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11 Nov 2014, 04:31
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The Quest.
Although each individual embarks upon the quest of tackling the mountain that is the application of MBAs, there exists in the desert a brotherhood (forgive me for the melodrama, but this includes sisters too) who looks out for each other - the gmatclub. Though young and inexperienced, I was lucky enough to come across this fabled brotherhood during the early days of my quest and was welcomed with open arms. Through the two months of my GMAT preparation I have frequented the discussions and debates to glean wisdom from those who have walked before, and the time has come for me to finally have something of value to add to this brotherhood, as meagre as my contribution may be.
Background.
Studying in Hong Kong, I am in the final year of my legal studies, and am planning to work in London after graduation. It is my aspiration to study at a top business school in America after a few years of work experience in London and during those years, further broaden my horizons and work towards something that I truly believe in. I decided to apply to deferred business school admissions in the August of 2014 and when I touched down in Hong Kong on the first of September, set it upon myself to work hard in my GMAT revision and MBA applications whilst at the same time not losing sight of the important things in my life.
The Beginning. 1/9/2014- 30/9/2014
As with many daunting things in life, one wanders aimlessly in the beginning and sometimes attempts to delay the start of the inevitable simply because one feels lost. For myself in particular, it was whether to start work next year then take an MBA after that in the US or to go straight on to take a masters in the US. I chose the former, and after reading many a forums, decided to take the GMAT. To be honest, when I realized the significant amount of time that people devote to the GMAT I was worried that my short two months would be insufficient. My advice is to start off straight with a full-length practice test to gauge your abilities, which was what I did, and I was ecstatic when I received a "740-770" score from the free test on the London Business School webpage. Always the prudent person, I took another practice test, the Manhattan Prep (MGMAT 1), and was devastated with a low "640". I undertook a certain level of self-therapy by scrolling through forums to ascertain that the MGMAT is tougher than the real test and then went on to prepare myself for the GMAT. On the 10th of September, I registered two tests (11/11/2014 and 18/12/2014) and put my head down to get some serious studying done. The Official Guide 13th edition (OG13) was my starting point and I speed read through everything rather quickly because I knew that time was short and I just wanted a refreshment and reinforcement of what concepts were needed. That being said, I knew that my Sentence Correction was relatively weak and thus took a closer look at the Sentence Correction part of the OG13. Understanding that the GMATPrep Test is the most accurate indicator of your abilities, I took the GMATPrep Test 1 on the 21st of September and scored a "760", I was delighted, but at the same time kept my sight on my goals. My tip here is to make a note of what you find difficult and tailor yourself to address those shortcomings because in terms of returns on time, that will be where you gain the most. It is best to take one or two mock tests early on to know your targets and your weaknesses, and make sure that they are conducted under timed conditions because otherwise they will not be an accurate indicator.
The Middle. 1/10/2014 - 31/10/2014
During this stretch, I powered through the questions on the OG13, practising around 20 questions of one type at a time. That boosted my confidence at the beginning because of my high scores but later on I realized that their level of difficulty increased during the later stages and fear began to settle in as I got more and more incorrect. During this time, I also took the liberty to improve certain concepts through the Manhattan Guide, the chapter which helped me the most was definitely the Sentence Correction, which has been highly recommended throughout the web. That was pretty much it, doing the practice questions and reading the Manhattan Guide, without practising the questions on the Manhattan Guide. If you are pressed on time, simply do the OG13 questions because they are the closest to the actual GMAT. On a side-note, I had begun slacking off on the GMAT, being preoccupied with other things in life. Luckily, I had a reality check on the 24th of October when I took the GMATPrep Test 2 and was dispirited with a fall in score to "730". To be honest, I had expected a big hike from my original "760". The morale of this story is to do all your tests under times conditions and adhering strictly to the rules, lest you be falsely lured into thinking that this is an easy test. The mock test was a reality check for me and from that day onwards I threw myself all in into the GMAT and reduced my time spent on other commitments. I realized that if I wanted to give my target schools a real shot, then I had to make sure that my first test on 11/11/2014 was strong, otherwise I might just waste valuable time writing up my application to be confronted with another low test score on 18/12/2014 - valuable time that I needed to spend to keep on top with my studies. At that point of time, I decided that 11/11/2014 was the day that I either "make it" or "break it". My strategy from then on was to stop doing OG13 questions, where I had completed 5/6 of all the questions in all of the sections. I scheduled multiple GMAT mocks each week under stringent conditions and similar time frames (9am morning sessions) and gave it my all. The key takeaway here is to know what you want and how much you want it, because when you do, you will be motivated.
