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At one point, she believed GMAT wasn’t for her. After scoring 595, self-doubt crept in and she questioned her potential. But instead of quitting, she made the right strategic changes. The result? A remarkable comeback to 695. Check out how Saakshi did it.
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Background
I didn't know what the GMAT was comprised of before June of this year. I had given the GRE in 2016 as I was keen on a MS degree but had abandoned those dreams. I had scored a 328 after a couple months preparation, almost entirely for the Verbal, and didn't want to go through a similar ordeal again when I started planning for B School apps. That being said, I registered on mba.com and, after some pestering from my friends, gave the GMAT official prep test 1 to know where I stand.
I was reading through the instructions for the first time and realized this is definitely not similar to the GRE and a different beast altogether. Nevertheless I blasted through Quant as it is my strong suit and got a 49. Verbal looked like a nightmare which resulted in a 25. Overall 620. I knew something had to be done and all the stories I heard about my friends scoring 700+ with a 'couple weeks prep' came back and made me reluctant to proceed further. I forgot about it and decided to utilize my GRE for the job.
I talked to a few consultants who enlightened me of a nasty little tool called a 'GRE to GMAT converter'. I was astonished as to how can there be a 'converter' between such seemingly different exams. GPA converter I agree but a GRE to GMAT converter? Anyways my GRE of 328 converted to a GMAT of 710, which was apparently not enough given that I came from an 'overrepresented' pool: Another B school Jargon. Consequently it was suggested that I take the GMAT/GRE and target a minimum of 740.
Approach
In mid June, Knowing that I would half ass through quant, I literally started googling 'how to study for the GMAT Verbal?' 'Why is GMAT verbal so tough' 'How to improve GMAT verbal' and I came across GMATClub.com. I came to know that the Official Guide 'OG' is considered a bible. I got the ebook version and started going through the Preface, the sections which talk about the GMAT and got interested. I gave the diagnostic test at the started and did good on quant however bombed Verbal once again. I then started reading through the Verbal theory for the GMAT and couldn't make head or tail of it. My exploration of GMAT club introduced me to the 'MGMAT' Verbal guides. I got my hand on SC, CR and RC guides and started studying them, in sequence and loved how they built the concepts from the ground up.
After I had gone through the subject guides, I wet my feet in the OG. I chose to study a combination of 2 topics (SC, CR; CR, RC and RC, SC) and had a target of 15-20 questions per day for both until I finished the Verbal. Not surprisingly my accuracy didn't go above 70% even on the easier questions. One thing to note is that I finished the entire series WITHOUT using a timer. To counter this, I switched to jumped to Verbal review (Bad idea, since I had no unseen official questions left) but this time searched the question on the GC forums to make use of the brilliant forum timer. This also introduced me to the brilliant Verbal personalities in no particular order (sayantanc2k GMATNinja daagh egmat @VeritasPrepKarishma mikemcgarry and many more!) and their thought out solutions to each problem that brought out the fine nuances that one needs to be aware of while solving problems. I started to fall in love with the logic and elegance behind SC and CR solutions.
After I had solved the Verbal Review Problems at an intentionally slow pace with lots of note taking for almost every question (took half of July), I mustered enough courage to take the GMAT Official Prep 2. I wanted to study some quant and thus took 3 days out to finish the OG PS and DS questions in reverse order. In my Prep 2 mock (July 19th) I scored 710 (Q51,V33) . I was overjoyed that things are finally going in the right direction. I set aside the rest of the day for a complete and detailed analysis of the mock and created a 'CAT analysis sheet' which looked something like the below.
Q.No Type(SC/CR/RC) Difficulty(E/M/H) Remarks
After this mock my plan was as follows:
Give an official mock every 15 days ( i purchased the Official prep 3-4), and in between solve 10-15 questions each from various question banks sets found in GC, cycling among SC, CR; CR,RC; RC,SC. This approach allowed me to:
1)Focus on 2 topics in a day while leaving enough time for note taking and full analysis of each question's answer choices (Even the right answers since sometimes we can get the right answer by eliminating the wrong ones but the correct answer is tough to be explained logically)
2) Keep the different Verbal topics fresh and prevent burnout
For the quant I had downloaded the Quant Flashcards https://gmatclub.com/forum/my-comprehen ... 09836.html and went through one day before each mock.
My Mock results were as follows
Gmat Prep 3 (Aug 4th) 730 (Q50,V38)
Gmat Prep 4 (Aug 19th) 730 (Q51,V37)
Looked like my scores had plateaued. I utilized the next 2 weeks reading through the MGMAT strategy books and all the notes I had taken until then.
