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justinsgmatprep20
Current Student
Joined: 05 Dec 2020
Last visit: 16 Mar 2022
Posts: 5
Given Kudos: 56
Location: United States (CA)
Schools: McDonough '24 (A$$$$) Stern '24 (A)
GMAT 1: 620 Q38 V38
GMAT 2: 660 Q44 V37
GMAT 3: 720 Q49 V40
GPA: 3.44
28 Oct 2021, 13:28
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hello,
I've read a lot of GMAT debriefs and felt obligated to post mine now that I got the score I want
I took the GMAT again yesterday and got a 720 (Q49, V40). Surprisingly I also got an 8 on IR which, along with AWA, I've never studied a minute for. If nobody reads this then I at least get to vent this out.
Background: White/Asian Male, 6 years in mortgage banking, transitioning to investment banking, TERRIBLE test taker, currently work full time managing a team of people etc.
Schools: (applied) - CBS, NYU Stern, Georgetown, USC Marshall
I will preface that I have awful test anxiety. I get all shaky, brain goes blank, mom's spaghetti, the whole bit. I think I got a 24 on my ACT and in HS/College I always went blank on tests. There are a lot of ways to navigate test anxiety and I'll go over a few things that worked for me but just wanted to note that. I got a 530 cold on my first practice test, and then was hitting 690 - 720 on subsequent practices after about a month of studying. I just couldn't do it on the test, but I didn't want to ask for accommodation because I really wanted to beat this test. That was my choice but that's personal for anyone struggling to decide themselves.
GMAT 1: Oct 2020: 620
GMAT 2: (two weeks later) 650
GMAT 3: (two more weeks later) 660
GMAT 4: 10/8/21 700
GMAT 5: (yesterday) Bingo 720
My journey was a mess. I decided I wanted to get my MBA September of 2020 and rushed to get my apps in by the 10/15 deadline a month later. I was stressed beyond explanation at work, doing about 60-80 hours a week and studying for the GMAT between calls or with a drink before bed. My brain was sloshy and my technique was laughable. I only used the OG physical copy and did not know GMAT club (or other resources) existed. After GMAT 3 I decided I needed more knowledge. I hired a tutor for 4 weeks who showed me GMAT club which is the absolute ultimate study guide. I honestly believe you could climb to elite scores with only GMAT club. If you don't know now you know: GMAT Ninja for verbal and Bunuel for Quant. There are others too but these guys are ballers (and ninja is pretty funny). I also ordered Magoosh to get my foundations a lot stronger in quant, i.e. needed to know about FCP, remember geometry formulas/ratios, algebra, and NUMBER SENSE. I decided I'd apply this fall instead, then I didn't study from last December through August 2021. So most recent scores are about 2 months of focused, purposeful studying.
Alright enough about my journey, now to my recommendations/notes. I am not an expert (nor an 800 scorer) this is just what worked for me. As somebody who has never once tested well, a 720 was a dream score for me. There were two parts to this, mindset and skillset.
Skillset:
- I started thinking of the GMAT as a game, and realized it would be a waste to practice playing without thoroughly knowing the rules. Answering GMAT questions should become send nature to you. You should know the structure of the exam extremely well (i.e. I did not know until after I took the third test that IR/AWA scores aren't factored into your overall score).
- Know DS structure like the back of your hand (and never have to look at the answer choices) - even if your number sense is questionable, I think DS is a great chance to apply some big picture thinking and collect some otherwise elusive points
- Big picture!! Zoom out. I kept just diving into math the second a quant question popped up and it wasn't until I saw some great explanations where people are just like "what's this question really asking". Super simple right? A good way to put it is to really read the Q, and if you can, quickly consider what world you're in. Example: Mixture problem says X is 10% alcohol (weak) and Y is 45% alcohol (now we're talking), a mixture of X&Y yields something that's 40% alcohol, how much X is in it blah blah blah. Before you do any math, just logically you probably rule out half the answers by noticing 40% is a lot closer to 45 than 10 so there must be way more than half Y and less than half X, that's the world we're in. Doing this sort of thing felt possible on most problems of any type and tells you where to start digging in to some math. I think on the test I used one page front and back for quant, and didn't write a single thing for verbal (prob why it was a 40 not a 42).
- The floor is far more important than the ceiling IMO. This is probably my number one take away for this specific test. Missing an easy question hurts you way more than getting a random hard question helps you. Underline, bold, italicize, all caps, if I had burned that into my brain in the beginning I would have been so much happier. Be bulletproof on easy questions. I did easy setting for warm ups and it became kinda fun - basically just headshotting the grunts in Halo before the brutes come
- Magoosh was great for just understanding foundational topics. Admittedly I did not use it for verbal at all so I can't speak to that. It just gives you the tools you need to practice well. I'm sure other services offer the same
- Tutor was really smart, cool guy, but did not really help me personally (aside from turning me on to GMAT Club) as I was not in a place to absorb his techniques. Also super expensive. I think a the efficacy of a tutor depends not only on the tutor, but on what kind of learner you are so that's a personal decision. Moving onto Mindset.