The End. 1/11/2014 - 10/11/2014
This was the final stretch, and my worries were growing. My professor told me that my essay needed to be rewritten, my friends were telling me that they were starting revision for exams and I had some minor issues to sort out. To top that, my practice scores were not particularly motivating and I was a little down. There are times when this happen, and it is vital that you maintain your mentality, attitude and above all, motivation. What worked for me was visualizing where I want to be in the future and actually living the life in the future. In addition, I hit the gym almost every other day and ate cleanly to derive self-satisfaction from maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Another tip is to have support from the people are you in your life. I cannot stress how much that helped me. On the last few days, I decided to revert back to OG13, and completed the rest of those questions whilst giving GMATPrep 1 and GMATPrep 2 tests another go to reinforce my familiarity with the official questions and also boost my confidence. I know that many people have provided the advice to rest for several days before the test, but the key is to know what works for you. I wanted a stronger reinforcement of the questions and to keep the concepts fresh so I kept going through the questions.
D-Day. 11/11/2014
The day before the test I completed some OG13 questions and reviewed my last mock test. I had school, but I relaxed my mind throughout the lessons by chilling and asking my friends to type notes for me (lazy me
). Got home late, around 10:30pm and did a few squats and pushups before hitting the shower and sleeping. I woke up at an early 6:30am, not that much different from the schedule that I had set up a month before my GMAT at around 7:30am. I ate breakfast, finished the last two questions for each section in the OG13 that I had reserved for the day and put on some loud music. Eye of the Tiger! I pumped myself up quite a bit and danced around in my boxer briefs before selecting clothes to look smart on the test day. All those details. I took a taxi down, was early and chilled outside a bit and then went in. I organized everything well in the locker with my bottle of water, dextrose tablets and banana out, whispered a short prayer and took the test. AWA was nothing unusual, I wrote some bullet-points before typing like a maniac and made sure to utilize long sentences and lengthy words. The reason is that AWA is computer-marked followed with a human, and since it makes sense that the human would usually be influenced by the computer-generated score, make sure that you at least know that the algorithm likes long words and elaborate phrases! I finished early and took the 3 minutes to rest and prepare myself mentally for IR. IR was easy, a lot easier than those in mocks and I breezed through them rather well. I took the 8 minutes break to visit the restroom then take a dextrose tablet (I felt like I was on drugs), but the key is to know that the real test is ahead, so preserve your brain capacity. The full-length mocks saved me on this because I did not feel the slightest drain, even after the whole test. Again, Quant was a lot easier than the mock tests although one must be sure to read the question carefully. Again, make sure that you are on track so that you know how much time to allocate to difficult or easy questions. I felt like a champion after Quant and for me the challenge on Verbal to pace myself because I was quite lazy on my mocks and just breezed through them. Luckily I was able to utilize my time fairly well by rereading questions when I knew I was ahead, finishing around 2 minutes before the time expired. When I got the score, I was like "oh yeah, no need to take the second test". I gave myself a mental victorious sign and a pat on my back. My advice is to maintain your mentality, that is all. If you believe you can. At the same time however, one must also be humble because sometimes you can mentally prep yourself to the point where you believe that you're the centre of the world when you're not.Test Scores.
6/9/2014: London Business School (free) - "740-770"
11/9/2014: MGMAT 1 - "640"
21/9/2014: GMATPrep 1 - "760"
24/10/2014: GMATPrep 2 - "730"
26/10/2014: Kaplan (free) - "700"
27/10/2014: Economist (free) - "720"
29/10/2014: GMATClub (free) - "???"
