Hello everyone. I would like to thank the community at GMAT club and
e-GMAT without whom I wouldn't be writing this debrief.
Four years out of college I sensed the need to explore more and started thinking about giving a serious attempt at the GMAT in November 2018. I had previously given my GRE back in 2015 (had scored a 317) and assumed that the GMAT would also be quite similar to the GRE. I was wrong.
I am a typical Indian engineer and wired in a certain way when it comes to giving exams. My entire GMAT journey can be split into two parts
Part one- Rushing through the content (GMAT score- 580 | Q47 V23)
Part two- Happy learning (GMAT score- 720 | Q50 V38)
Part one- Rushing through the content (GMAT score- 580 | Q47 V23)I had started reading about GMAT on online forums and most of the people suggested that I take a sample test available on Mba.com and check where I stand. This was a time when I had no clue what the GMAT consists of and I opened my doors to the world of GMAT by scoring a 580 on my sample mock on mba.com. Post that I purchased the Manhattan series and
the Official Guide and started to prepare. As I was wired to give the exams in a particular way I assumed this would suffice and I would manage to get the 700+ score with it.
Since I was running a startup and the work was overwhelming I made sure that I was at least putting 2 hours in the morning. This meant stop exercising (a big mistake) and reading the newspaper and dedicate that time to GMAT. With this schedule, I completed the Manhattan series book by book and completed parts of the
OG by December end and gave a sample test and scored a 600. I was shocked to see that score and realised I have barely studied anything. When I look back I see three things that I was doing incorrectly.
1) Manhattan is not exhaustive in teaching the concepts of Verbal (especially SC) and I was taking too much time to understand by learning through reading.
2) I was completing topics and not practising much once I completed the topic. I was just moving ahead and trying to complete as much content as I can. This is one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make. It is important to keep in touch with the topics every single day once you complete the concepts (For example, if you complete SC and starting CR make sure you are at-least solving 5 questions each day of SC till the exam day)
3) Focusing on accuracy and not on ability. This is a pitfall for most of the students who are wired to see accuracy as a measure of success. GMAT is a different exam and its tests your ability not accuracy.
Meanwhile, work got too overwhelming in January and February and I stopped studying for GMAT thinking I would resume in March. When I finally resumed by the first week of March I was shocked. Everything I was reading seemed new and the study hours I put back in November and December felt like a total waste (It is important not to take breaks between your GMAT study). It felt like day one again. I went through the
Manhattan books again and looked for more content outside of Manhattan. I was still struggling with SC and CR.
I finished two more books.
For SC- SC Grail
For CR- PowerScore critical reasoning bible
This time I made sure I was making notes every time I felt some concepts were very important and noting my mistakes every-time I got a question wrong.
Even after completing loads of content I did not feel confident in my Verbal as my method was still centred around rushing through content and focusing on accuracy. To supplement this I bought a cheap online course material and went through their entire course work (Verbal and Quant) to get that missing confidence . This was again a big mistake as I look back (The quality of the content was very poor). I consulted a few people and many told me I should start giving some mocks now. It was March end and I started giving my mocks every day (which was a part of the online course I had purchased).
I usually did Quant first (stronger section and helped me build the momentum) followed by Verbal and then Essay+IR.
This is how my scores looked like
Mock 1 620
Mock 2 680
Mock 3 760 (I was so happy and booked my test date for 14th of June)
Mock 4 580 (I was shattered and started doubting the material)
Mock 5 640
I consulted a few friends who had given the GMAT before and they said I give the free official practise test 2 which was still untouched and get the real sense of where I stand. I gave one under ideal conditions and scored a 680. I was unhappy considering the amount of material I had consumed and expected at-least a 700+. During the exam day, I was not feeling confident in my ability and felt a little underprepared.
Exam day
This was the most important day and looking back I was unprepared for the surprises. I was given a writing pad and a water-soluble marker (never practised on such a surface before) and I was to put noise cancellation headphones (for the first five minutes of the exam I felt as if I was underwater). These two factors messed me up during the exams. I was unable to solve any thing or relate any concepts in the exam. All the RCs I read I couldn't understand anything and I remember reading one full RC twice and still not understanding anything. I felt lost. I knew I had messed the exam up and waited it to end. I ended up scoring 580 (The same original practise mock score I had given without knowing what the GMAT was like).
I was shattered and felt that this is not for me. It was six months gone to waste. I had given up my social and personal life to make time for GMAT and felt like giving up.
I decided to take a break of a week and live life normally all the while trying to contemplate if there was any way I could reach that 700+. During this time I stumbled upon some debriefs on Youtube from
e-GMAT and I could relate my journey too so many of them who struggled a couple of times to finally see that 700+ score. It was just my first attempt and I could still see a hope of a 700+ score. That moment itself I bought the
e-GMAT course work and started with my phase two of GMAT.