I took a few days off from the GMAT madness and relaxed. Post the relaxation I restarted with the GMAT OG Verbal and then the GMAT Prep Q bank. On September 13th I gave the GMAT prep 5
Gmat Prep 5 (Sep 13th) 750 (Q51,V40). Yeahhh I thought this is it. I booked the September 23rd date and utilized the next 10 days redoing the OG Verbal Review, Gmat Prep Q Bank and notes revision. The final day was for relaxation.
Test day 1
Went to the test center after having a light breakfast, did the checkin etc and started the test. Quant was business as usual, but the constant drying of the markers was annoying. After the quant the break happened and this is when the nightmare started. There are 2 clocks to keep time, one immediately out of the testing room and another in the break area which is 5m away. The issue, which I came to know later that they were out of sync by a minute. Anyways I believed in my judgement of timing. I WAS WRONG. I leisurely had my protein bar, ice coffee, washroom all with multiple rounds of sanitizing. When I came to the testing room I was horrified to see that ~10 minutes had passed and this proctor told me to do the pocket and pat down check, as if it was really needed, I ran to my see to see that I had lost 2.5 minutes had been already lost. This destabilized my mind and brought in an anxiety which I couldn't control throughout the verbal section. I had a brain freeze in every RC passage. Disappointed, I clicked through most of my IR and AWA to see and clicked the final submit, hoping to see a sub 650 score but to my pleasant surprise got 710.
Nevertheless, I wasn't satisfied with my score as it didn't reflect my potential. After a few days of rest I purchased a set of official question banks and booked an online appointment (Pissed at the Test center administration). 5 days before the retake, I decided to refresh GMAT prep test 1 to get a high score and boost my confidence (I got a 780 Q51 V45). In the interim I was solving Question bank and revising notes. I browsed through the GMAT flashcards on the final day.
Test day 2
Checkin was as described in the GMAT club online debriefs so was a cakewalk. The quant section seemed tougher than the previous GMAT and mocks I had taken, Looked like I had got questions from the tougher question banks. There were some exceptionally tricky but enjoyable Geometry questions. I finished with 4 minutes to spare and used the last few minutes to prepare for the Verbal mentally. Verbal started strong, got a bit of brain freeze and anxiety at my first RC passage but quickly zoned back in, the questions were progressing well, I half thought that I may be doing something wrong as the questions were looking easier. I got my next 2 RC passages very close to each other and looked downright easy. I thought not again.... Any way completed the section with 15s to spare. Took the brake and started the IR.
This is when the problem started. Everything went smooth and the questions looked unbelievably easy until I reached the 11th question a 2 part one. I was about to select the 2nd question when the Power went off, (Third world country, should have got a UPS). I could see the timer ticking until only 16s were left after which the timer stopped. I sat for around 15 minutes when the power came back, all the while my laptop battery was running out. Luckily, in the next 30 minutes the proctor restored my session. Both my options were deselected so I rapidly selected the answers to the 2 questions and pressed submit to end my exam.
Finally got the Results on October 15: 750 Q51,V40. Finally done with this beast.
Prep Materials
1. Quant: OG and Gmat Math Flashcards
2. Verbal: MGMAT Strategy guides; OG and OG Verbal review; GMAT official Question banks; GMAT club questions
3. Tests: GMAT Prep tests 1-5
TLDR and Tips:
1. Follow a weekly plan tracker and STICK TO IT no matter what.
2. In the initial days, don't do more than 20 questions per day. Analyze them fully using GMAT club. Make notes for everything
3. Space out your practice tests during your prep.
4. After getting a hang of the basic question types and patterns, start TIMING your questions using the GMAT club forum timer.
5. In the last couple of days leading up to the mock test, revise just the notes you have already made.
6. Develop the ability to develop calmness when the anxiety sets. Brain freeze may happen during the test, develop the ability to snap out of it quickly
7. Don't overdo Idioms. you need just a few of the commonly occurring ones such as: 'not only.. but also' 'both... and' 'ability to' 'capability of' 'not but' etc.
8. Practice good and consistent habits for each question type for example: In CR, I always used to read the Ques stem first; In SC, always understand the full meaning before jumping in the choices; In RC, think about the function of each passage as you read.
