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Apr 2512:30 AM EDT
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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.
Apr 2610:00 AM EDT
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The Target Test Prep course represents a quantum leap forward in GMAT preparation, a radical reinterpretation of the way that students should study. Try before you buy with a 5-day, full-access trial of the course for FREE!
Apr 2711:00 AM EDT
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Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors
Apr 2808:00 AM PDT
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Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.
04 Nov 2021, 20:16
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About Myself
Hi, my name is John. I just graduated from the University of Washington with a B.Sc. in Physics this past June. English is my first language, but Mathematics is a close second
. Last summer, my best friend (a UW Foster undergraduate) was preparing for the GMAT. Because of my mathematical background, and the fact that I’m also a tutor, he began coming to me with his GMAT Quant questions. After a few days, he told me that he’d pay for me to take the GMAT because he wanted to see how I would do. At first, I was reluctant, because I was a STEM guy. But he kept pushing me, and eventually I started to research the GMAT and what you can do with an MBA. The more research I did, the more I realized that my passions and aspirations aligned with getting an MBA from a top-tier university. So, in late August 2021, I started studying to take the first step toward admission at an M7; on October 30th, I took the GMAT for the first time, scoring a 770, making that first step a reality. Allow me to explain how I did it, and how you too can max out your potential in as few as two months!
How to Max Out Your GMAT score
Preparing for the GMAT is heavily dependent on your background. Are you a math whiz? Do you come from an English-speaking family? There are several background aspects that you need to be honest with yourself about and aware of before you start the process. The first thing you need to do is establish a floor: Go to the GMAT website and take a practice test. You will get a decent idea as to your performance from that, and by going through and reviewing your mistakes, you will know which questions you should’ve gotten right. By doing this, you establish your ceiling. Now, your task becomes bridging the gap between your floor and ceiling, which is where the real work begins.
For the GMAT Quant, I recommend doing every single quant CAT on GMATClub two times through. For a month, I did two quant CATs per day. I saved the problems that I got wrong, and reviewed them during the weekend. This should take you about 2.5 hours per day, but by the end of the month, I can guarantee that you will be ready to slay the real deal. Of course, at some point you will reach your skill ceiling: Put bluntly, not everyone is built for a 51 on the quant section. If this is the case, and you still want to score in the 700s, perhaps you should put more marbles into studying for the verbal section. But you should, at any rate, aim for a 46+ if you want that 700+ score, just by the odds. So, basically, just do as many quant problems as you can in the first month of prep, and focus only on quant during this period. Lastly, go through the GMATClub quant book and make sure you know every formula in there. Together, these two items should be sufficient to maximize your potential.
For the GMAT Verbal, I have a recommendation you probably haven't heard before: If you have ample time (more than 6 months), learn a new language and read elementary-level literature in that language. This forces you to read as diligently into the context of the writing as possible, to search for clues in the writing that you can help you understand the overall syntactical meaning, which is exactly the skill you need for the GMAT RC section. In reality, some of the RC prompts might as well be in a foreign language - so reading in an actual foreign language makes great practice. However, if you do not already speak English, I understand this can be quite a challenge. If this is the case, go to italki.com and hire an English tutor - this is 100% the fastest and most cost-efficient way to learn the language (I learned French in about 7 months through this website).
However, if you (1) speak English and (2) want to spend as little time as possible studying for the Verbal section, then my suggestion to you is to start with the Manhattan Prep Sentence Correction guide. Read it through and make flashcards for word associations: As an example, when you see the word “like” in an SC problem, you should immediately think “no verb in this phrase”. You should spend about 2 weeks on this. As for the RC section, I recommend reading about 500 pages over the course of two weeks prior to your exam. Your ability to read is analogous to your ability to lift weights: doing it makes you better at it. You need to be in good reading shape for the GMAT, because it is a game of time. I also recommend reading scholarly articles and scientific journals... you'd be shocked at how frequently the Verbal section uses material from physics, simply because it's complicated. For the CR questions, do as many of these question types as you can. This will build your intuition for the pitfalls of these question types. I do not recommend the Manhattan Review guides for RC and CR, but they could be helpful to swiftly breeze through if you have a few extra hours on a weekend. Lastly, exhaust the question bank on GMATClub Verbal at least twice - this should take about a week.
