TLDR- April 12, 2021 12:30:00 AM: Score: 430 (Q36,V14,IR3)
- May 08, 2021 9:00:00 AM: Score: 670 (Q46,V36,IR8)
- In my eyes, I got a Q51 (did not have time to answer the last two questions, hence up to 5 points reduction, sorry for not listening to you EMPOWERgmatRichC
- Study time: 140 hours a week
- Starting point: Already a Q170, V167 on the GRE.
- Realized that the GMAT is essentially a reasoning test that tests you "How fast can you find the answer?". Shoutout to GMATNinja and his video about "Developing a Flexible Quant Mindset", watch from 1:30 to 3:00
- Used only EMPOWERgmat, shoutout to Max and Rich Cohen. You guys are special.
- EMPOWERgmat will show you proof and statistics on WHY easy and medium level questions matters, while hard questions does not matter at all!!
- It is significant harder to score a 700+ without EMPOWERgmat, so check out their free trial
The only resources you need- EMPOWERgmat
- Any OG from 2013-2021
BackgroundSo my first time, I underestimated the GMAT. I emanate from a very vigorous quant family; my father is a VP at Goldman Sachs, my brothers graduated from Harvard and Duke and work in Venture Capital. I have an internship at McKinsey and aforetime a private equity intern at Apax Partners. Antecedently, I scored Q170, V167 on the GRE, which is equipollent to 750+ on the GMAT (redress me if I am erroneous).
I cerebrate I had a different mindset going into the GMAT than most of you are. I have already received admission offers from LBS, LSE, Imperial and Oxbridge (Masters in Finance), and an outstanding GRE score. The reason for taking the GMAT was because of competition among my network.
I rushed through the
OG, did not do any questions or mock exams, and took my GMAT with 1 week of preparation. I got a mortifying 430 (Q36,V14,IR3). Probably would have scored higher, but as I am on Adderal I am imbibing an extravagant amount of dihydrogen monoxide. I had to pee during mid quant, so I just had to hold it in lol. I Plenarily threw it after I kenned I messed up so many quant questions, hence an underwhelming score.
So how did I go from Q170, V167 on GRE, to a low score of 430 (Q36,V14,IR3)? Well, after heedfully auricularly discerning
GMATNinja and his video on Youtube/GMATCLUB, called "Developing a Flexible Quant Mindset", I realized that I approached the GMAT like the GRE. While the GRE tests you fundamentally on conceptual understanding, the GMAT tests you on your "quandary-solving skills". Contemplate it as an IQ-test; how would you prepare? Would you prepare by memorizing every concept that possibly can emerge on your IQ-test, or would you prepare strategy and approach to tackle each question with facileness?
EMPOWERgmat + an approach to showcase the course's brillianceSo after remotely of research, I stumbled across EMPOWERgmat. The main element that distinguishes EMPOWERgmat from everything else on the market, is that they have a comprehensive fixate on approach and strategy.
What if I told you that up to 70% of the questions in your quant section can be solved utilizing ONE APPROACH, called TEST IT? Yeah, you will not believe me, but consider this mid-level question:
"A certain jacket was purchased at the wholesale price of $100 and then marked up 20% before being sold at its retail price. The retail price of the shirt is z% greater than it would have been if the jacket were on sale for p% of its wholesale price.
What is the value of p, in terms of z?
(A) 120z
(B) 120-60z
(C) 12,000z + 60
(D) \frac{120}{60+z}
(E) \frac{12,000}{100+z}
Solution with EMPOWER tactics:
While this can be solved with algebra, it can also be solved with the EMPOWER approach, TEST IT.
Wholesale price: $100
Retail price: $100 + 20% = $120
We have variables in the answer choices, so we set the unknown variables z,p in accordance to any constraints.
We know the wholesale price is $100, so if the jacket were on p% of this price, lets pick an easy and strategic number we can work with. Let's say 20%.
So we have defined p = 20%, meaning that the jacket were on 20% sale of the wholesale price.
This means, that the jacket on sale would cost $80.
Furthermore, we know that the retail price is $120. But look here, the reason I chose p = 20% is that it makes it easier for us!! (On GRE, you can use a calculator, on the GMAT, you cannot so you have to be strategic).
We have $80 after discount with p=20%, so essentially, the z% we must choose must be the percent change from $80 to $120. So we see the difference is 40, from 80 to 120. After a while, it should come intuitively that 50% of 80 is 40, which means that z = 50%.
So this is where the snacks start; we want to put in z = 50 in each answer choice, and the right answer choice will yield 80. If not, it is wrong.
Does it sound time-consuming? Well, let me tell you this sick pattern I found out.
GMAT test-makers is not putting up random answer choices. The thing is that usually, 90% of the time, answer choice A gives us a big number when we put in a variable. Likewise, answer choice E gives us the smallest number.
So when we do this approach, we want to test answer choice B and D first.
If B is over 80, we know the answer is A.
If B is under 80, we test D. If D is over 80, the answer is C. If D is under 80, the answer is E.
Remember, I have not tested the latter, but it worked for me.
So,
(B): 120-60*50 = a big negative number, that is very different from 80. So this makes me think that I should test answer choice E next.
(E): 12 000 / 150 = 80.
There we have it, answer choice E."
