GMAT Story: From under 600 (MOCK) to 730 (OFFICIAL) — how to do things and how not to
The sole intention of this post is to help those who plan to take GMAT and require some guidance or clarity in it. I genuinely believe in sharing and teaching; if this write-up helps even a single person, I’ll consider its purpose served.
Now, let me tell you about my GMAT journey, which started unfolding in July 2019.
MY BACKGROUND:
I’m 26 years old, from the country of Georgia. I graduated from a private university in Poland with a BA in Economics. Currently, I work at the largest bank in Georgia as a Corporate Investment Banking team leader.
USED MATERIALS:
1. Official Guide 2020, Official Guide Quantitative Review 2020, Official Guide Verbal Review 2020 — You MUST have these books for their question bank. Do not exhaust them at the beginning of your prep. Earlier in your prep, do more straightforward questions just to start feeling what the real questions of a real test taste like, and start crunching them at your full capacity when you are already comfortable with GMAT concepts.
2. eGMAT — Nice course, which I used for quant topics and verbal SC. The mocks were maybe the course’s weakest side, but I loved its Scholaranium — a kind of a question bank with tough questions and great lengthy and logical explanations. I didn’t use it for RC because I was only practicing RC, not studying for it. It is an all-encompassing but rather a long course, yet you can focus only on those concepts you need the most help with. It is flexible, its bite-sized videos make complex concepts easy to grasp, and its question banks help solidify your knowledge. Only for $350. Great value for the price.
3. GMATClub — Easily the best resource after the official stuff. To unlock the hidden value, PLEASE LEARN HOW TO USE GMATCLUB FORUM. Here are some tips:
— Question bank — Search questions by their sources, types, and concepts they test.
— Error log — Revisit attempted and failed questions and try them again to see if you’ve learned something from the questions. It helps to reflect on your progress and see if you’re really advancing and learning from your mistakes or just blindly attempting to solve a bunch of questions.
— CATs — Use its quant CATs only, verbal CATs may be good, but I didn’t trust anything in verbal except the official resources.
— Follow experts; they add value, and their explanations come in very handy:
* GMATNinja — I just don’t know how to thank Charles for his free youtube videos. I would vote for him if he were to run for office. Anyone aiming at 35+ in Verbal should follow GMATNinja’s explanations, videos, and comments on GMATClub.
* Bunuel — wizard. This guy has oddly simple methods of solving questions that seem to take at least 10 minutes to be solved. Read him, follow him and hail him.
* ScottTargetTestPrep — I enjoyed his explanations for quant as well.
* mikemcgarry — he provided very nice help for those struggling with advanced verbal questions.
* chetan2u — another quant mastermind.
— Learn concepts — GMATClub has a massive database of very well-explained concepts. You may fill in your conceptual gaps by getting known to them.
4. A little bit of:
* Manhattan GMAT SC — I loved this book even after the eGMAT SC course. Amazing one. It helps with seeing the big picture in SC.
* PowerScore CR — If I had to now, I would use only this book for CR. My regret is I couldn’t use it properly and give it the time it needed, and that’s why I’m sure my CR score was the weakest among other scores.
* TargetTestPrep — Used it for the last five days to fill some conceptual gaps in advanced quant topics, such as overlapping sets. The platform seems just incredible. No Scholaranium as in eGMAT, but it has its question bank.
Now you have all the resources you need to ace the test and score 700+. You need to sit down and ask yourself: “DO I HAVE 3 MONTHS OF A DEDICATED STUDY?” And it means that regardless of your workload, stress, family, or other excuses, you must sit down and study EVERY DAY. If your answer is affirmative to that question, go ahead.
GMAT JOURNEY:
So, back in July 2019, I purchased the eGMAT self-study course and almost let the course expire without even peeking into it. My GMAT study ethics were at an absolute low back then. I used the last couple of months and watched the videos in the Quant section without any discipline and no everyday study. I had an unorganized schedule, and that was very ineffective. I would only study when I had absolutely nothing to do. The result? No improvement. Soon after half-studying, I realized that I was registered for the CFA Level III exam in May and gave up on GMAT, realizing that it would have been wiser just to beat the last CFA exam and then shift the focus to GMAT. However, after studying hard for three months, CFAI announced canceling the exam. I waited for a little while till they would give us more clarity about new dates, etc. Then I started studying for GMAT again only in mid-August. That was when I promised myself to dedicate 2–3 months to the study, even to the detriment of sleep. It worked: after the score popped up, I was delighted. However, my second thought was going home and studying for another 1.5 months to aim for 750+. I killed that thought instantly, and I’m glad I did so. I think 730 is a good score, and I have a chance to try to stand out as a good candidate without scoring 770. I’d instead work on myself and pick up some other traits and qualities that would compensate for another 30–40 points because I believe doing so will be more valuable for me in the long run.
