My GMAT Journey: From 700 to 780 and beyond.

So, GMAT happened, and I went from 'Hmm, maybe I should try it' to ‘Maybe I should try it again’ to ‘Wait, I did it!’. Now if you’re fond of stories, let me tell you mine!

At the beginning of my undergrad days, I had this wild idea of tackling the GMAT, but life had other plans, and I kept pushing it off. Fast forward to last July, when I caught wind that the GMAT version I'd been avoiding was about to retire, I finally decided to face it and registered for the exam.

Knowing that I hadn't founded a start-up and had no plans to do so soon, I set a high target score, aiming for a chance to be even considered at my dream B-Schools. With a fear of the dreaded RC section but a solid grasp of Quant concepts, I decided to start with verbal and tackle Quant later. Although I had started my exam preparation in July, it wasn't until September that I truly hit my stride, realizing I had less than four months left (let’s blame the initial slack on the "beginning-of-prep" phase and me being in the middle of a job switch). I had a smooth run through all the concepts, finding them logical and trouble-free. Most practice questions posed no difficulty, and I achieved high accuracy in all the practice sets. After four months of rigorous preparation, D-day arrived. The night before, anxiety took over, and my confidence, as customary before major exams, wavered. Regardless, I reached the center and started with the test. To my surprise, unlike my practice sessions, the verbal section proved more challenging, leaving me uncertain about many answers, with time management posing a significant issue. After somehow finishing the verbal section, I could skim through the other three with little difficulty. To comfort myself, I was hoping for a score near 740 but I was shocked to see 700! (I guess sub-par practice leads to sub-par results?). Negative thoughts flooded my mind, questioning if four months of preparation had gone to waste, debating whether to attempt the exam again and if so, whether there was sufficient time for another attempt. The ride back home was far from smooth, an unforgettable and long journey during which I pondered my options. It was then that I decided not to let my hard work go to waste without a proper fight and committed to reappearing. Little did I know, this decision marked the beginning of a not-so-easy month.

I began my second round of preparation by analyzing where I had faltered, identifying my weak areas, and contemplating what I could have done better. The realization struck me that, despite practicing numerous questions, I hadn't taken enough mocks, crucial for any competitive exam. Moreover, I allowed negativity to shake my confidence. In the month that followed, whenever I wasn't working, I was either attempting mocks, analyzing my mistakes, revisiting forgotten concepts, or practicing random questions online. And if I wasn't even practicing, I found solace in figuring out how to solve a Rubik’s cube, an effort to steer clear of negative thoughts (let’s just leave the other things I did aside for the sake of the argument). For the next 30 days, I made it a point to attempt at least one mock each day, be it a sectional or a full-length mock, and reviewed all of my mistakes. Witnessing my accuracy improve daily, I felt assured that this time on D-day, it would be different. One day before my exam, I found myself much more confident than I was last time and notably less anxious (my friends would vouch for this, as I didn’t make extensive calls to each one of them, talking for hours). On the morning of the exam, I woke up a bit early, took (hopefully one last) mock for good measure, and then headed on my way. On my way to the center, I found myself a bit confused about a particular concept in SC, so I quickly reviewed it once.

I started with verbal again and halfway through the section, a realization dawned – this was a different experience from the last attempt. Surprisingly, I encountered no trouble with most questions, excluding one (yes, I'm looking at you, RC). Maintaining a decent speed throughout, I had about 4 minutes to spare for the last question. Remember I revisited a concept on my way to the test center? Well, the last question tested me on precisely that topic, and I couldn't have been happier about it. Quant posed a greater challenge than the previous attempt, however. Spending over 3 minutes on the first question wasn’t an ideal situation. Panic set in momentarily – "I can't mess up this time" echoed in my mind. With a deep breath, I managed to calm myself down, determined not to let one minor setback overshadow my hard work. Proceeding with the test, I tackled each question with precision, finishing ahead of time once again. The last two sections didn’t pose any trouble. Before submitting the test, I took a minute to reflect. Satisfied with my performance, I sensed that I must have crossed the 750 mark this time. Upon hitting the submit button, the score promptly appeared, and to be honest, I wasn't expecting what appeared on the screen before me; I’d maybe imagined a 760, or a 770, but not a 780!

The journey back home, though long once again, carried a different vibe this time. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. Clutching onto my score report throughout the ride I kept wondering- what if I had scored 740 the first time? Would I have taken the test again?

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So, that's my journey, I do have some closing remarks and I hope you find my insights helpful.

• While everyone is unique and what worked for me might not be a perfect fit for you, there's one universal recommendation I'd make for anyone tackling the GMAT: there's no substitute for practice. Now, I'm not suggesting you start solving a Rubik’s cube to boost your score; that was just my quirky way of keeping negative thoughts at bay. The point is, to tailor your preparation to what works best for you. For me, it was attempting as many mock exams as possible, for you, it might be conquering 50 passages in a day.
• Always keep the bigger picture in mind. In Quants, especially in algebra, knowing what you have to solve for is crucial. Sometimes, a question may ask for the number of solutions of a quadratic equation, and you don't even need to solve for 'x,' which could save you valuable time. Always solve the question, not just the equation. Similarly, in reading comprehension, understanding the main point of the author behind every line is vital. If an author presents an example, knowing why the example is given is as important as understanding the example itself.
• Have an exit strategy, but keep it flexible. If you're stuck on a question for a couple of minutes, it's crucial to decide whether to move on to finish the section in time or to persist with the question. Knowing how much longer you'd take to solve the question is crucial in making this decision. If you're close to an answer, it might be worth pushing through; otherwise, if you're unsure or know it'll take another 2 minutes, a strategic guess and moving on could be the better choice.

Thank you for reading through this recap of my GMAT journey. I hope I've managed to offer some motivation and perhaps even a useful tip. Cheers, and all the best!