To all GMATClubbers who are still fighting, this debrief is long. It´s intended to show the pain I had while trying to beat the GMAT. Let me tell you in advance that this journey won´t be a piece of cake, even though many success stories depict it as walk in the park.
Before going on and reading this debrief, scroll down and take a look at the pictures I attached for a moment. Ok. I assume you looked at the notebooks and empty pens. I attached those so you can have an idea of what took me to beat the GMAT - if you are struggling to get beyond the 700´s, you are not alone. I personally thought that these pens never ran out of ink, but I was wrong (3 times)
If you asked me how many CATs I´ve taken or how many hours I´ve spent studying, I won´t be able to tell you. If you also asked me how many times I threw a pen against the wall, angry for missing out on questions because of careless mistakes, I also won´t be able to tell you. To be honest with you, I wasn´t completely sure I was ever going to make it, so yeah, you are not alone. But I pulled a 720 and so will you, if you are persistent enough to keep getting back on your feet every time you are beaten up.
Now I will tell you about myself and if this debrief ends up helping any individual in any way, I will have reached my goal. I am from Brazil, and I left high school without knowing how to square a number, how to calculate interest rates or what the word remainder meant. Because I didn´t have a proper high-school education, I always carved for the best education I could get in the future. Thus, I established for myself that I was going to put whatever effort was needed to get accepted into a top school. Now, imagine the gaps I had back then and compare them to these schools standards and try to imagine what was going to take me to actually get there. It took me 2 years - 1 year before undergraduate college (which was done in the US) and 1 after graduation, while preparing for the GMAT. So believe me when I say that if I can do it, you can do it.
The beginning:Once I decided to take the GMAT I started to research about everything and quickly stumbled into GMAT Club. Thank you, Founders, for creating this forum. I wouldn´t have done it without you. From here I went straight to the course evaluations and saw
Magoosh´s high rating and affordable subscription ($99) for 1 year. Singed up for that and started to try their questions. Big mistake - I just couldn´t get any question correct, did not understand the correct answers and felt this wasn´t for me. After a while, I was compelled to keep on browsing the GMATClub website until I found the "Success Stories" section. Bingo! I should have tried that before purchasing anything, but what was done was done. After reading so many success stories, I learned that
OG was the key here (
OG =
Official Guide, I had to google that because all those terms -
OG, SC, RC, CR, PS, DS, IR, AWA - were alien to me). I got the OG13 and started to tackle its questions. Slowly I was able to solve question by question and finally started to regain my confidence. I finished the
OG and went for my first CAT. Then reality kicked in - the
OG wasn´t compiled to make everyone score 700 so it´s no surprise that most of the GMATPrep CAT questions were 10x harder than
OG. My score was so bad that I´m ashamed of sharing it with you.
That´s when I realized that I had to change my game plan. I can go on and on with all the details of my preparation and all the materials I used, but I´d rather provide you with a feedback on what you should do, so you don´t fall into the same problems and traps that I fell when I was studying, and hopefully you will be able to improve your learning time.
What worked for me and I would recommend:MATH------------------------------------------------------
purplemath.com - This website is very good to build on fundamentals (besides, it is free).
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Magoosh Videos - Very good to build some fundamentals and learn shortcuts for mental calculations.
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GMATClub Math book - You can find it online on this forum, it´s the next step on building fundamentals. Do not memorize the whole book but make sure nothing is strange to you.
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GMAT Club CATs - Their scoring was not realistic for me (actually no prep company´s scoring was similar to the real thing for me, so don´t ever feel down because of these scores. For instance I got several Q50~Q51 on GMAT Club but on GMATPreps I got Q44. On the other hand,
Magoosh gave me Q42 but on the test I got Q50) but their questions are clever and somewhat similar to GMAT. Make sure to go over every single CAT you take so you can learn from your mistakes.
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Error log and Concept file - Build a spreadsheet and keep track of the questions you fell for, the reason you fell for it, and the concepts you needed to know in order to tackle it. Use this spreadsheet on the go so you can quickly glance and remember everything. I went over it every week, and the thinkg just kept on growing and growing.
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OG 13 - A must but after you´ve done all of the above. I got 3 questions on my official GMAT that were printed in older OGs. So you will need it. Also get the
OG Quant Review.
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IAN STEWART- The turning point for me. This guy deserves it all. If the following will sound like an advertisement, wonder no more! It is indeed an advertisement that I´m not getting paid for and that I´m glad to write
Jokes apart, Ian is a forum moderator, a genius in math and very human towards his students. If you ever take a session with him, you will see how he makes up real questions on the go in 5 seconds. It´s impressive! And honestly, he was the main reason I scored Q50 on the actual GMAT. He has been working with GMAT students for over 10 years, so he really knows his stuff and the common pitfalls the test will have. In times in which I needed a lift, he was also there to show me the path. I recommend that you get his books at least, if you can´t afford the sessions with him.