Before giving the details of the prep timeline, I’m declaring that from Verbal, I only studied for SC and a little bit for CR. While for quant, I studied only probability, advanced algebra topics, and other advanced topics such as sets, geometry, etc. Starting in August, my actual study lasted 2.5 months, months that were quite intense. Therefore, I had to cut down on my private life, which I did thoroughly. And also, I had to cut down on my sleep, sleeping just about 5–6 hours a day. Most people suggest getting a good night’s sleep. But I couldn’t afford it. When you work at CIB, you either sleep and work or study and work — not all three vertices of the triangle simultaneously. It won't harm if you can afford a good night’s sleep. Out of those 2.5 months, I used around one month for cementing my conceptual knowledge, especially in Verbal SC, advanced algebra, advanced statistics, advanced word problems, overlapping sets, etc., solving only theory-related questions. I used the last month and a half only for crunching questions and doing mocks. Time after time, when checking on my performance, I would go back to the theory and re-read it, possibly from different sources, such as my notes from eGMAT or GMATClub Quant Textbook. Knowing that I had to be in shape and that resting for even one day would complicate my progress, I spent a month and a half doing every kind of a question, both Quant and Verbal, be it Algebra, Geometry, Sentence Correction, Critical Reasoning or Reading Comprehension — I focused most of that on official stuff via eGMAT’s Scholaranium platform and doing Quant CATs from GMATClub, which are more challenging than the real thing.
In the last several weeks, I sat six official mocks, regretfully, without simulating the real exam environment. For the maximum value, simulate the real exam. My scores for mocks were — 710, 680, 650, 720, 720, and 710. I also purchased Manhattan GMAT mocks. This time, I tried my best to simulate the exam environment (although with only partial success), and the experience went better than with the official mocks. Manhattan GMAT mocks seemed harder than the official mocks. I learned a lot from their questions. My scores were 750, 740, 700, 630, 710, 710. My last mock was the day before the test, out of desperation. It was the free mock from Veritas. 710.
I recommend all those mocks mentioned above, for they accurately gauge your actual performance.
I took GMAT Online in September and got 700. Then I took the GMAT on November 19 and got 730. Beforehand, I took GMAT in July and got 700ish (safe to say without prep), canceling the score immediately.
INTEGRATED REASONING
I don’t think that you should waste much time on it. Just do several tests, and you must be fine. When doing mocks, I saw that some IR parts were naturally easier, and some were harder. It worked as simple as that — if I understood the exercises and what the question stems asked, I was nailing the section. I struggled if I had trouble understanding what the exercise wanted me to do. At the exam center, I spent around 10 minutes on the first two questions because I had hard time understanding what the stem wanted me to do. That’s why I got an average score of 6, but that’s not too bad, I guess.
AWA
I have written only one essay during my prep, and I did that according to chineseburned ’s essay template, the only thing you need for AWA if you are naturally not bad at writing. In the test, I put the last period when 3 secs were remaining. I thought five would be the maximum score I could get, but apparently, I was mistaken.
TIME FOR TIPS!
TIP 1: I observed that you should know several different ways of solving a problem, especially a problem from Quant. For example, if you know how to solve quadratic equations/inequalities using a discriminant method, master also how to FOIL, graphical approach, and Vieta’s theorem. The latter is especially useful for spending as little time as possible. Another example: do not only focus on the Venn diagram as means for solving two overlapping sets problems; learn how to navigate the sets matrix as well, and thank me later.
TIP 2: I believe there is nothing to learn in RC as a theory. Just be a good reader, as Charles GMATNinja says. Read some physics-biology-science texts in Economist, WSJ, etc. And also, do not just read facts in the passages, but analyze the structure. Always ask yourself why this or that paragraph is there and what that paragraph is doing exactly after that previous paragraph.
TIP 3: Invest in understanding algebra concepts very well, especially absolute values and inequalities. They tend to be most vulnerable to silly mistakes. Grasping the theory here pays off well because the hardest questions build upon the easier idea.
TIP 4: Approach SC questions rather logically and mathematically. When deciding on correct grammar, don’t forget to consider the meaning. More complex questions tend to be emphasizing meaning and do not let the meaning drastically change when eliminating “wrong” answers! And remember, very often, correct answers sound wrong.
TIP 5: If you have time, memorizing the most popular and rather less popular idioms would be worth your time. I didn’t have time to do so.
TIP 6: I haven’t seen a single GMAT question that doesn’t have a straightforward method of solving it. These tests are not calculation-heavy. Just think out of the box, recall patterns, switch on logic, etc.