I didn't know what the GMAT was comprised of before June of this year. I had given the GRE in 2016 as I was keen on a MS degree but had abandoned those dreams. I had scored a 328 after a couple months preparation, almost entirely for the Verbal, and didn't want to go through a similar ordeal again when I started planning for B School apps. That being said, I registered on mba.com and, after some pestering from my friends, gave the GMAT official prep test 1 to know where I stand.
I was reading through the instructions for the first time and realized this is definitely not similar to the GRE and a different beast altogether. Nevertheless I blasted through Quant as it is my strong suit and got a 49. Verbal looked like a nightmare which resulted in a 25. Overall 620. I knew something had to be done and all the stories I heard about my friends scoring 700+ with a 'couple weeks prep' came back and made me reluctant to proceed further. I forgot about it and decided to utilize my GRE for the job.
I talked to a few consultants who enlightened me of a nasty little tool called a 'GRE to GMAT converter'. I was astonished as to how can there be a 'converter' between such seemingly different exams. GPA converter I agree but a GRE to GMAT converter? Anyways my GRE of 328 converted to a GMAT of 710, which was apparently not enough given that I came from an 'overrepresented' pool: Another B school Jargon. Consequently it was suggested that I take the GMAT/GRE and target a minimum of 740.
Approach
In mid June, Knowing that I would half ass through quant, I literally started googling 'how to study for the GMAT Verbal?' 'Why is GMAT verbal so tough' 'How to improve GMAT verbal' and I came across GMATClub.com. I came to know that the Official Guide 'OG' is considered a bible. I got the ebook version and started going through the Preface, the sections which talk about the GMAT and got interested. I gave the diagnostic test at the started and did good on quant however bombed Verbal once again. I then started reading through the Verbal theory for the GMAT and couldn't make head or tail of it. My exploration of GMAT club introduced me to the 'MGMAT' Verbal guides. I got my hand on SC, CR and RC guides and started studying them, in sequence and loved how they built the concepts from the ground up.
After I had gone through the subject guides, I wet my feet in the OG. I chose to study a combination of 2 topics (SC, CR; CR, RC and RC, SC) and had a target of 15-20 questions per day for both until I finished the Verbal. Not surprisingly my accuracy didn't go above 70% even on the easier questions. One thing to note is that I finished the entire series WITHOUT using a timer. To counter this, I switched to jumped to Verbal review (Bad idea, since I had no unseen official questions left) but this time searched the question on the GC forums to make use of the brilliant forum timer. This also introduced me to the brilliant Verbal personalities in no particular order (sayantanc2k GMATNinja daagh egmat @VeritasPrepKarishma mikemcgarry and many more!) and their thought out solutions to each problem that brought out the fine nuances that one needs to be aware of while solving problems. I started to fall in love with the logic and elegance behind SC and CR solutions.
After I had solved the Verbal Review Problems at an intentionally slow pace with lots of note taking for almost every question (took half of July), I mustered enough courage to take the GMAT Official Prep 2. I wanted to study some quant and thus took 3 days out to finish the OG PS and DS questions in reverse order. In my Prep 2 mock (July 19th) I scored 710 (Q51,V33) . I was overjoyed that things are finally going in the right direction. I set aside the rest of the day for a complete and detailed analysis of the mock and created a 'CAT analysis sheet' which looked something like the below.
Q.No Type(SC/CR/RC) Difficulty(E/M/H) Remarks
After this mock my plan was as follows:
Give an official mock every 15 days ( i purchased the Official prep 3-4), and in between solve 10-15 questions each from various question banks sets found in GC, cycling among SC, CR; CR,RC; RC,SC. This approach allowed me to:
1)Focus on 2 topics in a day while leaving enough time for note taking and full analysis of each question's answer choices (Even the right answers since sometimes we can get the right answer by eliminating the wrong ones but the correct answer is tough to be explained logically)
2) Keep the different Verbal topics fresh and prevent burnout
For the quant I had downloaded the Quant Flashcards https://gmatclub.com/forum/my-comprehen ... 09836.html and went through one day before each mock.
My Mock results were as follows
Gmat Prep 3 (Aug 4th) 730 (Q50,V38)
Gmat Prep 4 (Aug 19th) 730 (Q51,V37)
Looked like my scores had plateaued. I utilized the next 2 weeks reading through the MGMAT strategy books and all the notes I had taken until then.
I took a few days off from the GMAT madness and relaxed. Post the relaxation I restarted with the GMAT OG Verbal and then the GMAT Prep Q bank. On September 13th I gave the GMAT prep 5
Gmat Prep 5 (Sep 13th) 750 (Q51,V40). Yeahhh I thought this is it. I booked the September 23rd date and utilized the next 10 days redoing the OG Verbal Review, Gmat Prep Q Bank and notes revision. The final day was for relaxation.
