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19 Oct 2023, 16:29
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Hi everyone! I am writing this post to give some background on my journey to achieving my GMAT score goals. During my study process, I frequently checked in on this forum and definitely got lots of useful advice from other users, so I thought it would be great to return the favor after finally reaching my own score goal.
I started looking into the GMAT at the beginning of this year. In January I frequented different GMAT forums to get a sense of what the exam was like and whether taking this exam would be worth the time/effort/money/etc. At that point, I was still a senior in university, so I still wasn’t completely sure if pursuing an MBA would be something along the road for me. However, I found out that the score would be applicable for five years. This is great for just keeping the option of pursuing an MBA open, especially given how busy it can get once one gets started with his or her career.
Thus, in January I decided to take some free online practice exams to assess where I stood. 4-5 years prior, in high school, I was able to obtain a very satisfactory SAT score, so I thought another standardized test would just be a repeat of the same story. To my surprise, I actually did not do very well and scored in the low 600s. I realized the technicalities of the sentence correction questions clashed with my non-native English background. Furthermore, many of the quant formulas had all been washed from my head, given that I had not touched any algebra or geometry since many years prior.
I heard about Target Test Prep from some friends as well as some of these forums. Since they had such a strong reputation, and they were also offering a one-week free trial at the time, I decided to give them a try. After a week with the program, TTP told me they could help me reach my score goal of 740. I decided to purchase their 3-month course and give the GMAT a shot.
Even as a student, managing the time going to classes, attending extracurriculars, studying for the GMAT, and still enjoying my final year of college was completely manageable. By the end of three months I clocked in about 60 hours of total TTP studying. If you break that down, that is simply 20 hours of studying a month, 5 hours of studying a week, or 1 hour of studying every weekday. Definitely very doable even with going to classes throughout the day and traveling / enjoying last bits of college on the weekends.
Towards the end of the three months, I decided to take some practice exams to assess my progress. This part I probably would not recommend. It definitely would have made a lot more sense to spread out these practice exams to get a clearer sense of progress and whether the studying methods were actually making a difference. Luckily for me, the studying paid off and I was scoring in-line with my score goals on the official practice exams:
Practice Exams:
OG Practice Exam 1 (March 22, 2023): 750 (Q48, V46)
OG Practice Exam 2 (March 23, 2023): 760 (Q49, V47)
OG Practice Exam 3 (April 1, 2023): 730 (Q48, V42)
OG Practice Exam 4 (April 1, 2023): 770 (Q50, V45)
OG Practice Exam 5 (April 2, 2023): 750 (Q49, V42)
OG Practice Exam 6 (April 2, 2023): 740 (Q47, V44)
Average: 750 (Q48.5, V45)
On April 4, I took the official exam, and just barely missed my score goal.
Official Exam 1 (April 4, 2023): 730 (Q48, V42)
I looked at my previous scores and noticed it was actually really difficult if not impossible to see a verbal score of 43 or 44. Instead, we see this huge jump between 42 and 45. I thought to myself, if I could just get one or two more questions right that would be all it would take to increase my score by those last 10 points.
I spent my last summer in between university and work traveling and did not think about academics or studying at all. However, after my birthday at the end of July, I decided to give it one last shot and go for the GMAT again during the month of August. I marked August 26 on my calendar and made a mental and literal note about how this would be my last chance to achieve those score goals before becoming overloaded with work.
I know TTP is much more well-known for their quant section, so there was a moment there where I considered perhaps a different study method. However, I actually really enjoyed TTP’s format with explanations and teachings followed by the relevant practice questions to assess your learning. I decided to continue with this format and exclusively focus on boosting my verbal score.
Finally, on August 26, I was able to go beyond my target score goals.
Official Exam 2 (August 26, 2023): 760 (Q49, V45)
Over the course of this journey, ironically, I grew to really enjoy the chase. It was a nice challenge to myself to push my own improvement and a very accomplishing feeling when I finally realized that score. It’s a bittersweet feeling now that that journey has come to an end, but alas there are bigger fish to fry and bigger dreams to chase. I’m now leaving this journey to all of you, and I hope you can all come to enjoy the chase and achieve those score goals just as I did.
