Well I finally took my third attempt at the test and scored a 640. Yes i know its not an awesome score but yes this third attempt did help me regain my confidence which I lost somewhere after my 2nd attempt...
Before i begin, here is a quick "about me" intro :-
An extremely limited edition: Indian female who in not an Engineer or an IT professional but a Strategic HR Consultant. Have a good record academically though I never sat for any of the standardized tests after high school. Also I am a food blogger by choice not an HR blog writer 
. By the way I am married too, that automatically makes me a homemaker... So here goes my story:
January 2009, i decided to sit for the GMAT. I assumed the CAT conducted by IIM was way too difficult for me and moreover i had a different and an unique work experience which i thought has to be leveraged upon, and hence the final call was GMAT.
Jan 2009 - Signed up for a 3 months course at the Princeton Review. Honestly I really do not have any rave reviews for this prep company. The course material is pretty basic and the instructors weren't that awesome either. the course ended after 3 months in March. By the end of the course i has a prima facie idea of what to expect in the test. Some basic tips and tricks. I referred to OG11 and the books from Princeton Review and took my first shot at the the test on May 14th 2009.
Score - 530.
Not to mention I was devastated. I had no clue what went wrong and how. What i did not realize was I was majorly under-prepared for the test. One of the biggest mistakes was while revising mistakes from the
OG or other study materials, I would remember the answer and not the methodology. that obviously gave me a major inflated score in my repeat tests and made me assume that I am good to go....so after this bashing came the first learning - I realized I had cheated myself in the entire process. the Result - well the loss was mine !! Though I promised myself i will take the test again !
Got married by Dec 2009, and for the next 6 months or so , I dint even remember where the
OG 11 and the rest of the study material was. Btw who needs them when th world around you is all so rosy
. Nevertheless the honeymoon ended and with it came the wake up call. I started preparing again and this time on my own. This time i focused majorly in understanding the concepts and what the test actually looks for. I referred to
OG 11,
OG 12 and yes some of the prep materials available online. Though i felt confident of the concepts this time, what i had ignored completely was the time management part. I was happy solving problems and not looking at how much time i took to solve them. Also somewhere I had this burden and the guilt of taking the test twice and the anxiety of what will happen next.
Feb 2011 - i took my second attempt at the GMAT. The AWA and Quant went well. In middle of the Verbal section my anxiety overpowered me. I could hear my heart beating so loudly that i wasn't able to read the question properly, forget concentrating on it. Time management, concentration, rules ..tips and tricks all went out of the window and all i was left with was my throbbing heart. Bombed the test again ..got a 550 and yes the blood pressure took 2 days to return to normal level.
Well that was enough for me ...I gave up all hopes for an MBA, and all i did was cry... I cried day and night, feeling terrible at what i had done, at my plight... So then came my knight in shinning Armour ... well no.. my hubby who pulled me together and convinced me to take the test once again. So the ordeal started again... This time i told myself that i had run out of my chances of committing mistakes and all i can do this time is make one last attempt with no regrets. In one of the forums, I came across a MASTER GMAT ad. They offered a 7 day free trial and i was more than convinced with the course and yes they offered a guaranteed score improvement too... I enrolled for a three month course. Today i can vouch for the course and its methodologies.
Awesome is an understatement for the course. Also things I did differently this time was :-
1. Maintained an
Error Log (It is a must)
2. Downloaded the
GMAT timer and became a religious follower. Even when i would practice for fun i would switch the timer on.
3. Completed the
OG 12 twice and referred to the forum for explanations.
4. Practiced .. Practiced .. and Practiced ...
May 2012 - took the GMAT again and scored a 640 this time (Q 47, V - 31).This time I did not carry any baggage and i was prepared for the worst, i knew GMAT was important but not so important that my life would come to a halt.. My life i knew would go on with my share of happiness-es, secondly this time i knew i was not cheating or reassuring myself..whatever little i had prepared ..I knew was solid. In short i did not take any shortcuts. Though i was hoping to cross the 650 line, but nevertheless i am not as disappointed as i was for the last two instances.
And then a strange thing happened, this improvement made me think twice that should i retake the test one more time ? I dont know ...I have no clue as to how the animal called "integrated reasoning" looks like.. Also preparing with a full time job and family to take care of is pretty much a challenge... So i leave that question for you to answer. Lets see what some of the best minds think on my case
Last but not the least, i have to thank my special someone ..my hubby for his love and support.. he was the one person who would take my frustrations and tantrums without a complaint for he understood my pressures. His support made this ordeal a lot more easier and gave me the courage to face this beast time and again.For almost a month he survived on FrootLoops and Cornflakes and all without a complaint...but hey whats the big deal ... husbands are supposed to adjust i believe
Jokes apart I hope all you guys find that special person to fall back upon ...it helps a lot. ...
So that's the end of my story ...or may be not ...its for you to answer ..."should i retake the test one more time ?" Please let me know what you think.
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18 May 2012, 04:24