Learning to crack the GMAT in under 2 weeksI received my first online GMAT score (430) on April 12th and commenced preparing with EMPOWERgmat on April 25th. Shoutout to my IRL friend
CArbitragePM for showing me the course. As I am a trained all-nighter through my internships, I spent around 120-130 hours each week learning the approaches and culminating the course.
EMPOWERgmat stands out in the crowd since they show you shortcuts, strategies, approaches on how to tackle each question.
I would not recommend anyone to study 120-130 hours a week, as it is perilous for your health. However, if you have the work capacity, then go for it.
EMPOWERgmat provides you with different study plans, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months (rectify me if I am the erroneous
EMPOWERgmatRichC), and essentially after each "stages" in the course, you will do a full-time CAT to track your mistakes. It is paramount to utilize a good duration reviewing your CATs to track your mistakes, to ascertain that you will not do the same mistake on test day.
Albeit I did not culminate any CATs, or
official guide questions (only the EMPOWERgmat questions), I vigorously suggest and recommend that everyone culminates the CATs and
OG questions that EMPOWER suggests.
In additament, EMPOWERgmat is probably the only course that actively uses
OG questions. Their videos are compatible with every
OG from 2013 to 2021, which makes them superior. The good news is, with their subscription, you can buy the
OG 2021/2022 on Amazon, send customer accommodation the receipt and they will restitute you half the cost of the
OG book. Additionally, they are giving you discounts on the practice tests (the 3-month subscription includes all 6 official CATs from MBA).
Furthermore, their fixate on strategies will make you ace the quant section. One tactic called TEST IT can be acclimated to solve up to 70% of your questions, and fundamentally virtually every data sufficiency.
Their verbal course is flexible additionally. If you have a good understanding of the English language, you can only visually examine the "recommended videos", which again shows you TACTICS and APPROACHES. If you require an exhaustive review, the course sanctions you to review modules that expound exhaustively each concept in sentence rectification.
My first exam was on Sunday night, 12:30 AM, while my second endeavor was on a Saturday, 9 AM in the morning.
EMPOWERgmat accentuates on the consequentiality of additionally being strategic on when you book your exam.
Test day May 8thOn test day, I have already gone through all the EMPOWERgmat modules and felt well prepared. In integration to their main modules on the GMAT, they are additionally giving you 3-5 minutes podcasts each stage about psychology, preparing you for what you will meet on test day and what you should do and not do prior to your official GMAT. Mentally, I have never been so yare.
Check-in was fine, had to wait 15 minutes afore verbalizing with my proctor. Had to do a 360 view of my room. After that, I received my exam.
So yeah, since GMAT is rudimentally testing your faculty on quandary-solving questions, you have minimal time to solve each question. EMPOWERgmat accentuates on the paramountcy of getting the facile-medium questions correct since the hard questions are nugatory to your overall score. It makes sense, doesn't it? GMAT is computer-adaptive, which designates that the test will adjust to your caliber. If you answer a facile or medium question erroneous, the system will penalize you and you will never visually perceive your dream score. However, if you have nailed the facile to mid questions, and receive a very hard question and answer it erroneous, it won't drop your score down so much. Recollect that some questions are experimental questions on the GMAT. In other words, they are hard, exhausting and does not affect your score. EMPOWERgmat will avail you to somehow identify these hard questions, and they withal have a strategy to tackle this question, called TRIAGE. Fundamentally, strategic elimination predicated on what Rich and Max have analyzed with statistics and through years of experience.
So the reason I mentioned this is because I failed to apply the TRIAGE tactic. I just went full Rambo mode and answered each question since I was in authentically good shape. This betokens, I probably answered some "hard experimental questions" veridical, but since they are experimental, they are nugatory. The paramountcy of answering all questions is consequential, and EMPOWERgmat will endeavor to accentuate this in the course. I did not genuinely follow this, and it was my most immensely colossal mistake. On the quant section, I left 2 questions unanswered since I did not have time (EMPOWERgmat withal explicates why the last 2-3 questions are some of the EASIEST, hence worth an abundance of points, since the test-makers rewards test-takers who are efficient with their time and penalize people who do not have time to answer them).
Let me tell you the following; according to the test-makers, leaving one question unanswered can minimize your total point in that section by 3 points, each question! So since I got a Q46, I may have scored a Q51 if I answered them correctly and had enough time to culminate the quant section.
So yeah, after the quant section, I felt like ****. You get a 30-second pause between each section, but I was so tilted that I spent around 10 minutes on the first question on verbal to endeavor to instaurate. I did OK.
Virtually none of the prep courses accentuates the IR section, but EMPOWERgmat utilizes official IR questions and shows you how to solve them. Hence, my IR score boosted from 3 to 8 (91%).
So yeah, I was not expecting anything immensely colossal, but after a fortnight of studying, I got a 670 (Q46, V36, IR8). No bragging rights, but the reason that I took the GMAT was because of competition among my friends to optically discern who can score the highest. I already have what is identically tantamount to a 750-800 on the GRE, so I am all good.
Recollect, GMAT is only one part of your application, but you should withal fixate on your whole profile; LOR, internships, extra-curricular activities, GPA, etc.
Learnings- Studying for GMAT is not the same as studying for the GRE, a math test or an English test. Your focus should be on strategy and reasoning.
- Swear to god, if I had 6 months of prep time with EMPOWERgmat, I would have scored a 800, guaranteed.
- Once you realize that you should not use most of your time learning concepts, you will break that 700-mark in no time.
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE! 
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Updated on: 17 May 2021, 11:02