Posted from my mobile device
I started looking into the GMAT at the beginning of this year. In January I frequented different GMAT forums to get a sense of what the exam was like and whether taking this exam would be worth the time/effort/money/etc. At that point, I was still a senior in university, so I still wasn’t completely sure if pursuing an MBA would be something along the road for me. However, I found out that the score would be applicable for five years. This is great for just keeping the option of pursuing an MBA open, especially given how busy it can get once one gets started with his or her career.
Thus, in January I decided to take some free online practice exams to assess where I stood. 4-5 years prior, in high school, I was able to obtain a very satisfactory SAT score, so I thought another standardized test would just be a repeat of the same story. To my surprise, I actually did not do very well and scored in the low 600s. I realized the technicalities of the sentence correction questions clashed with my non-native English background. Furthermore, many of the quant formulas had all been washed from my head, given that I had not touched any algebra or geometry since many years prior.
I heard about Target Test Prep from some friends as well as some of these forums. Since they had such a strong reputation, and they were also offering a one-week free trial at the time, I decided to give them a try. After a week with the program, TTP told me they could help me reach my score goal of 740. I decided to purchase their 3-month course and give the GMAT a shot.
Even as a student, managing the time going to classes, attending extracurriculars, studying for the GMAT, and still enjoying my final year of college was completely manageable. By the end of three months I clocked in about 60 hours of total TTP studying. If you break that down, that is simply 20 hours of studying a month, 5 hours of studying a week, or 1 hour of studying every weekday. Definitely very doable even with going to classes throughout the day and traveling / enjoying last bits of college on the weekends.
Towards the end of the three months, I decided to take some practice exams to assess my progress. This part I probably would not recommend. It definitely would have made a lot more sense to spread out these practice exams to get a clearer sense of progress and whether the studying methods were actually making a difference. Luckily for me, the studying paid off and I was scoring in-line with my score goals on the official practice exams:
Practice Exams:
OG Practice Exam 1 (March 22, 2023): 750 (Q48, V46)
OG Practice Exam 2 (March 23, 2023): 760 (Q49, V47)
OG Practice Exam 3 (April 1, 2023): 730 (Q48, V42)
OG Practice Exam 4 (April 1, 2023): 770 (Q50, V45)
OG Practice Exam 5 (April 2, 2023): 750 (Q49, V42)
OG Practice Exam 6 (April 2, 2023): 740 (Q47, V44)
Average: 750 (Q48.5, V45)
On April 4, I took the official exam, and just barely missed my score goal.
Official Exam 1 (April 4, 2023): 730 (Q48, V42)
I looked at my previous scores and noticed it was actually really difficult if not impossible to see a verbal score of 43 or 44. Instead, we see this huge jump between 42 and 45. I thought to myself, if I could just get one or two more questions right that would be all it would take to increase my score by those last 10 points.
I spent my last summer in between university and work traveling and did not think about academics or studying at all. However, after my birthday at the end of July, I decided to give it one last shot and go for the GMAT again during the month of August. I marked August 26 on my calendar and made a mental and literal note about how this would be my last chance to achieve those score goals before becoming overloaded with work.
I know TTP is much more well-known for their quant section, so there was a moment there where I considered perhaps a different study method. However, I actually really enjoyed TTP’s format with explanations and teachings followed by the relevant practice questions to assess your learning. I decided to continue with this format and exclusively focus on boosting my verbal score.
Finally, on August 26, I was able to go beyond my target score goals.
Official Exam 2 (August 26, 2023): 760 (Q49, V45)
Over the course of this journey, ironically, I grew to really enjoy the chase. It was a nice challenge to myself to push my own improvement and a very accomplishing feeling when I finally realized that score. It’s a bittersweet feeling now that that journey has come to an end, but alas there are bigger fish to fry and bigger dreams to chase. I’m now leaving this journey to all of you, and I hope you can all come to enjoy the chase and achieve those score goals just as I did.
Posted from my mobile device
19 Oct 2023, 23:57
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Gratz on the 760. All the best going forward.
-contact: gmatknight site | gmatclub dm
-contact: gmatknight site | gmatclub dm
24 Oct 2023, 10:42
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Hi Jsun26,
Congrats on an awesome GMAT score!!
Congrats on an awesome GMAT score!!