Ian, once again, thank you so much!
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GMATPrep - To be used in the last part of your preparation. If you don´t get a 700 in it, you have a 1% chance of getting such score in the real test. If you take it multiple times, you will inflate the score. Once you get a 700+ on it, you are good to go.
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GMAT Extra Pack - Never purchased it, but heard wonderful things about it. Probably a great investment (with the extra CATs).
VERBAL-----------------------------------------------------OG 13 and Verbal Review - A must. Be advised that other sources should be used with great caution, if ever used. I personally think that nothing else should be used as the GMAT has specific ways to test concepts and most prep companies just don´t get it.
:::CR:::
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Powerscore - The only thing (besides the
OG) I used. I found it to be very reliable.
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Ron Purewal´s videos - His CR videos are great, but his methods are not the only ones that can be used.
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/thursdays-with-ron/:::SC::: This was the hardest section to master
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Grail - Necessary to build on fundamentals.
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MGMAT SC - Really hard material, but absolutely necessary.
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e-GMAT - Never signed up for their course but heard great things about their SC course, especially if English is not your first language
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100 SC file - Good to practice (see the last link below, for additional resources to practice official SC)
:::RC::: hard to improve. You´ll need to figure out what works for you and what doesn´t
-Ron Purewal´s videos - Very good, but I couldn´t apply his methodology.
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Be aware that I tried several other products from several prep companies. But I do not have the intention to harm anyone, so I won´t post anything about the products or services that did not work for me. I´d rather tell you what did work for me.
Motivation:Toughest part for me. Try to find a friend, a wife, a girl/boyfriend to be with you. I "lost" a girlfriend in the middle of the preparation because she didn´t see the value in my nights staying awake. My new girlfriend, in turn, is the most supportive person I´ve met. If you feel like sharing your story, send me an inbox. I´ll try to reply, but can´t promise wonders
Watch the following videos when you are feeling blue:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmVOuLgFB0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36m1o-tM05gOr just read a debrief on the "Success Stories" on GMAT Club forum. (Many of them are from prep companies, so be suspicious about everything you read!)
Here are my favorites:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/760-q49-v44-ir8-third-time-s-a-charm-202379.htmlhttps://gmatclub.com/forum/590-to-720-happy-ending-202872.htmlhttps://gmatclub.com/forum/480-to-720-emotional-debrief-203615.htmlhttps://gmatclub.com/forum/740-q50-v40-awa-4-5-ir3-anti-debrief-203593.htmlhttps://gmatclub.com/forum/650-to-750-a-10-month-journey-to-the-score-203190.htmlhttps://gmatclub.com/forum/500-700-in-45-days-average-student-s-guide-to-success-106524.htmlhttps://gmatclub.com/forum/510-to-770-49q-46v-7ir-what-worked-for-me-2-years-176580.html (This one has a file named "GPSC" that seems really good. I didn´t use it, but seems very reliable to practice SC)
My 2 cents:-After 1 year of study I am able to kill a question in 30 seconds just by seeing what is being tested and what were the possible traps behind it. You will get there too if you do your diligence.
In my first GMAT attempt I got 660 Q48 V31. On my second attempt I got 720 Q50 V37 and here are my findings:
-You have a calculator on the IR section. Use it. In my first attempt, I made the stupid mistake of forgetting this fact, and I ended up calculating everything on the scratch paper. This in turn cooked my brain before it was supposed to.
-Build your stamina. Even if you are a runner or a professional swimmer, you will be out of mental juice by the time you reach the Verbal section. Make sure you prepare properly for this situation before you reach that point on your actual test.
-You don´t need to get everything right to get a great score. In my Q50 attempt I guessed on 3~5 questions that were daunting. I would advise you not to do badly on the first questions, but if you do, you can still pick up. Do not fall for the saying that "if you don´t get the first 10 questions right, you are doomed to failure!". That´s not true. Make sure you don´t make silly mistakes and that you can tackle the easy questions quickly.
-For the AWA I didn´t use Chinese template. Big mistake. I got a 4/6 but a 21% percentile. Now I´m wondering if I have to retake the test again just because of this poor outcome.
Memorize this template and use it on your test. The more you write the better you are.
-Do not focus on the 700 level questions. You will need to solve some but not all of them.
-On the real test, the RC and SC sections were significantly different from anything I had seen (and I´ve seen tons of official questions). Probably they are changing how they test students and most prep companies still need to adapt to that. I may be wrong though...
That´s it. I will do my best to answer questions or provide feedback/advice for those who seek (if anyone can provide some feedback towards my AWA concern, I´d be very grateful)
Last but not least, excuse any misspelling (it´s really late over here).
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17 Nov 2015, 17:52
