverance. I met nice people here on GMAT club throughout my journey, who helped me a lot!! I really want to thank all the tutors who helped me and were super patient with me, and everyone who helped me during my journey!!!
egmat GMATWhizTeam GmatTutorKnight JeffTargetTestPrep ScottTargetTestPrep MartyTargetTestPrep Gmat Whiz Saquib and
Gmat Whiz Sunita !!!
My QuestionNow I kinda need a bit of help to figure out a few things
ok I won't lie. it was quite shocking to see the result after I spend almost 3 years, well over 3000 hours and around $10,000 or possibly more.
And I sacrificed quite a lot my personal life and my career. I quit my job 1 year ago to focus on GMAT prep. I am probably not in a good position both socially and financially as well.
So I guess I was extremely inefficient preparing for GMAT and putting a lot of "wrong" effort (?) I was wondering if anyone could advise me as to how it is possible that someone, who was quite dedicated to the exam, can end up not hitting even 650. Am I probably just a super inefficient learner? Is my brain flawed in some way or part of it not isn't functioning well?
Ok, it might sound like a silly question. If you are extremely bad at GMAT like myself, what can you possibly be good at? My point is I just want to know how I end up like this. If anyone has met someone like me or is familiar with these topics, it would be much much appreciated if you could share your thoughts with me.
Scores2021/03/19 1st GMAT 360(Q6 V31) online
2021/04/14 2nd GMAT 600(Q44 V29) online
2021/09/29 3rd GMAT 630(Q47 V30)
2021/12/07 4th GMAT 640(Q43 V35)
2022/02/25 5th GMAT 640(Q47 V31)
2022/04/14 6th GMAT 560(Q45 V23)
2022/08/04 7th GMAT 580 (Q47 V23)
2023/01/27 8th GMAT 640 (Q44 V34)
Resources
Books/Online Resources Manhattan Fundamental Verbal and Quant
Manhattan All Verbal and All Quant
Power Score RC and CR
GMAT Ninja Youtune Video
Questions and Mocks OG Quetsions
GMAP Prep Questions
Official Mock #1to#6
Varitas Mock
Manhattan Mock
Prep CourseeGMAT Quant and Verbal
Math Revolution
TTP Quant and Verbal
GMAT Whiz Personal Tutoring GMAT Knight Tutoring 3 Verbal sessions
GMAT Whiz 10 Verbal sessions and 10 Quant sessions
Thank you very much for reading.
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27 Jan 2023, 03:17
