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squishi831
GMAT 3: 720 Q49 V39
Posts: 13
02 May 2018, 15:13
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Hi All - This is my first time posting but have been lurking around the forum for quite some time now and appreciate the vast amount of resources available here in helping me prepare for the GMAT. I figure maybe I could share my story as others have and talk about my GMAT experience thus far.
Now, I want to start off the post by saying that I had just taken the GMAT for the first time on April 30th, Monday. The score I received was not ideal (I got a 620 with a breakdown of 39 Quant, 35 Verbal and an IR of 7). This isn't one of those posts for sharing my experiences/tips on how to achieve a high score so I apologize if that's what you're looking for. But for those who want to get a feel for how the new GMAT Exam format is and my GMAT experience/journey thus far, feel free to read on (It's a long read but figure this gives a good glimpse for many of you looking to take the Exam!).
A little bit of background about me and my motivations for taking the GMAT. I graduated from a top 20 undergrad program about 5 years ago and am currently an Auditor in one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms looking to change my career (I'm sure many on here are like me). I've only really started to think about an MBA within the past year and would like to get into a top 15 program, otherwise, at this point, I don't see much value in going to a lesser school so yes, I'm looking to score a 700+ on the GMAT like many of you on here.
My GMAT Journey began in Fall of 2017 and at that point in time I was only mildly entertaining the thought of taking the exam but nonetheless I downloaded the free GMAT Prep Software and took my 1st CAT. My first attempt netted me a score of 540 and I knew the road ahead of me was long and wary. After contemplating for some time I decided to enroll in the Live Web Course from Veritas Prep as one of my friends had taken it before and was very happy with what the program did for him. After finishing the course (I had not practice any problems at this point outside of trying to understand the Exam and what was ahead), I decided to see if I had improved just from understanding basic concepts and strategies so I went on and took the 2nd free CAT from the GMAT Software and scored a 570, which is a good increase and I did feel like I had a better grasp of the structure of the test.
Now knowing this, I had thought that my gap from 570-700 shouldn't be that difficult but boy was I wrong. I started to look through all the materials that Veritas Prep had provided me, practice many questions and problems and even went back through the books once more to get a baseline feel the problems and concepts better. This was a pretty long and iterative process as I wasn't giving it my all so by the time I had finished the course and went through all the materials 2X about 4 months had past and it was the end of December already. I took 2 of the Veritas Prep CATs during my Christmas/New Years break and found myself scoring a 600 (41Q, 31V) and a 630 (43Q, 34V), respectively. I must admit that these Veritas Prep CATs were quite a bit harder than the initial GMAT Prep CATs I took so I thought I was making progress and felt like it too. I continued and proceeded to take the remaining 5 CATs that Veritas Prep provides and saw improvements throughout as I reviewed mistakes made and problems that I hadn't encountered previously. Below was my progression:
Veritas CAT 1: 600 (41Q, 31V)
Veritas CAT 2: 630 (43Q, 34V)
Veritas CAT 3: 620 (42Q, 34V)
Veritas CAT 4: 630 (43Q, 34V)
Veritas CAT 5: 650 (43Q, 37V)
Veritas CAT 6: 640 (44Q, 34V)
Veritas CAT 7: 660 (44Q, 37V)
After finishing the CATs, it was ended of February and I had finally decided to sign up for the GMAT Exam and scheduled it for April 30 (GMAC had yet to announce that they were shortening the length of the exam at this point in time so I was under the impression that it'd be the same format as previously). Before I proceeded in the next part of my preparations (Work through 'Official GMAT' Problems in the 2017 GMAT Guide), I bought the GMAT Exam 1 & 2 Packs so I had more CATs to work off of and see how my Veritas CAT scores compared. Below were score distributions:
Official GMAT Exam Pack 1 - CAT1: 660 (44Q, 37V)
Official GMAT Exam Pack 1 - CAT2: 620 (45Q, 31V)
After seeing my own score on Exam Pack 1 - CAT2, I was midly devastated that my Verbal score had dipped so much and that the main reason was a bad RC score (I had almost always done well on RC so it was never an issue but guess I should not have been as confident here). Nonetheless, I shrugged it off and thought it was just an off day and know that I can do a lot better. In order to start preparing myself for the actual Exam, I bought the Official 2017 GMAT Guide and started to work through 'Official GMAT' problems to get a feel for the actual exam. I understand my weaknesses and knew that my Quant fluctuates a bit and know that I can 100% do better. I started tackling the PS problems and worked through DS and at the end of finishing these exercises I felt more confident in my Quant ability. In Verbal, my CR had always been weak and after working on them for a bit I started to see some of my own problems and worked through them and did much, much better.
