My GMAT Journey from 570 to 710

Hi All

Attempt 1: Score-570

“Ship of overconfidence is destined to sink.”

In April 2018, I started my GMAT preparation. Looking from the experience of my peers, I felt that I would be able to close the GMAT in 2 months. My preparation target was to solve OG. To push me to prepare rigorously, I booked a date after one month and applied for a week off before my exam. I scored 570.

Learnings:
1) You cannot benchmark your performance with your peers. Mocks are mandatory.
2) You need to develop a conceptual understanding of subjects such as SC, CR. OG solutions might not help you to grow on these subjects
3) During my examination, there was some technical issue leading to a long delay between sections.

Attempt 2: 630


“Never mistake motion for action.”

After that, I decided not to give the GMAT again and started preparing for CAT 2018. I scored 95 percentile in CAT and hence not able to get into any of the top 4 IIMs

In late 2019, I resumed my GMAT preparation. To build my conceptual understanding of SC and CR, I joined the online program of Top One Percent. I consumed all the course videos and materials diligently. I kept preparing and solving as many questions as I could. I gave a second attempt of the GMAT on 19th August 2020 and scored 630. It was heartbreaking.

Learnings:
1) After my previous attempt, I worked on building fundamentals, but I just solved the question without learning from them.
2) Please use exam packs on the GMAT club after completing all the mocks. Solving before can skew your official mock scores. ( Happened with me)
3) In the online exam, Proctor can ping you in between if your face goes too down from a particular range. These disturbances can break the flow.

Attempt 3: 680

"Fall 7 times stand up 8."

Since I wanted to apply this year only, I resumed my preparation again. I started using OGs and reviewed CJs solutions to the official questions. The idea is to know what makes the correct option correct and, similarly, what makes the incorrect option incorrect. This approach helped me a lot since SC was my weaker area. I have done limited questions. I scheduled my date for 14th November 2020 and scored 680 (Q47 V35)

Learnings:
Work on both strengths and weaknesses. (at least be in touch)

Attempt 4: 650

“Just because you fail once doesn’t mean you’re gonna fail at everything.”

I was adamant and wanted to score above 700. I took E-GMAT and started preparing again. After exhausting almost all the questions, I took the GMAT on 1st Jan 2021. Anxiety hit me hard. Repercussions of excessive intake of water could be significant. My score dropped to 650 (Q50 V27).

Learnings:
1) Physically: Play according to your body. Select a relevant time slot and limit excessive intake of water
2) Mentally: Thought that "GMAT is not everything". You can be successful future without having a good GMAT score or MBA

Attempt 5: 710

"Fall 7 times stand up 8."

I started preparing for GMAT again. Since I exhausted all the material, I need to find a new reliable source of questions to evaluate my performance. I took the subscription to Maghoosh and started preparation for the GMAT. I gave my last attempt at GMAT on 14th August 2021. Just thinking that GMAT is not the end of the world made things easier. I scored 710 (Q50 V36).

Learnings:
Judging yourself during examination could impact your performance negatively. Facing easy questions does not mean that you are making incorrect attempts.

It will be my pleasure if any of my above learnings help you in your preparation.

Thanks a lot, GMAT club and its members. Special thanks to CJ and GMAT Ninja.

I want to thank my family members, who supported me in the ups and downs of this journey, and my girlfriend, who was my companion in this journey and pushed me to work harder after every fall.