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11 Aug 2023, 09:03
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I recently appeared for GMAT and scored a 740 (Q51, V38, IR8, AWA 5) on my first attempt. I have been trying to write this post since I appeared for the test, but I finally found the time and motivation to do so today.
A very brief background about myself.
I am an undergraduate student in Mathematics and will complete my bachelor's next year.
My Journey
I first decided to give GMAT a shot somewhere around September 2022. To evaluate if the exam was in my range, I appeared for a sample test, i.e. Manhattan Mock CAT-1 and scored a 650 (Q51, V31). I immediately realised that Quant would not be an issue, but I would need to work on my verbal section. The only question I got wrong on Quant was a geometry DS problem, one of only a few topics I had not studied in my undergrad till then.
From September 2022 to December 2022, my preparation was on-off, and I didn't do much owing to some other priorities at my college. From January 2023, I seriously started preparation with a target of giving the exam somewhere in May.
I was faced with a choice of either purchasing a course for my preparation or self-study. I reasoned that I don't need any help for Quants (since by January 2023, I had studied every topic that GMAT tests on Quant in much more depth at my undergrad), and I can manage verbal if I learn sentence correction rules. (I thought so because on the mock CAT, I wrote, most of the verbal questions I got wrong were from SC).
In hindsight, I honestly regret not taking help from any course. I will always have the "What If" syndrome haunting me. What if I had taken a verbal course, I would have done better. There is no doubt about the fact that one can prepare with self-study given that are already a lot of free resources available for preparation, but in my opinion, self-study is a much slower process; I took so much time to discover the basic rules of SC after scavenging through various forums and getting countless questions wrong, I believe this process could have been faster, if I were to receive knowledge from one single comprehensive source. Perhaps, I even missed many things one should be aware of.
Since I was self-studying, I didn't have any fixed routine, though I had a basic clarity on how to schedule my preparation; I did not study anything for Quant or even solve the OG questions. Rarely would I randomly solve some Quant questions from the GMAT club to keep in touch, but that was it.
For Verbal, my approach was quite different; I would solve all the questions from all the freely available materials I could lay my hands on, particularly for sentence correction. I have realised this isn't a very good approach since just solving questions won't improve your score; you also need to be well-versed in theory. But, since I did not have any consolidated source for theory, I would randomly read blogs to improve my knowledge. I wrote down whatever rules I would learn. I occasionally wrote a few free mocks in between from different sources and observed that I was improving in verbal. (I now realise that I was not improving, I had just seen a lot of questions, hence a lot of patterns and could solve questions via pattern matching- something which doesn't works on the actual exam.)
By the time April rolled, I wasn't very confident about giving the exam in May, and I received an opportunity to go on an exchange programme for the months of May and June, so I decided to postpone my exam to August.
When I returned, I didn't have much time left for preparation (20-25 days), so I thought giving mocks should be a good approach now. This is one decision that I am happy about; I feel giving as many mocks as possible is very helpful (with proper analysis; it goes without saying). You dont feel stressed any more with the exam when you write a lot of mocks; you get to know how to manage time in different situations in the exam (for example, what to do if you have 14 questions left and only 14 minutes on the clock or what to do if you have 14 questions left and 30 minutes left on the clock; adapting in both the extreme situations is very crucial); you can pinpoint your weaknesses and study only that particular topic.
Since I aimed to give as many mock tests as possible, I purchased the Experts Global mocks since they offered the largest number of mocks. Though I recommend that one should not buy mocks only for this reason and should do proper research, I didn't have the time to do so I brought the one with the largest number of mocks. I also accumulated some points on the GMAT club, which allowed me to get 2-week access to GMAT club elite tests. I used GMAT club tests as conditioning tests; I would create the possibly worst environment to give the test so that I would be prepared if anything similar happened on exam day. I would solve the GMAT club tests at that point in the day when it was the hottest with the air conditioner turned off or when I was feeling the sleepiest (usually after meals). I would also turn on the television to create another source of disturbance and use only one sheet of A4 paper for the entire test. (This all was a waste since my exam centre was one of the best places I could ask for, though there were occasional train horn sounds, but it was fine). I scored around 680-690 on all GMAT club mocks I wrote.