By the time I had finished this round of review it had already been early April and BOOM!!! the hammer drops. I got an email from the GMAT Club stating that the GMAT was format was changing and that the exam would be shortened. I know people say not to worry about the change, just practice as much as you can, and trust that your efforts will payoff. But still, how could you not be worried? Many scenarios ran through my head like should I delay the exam, practice more, etc etc. I opted to just stay the course and just take the exam on the 30th and really trusting that I have done enough to be able to score 'well'. Also, I knew that I had two weeks to hear about others' expectations and experience about the new exam change, thanks in large part to the forum and those constantly updating.
Two weeks before I took the Exam, I had reviewed and done all the CR, PS, and DS area problems in the majority of the Official GMAT guide. I honestly felt pretty good and took a crack at the Official GMAT Exam Pack 2. On the first Cat in this exam pack, I scored a 640 (43Q, 34V) and was again slightly irked by my scores as I made some stupid mistakes in Quant and not being aware enough in Verbal. Still, I had two weeks before the actual Exam so I wasn't quite dejected at and proceeded to just keep going at it. I took the week before the Exam off and focused on reviewing problems I tend to get wrong, fixing bad mistakes I usually make, and just giving it my all. I took the last CAT in Exam Pack 2 on Friday, April 27th and thought I did the best I had done in all my previous CATs. When looking at the score, my intuition was right as I got a 680 (46Q, 38V).
I proceeded to take Saturday and Sunday easy and just reviewed basic concepts, going through some problems I was still kind of having difficulty solving in a timely manner and waited for the actual Exam day to come. Up to this point I was pretty optimistic that I would at least be able to score a 650+ and set a baseline that perhaps on a good day I could score above a 680 or maybe even higher if all the stars aligned. If I scored below a 680 I would cancel the score.
On the day of the exam, I got to the test center and brought a Kit Kat Bar and a can of Red Bull for the break. I chose my exam order as I always had (Quant->Verbal->IR->AWA). The first problem on Quant wasn't bad and I knew I had got it correct. I kept working through the remaining problems and there didn't seem to be anything off, until I started panicking on the last 7 problems as timing started to become an issue and this shorter exam threw off my sense of timing and how things went. I knew the last 7 or so problems weren't great but also that the first X many problems I encountered weren't terrible either, so I was at least at least expecting something okay-ish even if it was in the 43-44s like in all my practice CATs). I proceeded to take my break, ate my Kit Kat and drank my Red Bull but seemed slightly out of it and lo and behold I made a terribly stupid mistake as I got back to the exam a minute and a half late to start my Verbal section and there goes 1.5 Minutes to that portion of the Exam. Surprisingly, I didn't panicked and proceeded to answer the questions as I would and thought I was doing fine on it. The last 5 problems or so I knew that timing was cut short but still I had a good grasp of the problems and didn't think it was anything too bad (Probably because I'm already at a certain percentile at this point and the problems weren't crazy hard). I answered the IR which was pretty easy considering I didn't spend much time studying for it and answered the AWA accordingly. When I was writing my AWA, I really felt that I did not do that bad and thought it felt like a 650ish score.
Then the screen flashed as I finished the Exam. BOOM, BANG, POW, ASDJNADDLASJDLASKD, I saw a score of 620 with 39Q, 35V, and IR of 7. It was almost laughable to a degree. I immediately proceeded to cancel my score and walked out of the Exam and headed home. TBH I was frustrated and felt pretty crappy. I was just at a lost for words. Outside of a decent IR score, and somewhat acceptable Verbal score, that Quant score was so embarrassingly bad that I didn't know how to face it. Over the next few hours I got home, listened to music, relaxed, and just thought things through to myself once more. I'm not giving up on the Exam and still fully believe that if I work hard enough I can score a 700+ score and am going to retake in early-mid July so I can see where my score is at and hopefully be able to have time to get my application together for R1 of applications.
I'm staying positive throughout this and know that I just have to work harder and reset things. In all my previous attempts at taking each CAT I timed myself and took each exam as though they were the real thing and didn't shortcut anything (Outside of just jotting notes for AWA and consider it complete). My sense of timing on the New GMAT was definitely off and that likely factored into the Exam but I still am puzzled at my Quant Score as that was almost the score I got when I first attempted taking the Exam last year (I ordered the ESR for my cancelled score and that will probably shine some light on this). I don't think that the new Exam was necessarily harder but that certainly the timing of things can really throw one off as it did for me and got me in a bit of disarray.
I'm not giving up and to those out there, I encourage you not to either. Things like this happen but you just have to keep trying, try harder, study smarter, or look for outside help. I'm regrouping and will tackle the exam again. I know my journey hasn't ended and hopefully within this year I can update this post with encouraging news like all others and show off that damn 700+ score.
Sorry for the lengthy post but really wanted to give a holistic view of what my experience has been up to this day.
