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Rubyrain
Joined: 10 Aug 2020
Last visit: 05 Jan 2024
Posts: 13
Given Kudos: 18
Schools: Yale '26 (II) Tuck '26 (D)
15 Aug 2023, 14:58
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Hello all,
Here is the detailed debrief of my GMAT journey
My first attempt was around 2+ weeks ago at the center where the experience was awful (I made another post about it).
First attempt was 710 Q50 V35. Quant was much easier than expected but on verbal I couldn’t for the life of me get my brain to focus on RC sections. The examiner person was talking loudly behind the door of the very small 3 person exam room and my brain kept tuning in to that instead. So I ran out of time quickly, rushing through the second part of verbal and guessing without having time to read the final part. So I knew I could do much better under better conditions.
I scheduled online retake as soon as possible which was 16 days. And for info turns out centre and online exams are both counted when it comes to the 16 days waiting period. That had seemed like a very long 2 weeks as I had felt like I was ready. I have to say I couldn’t really make myself do as much practice as I had been doing the first time around. Last week was spent by only going through the general OG questions bank with verbal (SC+RC) and quant (hard+med). I thought that this time I would do worse due to the two week pause but happy to say I got 770 on the retake with Q49 V48.
I gave the exam on Sunday morning after a full night of sleep. Had a sandwich for breakfast and put a tray with a clear glass of water and a banana in the shelf behind me (out of reach) to eat in the break between quant and verbal. Everything else in the shelf was cleaned out and I wanted to make sure the camera saw me within sight during the break as I was afraid of any reasons that could make my attempt get flagged. So I was fully within sight and ended the break early with few minutes remaining. But I have to stress this, do take the break. You brain needs the time to freshen the focus and body needs the water and banana
. That was another plus of giving the exam at home online as the centre did not have that comfort of drinking/eating something ( in my case the lockers were in the same small room the examinor was in so there wasn’t really a comfortable way one could eat/drink ). Also, even though I did everything to make sure the exam wouldn’t be flagged (always being in sight even during the break, nothing within reach, closed door, internet with ethernet cable so no internet problems etc.) the attempt was still flagged!
I got the email at 00:00 AM in the morning today which caused a lot of stress and worry. I tried to keep myself calm and rational saying it was to be expected due to 700+ score but still I was scared it could take 20 business days which would be added stress. But happy to say it was cleared by 12 pm today
And now for the debrief on the study process.
I have to start by saying everyone’s brain works in different ways and the most important thing you can do is to understand and figure out what works best for YOU.
For me this is what worked. I did not take any mocks before I began the study journey. I knew myself and was afraid if I got a low score I’d be demotivated to even start. It was important to me not to take the first attempt until I was sure, absolutely sure I was ready (that was after 2/3 months of starting the process and only after having finished all quant practice in TTP. And here is a shout out to TTP. I finished the whole course even though progress was very slow. I think I absolutely needed that to strengthen the quant fundamentals. I knew I was capable of it, I was at the top of my class in math in high school, but my math was extremely rusty. So I think it was the right call not to take any mocks until I had brought myself up to speed in quant skills. So I’m really thankful to them! I also finished their verbal but for some reason I don’t think it helped nearly as much as quant did.
