My GMAT Story

Here's a quick background info about me: U.S. born and raised, attended United States Air Force Academy for undergrad, served in the U.S. Air Force. Got my M.S. at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. Worked in Venture Capital for 1 year and worked for Medtronic as a surgery consultant for 2 years.

I started studying for the GMAT on May 1st. Took a free Veritas Prep practice exam scored a 650. I purchased some Manhattan prep books to study on my own, however, I felt like I wasnt absorbing enough of the information. I attended a free Veritas Prep class really liked it and signed up for the online classes. The online classes were great, small class sizes allows the teachers to answer everyone's questions. However, I felt like we wasted a lot of time in class answering a lot of questions I already knew the answer to. In hindsight, I would have subscribed for the on demand videos and just attend the homework help office hours to get my specific questions addressed. Their homework help office hours are held every day and are incredibly helpful.

After finishing the Veritas Prep course I started on the OG guide and OG tests. I will list my progression of practice tests below. I took my first test and scored a 620. I did terribly due to a few things. I had food poisoning, didn't sleep well, I felt tired so I drank a redbull (I never drink caffeine), I read the night before that it is best to take verbal section first (on practice tests I always took math) and I was nervous. Overall I bombed both the quant and the verbal. I finished both sections with about 10 minutes left in each section, which i never do. I was upset, but I knew 620 was not an accurate score for me, so I cancelled the score on the spot.

I scheduled the test for 3 weeks later, just did some light studying the OG guide. Because during my first attempt I sped through questions too quickly, I went into the test reminding myself to slow down and pay attention to detail. In both quant and verbal section I ran out of time. As a result I ended up scoring a 660 Q42, V36. I was so upset I cancelled these scores as well. And scheduled the test another 4 weeks later.

During the 4 weeks I finished the OG guide, which I highly recommend. I think there were a lot of similar questions. And I think I had a passage straight out of one of the official guides. During this time, all i concentrated on was the tempo of the test. I decided that I would punt 4 questions on each section (evaluate the question for 20 seconds, if I didn't see a solution quickly and could tell its a high level question, I would immediately guess and move on). This strategy is what I think really changed my score. I took the test with this strategy yesterday, finished both sections with a minute left and ended up scoring Q49 V37 for a total score of 710.

Real GMAT
1. Jul 29: 620 (cancelled scores don't remember breakdown)
2. Aug 19: 660 (Q42, V36)
3. Sep 21: 710 Q49, V37

Veritas Practice:
1. May 1 : 650 Q44 V36
2. May 9 : 630 Q46 V31
3. June 1 : 680 Q47 V37
4. June 30: 710 Q49 V39
5. July 10: 710 Q51 V36
6. Aug 8: 720 Q51 V38
7. Aug 9: 700 Q51 V35

GMAT PREP:
1. June 22: 630 Q46 V31
2. June 28: 720 Q49 V38
3. Aug 16: 760 Q50 V42
4. Aug 30: 730 Q50 V39

Manhattan Prep:
1. May 15: 690 Q46 V38
2. Aug 29: 670 Q43 V38
3. Sep 4 : 710 Q44 V42
4. Sep 9: 640 Q43 V35
5. Sep 10: 670 Q44 V37
6. Sep 18: 690 Q46 V38

Takeaways:
-In hindsight I probably would not have taken so many practice tests. Instead I should have just focused increasing my knowledge.
-My scores had a direct correlation with how much time I had left on the exam when I finished. If i finished with 1 or 2 minutes left I usually scored fairly high on either section. If i ever felt rushed my score plummeted. If I finished very early I made a lot of dumb mistakes.
-Don't get stressed out about practice test scores. I would mainly use these to learn how to pace yourself. I thought by the end of my studies I should score between 700-720.
-Don't get discouraged about retaking the test. All my friends with over 700+ scores took the test at least 3 times. I feel like it mostly has to do with your nerves. The second time I took the test I was so nervous I had to re-read sentences to get any information. Yesterday when I took it I was much more relaxed and had to re-read much less. You score directly correlates to how confident you are and how you feel.

Purchased Products:
-VeritasPrep Full Online Course (recommend the basic on demand videos with homework help rather than full live online course)
-Manhattan Prep CAT exams (really difficult, I know some say this is most accurate predictor, but was not accurate for me)
-OG 10 (awesome guide, solving and understanding all the questions is a must)
-GMATPrep CAT1 pack (Most accurate predictor of score)

I wish everyone the best of luck. Feel free to PM me or ask questions on this thread. I will post another story after applications and offers.