Now, I want to start off the post by saying that I had just taken the GMAT for the first time on April 30th, Monday. The score I received was not ideal (I got a 620 with a breakdown of 39 Quant, 35 Verbal and an IR of 7). This isn't one of those posts for sharing my experiences/tips on how to achieve a high score so I apologize if that's what you're looking for. But for those who want to get a feel for how the new GMAT Exam format is and my GMAT experience/journey thus far, feel free to read on (It's a long read but figure this gives a good glimpse for many of you looking to take the Exam!).
A little bit of background about me and my motivations for taking the GMAT. I graduated from a top 20 undergrad program about 5 years ago and am currently an Auditor in one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms looking to change my career (I'm sure many on here are like me). I've only really started to think about an MBA within the past year and would like to get into a top 15 program, otherwise, at this point, I don't see much value in going to a lesser school so yes, I'm looking to score a 700+ on the GMAT like many of you on here.
My GMAT Journey began in Fall of 2017 and at that point in time I was only mildly entertaining the thought of taking the exam but nonetheless I downloaded the free GMAT Prep Software and took my 1st CAT. My first attempt netted me a score of 540 and I knew the road ahead of me was long and wary. After contemplating for some time I decided to enroll in the Live Web Course from Veritas Prep as one of my friends had taken it before and was very happy with what the program did for him. After finishing the course (I had not practice any problems at this point outside of trying to understand the Exam and what was ahead), I decided to see if I had improved just from understanding basic concepts and strategies so I went on and took the 2nd free CAT from the GMAT Software and scored a 570, which is a good increase and I did feel like I had a better grasp of the structure of the test.
Now knowing this, I had thought that my gap from 570-700 shouldn't be that difficult but boy was I wrong. I started to look through all the materials that Veritas Prep had provided me, practice many questions and problems and even went back through the books once more to get a baseline feel the problems and concepts better. This was a pretty long and iterative process as I wasn't giving it my all so by the time I had finished the course and went through all the materials 2X about 4 months had past and it was the end of December already. I took 2 of the Veritas Prep CATs during my Christmas/New Years break and found myself scoring a 600 (41Q, 31V) and a 630 (43Q, 34V), respectively. I must admit that these Veritas Prep CATs were quite a bit harder than the initial GMAT Prep CATs I took so I thought I was making progress and felt like it too. I continued and proceeded to take the remaining 5 CATs that Veritas Prep provides and saw improvements throughout as I reviewed mistakes made and problems that I hadn't encountered previously. Below was my progression:
Veritas CAT 1: 600 (41Q, 31V)
Veritas CAT 2: 630 (43Q, 34V)
Veritas CAT 3: 620 (42Q, 34V)
Veritas CAT 4: 630 (43Q, 34V)
Veritas CAT 5: 650 (43Q, 37V)
Veritas CAT 6: 640 (44Q, 34V)
Veritas CAT 7: 660 (44Q, 37V)
After finishing the CATs, it was ended of February and I had finally decided to sign up for the GMAT Exam and scheduled it for April 30 (GMAC had yet to announce that they were shortening the length of the exam at this point in time so I was under the impression that it'd be the same format as previously). Before I proceeded in the next part of my preparations (Work through 'Official GMAT' Problems in the 2017 GMAT Guide), I bought the GMAT Exam 1 & 2 Packs so I had more CATs to work off of and see how my Veritas CAT scores compared. Below were score distributions:
Official GMAT Exam Pack 1 - CAT1: 660 (44Q, 37V)
Official GMAT Exam Pack 1 - CAT2: 620 (45Q, 31V)
After seeing my own score on Exam Pack 1 - CAT2, I was midly devastated that my Verbal score had dipped so much and that the main reason was a bad RC score (I had almost always done well on RC so it was never an issue but guess I should not have been as confident here). Nonetheless, I shrugged it off and thought it was just an off day and know that I can do a lot better. In order to start preparing myself for the actual Exam, I bought the Official 2017 GMAT Guide and started to work through 'Official GMAT' problems to get a feel for the actual exam. I understand my weaknesses and knew that my Quant fluctuates a bit and know that I can 100% do better. I started tackling the PS problems and worked through DS and at the end of finishing these exercises I felt more confident in my Quant ability. In Verbal, my CR had always been weak and after working on them for a bit I started to see some of my own problems and worked through them and did much, much better.
By the time I had finished this round of review it had already been early April and BOOM!!! the hammer drops. I got an email from the GMAT Club stating that the GMAT was format was changing and that the exam would be shortened. I know people say not to worry about the change, just practice as much as you can, and trust that your efforts will payoff. But still, how could you not be worried? Many scenarios ran through my head like should I delay the exam, practice more, etc etc. I opted to just stay the course and just take the exam on the 30th and really trusting that I have done enough to be able to score 'well'. Also, I knew that I had two weeks to hear about others' expectations and experience about the new exam change, thanks in large part to the forum and those constantly updating.