So after I finished with TTP where my accuracy after 2k + quant problems was around. 89 or so % and after I had gone over my mistakes until I had covered them I felt ready for the first official mock. I have to say I was pretty nervous about it, as not having assessed my strength I was afraid my dreams of a high score would be busted by the harsh reality:D. But first mock resulted in 710. I was pretty happy about it, to be in the right track in my study progress and to know the high score I wanted was doable. And that TTP had done its work! Then and only then did my OG questions study began. I got every current official banks and went through each multiple times until I’d only have a few mistakes. But for me I knew SC was a problem area so my OG practice focused on going through 250 or so SC questions in one go in study mode (with explanations after each) and pausing the practice when I needed small breaks. For me 31/36 method did not work, I needed to have that feeling of finishing a whole questions bank and then moving on to next (for example after finishing all SC in the general bank in study mode in one go with small pauses when I needed a break I’d move on to SC in the Verbal specific bank and do the same. ) It was a straining process but I think for someone like me that worked the best. I needed to be exposed to a ton of official questions and read through each official explanation in order to train my mind to remember the rules and know how to solve each type of SC problem. I also needed it to be in study mode otherwise it was difficult to keep motivated until the answer. I needed the dopamine of the green light saying I had answered correctly haha. I have to add this, sometimes the official explanations for each answer choice (correct and the incorrect options) are the best in order to learn what GMAT is looking for. Sometimes there are no quick shortcuts as in you can’t just read multiple grammar rules or tricks, best is to learn from the official explanations themselves. If the explanation says the answer option is incorrect due to a certain grammar rule then memorize that. If it doesn’t say that and instead a meaning mistake is mentioned, then sometimes it means the Gmat doesn’t consider the grammar of that option to have any mistakes. In any case it takes multiple practice and getting used to it and that’s what I did. I went through it multiple times to the point where I’d get all of them correct with only 3/4 mistake per 200+ questions bank and I knew there was nothing more I could do but to take the exam itself.
For CR I honestly did not do anything. I don’t think I did any OG questions aside from in the 6 mocks themselves. But that again differs per person. I was happy to find out from the first mock that my baseline CR skills was good enough.
For RC it was the same thing but I struggled with time limit. I read that lsat practice would help so I did 6 or so lsat section 4 practices (each section has 4/5 texts with multiple questions each similar to RC in gmat. Again I was happy to see my baseline was good enough, I’d only have 2/3 mistakes per section but it did take me one hour to complete so my main goal was practicing time management. I was initially aiming to finish all the lsat exams but I unfortunately couldn’t motivate myself enough and didn’t have the patience for that. I did go through 150 or so OG RC questions in one go last week for the first and only time which I think helped extremely. At first it took me 5 minutes or longer to get through the long texts but after a few hours my mind got used to going through the texts quickly. (until then I hadn’t done any OG practice of RC aside from seeing them in the mocks). Again I have to state this, each brain is different, know what works best for you. For example for most people I have seen here SC is the easiest section, for me it was the hardest. I was just lucky to have a strong baseline for RC and CR.
For quant for OG practice I only filtered hard difficulty because I already had the strong fundamentals thanks to TTP. I did this multiple times, going through them in one go in study mode with pauses when I needed them. But I did have some blindspots which the last week of 200 med difficulty filter made me discover and become panicked so I’d recommend not to leave the med level practice until the last week haha.
Also to add my mocks were M1 710 (770 and 780 in retakes 1 and 2); M2 640 but was sleepless and tired in this one (770 in retake) , M3 750; M4 730, M5 690 was really tired on this one and took it the next day after taking M3/4 in one day so don’t do this, mental fatigue is a thing. 770 in retake in the same day haha), M6 760. I have to say I gave the mocks and did the retake of the mocks in two weeks with last 4 within days of each other because I was too impatient. This was mid July, I took the first actual exam end of July and the second one two days ago.
All in all it has been a long journey and honestly the most difficult thing I had to deal with was not the studying itself but the mental effort it took to keep myself motivated, to believe that I could do it and to be patient with myself even when I made mistakes. Sometimes that’s more than half the battle, the mental work that needs to be done to not fall into depression or not to self sabotage. There were many moments when I had to calm myself when I thought I’d never get there. And I’d try again the next day. Majority of the effort was to just get in the right mindset.
Thanks everyone again, this has been a journey and gmatclub has felt like a group of friends all joined together in our common goal. You have been a great support and this is a bittersweet goodbye in a way wish everyone the best in their journeys and believe in yourself and be patient with yourself however cliched it may sound. I will take a couple days to rest and then on to applications process
Here is the detailed debrief of my GMAT journey
My first attempt was around 2+ weeks ago at the center where the experience was awful (I made another post about it).
