Ready Set Go-My GMAT Memoir
This is my GMAT debrief, I have tried to include all the mistakes I made during the preparation of my first attempt: ended up scoring 690(V34,Q49) and the tips I followed to improve my score to a 740(V40,Q50) in spite of a system failure during my GMAT. I have also included the list of study material I used while preparing for the GMAT.
Ready
Before taking the GMAT you have to prepare yourself for the journey you are setting on. There are multiple factors that might affect your preparation, for me I had to manage my work and my new marriage. I decided to start my preparation after one of my critical deliverables at work, as I knew I would have less workload for a few weeks. I had an at length discussion with my wife about the time I will have to devote for GMAT prep and how I will balance work and our personal life. Here I would like to thank my wife for being understanding and which allowed me to put in extra hours into studies.
Set
You need to know how important GMAT is for you and to what extent you are ready to sacrifice to get the score you want. You need to set your target GMAT score before starting your prep. For me, my minimum target score was 730. Mistake 1:I set my quant target to 49. The main reason for this was I spoke to many people who had taken GMAT and all suggested Q49 was a good score.
Tip 1:My advice to everyone is to set your own targets depending on your abilities and capabilities.
Tip 2: Before starting your prep take the first GMAT official Mock exam to know where you are starting from. My score was 660. This is very important to know your strengths and weaknesses.
I started my prep in May 2018, and before that, I collected resources that I will be referring to while preparing. It is also important to understand the pattern of the GMAT exam, how adaptive it is, and how the scoring works.
Go
I started preparing in May 2018 and decide to take the exam in August 2018. A piece of very common advice all GMAT test-takers receive is to take the exam date before starting preparation.
Mistake 2:I did not heed to this advice. I wasn’t very focused during the initial few weeks as I knew the GMAT was far and I could always move the date if I wasn’t ready. Once August came, I realized how far I was from where I wanted to be in my prep stage.
I used the following material to prep during my first attempt and found useful:
Verbal:
Official Verbal Guide OG
Kaplan Verbal Guide
Manhattan Foundation of GMAT Foundation
Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction
Manhattan GMAT Reading Comprehension
Manhattan GMAT Critical Reasoning
Quant:
Official Quant Guide OG
Manhattan GMAT Word Problem
Manhattan GMAT Geometry
Manhattan GMAT Algebra
Manhattan GMAT Fractions
Overall Prep:
Offical GMAT Guide
Veritas GMAT Guide
Kaplan GMAT 800
Mocks:
2 Official Mocks
6 Veritas Prep Mocks
In August I decided to set a date for the exam and put my head down and study. I took the date for mid-October. I started with the Official Guides and managed a physical notebook to track errors and take notes. I took mocks every weekend to gauge my preparation. I reached my quant target(Q49) by end of August but my verbal scores were still around 34. I started studying using Manhattan guides and took detailed notes. My verbal score started to improve but the problem was the scores weren’t consistent I scored V39 in one test and V33 in the next. The thing with verbal is you need to keep at it and keep practicing the same types of questions, which gets boring. I tried to not lose hope and kept trying my best, but I knew that my preparation wasn’t going as I had expected. I was struggling with sentence correction and reading comprehension. I tried various approaches to improve my sentence correction and in the process ended up neglecting reading comprehension.
Here are my mock scores during my preparation:
Official Mock 1:660 Q48 V32
Veritas Mock 1:680 Q48 V34
Veritas Mock 2: 690 Q49 V35
Veritas Mock 3: 710 Q48 V39
Official Mock 2: 710 Q49 V38
I had a 12 hours workday and then a family to be with at home, I still tried to study at least 1 hour a day and 5 hours on the weekend and 1 mock test per week. In my final mock before GMAT, I scored 710.
First GMAT Attempt
I had opted to take the exam at my nearest center and took the afternoon slot, so I could have a good night's sleep.
On the test day, I was feeling fresh but was nervous, I reached well before time and was allowed to start the exam before the scheduled time.