The last thing you need to do to prepare is galvanize the skills you’ve developed. I would strongly recommend purchasing the additional 4 official GMAC tests and taking those; I would also recommend doing the same with the mock tests from Manhattan Prep and Veritas. In your final two weeks, you should be trying to take a test per day. The cherry on top, read through the AWA and IR guides available on GMATClub, but don’t spend much too much time on them.
Altogether, if you are efficient, this should look like about 2.5 hours of studying per day, perhaps 3-4 per day on the weekends. I did this while working 70-hour weeks; my point here is that if I could figure out how to work it into my schedule, then you can too. It’s a small sacrifice in the long run. Think of what this could mean for your family, for your current and/or future kids, for your friends. You have the opportunity to set yourself up to change lives.
Finally, on the day of the test, get up early and cram. Then meditate, relax, and manifest that score that you have worked so hard for. Go into the test room with 0 nerves. If you put in the effort that I have ascribed in this guide, you are sure to get a 700+ score. And if you don’t get what you want--try, try again. The harder you work, the luckier you get.
Finally, if you have any questions, feel free to reach me through DMs. I am more than happy to advise/help in the process for anyone who is motivated, and I always love to meet people who are absolute work horses.
Thanks y'all!
Other Things
If you're going for the Q51, reach out to me and I will explain what you need to do in greater detail.
Verbal is extremely hard to predict, and largely depends on the test you get that day. Build your verbal score on top of a dependable quant score, which is much more predictable.
I recommend preparing with mini whiteboard and dry-erase marker (it’s harder than using pen and paper).
Don't aim for a score - aim for daily improvement, track what you learn, and this rest will work itself out.
Set aside about $200 for online prep materials if possible. Purchase materials in this order: GMATClub, GMAC Official, Manhattan Prep, Veritas. If you truly can't, reach out to companies and see if they'll offer a scholarly discount.
Also, if you have the money, the time, and believe you could benefit from a test-prep course, I say go for it. But I don't think that it's necessary to achieve you max score if you have the work ethic.
Hi, my name is John. I just graduated from the University of Washington with a B.Sc. in Physics this past June. English is my first language, but Mathematics is a close second
. Last summer, my best friend (a UW Foster undergraduate) was preparing for the GMAT. Because of my mathematical background, and the fact that I’m also a tutor, he began coming to me with his GMAT Quant questions. After a few days, he told me that he’d pay for me to take the GMAT because he wanted to see how I would do. At first, I was reluctant, because I was a STEM guy. But he kept pushing me, and eventually I started to research the GMAT and what you can do with an MBA. The more research I did, the more I realized that my passions and aspirations aligned with getting an MBA from a top-tier university. So, in late August 2021, I started studying to take the first step toward admission at an M7; on October 30th, I took the GMAT for the first time, scoring a 770, making that first step a reality. Allow me to explain how I did it, and how you too can max out your potential in as few as two months!How to Max Out Your GMAT score
Preparing for the GMAT is heavily dependent on your background. Are you a math whiz? Do you come from an English-speaking family? There are several background aspects that you need to be honest with yourself about and aware of before you start the process. The first thing you need to do is establish a floor: Go to the GMAT website and take a practice test. You will get a decent idea as to your performance from that, and by going through and reviewing your mistakes, you will know which questions you should’ve gotten right. By doing this, you establish your ceiling. Now, your task becomes bridging the gap between your floor and ceiling, which is where the real work begins.
For the GMAT Quant, I recommend doing every single quant CAT on GMATClub two times through. For a month, I did two quant CATs per day. I saved the problems that I got wrong, and reviewed them during the weekend. This should take you about 2.5 hours per day, but by the end of the month, I can guarantee that you will be ready to slay the real deal. Of course, at some point you will reach your skill ceiling: Put bluntly, not everyone is built for a 51 on the quant section. If this is the case, and you still want to score in the 700s, perhaps you should put more marbles into studying for the verbal section. But you should, at any rate, aim for a 46+ if you want that 700+ score, just by the odds. So, basically, just do as many quant problems as you can in the first month of prep, and focus only on quant during this period. Lastly, go through the GMATClub quant book and make sure you know every formula in there. Together, these two items should be sufficient to maximize your potential.