First attempt was 710 Q50 V35. Quant was much easier than expected but on verbal I couldn’t for the life of me get my brain to focus on RC sections. The examiner person was talking loudly behind the door of the very small 3 person exam room and my brain kept tuning in to that instead. So I ran out of time quickly, rushing through the second part of verbal and guessing without having time to read the final part. So I knew I could do much better under better conditions.
I scheduled online retake as soon as possible which was 16 days. And for info turns out centre and online exams are both counted when it comes to the 16 days waiting period. That had seemed like a very long 2 weeks as I had felt like I was ready. I have to say I couldn’t really make myself do as much practice as I had been doing the first time around. Last week was spent by only going through the general OG questions bank with verbal (SC+RC) and quant (hard+med). I thought that this time I would do worse due to the two week pause but happy to say I got 770 on the retake with Q49 V48.
I gave the exam on Sunday morning after a full night of sleep. Had a sandwich for breakfast and put a tray with a clear glass of water and a banana in the shelf behind me (out of reach) to eat in the break between quant and verbal. Everything else in the shelf was cleaned out and I wanted to make sure the camera saw me within sight during the break as I was afraid of any reasons that could make my attempt get flagged. So I was fully within sight and ended the break early with few minutes remaining. But I have to stress this, do take the break. You brain needs the time to freshen the focus and body needs the water and banana
. That was another plus of giving the exam at home online as the centre did not have that comfort of drinking/eating something ( in my case the lockers were in the same small room the examinor was in so there wasn’t really a comfortable way one could eat/drink ). Also, even though I did everything to make sure the exam wouldn’t be flagged (always being in sight even during the break, nothing within reach, closed door, internet with ethernet cable so no internet problems etc.) the attempt was still flagged!I got the email at 00:00 AM in the morning today which caused a lot of stress and worry. I tried to keep myself calm and rational saying it was to be expected due to 700+ score but still I was scared it could take 20 business days which would be added stress. But happy to say it was cleared by 12 pm today
And now for the debrief on the study process.
I have to start by saying everyone’s brain works in different ways and the most important thing you can do is to understand and figure out what works best for YOU.
For me this is what worked. I did not take any mocks before I began the study journey. I knew myself and was afraid if I got a low score I’d be demotivated to even start. It was important to me not to take the first attempt until I was sure, absolutely sure I was ready (that was after 2/3 months of starting the process and only after having finished all quant practice in TTP. And here is a shout out to TTP. I finished the whole course even though progress was very slow. I think I absolutely needed that to strengthen the quant fundamentals. I knew I was capable of it, I was at the top of my class in math in high school, but my math was extremely rusty. So I think it was the right call not to take any mocks until I had brought myself up to speed in quant skills. So I’m really thankful to them! I also finished their verbal but for some reason I don’t think it helped nearly as much as quant did.
