One month, one try, $0 and 760 (50Q 44V)

Question

Roughly a month ago I started preparing for GMAT. At first, I got the OG from a library and started working on it. I found the Quant part rather trivial, but Verbal part was disastrous (as you have probably guessed already, I am not a native English speaker. Although, I have been studying natural sciences for a couple years in the UK). Nevertheless, my GMAT Prep Test 1 got me 710, which his quite good, but not outstanding. Afterwards, I tried was majority of the free tests online. Here Princeton Review and Manhattan seemed to be the best choices. At this point I thought that I have reached my threshold of some sort. No matter what I did, the score stayed at 700-720 (47-49Q ±39V) and SC as the most painful part. I then got my hands on the Manhattan Prep for SC (library again), which is actually the very best study tool possible- concise and precise. I can say this after quickly skimming through most of the others in the library. Surprisingly enough, the score did not change significantly, so I decided to concentrate on my studies and just see what happens. A week later, I took the Prep Test 2 and got 770. This score was a complete surprise, I was sure I screwed up the Verbal part rather bad.... And so came the Big Day (G Day?

). The AWA went quite ok- just make sure to layout a good structure and find at least 4-5 arguments and a nice summary in both essays. Afterwards, there was a 8 min break (I was quite surprised- I always thought it was supposed to be 5 min long) during which I had half a can of the cheapest energy drink I could find and half a bar of Snickers, and forced myself to go to the bathroom. After a couple of stretches, I was sitting in the chair and fitting my earplugs for the Quant part.... A first, it appeared as a complete disaster. I spent 4 minutes on the very first question! At this point, I was starting to freak out and had to stop for 30s to calm myself down by quietly repeating: Oh, screw that Masters programme! Thankfully, I was alone in the test chamber. The questions started getting much harder (it's good, isn't it) and I actually had to make educated guesses in couple of cases, probably somewhere in the range from q18 to q25. Yet, questions from q30 were absolutely trivial. At this point I thought that I was completely screwed and tried to do my best on the last couple of questions. After doing my best and finishing 5.30 min early, I left for a break. After having the leftovers of energy drink and Snickers, I got back to the room... ...and left it after the verbal part. It might have been the fatigue, an extreme need to go to the bathroom that started around q35, or both, but I can't really recall even the topics of RC, let alone any SC or CR questions. I only remember the extreme problems concentrating on Qs 39-41 due to the need to go to bathroom. Damn caffeine nearly costed my a couple of percentile points... It is hard to describe the blissful feeling I had after viewing the score for the first time. (and the confirmed AWA score of 6.0) It is really hard to make any comments without seeing the actual question reports. However, I still feel that an initial screw up can be safely compensated by a good performance towards the end of the test. Also, it is crucial to have as many sorts of ways of calming down, as possible- just think what works best for you.

MitDavidDv · Answer

Shalom!
Wow! Almost unbelievable. I hope to have one of these days when I take my GMAT test this July!

bdunndchi · Answer

That's incredible! Congratulations.

thetiming · Answer

Truly amazing and inspiring!
Great story and score!
Good luck with your dream programme!

Anonymous · Answer

First, congratulations on this great score! I would have to say though that although this is a great success story, this is not the norm... I tried to study for a mere month and did not get anywhere near my final score of 700. After three months of intense study, I retook the GMAT a second time to achieve it. I think we should be careful of being overconfident... Obviously, if people like you get a GMAT Prep score of 760, then by all means go for the GMAT, you will definetly score high... but other mortals such as myself do need to keep in mind that the GMAT is a hard test and to get a good score a decent amount of smart and focussed studying is necessary to acheive good results.

bleemgame · Answer

Congratulations! That's quite an achievement and it's now only a matter of navigating the applications process

How long did it take for your AWA to come through? Somehow I blew a fuse in the maths and now have to resit despite a nice 42V - hopefully I'll repeat the latter!! :-/

humphy · Answer

Hah! Im green with envy! Congrats!

Posted from my mobile device

puqq · Answer

You are absolutely right. I guess, I was at a good starting position (good math fundamentals from high school, studying towards a science degree in a prestigious university in the UK). What I really wanted to say, is that quite unlike most other tests, GMAT tests your logic and thinking skills, so studying could be a short process, provided you have good fundamentals. BTW, I forgot to mention something crucial: while OG has an excellent Maths overview, it is extremely useful to know basic trigonometry - sin, cos, tan and their values at the most common angles (30, 45, 60), and the area formula (https://www.clarku.edu/~djoyce/trig/area.html). It is possible to halve the time needed in some complicated geometry problems.

puqq · Answer

I wrote 3-4 essays timed essays during sample tests (to simulate testing experience). To be honest, 6.0 was quite a surprise. I am sure you will manage to replicate 42V. Once you get to this level, you don't go much lower

vikashEA · Answer

Congratulations for the great score !
Best of luck for the apps..

menacel · Answer

awesome score, congratulations!

bleemgame · Answer

Thanks - I did the same with my practice essays (Used GMATPrep to create the exact format w/ timer - used a couple of OG prompts once the pre-packaged GMATPrep ones were done)

puqq · Answer

....and paste them to Word to check spelling (:

bleemgame · Answer

haha! yes - well, I didn't spell-check them in word... if there's anything I have doubts over, I usually pick a different way of saying it

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(30 seconds ago via e-mail - lol)>>

garimavyas · Answer

wow , thats amazing !

2 weeks more of prep and you would have got 810.

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One month, one try, $0 and 760 (50Q 44V)

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