Mindset:
- Alrighty this is a doozy. I was beyond intimidated by this test, I read about people studying 8 hours a day but I realized for me personally, 30 minutes of purposeful, focused studying was worth infinitely more than X hours of obligatory studying (going through the motions). I think 1.5 hours of true focus is my max in one sitting so I capped my sessions at that. Turned my phone to DND and set a timer for 90 minutes.
- I started studying whenever I actually WANTED to which wound up usually being early mornings after a workout and 3 coffees. No work calls to distract me yet.
- Some great resources talk about test anxiety and one thing that stuck with me was preparation (not just studying). Anxiety is programmed in us to protect us from danger so when you feel unprepared for something important, it's only natural that it kicks in. Luck favors the prepared, so to fight that, I addressed my insecurities. I focused on the topics I hated the most and studied them, did practice questions, error logged them, and went and did them again a week later. I got nervous thinking about the thought of the test center so I started imagining being at the test center when studying. I even wore my mask sometimes (lol)
- Gonna veer off path a little here - we're taking the GMAT because we WANT to. We want to go to school etc. and this is something we have to do to get there. I have found that the people who are typically the best at anything are the ones who truly WANT to do those things (try hards). So, if you have a negative emotion about any aspect of the test, your strongest option is to WANT to address it, and then address it. I can dread this test all day but that doesn't change the fact I have to take it to get what I want. When I half assed my efforts I got half assed results so when life gives you lemons....convince yourself you like lemons?
- I saw this on an instagram post and it changed my whole perspective: ever notice skiers going between trees? How do they not hit the trees? Because they aren't thinking "omg trees trees don't hit the tree you'll die if you hit the tree", instead they're thinking "path there's the path, focus and stay on the path". Humans manifest their thoughts, if you're wasting precious brain power on all that could go wrong you're going to make mistakes. There are infinite things you could be thinking about during this test, but only one thing you SHOULD be thinking about (the question duh). If you're focusing on understanding the questions and finding the answers, that's what you're going to do.
- Breaks. If you are in the weeds and your brain is starting to melt but you haven't hit your 4 hours or whatever your time is, it's okay to bail for a bit. Same as my purposeful studying note above.
Rant over, that felt good to get out. End of the day I felt very confident I could have gotten a higher score but I am happy enough and exhausted. Hope this helps someone, good luck out there!
I've read a lot of GMAT debriefs and felt obligated to post mine now that I got the score I want
I took the GMAT again yesterday and got a 720 (Q49, V40). Surprisingly I also got an 8 on IR which, along with AWA, I've never studied a minute for. If nobody reads this then I at least get to vent this out. Background: White/Asian Male, 6 years in mortgage banking, transitioning to investment banking, TERRIBLE test taker, currently work full time managing a team of people etc.
Schools: (applied) - CBS, NYU Stern, Georgetown, USC Marshall
I will preface that I have awful test anxiety. I get all shaky, brain goes blank, mom's spaghetti, the whole bit. I think I got a 24 on my ACT and in HS/College I always went blank on tests. There are a lot of ways to navigate test anxiety and I'll go over a few things that worked for me but just wanted to note that. I got a 530 cold on my first practice test, and then was hitting 690 - 720 on subsequent practices after about a month of studying. I just couldn't do it on the test, but I didn't want to ask for accommodation because I really wanted to beat this test. That was my choice but that's personal for anyone struggling to decide themselves.
GMAT 1: Oct 2020: 620
GMAT 2: (two weeks later) 650
GMAT 3: (two more weeks later) 660
GMAT 4: 10/8/21 700
GMAT 5: (yesterday) Bingo 720
My journey was a mess. I decided I wanted to get my MBA September of 2020 and rushed to get my apps in by the 10/15 deadline a month later. I was stressed beyond explanation at work, doing about 60-80 hours a week and studying for the GMAT between calls or with a drink before bed. My brain was sloshy and my technique was laughable. I only used the OG physical copy and did not know GMAT club (or other resources) existed. After GMAT 3 I decided I needed more knowledge. I hired a tutor for 4 weeks who showed me GMAT club which is the absolute ultimate study guide. I honestly believe you could climb to elite scores with only GMAT club. If you don't know now you know: GMAT Ninja for verbal and Bunuel for Quant. There are others too but these guys are ballers (and ninja is pretty funny). I also ordered Magoosh to get my foundations a lot stronger in quant, i.e. needed to know about FCP, remember geometry formulas/ratios, algebra, and NUMBER SENSE. I decided I'd apply this fall instead, then I didn't study from last December through August 2021. So most recent scores are about 2 months of focused, purposeful studying.
Alright enough about my journey, now to my recommendations/notes. I am not an expert (nor an 800 scorer) this is just what worked for me. As somebody who has never once tested well, a 720 was a dream score for me. There were two parts to this, mindset and skillset.
Skillset:
- I started thinking of the GMAT as a game, and realized it would be a waste to practice playing without thoroughly knowing the rules. Answering GMAT questions should become send nature to you. You should know the structure of the exam extremely well (i.e. I did not know until after I took the third test that IR/AWA scores aren't factored into your overall score).
