Very detailed

As my undergrad grades are just around average I knew I needed to score high on the GMAT, deliver a flawless application and improve my english skills drastically to have the slightest chance of admission in a Top 30 program.

I started my MBA journey around March 2016 with the purchase of Kaplan GMAT Premier 2016. I did the pre-test and was devastated: I remember scoring somewhere around 480 and almost threw all my MBA plans overboard..

Knowing that I wouldn't have time to study seriously until February 2017 I installed "GMAT Math Flashcards" and "GMAT Idiom Flashcards" from the Appstore and used them from time to time (forgetting about them for several weeks and months at times..). I also installed Prep4 GMAT (now called Ready4 GMAT) and solved almost all questions of the day from March 2016 to November 2016.

These apps gave me a great fundament and confidence to proceed. I scored 610 (V30, Q40, 2017.2.12) in GMATPrep with just going through the OG verbal part and knew that 650-700 would be a realistic aim for the real exam in April. I signed up for e-gmat and did the SC part. Studied/watched just theory and didn't practice in their practice area. Did also some OG quant and scored a - given I spent so much time on e-gmat verbal - devastating 620 (V30, Q47, 2017.3.11). I sticked to the plan and desperately wanted to finish the e-gmat verbal course which is really long.. I did a crucial mistake: At least for me the verbal course wasn't worth skimming through. I should have defined my weak areas in verbal beforehand and practiced just these.

The e-gmat quant was a side-quest as I felt rather comfortable with quant already. But this side-quest took me to the next level; it is really compact and highly effective for somebody with solid but rusty math skills!

I scored a bit inflated 700 (V40, Q47 2017.4.6) some days before the big day. I went through my quant error log which helped me to achieve 690 (V35, Q49) on exam day. IR went terrible and I scored just 2. AWA 4 which was OK given my english level.

Pro e-gmat:
- great, compact quant section

Contra e-gmat:
- verbal to extensive. focus just on your weak areas and practice practice practice!!!


So how did I get into my dream program?
- Lots of GMAT study (200h+, sadly didn't use e-gmat effectively)
-- Error log
-- Timed OG (I stopped the time for every offline OG question!)

- Around 40 Skype english lessons to improve my fluency

- MBA admission consulting from essaylever.com which offers FANTASTIC value for money. I don't get why others spend thousands of dollars while essaylever.com offers the same for a couple of hundred dollars. They were super efficient, no single minute wasted with smalltalk etc. Sanjay helped me to create kickass essays and his interview sessions shaped my confidence and skills for the final day.