Test day 1
Went to the test center after having a light breakfast, did the checkin etc and started the test. Quant was business as usual, but the constant drying of the markers was annoying. After the quant the break happened and this is when the nightmare started. There are 2 clocks to keep time, one immediately out of the testing room and another in the break area which is 5m away. The issue, which I came to know later that they were out of sync by a minute. Anyways I believed in my judgement of timing. I WAS WRONG. I leisurely had my protein bar, ice coffee, washroom all with multiple rounds of sanitizing. When I came to the testing room I was horrified to see that ~10 minutes had passed and this proctor told me to do the pocket and pat down check, as if it was really needed, I ran to my see to see that I had lost 2.5 minutes had been already lost. This destabilized my mind and brought in an anxiety which I couldn't control throughout the verbal section. I had a brain freeze in every RC passage. Disappointed, I clicked through most of my IR and AWA to see and clicked the final submit, hoping to see a sub 650 score but to my pleasant surprise got 710.
Nevertheless, I wasn't satisfied with my score as it didn't reflect my potential. After a few days of rest I purchased a set of official question banks and booked an online appointment (Pissed at the Test center administration). 5 days before the retake, I decided to refresh GMAT prep test 1 to get a high score and boost my confidence (I got a 780 Q51 V45). In the interim I was solving Question bank and revising notes. I browsed through the GMAT flashcards on the final day.
Test day 2
Checkin was as described in the GMAT club online debriefs so was a cakewalk. The quant section seemed tougher than the previous GMAT and mocks I had taken, Looked like I had got questions from the tougher question banks. There were some exceptionally tricky but enjoyable Geometry questions. I finished with 4 minutes to spare and used the last few minutes to prepare for the Verbal mentally. Verbal started strong, got a bit of brain freeze and anxiety at my first RC passage but quickly zoned back in, the questions were progressing well, I half thought that I may be doing something wrong as the questions were looking easier. I got my next 2 RC passages very close to each other and looked downright easy. I thought not again.... Any way completed the section with 15s to spare. Took the brake and started the IR.
This is when the problem started. Everything went smooth and the questions looked unbelievably easy until I reached the 11th question a 2 part one. I was about to select the 2nd question when the Power went off, (Third world country, should have got a UPS). I could see the timer ticking until only 16s were left after which the timer stopped. I sat for around 15 minutes when the power came back, all the while my laptop battery was running out. Luckily, in the next 30 minutes the proctor restored my session. Both my options were deselected so I rapidly selected the answers to the 2 questions and pressed submit to end my exam.
Finally got the Results on October 15: 750 Q51,V40. Finally done with this beast.
Prep Materials
1. Quant: OG and Gmat Math Flashcards
2. Verbal: MGMAT Strategy guides; OG and OG Verbal review; GMAT official Question banks; GMAT club questions
3. Tests: GMAT Prep tests 1-5
TLDR and Tips:
1. Follow a weekly plan tracker and STICK TO IT no matter what.
2. In the initial days, don't do more than 20 questions per day. Analyze them fully using GMAT club. Make notes for everything
3. Space out your practice tests during your prep.
4. After getting a hang of the basic question types and patterns, start TIMING your questions using the GMAT club forum timer.
5. In the last couple of days leading up to the mock test, revise just the notes you have already made.
6. Develop the ability to develop calmness when the anxiety sets. Brain freeze may happen during the test, develop the ability to snap out of it quickly
7. Don't overdo Idioms. you need just a few of the commonly occurring ones such as: 'not only.. but also' 'both... and' 'ability to' 'capability of' 'not but' etc.
8. Practice good and consistent habits for each question type for example: In CR, I always used to read the Ques stem first; In SC, always understand the full meaning before jumping in the choices; In RC, think about the function of each passage as you read.
15 Oct 2020, 22:05
Kudos
Bookmarks
Brilliant Debrief. Congrats on your great score. Which schools are you planning to apply to and what are your post MBA goals?
Schools: HEC (A) INSEAD Jan 22 intake (I)
GMAT 2: 750 Q51 V40 (Online)
GRE 1: Q165 V163
Posts: 54
Kudos:
20
16 Oct 2020, 07:33
Kudos
Bookmarks
GMATaxe001
Thanks, I am targeting Insead, LBS, Rotman and HEC. Goals are Strategy and general consulting.
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