- Know DS structure like the back of your hand (and never have to look at the answer choices) - even if your number sense is questionable, I think DS is a great chance to apply some big picture thinking and collect some otherwise elusive points
- Big picture!! Zoom out. I kept just diving into math the second a quant question popped up and it wasn't until I saw some great explanations where people are just like "what's this question really asking". Super simple right? A good way to put it is to really read the Q, and if you can, quickly consider what world you're in. Example: Mixture problem says X is 10% alcohol (weak) and Y is 45% alcohol (now we're talking), a mixture of X&Y yields something that's 40% alcohol, how much X is in it blah blah blah. Before you do any math, just logically you probably rule out half the answers by noticing 40% is a lot closer to 45 than 10 so there must be way more than half Y and less than half X, that's the world we're in. Doing this sort of thing felt possible on most problems of any type and tells you where to start digging in to some math. I think on the test I used one page front and back for quant, and didn't write a single thing for verbal (prob why it was a 40 not a 42).
- The floor is far more important than the ceiling IMO. This is probably my number one take away for this specific test. Missing an easy question hurts you way more than getting a random hard question helps you. Underline, bold, italicize, all caps, if I had burned that into my brain in the beginning I would have been so much happier. Be bulletproof on easy questions. I did easy setting for warm ups and it became kinda fun - basically just headshotting the grunts in Halo before the brutes come
- Magoosh was great for just understanding foundational topics. Admittedly I did not use it for verbal at all so I can't speak to that. It just gives you the tools you need to practice well. I'm sure other services offer the same
- Tutor was really smart, cool guy, but did not really help me personally (aside from turning me on to GMAT Club) as I was not in a place to absorb his techniques. Also super expensive. I think a the efficacy of a tutor depends not only on the tutor, but on what kind of learner you are so that's a personal decision. Moving onto Mindset.
Mindset:
- Alrighty this is a doozy. I was beyond intimidated by this test, I read about people studying 8 hours a day but I realized for me personally, 30 minutes of purposeful, focused studying was worth infinitely more than X hours of obligatory studying (going through the motions). I think 1.5 hours of true focus is my max in one sitting so I capped my sessions at that. Turned my phone to DND and set a timer for 90 minutes.
- I started studying whenever I actually WANTED to which wound up usually being early mornings after a workout and 3 coffees. No work calls to distract me yet.
- Some great resources talk about test anxiety and one thing that stuck with me was preparation (not just studying). Anxiety is programmed in us to protect us from danger so when you feel unprepared for something important, it's only natural that it kicks in. Luck favors the prepared, so to fight that, I addressed my insecurities. I focused on the topics I hated the most and studied them, did practice questions, error logged them, and went and did them again a week later. I got nervous thinking about the thought of the test center so I started imagining being at the test center when studying. I even wore my mask sometimes (lol)
- Gonna veer off path a little here - we're taking the GMAT because we WANT to. We want to go to school etc. and this is something we have to do to get there. I have found that the people who are typically the best at anything are the ones who truly WANT to do those things (try hards). So, if you have a negative emotion about any aspect of the test, your strongest option is to WANT to address it, and then address it. I can dread this test all day but that doesn't change the fact I have to take it to get what I want. When I half assed my efforts I got half assed results so when life gives you lemons....convince yourself you like lemons?
- I saw this on an instagram post and it changed my whole perspective: ever notice skiers going between trees? How do they not hit the trees? Because they aren't thinking "omg trees trees don't hit the tree you'll die if you hit the tree", instead they're thinking "path there's the path, focus and stay on the path". Humans manifest their thoughts, if you're wasting precious brain power on all that could go wrong you're going to make mistakes. There are infinite things you could be thinking about during this test, but only one thing you SHOULD be thinking about (the question duh). If you're focusing on understanding the questions and finding the answers, that's what you're going to do.
- Breaks. If you are in the weeds and your brain is starting to melt but you haven't hit your 4 hours or whatever your time is, it's okay to bail for a bit. Same as my purposeful studying note above.
Rant over, that felt good to get out. End of the day I felt very confident I could have gotten a higher score but I am happy enough and exhausted. Hope this helps someone, good luck out there!
28 Oct 2021, 19:19
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi justinsgmatprep20,
720 is a great score! Thank you for sharing, and good luck with things moving forward.
720 is a great score! Thank you for sharing, and good luck with things moving forward.
justinsgmatprep20
Current Student
Joined: 05 Dec 2020
Last visit: 16 Mar 2022
Posts: 5
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 56
Location: United States (CA)
Schools: McDonough '24 (A$$$$) Stern '24 (A)
GMAT 1: 620 Q38 V38
GMAT 2: 660 Q44 V37
GMAT 3: 720 Q49 V40
GPA: 3.44
29 Oct 2021, 09:48
Kudos
Bookmarks
ScottTargetTestPrep
Thank you Scott!!
Posted from my mobile device