Two weeks before I took the Exam, I had reviewed and done all the CR, PS, and DS area problems in the majority of the Official GMAT guide. I honestly felt pretty good and took a crack at the Official GMAT Exam Pack 2. On the first Cat in this exam pack, I scored a 640 (43Q, 34V) and was again slightly irked by my scores as I made some stupid mistakes in Quant and not being aware enough in Verbal. Still, I had two weeks before the actual Exam so I wasn't quite dejected at and proceeded to just keep going at it. I took the week before the Exam off and focused on reviewing problems I tend to get wrong, fixing bad mistakes I usually make, and just giving it my all. I took the last CAT in Exam Pack 2 on Friday, April 27th and thought I did the best I had done in all my previous CATs. When looking at the score, my intuition was right as I got a 680 (46Q, 38V).
I proceeded to take Saturday and Sunday easy and just reviewed basic concepts, going through some problems I was still kind of having difficulty solving in a timely manner and waited for the actual Exam day to come. Up to this point I was pretty optimistic that I would at least be able to score a 650+ and set a baseline that perhaps on a good day I could score above a 680 or maybe even higher if all the stars aligned. If I scored below a 680 I would cancel the score.
On the day of the exam, I got to the test center and brought a Kit Kat Bar and a can of Red Bull for the break. I chose my exam order as I always had (Quant->Verbal->IR->AWA). The first problem on Quant wasn't bad and I knew I had got it correct. I kept working through the remaining problems and there didn't seem to be anything off, until I started panicking on the last 7 problems as timing started to become an issue and this shorter exam threw off my sense of timing and how things went. I knew the last 7 or so problems weren't great but also that the first X many problems I encountered weren't terrible either, so I was at least at least expecting something okay-ish even if it was in the 43-44s like in all my practice CATs). I proceeded to take my break, ate my Kit Kat and drank my Red Bull but seemed slightly out of it and lo and behold I made a terribly stupid mistake as I got back to the exam a minute and a half late to start my Verbal section and there goes 1.5 Minutes to that portion of the Exam. Surprisingly, I didn't panicked and proceeded to answer the questions as I would and thought I was doing fine on it. The last 5 problems or so I knew that timing was cut short but still I had a good grasp of the problems and didn't think it was anything too bad (Probably because I'm already at a certain percentile at this point and the problems weren't crazy hard). I answered the IR which was pretty easy considering I didn't spend much time studying for it and answered the AWA accordingly. When I was writing my AWA, I really felt that I did not do that bad and thought it felt like a 650ish score.
Then the screen flashed as I finished the Exam. BOOM, BANG, POW, ASDJNADDLASJDLASKD, I saw a score of 620 with 39Q, 35V, and IR of 7. It was almost laughable to a degree. I immediately proceeded to cancel my score and walked out of the Exam and headed home. TBH I was frustrated and felt pretty crappy. I was just at a lost for words. Outside of a decent IR score, and somewhat acceptable Verbal score, that Quant score was so embarrassingly bad that I didn't know how to face it. Over the next few hours I got home, listened to music, relaxed, and just thought things through to myself once more. I'm not giving up on the Exam and still fully believe that if I work hard enough I can score a 700+ score and am going to retake in early-mid July so I can see where my score is at and hopefully be able to have time to get my application together for R1 of applications.
I'm staying positive throughout this and know that I just have to work harder and reset things. In all my previous attempts at taking each CAT I timed myself and took each exam as though they were the real thing and didn't shortcut anything (Outside of just jotting notes for AWA and consider it complete). My sense of timing on the New GMAT was definitely off and that likely factored into the Exam but I still am puzzled at my Quant Score as that was almost the score I got when I first attempted taking the Exam last year (I ordered the ESR for my cancelled score and that will probably shine some light on this). I don't think that the new Exam was necessarily harder but that certainly the timing of things can really throw one off as it did for me and got me in a bit of disarray.
I'm not giving up and to those out there, I encourage you not to either. Things like this happen but you just have to keep trying, try harder, study smarter, or look for outside help. I'm regrouping and will tackle the exam again. I know my journey hasn't ended and hopefully within this year I can update this post with encouraging news like all others and show off that damn 700+ score.
Sorry for the lengthy post but really wanted to give a holistic view of what my experience has been up to this day.
03 May 2018, 09:02
Kudos
Bookmarks
Thanks for sharing your story. I am in the same boat as that of yours. Really a very motivating write up and I am sure that you will get the score you are looking for as you prepare for your retake. All the best to you my friend.
If you are looking for a GMAT study group, you can look for one on Facebook with the name - GMAT Avengers Study Group. GMAT Club is a great community for sure and is must for anyone preparing for the exam.
If you are looking for a GMAT study group, you can look for one on Facebook with the name - GMAT Avengers Study Group. GMAT Club is a great community for sure and is must for anyone preparing for the exam.
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