From 410 to 680...in 11 months.

Hey GMATCLUB Lovers,

Since I have been using resources from this forum for the past 11 months, I feel like it is my duty to debrief.

First, I could not thank enough the community for all the great stuff available. You guys rock. Second, I would like to thank in particular one member: Bunuel. You have done an amazing job. The number of Kudos you have is a clear sign of the respect people have for your work. Keep rocking!

My profile:
#Male, 30
#Non-native English speaker. Worst, I am French!
#Never liked Math

Based on this, you can guess how tough the GMAT adventure was for me.
My first test done at home with the GMATPrep resulted in a 410. That was on April 2011. 11 months later, I am finally done with the GMAT as I scored 680 today, which is much enough for the schools I have applied for.

Here is a summary of the past 11 months living with the GMAT:
# April- Sept 2011: given my low score, I decided to invest in books. I bought the veritas prep books, the OG, the Kaplan solution. Out of them, only the OG worths the price. I did every page and every exercise of every book though. While my understanding of theories improved, my practice remained low. Since I was working at the same time, I could only focus about 20 hours per week on the GMAT. That was enough to piss my girlfriend off

# Sept-November 2011: I scheduled my first GMAT for the end of November. Also, I quitted my job end of September to dedicate 100% of my time for two months on the GMAT. My scores improved from 410 to 570, then 600, 640 to finally reach 710. The problem was inflation. Using mainly the GMATPrep software, my latest scores were not that meaningful. Unfortunately, I became aware of this bias only after my first official test attempt: I got 590. I was devastated, hate the world for 2 days and finally was back on track to kick the GMAT’s butt.

# December 2011-January 2012: I spent two more months mixing theories and question practice. I bought the Manathan GMAT books (all of them). That was my best investment. Most of the books are great except for the RC. I scheduled a new GMAT at the end of January. My preparation went well, and I was more confident than before the first attempt. But I ended up messing it up a second time. I got 600! (Q: 37, V:35). I could not believe my eyes but after thinking about it, I knew what went wrong. I was simply too stressed during the quant part.

# February-March 2012: I only worked on math and only did practice questions from the forum – again, great stuff. My last GMAT was today and this time I was calm and determined. Final score: 680 (Q:47, V:35). It's not a 700 but for me it is more than enough and more than satisfying.

In the end, I’ve spent 11 months on the GMAT, used 20 books or so and studied over 1300 hours. What an amazing journey! While I initially prepared the GMAT for business schools, the last attempt was more for myself, as my applications were already sent out. The GMAT was probably the most difficult challenge I have ever had. But it is all positive. My quant skills have improved dramatically and so has my English as a whole.

If I had to give one piece of advice, it would be: be persistent, never give up hope. Even a French guy with low quant background can make it!

Thank you all and good luck if you have scheduled or plan to schedule a GMAT test.