TIP 7: Invest your time in deconstructing and transforming the question stem as it conveys way more information than seems at first.
TIP 8: I would readdress my error log and revisit the questions which I couldn’t crunch with my earlier try. It helps to study trickier concepts relatively more efficiently.
TIP 9: If you aim for V30+ and Q46+, NEVER use Process of Elimination (POE) for QUANT and ALWAYS use POE for Verbal. Remember to find four wrong answers in the Verbal section rather than one correct one.
TIP 10: I can emphasize this: DO NOT OVERSPEND YOUR PRECIOUS TIME ON ANY SINGLE QUESTION. DO IT, AND YOU WILL FAIL MISERABLY. Just make an educated guess and go to the next one — it’s way less conspicuous of a problem than spending 7 minutes on a single item.
TIP 11: If anyone gives you strategies on how to behave on the test day, what to eat the day before, which side of the bed to sleep on, or like, please beware, 99% of probability you’ve just encountered a professional BS.
Long story short — first study concepts, cement them with the questions, and then do tests, CATs, and mocks heavily for the last couple of months. Recipe! I thought it would have been impossible for a corporate investment banker to score 730 on GMAT, but I’m glad to have been mistaken.
And if I were to undertake my GMAT journey now, I would do so many things so differently now that I know so much, having erred big time.
TO STUDY FOR QUANT:
- I would subscribe to eGMAT and use their platform to hone my quant skills.
— I would do a diagnostic or mock test as early as possible in my prep to see my weakest points. Then, I would place a heavy focus on those points. Additionally, I would master medium-level questions so that my test-taking abilities become at least silly-mistake-proof. Why? Because such questions are the meat of GMAT and the big chunk of your total score.
— I would use GMATClub daily and read experts’ explanations of challenging problems because people like Bunuel always have an oddly more straightforward method of solving seemingly unsolvable questions.
— I would buy access to GMATClub’s CATs and Question Bank. My advice is to do only quant CATs on the forum.
— Grind on advanced questions as soon as you achieve that level. Try these brilliant questions.
TO STUDY FOR VERBAL:
- First of all, I would build my prep around the eGMAT course, learning from their videos and taking their quizzes, as well as practicing official questions in their Scholaranium with stellar explanations that add value to OG.
— I would read Manhattan GMAT SC Book several times until I remembered all the basics of GMAT SC meat, basics such as Modifiers, Pronouns, etc.
— I would purchase eGMAT’s Verbal course only for SC and then supplement it with Manhattan SC to see the big picture in that topic more clearly.
— I would study Powerscore CR Bible very well as well for CR.
— I would practice LSAT passages or arguments for tougher CR and RC stuff. There are plenty of them on GMATClub.
— I would spend 5–10 minutes a day learning idioms for SC. Most of those idioms appear in the Manhattan GMAT SC book.
— I would watch free videos by GMATNinja, encompassing SC/CR/RC topics. They are the jewel of this journey!
— I would focus on explanations of tough questions by experts of the forum
TO TEST MY PROGRESS:
As I said, I would take the GMAT diagnostic test or even the official GMAT test at the beginning of the prep to see where I stand and what the exam looks like. What is more, I would only use six official mocks by GMATPrep and maybe 2–3 free mocks by Manhattan GMAT. I would be doing two mocks every week, later in my study, nearer to the end of the prep. And what’s most important, remember that if you don’t binge on your mistakes and don’t grasp why you erred and don’t pick lessons from the failures, YOU ARE NOT PROGRESSING.
MISTAKES I WOULD NOT REPEAT:
- I would avoid compromising quality with quantity. That being said, I would rather crunch fewer advanced questions and realize every choice that I make to make sure all of my picks were deliberate and that I knew why I picked A, B, C, D, or E. Said otherwise, it’s better to do 15 questions a day, and analyze all of the correct and incorrect choices thoroughly, then to do 40 questions in a hurry.
— Do not “scatter-study.” Pick three months of the time frame and “focus study.”
— Steadily achieve your level, do not rush. And on this topic, I suggest you watch this excellent overview of Flow State, discussed in a book by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
That’s it. I’m optimistic three months would be enough for me to score 730.
As a bonus, whenever you need some motivation, listen to Jordan Peterson on youtube. Here, you can find his best-selling book summary narrated by him. And also, look up the philosophy of Stoicism. It generally helps me keep my mind focused.
I will be happy to respond to questions. I will also be delighted to hear anything you have to say. If I can be of any help, please do not hesitate to ping me. GMAT is easy on concepts. GMAT is hard on discipline and remaining calm and focused during the prep.
P.S. By the way, my very first mock was eGMAT’s mock, and I scored below 600 as far as I remember 😄
Cheers and good luck!