For the GMAT Verbal, I have a recommendation you probably haven't heard before: If you have ample time (more than 6 months), learn a new language and read elementary-level literature in that language. This forces you to read as diligently into the context of the writing as possible, to search for clues in the writing that you can help you understand the overall syntactical meaning, which is exactly the skill you need for the GMAT RC section. In reality, some of the RC prompts might as well be in a foreign language - so reading in an actual foreign language makes great practice. However, if you do not already speak English, I understand this can be quite a challenge. If this is the case, go to italki.com and hire an English tutor - this is 100% the fastest and most cost-efficient way to learn the language (I learned French in about 7 months through this website).
However, if you (1) speak English and (2) want to spend as little time as possible studying for the Verbal section, then my suggestion to you is to start with the Manhattan Prep Sentence Correction guide. Read it through and make flashcards for word associations: As an example, when you see the word “like” in an SC problem, you should immediately think “no verb in this phrase”. You should spend about 2 weeks on this. As for the RC section, I recommend reading about 500 pages over the course of two weeks prior to your exam. Your ability to read is analogous to your ability to lift weights: doing it makes you better at it. You need to be in good reading shape for the GMAT, because it is a game of time. I also recommend reading scholarly articles and scientific journals... you'd be shocked at how frequently the Verbal section uses material from physics, simply because it's complicated. For the CR questions, do as many of these question types as you can. This will build your intuition for the pitfalls of these question types. I do not recommend the Manhattan Review guides for RC and CR, but they could be helpful to swiftly breeze through if you have a few extra hours on a weekend. Lastly, exhaust the question bank on GMATClub Verbal at least twice - this should take about a week.
The last thing you need to do to prepare is galvanize the skills you’ve developed. I would strongly recommend purchasing the additional 4 official GMAC tests and taking those; I would also recommend doing the same with the mock tests from Manhattan Prep and Veritas. In your final two weeks, you should be trying to take a test per day. The cherry on top, read through the AWA and IR guides available on GMATClub, but don’t spend much too much time on them.
Altogether, if you are efficient, this should look like about 2.5 hours of studying per day, perhaps 3-4 per day on the weekends. I did this while working 70-hour weeks; my point here is that if I could figure out how to work it into my schedule, then you can too. It’s a small sacrifice in the long run. Think of what this could mean for your family, for your current and/or future kids, for your friends. You have the opportunity to set yourself up to change lives.
Finally, on the day of the test, get up early and cram. Then meditate, relax, and manifest that score that you have worked so hard for. Go into the test room with 0 nerves. If you put in the effort that I have ascribed in this guide, you are sure to get a 700+ score. And if you don’t get what you want--try, try again. The harder you work, the luckier you get.
Finally, if you have any questions, feel free to reach me through DMs. I am more than happy to advise/help in the process for anyone who is motivated, and I always love to meet people who are absolute work horses.
Thanks y'all!
Other Things
If you're going for the Q51, reach out to me and I will explain what you need to do in greater detail.
Verbal is extremely hard to predict, and largely depends on the test you get that day. Build your verbal score on top of a dependable quant score, which is much more predictable.
I recommend preparing with mini whiteboard and dry-erase marker (it’s harder than using pen and paper).
Don't aim for a score - aim for daily improvement, track what you learn, and this rest will work itself out.
Set aside about $200 for online prep materials if possible. Purchase materials in this order: GMATClub, GMAC Official, Manhattan Prep, Veritas. If you truly can't, reach out to companies and see if they'll offer a scholarly discount.
Also, if you have the money, the time, and believe you could benefit from a test-prep course, I say go for it. But I don't think that it's necessary to achieve you max score if you have the work ethic.
06 Nov 2021, 01:12
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Bookmarks
Incredible score! I am a international student(Chinese) graduated from U.W too(TACOMA), with a B.A in business. I took my practice exam 2 two weeks ago and scored 650 (Q50 V 28). Last week I took practice exam 3 and scored 740 (Q49 V41). I thought I got lucky because two of the CRs are the ones I have seen before. One thing I notice when my Quan score went from 46+ to 49+ is that I can see those traps in Data sufficiency questions. Sometimes It is very tempting to choose C because it looks like only both (1) and (2) together could be sufficient, but there could be traps, sometimes (1) alone may be sufficient. What I am doing currently is that I would do all the Quan problems from GMAT PREP ,OG , or other sources and redo the problems I got wrong and see where I can improve. Do you think this is a good idea? What are the questions you ask yourself when you are reviewing those wrong problems? I am aiming for Q50+, can you shed some lights? I will be taking my real GMAT exam very soon. Thank you for sharing your experience.
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