I opted to start with Verbal and then Quant followed by IR and AWA. I started well with Verbal but got stumped due to 2 back to back lengthy essays which cost me a lot of time, I ended up guessing the last 3 verbal questions this has never happened in a mock. During the 8 mins break, I tried to regroup and put the verbal section disappointment behind. Quant went as expected and I finished in time. I finished the IR and AWA and pressed the finish button. I was disappointed to see the score on the screen, I almost dint believe I had done this bad. 690 V34 Q49 IR8. I canceled my score immediately.
What Next
I took a couple of days off from work to think about what I wanted to do. I cleared my mind reflected on my mistakes and decided to start preparing for GMAT again after 2 weeks. I needed this time to analyze my mistakes, create a solid study plan and l think about what I should do differently.
I knew my biggest weakness was Verbal and I needed help with it. I decided to opt for a verbal course. I looked at various options like veritas, manhattan, and e-Gmat and decide to go with e-Gmat because of the cost and the good reviews it had on various forums.
Here we Go Again
I couldn’t start my Gmat preparation until January 2019 due to some personal reasons. This time before starting my preparation, I took the date for my GMAT exam. I decided to follow a structured approach this time around and focus on the quality of questions I do than on quantity. It's always Quality over Quantity. I revised my goal for quant to 50 and Verbal to 39 as I wanted to push myself more this time around. E-gmat course really helped me track my Verbal practice. I made it a point to practice verbal question each day at least 1 hour. This consistency helped me improve my verbal score and I started picking the patterns in questions.
Tip3: While practicing it is important that you timebox your problem-solving.This will help you in full-length tests. For Quant, I took Gmat Club Quant Mocks and I highly recommend them for people aiming for a high quant score.
Tip4: Another important aspect of my reattempt preparation was regular mocks, I gave one mock every week for the last 8 weeks of my preparation and this helped me with my timing and accuracy. I resolved all the material I used last time and kept solving the questions I got wrong until I understood the mistakes I made.
Tip5: Maintaining error logs is really helpful while revising and identifying the pattern in your mistakes and rectifying them.
Here are my mock scores during my preparation for the second attempt:
Official Mock 1: 710 Q49 V38
Veritas Mock 1: 710 Q49 V38
Veritas Mock 2: 730 Q50 V39
Veritas Mock 3: 730 Q49 V41
Veritas Mock 4: 720 Q49 V39
Official Mock 2: 740 Q50 V40
Second GMAT attempt
I had again booked the center near my house and 12.30 pm slot for the exam. One day before the exam I was feeling very confident about my preparation. I went to bed early to relax and be ready for the big day but I couldn’t sleep the whole night. In the morning I was worried that my lack of sleep might affect my performance during the exam. I reached the exam center on time and started my exam. I again opted to start with Verbal and then Quant followed by IR and AWA. After the 11th question, my biggest nightmare came true the computer screen froze, and then I couldn’t do anything. As instructed, I raised my hand and the invigilator escorted me out of the lab. I didn’t panic and took it as a mid-exam break, I had water and closed my eyes and rested. I was escorted back into the lab to restart the exam, I was in a middle of an RC, I would have to restart with reading the entire RC again but thanks to my practice of making shorthand notes I could start from where I had stopped. This gave me a good restart and I carried the same momentum through the rest of the exam. I finished my AWA pressed the finish button and this time around I was elated to see the screen 740 Q50 V40 IR8 again I could not believe what I had achieved.
My 2 cents
GMAT is an exam of temperament as much as it is about your knowledge of the subject. 3 months of dedicated preparation is enough to reach your desired score. Please do not think about leaving your current job and studying for GMAT. The GMAT curriculum is not very rigorous, it is more about the concepts.
If you feel you are not comfortable with any subject, make sure you take proper guidance.
All the best with your preparation and if you have any doubts or need help please leave a comment.
I gave an interview about my GMAT prep to E-gmat, if you have time do watch this.