1/11/2014: MGMAT 2 - "690"
4/11/2014: MGMAT 3 - "700"
7/11/2014: GMATPrep 1 (retake) - "760"
9/11/2014: GMATPrep 2 (retake) - "770"
11/11/2014: Real GMAT - "760"
Utilized Materials. (Self-prep, no course, as I was pressed on time)
- Official Guide 13th Edition: this provides you with the way the test-makers see the questions and the questions provided are the closest to the real ones. If you can only pick one resource, pick this.
- Manhattan Books: the sentence correction chapter is amazing - I highly recommend it to those who want to brush up on that.
- Manhattan Flashcards: boosts your confidence in that it lets you know that you have everything covered.
- GMATClub Flashcards: boosts your confidence in that it lets you know that you have everything covered.
Breakdown of the GMAT.
AWA: Keep it simple with an introduction, three core points a conclusion. Know that it is computer-graded and ace it like a boss.
IR: Be familiar with the types of questions and maintain a clear mind.
Problem Solving: Make sure you know what the question is asking and what value is required to be calculated before setting yourself to the task. It's all about your ability to understand the question, the calculation is usually not that difficult.
Data Sufficiency: Have your own structured way of breaking down the two statements. My strategy is to reformulate the convoluted question, then tick or cross each given statement before considering them together.
Sentence Correction: Read the guides, especially Manhattan, to understand the structure. The Flashcards were also pretty useful to reinforce concepts. Know what to look for and cancel answers along the way, but in the end double check to ensure that the sentence makes sense.
Reading Comprehension: My method is to really understand the whole passage before moving onto the questions because once you know the facts, you have all the answers.
Top Tips.
1. Know thyself. It is vital that you are able to accurately place your strengths and weaknesses at the beginning and then focus on them right away. If you know that you're weak on sentence correction, then work on improving it from day 1. Also, know your constraints, if you have only two months to prep, there's no point following the schedule of other people who have taken courses that are several months long. Work with what you have.
2. Full-length practice tests. I cannot stress enough, this is not a sprint, but a marathon (as many others have pointed out). A full-length test can be extremely demanding, but after a certain level of preparation, it can be a walk in the park. If your schedule permits, it is best to take the mock tests at around the same time as your real exam to simulate all the conditions.
3. Timing: Separate each of the 75 minutes into 5 slots and mark out what questions you should be on at that time. This ensures that you know when you are on track and can spend more time on certain questions. Don't lose track of time!
4. Know what you want and how much you want it: Have your goal in mind, stay motivated!
6. Attitude: The mentality that you take in approaching your preparation and exam is everything, and this applies to everything you do.
7. Support: Don't lose sight of the things that you have and the people around you.
Last words.
Be thankful. I do hope that this helps, so let me know if there's anything anybody wants me to clarify. Good luck
13 Nov 2014, 17:23
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Thanks a lot for writing your story . It's really inspiring and many congrats on your score . I am not very familiar with MGMAT . Would you mind sharing the source of the flash cards you used . Are they for purchase or available for free .
Appreciate your help !
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Appreciate your help !
Posted from my mobile device
13 Nov 2014, 18:33
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Hi Endgame,
Thanks! Flashcards can be extremely helpful at the end in refreshing your memory on core concepts and making sure that you have everything covered. Both sets of flashcards are free and can be found at (apparently I can't post URLs because I'm not experienced enough on this thread):
Google "Manhattan GMAT flashcards"
Google "GMATClub flashcards"
Cheers,
Michael
Thanks! Flashcards can be extremely helpful at the end in refreshing your memory on core concepts and making sure that you have everything covered. Both sets of flashcards are free and can be found at (apparently I can't post URLs because I'm not experienced enough on this thread):
Google "Manhattan GMAT flashcards"
Google "GMATClub flashcards"
Cheers,
Michael