So after I finished with TTP where my accuracy after 2k + quant problems was around. 89 or so % and after I had gone over my mistakes until I had covered them I felt ready for the first official mock. I have to say I was pretty nervous about it, as not having assessed my strength I was afraid my dreams of a high score would be busted by the harsh reality:D. But first mock resulted in 710. I was pretty happy about it, to be in the right track in my study progress and to know the high score I wanted was doable. And that TTP had done its work! Then and only then did my OG questions study began. I got every current official banks and went through each multiple times until I’d only have a few mistakes. But for me I knew SC was a problem area so my OG practice focused on going through 250 or so SC questions in one go in study mode (with explanations after each) and pausing the practice when I needed small breaks. For me 31/36 method did not work, I needed to have that feeling of finishing a whole questions bank and then moving on to next (for example after finishing all SC in the general bank in study mode in one go with small pauses when I needed a break I’d move on to SC in the Verbal specific bank and do the same. ) It was a straining process but I think for someone like me that worked the best. I needed to be exposed to a ton of official questions and read through each official explanation in order to train my mind to remember the rules and know how to solve each type of SC problem. I also needed it to be in study mode otherwise it was difficult to keep motivated until the answer. I needed the dopamine of the green light saying I had answered correctly haha. I have to add this, sometimes the official explanations for each answer choice (correct and the incorrect options) are the best in order to learn what GMAT is looking for. Sometimes there are no quick shortcuts as in you can’t just read multiple grammar rules or tricks, best is to learn from the official explanations themselves. If the explanation says the answer option is incorrect due to a certain grammar rule then memorize that. If it doesn’t say that and instead a meaning mistake is mentioned, then sometimes it means the Gmat doesn’t consider the grammar of that option to have any mistakes. In any case it takes multiple practice and getting used to it and that’s what I did. I went through it multiple times to the point where I’d get all of them correct with only 3/4 mistake per 200+ questions bank and I knew there was nothing more I could do but to take the exam itself.
For CR I honestly did not do anything. I don’t think I did any OG questions aside from in the 6 mocks themselves. But that again differs per person. I was happy to find out from the first mock that my baseline CR skills was good enough.
For RC it was the same thing but I struggled with time limit. I read that lsat practice would help so I did 6 or so lsat section 4 practices (each section has 4/5 texts with multiple questions each similar to RC in gmat. Again I was happy to see my baseline was good enough, I’d only have 2/3 mistakes per section but it did take me one hour to complete so my main goal was practicing time management. I was initially aiming to finish all the lsat exams but I unfortunately couldn’t motivate myself enough and didn’t have the patience for that. I did go through 150 or so OG RC questions in one go last week for the first and only time which I think helped extremely. At first it took me 5 minutes or longer to get through the long texts but after a few hours my mind got used to going through the texts quickly. (until then I hadn’t done any OG practice of RC aside from seeing them in the mocks). Again I have to state this, each brain is different, know what works best for you. For example for most people I have seen here SC is the easiest section, for me it was the hardest. I was just lucky to have a strong baseline for RC and CR.
For quant for OG practice I only filtered hard difficulty because I already had the strong fundamentals thanks to TTP. I did this multiple times, going through them in one go in study mode with pauses when I needed them. But I did have some blindspots which the last week of 200 med difficulty filter made me discover and become panicked so I’d recommend not to leave the med level practice until the last week haha.
Also to add my mocks were M1 710 (770 and 780 in retakes 1 and 2); M2 640 but was sleepless and tired in this one (770 in retake) , M3 750; M4 730, M5 690 was really tired on this one and took it the next day after taking M3/4 in one day so don’t do this, mental fatigue is a thing. 770 in retake in the same day haha), M6 760. I have to say I gave the mocks and did the retake of the mocks in two weeks with last 4 within days of each other because I was too impatient. This was mid July, I took the first actual exam end of July and the second one two days ago.
All in all it has been a long journey and honestly the most difficult thing I had to deal with was not the studying itself but the mental effort it took to keep myself motivated, to believe that I could do it and to be patient with myself even when I made mistakes. Sometimes that’s more than half the battle, the mental work that needs to be done to not fall into depression or not to self sabotage. There were many moments when I had to calm myself when I thought I’d never get there. And I’d try again the next day. Majority of the effort was to just get in the right mindset.
Thanks everyone again, this has been a journey and gmatclub has felt like a group of friends all joined together in our common goal. You have been a great support and this is a bittersweet goodbye in a way
wish everyone the best in their journeys and believe in yourself and be patient with yourself however cliched it may sound. I will take a couple days to rest and then on to applications process 
15 Aug 2023, 15:06
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Bookmarks
Gratz on the 770. Stellar Verbal. All the best going forward.
16 Aug 2023, 10:28
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Bookmarks
Congratulations for the great score, best of luck for applications.