Part two- Happy learning (GMAT score- 720 | Q50 V38)
The moment I logged into the
e-GMAT course work I fell in love with the interface and the way the course work is structured. The first thing I did was complete their two-hour master comprehension module and it just changed the way I did verbal thereafter. I felt I was learning something new, content that I could use in my day to day life and it was fun. I decided to consume the material the way they recommended and did not skip even a single section.
Sentence correction- I completed the SC module first and this time I felt confident (Trust me this was the best SC content I had consumed so far). I was focusing on ability and not on accuracy and could feel the confidence building up. The most important aspect is that I got more conscious of the English language in my day to day life and started relating all the concepts from the
e-GMAT course while reading any form of English material. It was real fun.
I read the stimulus very slowly and tried to solve the questions with a meaning-based approach and focusing on elimination (Rather than trying to find the right answer). It was magical!
After completing the SC module for the first time in my life I felt as if I could read and I understand English in the true sense. I was loving it!
Critical reasoning- Before the
e-GMAT course I had no particular method while solving the CR. I used to just read the stimulus and try making as much sense of it as I can and used to move to the answers. It worked most of the time but I felt under-equipped during solving questions (with a time limit) as there was no particular approach.
E-GMAT coursework helped me build a method around CR with the pre-thinking approach and I felt confident solving questions.
Reading comprehension- Completing the SC and CR module from
e-GMAT made RC very easy for me. I could now understand the passage very well and I hardly looked back at the passage while solving the questions.
I feel the most important part in RC is to get immersed in the passage and have a learners and not a readers attitude. It made the difference for me and I must have solved just about 30 RCs before giving the final exam.
Important tip- Once I completed my SC I started using scholaranium to solve and track my weak spots every day till the exam day. Same with my CR and RC. It is utmost important to keep a constant touch with the content even after you have finished the module and looking back this is probably the most important aspect to a 700+ score for me.
For
Quant- I was quite strong in Maths and used to score anywhere between Q47- Q49. I used
e-GMAT for content on certain topics which I felt were my weak spots and started analysing my performance using the platform. I completed the
OG and for more content, I used the
GMAT club tests for practice. Honestly, I felt they were very difficult than the ones you get on the test but are a good practise (Caution- They can get you demotivated and make you lose confidence in your ability as your score will drop on such tests due to its difficulty level).
This time I just practised on my weaker areas and analysed my performance on the mock test (I bought the mock test 3 and 4 on Mba.com)
I think one should just stick to official questions and official mock papers and nothing else before the exam. That's the reason I would highly recommend
e-GMAT as a prep material as it makes you practise using official questions.
Once I completed the content and practise questions on scholaranium I took my GMAT date on the 24th October 2019. A week before my GMAT exam I had taken leave from work and stopped doing any activity apart from studying for GMAT. I made sure I was going for a 30 min run every day, eating the right things and keeping myself immersed with GMAT content. I gave the mock 3 on Mba.com three days before the exam under ideal condition (this time I bought the writing pad and plugged my earplugs during the exam) and mock 4 one day before the exam. Both the exam I scored a 700 (V35 Q50).
I studied for IR and essay just a day before the exam. I used CrackVerbals essay format to prepare for essay writing and I was pretty sorted (My essay score was 5)
On the exam day – I had booked the same centre and a morning slot (It was the same time I used to usually start studying every day) this time and left no rooms for surprises. I was the first one to enter the centre and it was quite empty with hardly a few students. I felt very confident this time and followed my usual order of Verbal, Quant, IR+ Essay. I could sense the difference this time with me feeling confident while marking the answers. Knowing what you are doing gives you immense confidence and it reflected in my score. For verbal it is very important to start it well. Make sure you complete the first 9 questions in under 18 minutes and it helps you set the right pace for the rest of the questions. The moment I felt I was not able to understand the content and I had crossed 90 seconds I simply marked the one I felt was a good choice and moved on. Not being possessive about getting every question right is very important at the time of the exam.
For quant, I had prepared my self to leave up to four questions in case I got stuck and did not manage to get to something considerable by two minutes. I remember leaving exactly four questions in the exam and those were the only ones I got wrong and helped me score a Q50.
I completed my IR and essay and hit the submit button and was surprised to see the 720 number! More than being happy I felt relieved
. It was finally over!
Overall advice- Stick to official material only
- You do not need anything else for verbal other than e-GMAT
- Give a few mocks nearing to the exam (ones on mba.com)
- Buy a writing pad and marker (available on Amazon. Stop using paper-pen and just use the pad-marker while studying)
- Focus on ability and not accuracy
- Have a learner's mindset. English is fun if you do it the right way. Trying applying it in your daily routine as you study for GMAT
- Do not unnecessarily do hard problems with Maths. Focus on the core concept of every topic. I have seen many people who try to learn formulas or tricks for certain question types but they don't work during the exam A big thank you to the GMAT club community!
With gratitude,
Hitesh
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05 Apr 2020, 12:24
