The idea of an MBA came when I completed my post-grad in engineering and started to work. I opened an account in Gmat club 2015 and forgot about Gmat as I got busy with interesting projects at work. The idea of MBA came again when I hit 5 years of work experience and so I started to prepare for GMAT on sep 2019. I took the
OG and solved some quant questions and some verbal questions for a week or so. I then gave a mock test in MBA.Com. I scored 580, a score that was very disappointing. I then looked for materials online and found
Manhattan books &
GMAT club tests. I wasn’t seriously preparing. And very soon I had other personal commitments that I stopped the prep.
I decided to restart in 2020 Jan and bought a subscription in Wizako, which was very inexpensive. Again I started and left the prep in a week or so. And then came the “Great Lockdown “. I had so much alone time that the thoughts of my future scared me. This time I was serious and motivated. I started the Wizako course on quant in April (thankfully the subscription was valid for an year). I completed the course in a month. I must say it was very well explained and I pretty much understood every concept. (Too exhaustive though). Simultaneously I read Manhattan SC Book & PowerScore CR bible.
The material used: Wizako quant course, GMAT club quant test, Manhattan SC book & PowerScore CR Bible
Then I went on to practice quant with
GMAT club tests. I felt the gmatclub quant test series are gold standard(bb is such a genius). I practiced one test per day and Reviewed those questions. The biggest mistake was my focus less verbal practice. I was going on solving questions with no direction and improvement. I wasted a lot of time. Then I realised my concept weakness and started reading basics again.
I must say, Manhattan SC books has to be read multiple times to get comfortable with the concepts. I read the book 6 times. The same applies to Powerscore CR bible. I read that for 3 times. I understand that RC has no other shortcuts but to read the whole passage and understand the meaning, tone & mood. RC prep takes time. I was solving a min of 3 GMAT like passages (
OG & LSAT) everyday.
I started giving Manhattan mock around mid of May, one or two tests a week. I scored 680, 700, 680, 710, 720 & 700. (I also gave the repeat of all the tests between 1st and 2nd attempt)
I also watched gmatninja YouTube videos on SC series(Thanks for those elaborate free videos). Those videos were very helpful. I also attended
e-GMAT online webinar’s, which helped me to concentrate on meaning-based questions.
After Manhattan tests, I gave GmatPrep tests and scored the following:
Exam2 -680
Exam1 (R) - 710
Exam3 -740
Exam4 -710
Exam5 -740
I had a target score of 730. So I booked the exam. I could not sleep the previous night properly because of exam stress. I made a big mistake of not practising with masks on. On the exam day, I was so stressed. I wear a specs and it was constantly fogging because of the mask. These factors mounted my stress and I could hardly concentrate on my exam. I scored 680. It was a bad day. But I decided to not give up.
I came back and took rest for the day. I took empowergmat subscription and went through their course(Shoutout to empowergmatRichC who was replying too all my emails patiently). I really liked the CR strategy of writing down the conclusion. I also felt encouraged to skip questions, a practice that I did not follow previously. After the course I constantly practiced Verbal questions from
OG & Quant quizzes from
gmatclub tests.
I had moments of self doubt & self worth but I tried my best to focus of preparation. I gave prep Exam 6: 750, exam 2 (R) 770, exam 1 (R2) 770, Exam 3 (R) 760, Exam 4 (R) 770. I didnt review the first attempt much because I dont want to familiarize with whose questions. After the mocks, I also practiced the GMAT Prep question banks in the gmatclub.
This time (Aug 2020) I booked gmat online and gave the exam as if I am giving another mock. The exam was smooth. 4 days after the exam, I got an email saying the official score is available. I couldn’t believe that I score 760 (Q50, V42).
Though a lot of hard work got into my preparation (average of 6 hrs of prep per day), A lot of resources in this website helped me immensely. I must thank each and everyone who contributed or contributing to the resources and discussions in each forum. I need to give a special mention to souvik101990, whose webinars I followed regularly. His story gave a lot of motivation to stay focus. I am forever great full for the people behind this forum. I don’t think I could have scored this without the resources and explanations that I found in this website.
All the best for the future test takers.