In the hopes that this may provide hope for other GMAT students who suffer from standardized test anxiety, here's my story. (no, this isn't a paid ad for
Manhattan GMAT - their curriculum just really worked well for me).
I took my first mock GMAT exam almost exactly a year ago. I hadn't studied for it at all and didn't even really know the layout or the question types. It was a pen and paper exam so not computer adapted. I score a 510 (I can't remember the exact breakdown but I think it was a 25Q and a 32V or something close to that). I had always done well in school but rarely performed well on standardized tests because I was crippled with anxiety. I knew I had a lot of work to do!
I completed a six week prep course at the local university and was really disappointed in the quality of the teaching. I switched to
Manhattan GMAT's 9 week online course - absolutely fantastic! The teachers are whip smart, understand the test and can EXPLAIN how to take the test (so very important). Despite working really hard on my own in between classes and attending each online session and numerous Thursday night homework sessions, my score really wasn't improving much… I sat for the real exam mid-way through the 9-weeks and scored a 560 (35Q, 34V). I kept studying and sat for the exam again after the 9-week course and score a 600 (34Q, 39V).
I applied to my dream school with the above scores, such as they were, and was placed on the wait list.
I knew I had to crack open the books again… But this time I coughed up a lot of money and enlisted the help of a private tutor from
Manhattan Prep (Mark Sullivan). He was absolutely amazing! He helped me conquer my test anxiety, provided so many time saving strategies, analyzed my CAT results in order to provide individualized feedback/study sessions based on my individual strengths/weaknesses and assigned homework (which I loved because it kept me accountable). Yes, it was costly - especially because I met with Mark for numerous hours - but it was so worth it.
After several months of tutoring/A LOT of independent study, I sat for the exam a 3rd time and received a 650 (41Q, 38 V) and a 4th time just a month later and received a 680 (42Q, 41V). I just got off the wait list and will be attending my dream school this fall.
Here's some additional detail on my story, specifically focused on the 'second half' of my GMAT journey (post-waitlist)...
Things I'm glad I did:
1. I put aside my intense dislike for the test ("why do we need to be tested on GEOMETRY to prove we can succeed in business school?!") in favor of thinking that the exam is a game that was fun to play. I think one of articles in the
Manhattan GMAT Roadmap suggested this shift in thinking and it also recommended recognizing a few of the GMAT topics that were not only easy but FUN to tackle (I particularly enjoyed SC and double set matrix word problems). Once I took this more positive approach, the test became much less frustrating and... dare I say it... somewhat enjoyable?
2. I studied both my areas of weakness and of strength (weak in quant/strong in verbal). This helped not only from an overall score perspective but also from a confidence perspective.
3. I read each
MGMAT book twice (probably overkill) and watched each
MGMAT interact video in addition to completing the 9 week
MGMAT online session and sitting through countless timed
OG problem sets and review sessions. This not only helped me master content but also helped me to relax on test day, knowing that I had prepared for the exam to the best of my ability.
4. I took notes from my readings/classes/interact videos on flashcards instead of in a notebook. I wrote the subject of the flashcard on the top of the card so I could easily classify it (ex: RC strategies; Rates; Prime Factorization; etc). I reviewed my flashcards every Friday evening ("Flashcard Friday" - yes, I gave up a lot of my social life while studying for the GMAT) and, as the time for my official exams got closer, I flipped through each flashcard, highlighting with an actual highlighter key areas I needed to review and setting aside cards where I had already mastered the material. Somehow it was reassuring to see all the cards I had in my 'mastered already' pile as test day got closer...
5. I also completed flashcards for numerous
OG problems - prompt on the front and solution on the back with a detailed explanation of the steps used to solve the problem. My journey with the GMAT was long and I found these flashcards very helpful when reviewing content as it's easy to forget a timesaving step for a quant category you studied weeks/months ago.
6. I tracked my hours studied per day and the content I covered during my daily study. Another confidence booster.
7. I shared my GMAT journey with a few close coworkers - every once in a while I would put up an
OG problem on a coworkers whiteboard (and watch her struggle to solve it
) I would then walk her through the fastest way to solve the problem. By this time, I knew the problems so well I didn't even need the prompt in front of me to write the actual problem out or solve it - teaching it to others further engrained the strategies in my mind.
8. I took my last 5 or 6 practice tests at my office on the weekends where it was completely quiet and the computer set up was much more like at the real test center (a computer monitor and separate keyboard with a calculator type numbers layout on the right hand side). I also took the practice tests as close to the actual time of day that I would take my real test as possible. Simulating the experience beyond simply completing all sections of the exam was beneficial.
9. I separated work and studying for the GMAT. Aside from coming in to work on the weekends to take my practice tests in a completely quiet space and from explaining the occasional GMAT problem to some close coworkers, I did not bring the GMAT into my everyday work life (IE: no GMAT study over lunch). I think this made me not only more productive at work but also during my studies - my GMAT prep almost became an after work decompressor!
10. I used the
MGMAT "yellow pad technique" - A-m-a-z-i-n-g-l-y helpful in keeping my timing in check, especially on quant!
11. I enlisted the help of a tutor after I was placed on the waitlist at my dream school and I decided to re-take the exam. Yes, the private tutoring sessions are not cheap but I wanted to raise my score badly enough that I decided it was well worth the price tag. Here's just one example of how much my tutor helped me - number properties was my weakest quant area prior to tutoring and one of my strongest areas on my final practice exams.
12. I suffered from a good amount of test anxiety - I bailed on no less than three practice exams towards the beginning of my studies because I got totally overwhelmed with jitters. I worked with my
MGMAT tutor and even with a therapist to reduce my anxiety. My tutor helped me improve my timing and my understanding of the test (content/short cuts/strategic guessing/when to bail on problems, etc) and my therapist helped me with deep breathing and visualizing taking the test one problem at a time and not getting caught up in the "is this an easy problem disguised as a hard problem" trap. Together, my tutor and therapist really helped me reduce my anxiety which I am certain helped to improve my score.
Things I would have done differently:
1. I took a 6 week GMAT prep class at a local university - it lacked structure and also didn't provide any test taking tips; it simply provided basic information about the exam. Immediately afterwards I enrolled in the 9-week online class. I truly wish that I had skipped the local class and jumped right into
MGMAT material from the start.
2. I read the
MGMAT Foundations of Math book while taking the 9 week online class. I wish that I had known to complete the FoM book and practice problems prior to starting the class as they really jump-start your middle school math brain. I think I missed out on learning some of the tips the teachers in the class were explaining because I simply hadn't revisited the basic concepts in several years!