I took the expert's global mocks more seriously in a proper environment, and my scores are @ https://gmatclub.com/forum/expectations-for-gmat-416359.html. I also wrote the two free GMAT prep tests while I was on exchange and two after returning, the scores of which are available on the same link.
Exam Day
My exam was scheduled for 8 in the morning; I woke up at around five and went with a light breakfast to the exam centre. After completing all the formalities, I started the test early, around 7:30. I Chose Verbal, Quant, IR, and AWA section order. I breezed through the first 25 questions on the verbal post, which I messed up somewhat on timing and had to guess the last 4-5 questions (still waiting for ESR to confirm my hunch that in the first 25 questions, I wouldn't have more than 2-3 wrong questions). I finished the verbal section, took the 8-minute break, and now I was relaxed since I knew Quant would not be an issue. I breezed through all of the Quant, but one geometry DS problem again haunted me. I am sure that I did that wrong, and I am also pretty sure that was the only question I did wrong. I completed the Quant section with a few minutes to spare. I took the second 8-minute break and, post that, did the IR and AWA section.
I clicked on Submit, and the screen flashed 740; I saw the Q51 first and was indifferent since I expected it, but I was saddened at setting a V38 because I had scored V42, V42, V41, and V41 on the 4 GMAT prep tests I wrote. Accpeted my scores. As I exited the examination centre, I realised the world was the same; nothing had changed, and it would have been the same if I had scored 640 or perhaps even 800. It doesn't matter. Be happy (but not content) with whatever you get.
Learnings from my journey.
1. If you have a weakness in one of the sections, it's better to take help.
2. GMAT is not the end of the world.
A very brief background about myself.
I am an undergraduate student in Mathematics and will complete my bachelor's next year.
My Journey
I first decided to give GMAT a shot somewhere around September 2022. To evaluate if the exam was in my range, I appeared for a sample test, i.e. Manhattan Mock CAT-1 and scored a 650 (Q51, V31). I immediately realised that Quant would not be an issue, but I would need to work on my verbal section. The only question I got wrong on Quant was a geometry DS problem, one of only a few topics I had not studied in my undergrad till then.
From September 2022 to December 2022, my preparation was on-off, and I didn't do much owing to some other priorities at my college. From January 2023, I seriously started preparation with a target of giving the exam somewhere in May.
I was faced with a choice of either purchasing a course for my preparation or self-study. I reasoned that I don't need any help for Quants (since by January 2023, I had studied every topic that GMAT tests on Quant in much more depth at my undergrad), and I can manage verbal if I learn sentence correction rules. (I thought so because on the mock CAT, I wrote, most of the verbal questions I got wrong were from SC).
In hindsight, I honestly regret not taking help from any course. I will always have the "What If" syndrome haunting me. What if I had taken a verbal course, I would have done better. There is no doubt about the fact that one can prepare with self-study given that are already a lot of free resources available for preparation, but in my opinion, self-study is a much slower process; I took so much time to discover the basic rules of SC after scavenging through various forums and getting countless questions wrong, I believe this process could have been faster, if I were to receive knowledge from one single comprehensive source. Perhaps, I even missed many things one should be aware of.
Since I was self-studying, I didn't have any fixed routine, though I had a basic clarity on how to schedule my preparation; I did not study anything for Quant or even solve the OG questions. Rarely would I randomly solve some Quant questions from the GMAT club to keep in touch, but that was it.
For Verbal, my approach was quite different; I would solve all the questions from all the freely available materials I could lay my hands on, particularly for sentence correction. I have realised this isn't a very good approach since just solving questions won't improve your score; you also need to be well-versed in theory. But, since I did not have any consolidated source for theory, I would randomly read blogs to improve my knowledge. I wrote down whatever rules I would learn. I occasionally wrote a few free mocks in between from different sources and observed that I was improving in verbal. (I now realise that I was not improving, I had just seen a lot of questions, hence a lot of patterns and could solve questions via pattern matching- something which doesn't works on the actual exam.)
By the time April rolled, I wasn't very confident about giving the exam in May, and I received an opportunity to go on an exchange programme for the months of May and June, so I decided to postpone my exam to August.
When I returned, I didn't have much time left for preparation (20-25 days), so I thought giving mocks should be a good approach now. This is one decision that I am happy about; I feel giving as many mocks as possible is very helpful (with proper analysis; it goes without saying). You dont feel stressed any more with the exam when you write a lot of mocks; you get to know how to manage time in different situations in the exam (for example, what to do if you have 14 questions left and only 14 minutes on the clock or what to do if you have 14 questions left and 30 minutes left on the clock; adapting in both the extreme situations is very crucial); you can pinpoint your weaknesses and study only that particular topic.
Since I aimed to give as many mock tests as possible, I purchased the Experts Global mocks since they offered the largest number of mocks. Though I recommend that one should not buy mocks only for this reason and should do proper research, I didn't have the time to do so I brought the one with the largest number of mocks. I also accumulated some points on the GMAT club, which allowed me to get 2-week access to GMAT club elite tests. I used GMAT club tests as conditioning tests; I would create the possibly worst environment to give the test so that I would be prepared if anything similar happened on exam day. I would solve the GMAT club tests at that point in the day when it was the hottest with the air conditioner turned off or when I was feeling the sleepiest (usually after meals). I would also turn on the television to create another source of disturbance and use only one sheet of A4 paper for the entire test. (This all was a waste since my exam centre was one of the best places I could ask for, though there were occasional train horn sounds, but it was fine). I scored around 680-690 on all GMAT club mocks I wrote.
I took the expert's global mocks more seriously in a proper environment, and my scores are @ https://gmatclub.com/forum/expectations-for-gmat-416359.html. I also wrote the two free GMAT prep tests while I was on exchange and two after returning, the scores of which are available on the same link.
Exam Day
My exam was scheduled for 8 in the morning; I woke up at around five and went with a light breakfast to the exam centre. After completing all the formalities, I started the test early, around 7:30. I Chose Verbal, Quant, IR, and AWA section order. I breezed through the first 25 questions on the verbal post, which I messed up somewhat on timing and had to guess the last 4-5 questions (still waiting for ESR to confirm my hunch that in the first 25 questions, I wouldn't have more than 2-3 wrong questions). I finished the verbal section, took the 8-minute break, and now I was relaxed since I knew Quant would not be an issue. I breezed through all of the Quant, but one geometry DS problem again haunted me. I am sure that I did that wrong, and I am also pretty sure that was the only question I did wrong. I completed the Quant section with a few minutes to spare. I took the second 8-minute break and, post that, did the IR and AWA section.
I clicked on Submit, and the screen flashed 740; I saw the Q51 first and was indifferent since I expected it, but I was saddened at setting a V38 because I had scored V42, V42, V41, and V41 on the 4 GMAT prep tests I wrote. Accpeted my scores. As I exited the examination centre, I realised the world was the same; nothing had changed, and it would have been the same if I had scored 640 or perhaps even 800. It doesn't matter. Be happy (but not content) with whatever you get.
Learnings from my journey.
1. If you have a weakness in one of the sections, it's better to take help.
2. GMAT is not the end of the world.
11 Aug 2023, 13:34
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Bookmarks
Gratz on the 740. Stellar Quant. All the best going forward.
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11 Aug 2023, 13:43
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Thank you so much aytida for sharing your debrief! Fantastic job!
It’s interesting one of your regrets is not having a course or a structured study. I have used books for my prep and I felt they provided somewhat of a structure but definitely no customization of any kind. I don’t think I’ve seen a lot of people recommend taking a course after doing self study. That’s pretty interesting. Kind of sounds almost like me who tried to do something themselves and then said just hire a professional next time 😂
Congratulations on your score!
Posted from my mobile device
It’s interesting one of your regrets is not having a course or a structured study. I have used books for my prep and I felt they provided somewhat of a structure but definitely no customization of any kind. I don’t think I’ve seen a lot of people recommend taking a course after doing self study. That’s pretty interesting. Kind of sounds almost like me who tried to do something themselves and then said just hire a professional next time 😂
Congratulations on your score!
Posted from my mobile device
