My GMAT story, unfinished

I can tell you that I had to employ a variety of methods to pass the test the second time. I insist on using the term "pass" because I think the GMAT is testing a lot more than math, english, and writing, and I definitely failed the test the first time. I think it also tests stamina, mental fortitude, decision-making, and confidence. I think it provides an environment for your ego to work against you.

The first time I took it, I used curriculum materials from Manhattan GMAT and did self study. My husband Lynford was a math major, so he helped some on that front. I took the practice exams and was scoring in the average score range for my schools, so I figured that, even though my math wasn't fresh, I still remembered enough from high school to do OK.

What went wrong the first time:

1. I hadn't taken a full-length practice exam (with essays) prior to taking the test
   
2. I knew the material, but I didn't know it COLD, necessarily
   
3. I hadn't had enough full-length practice to explore and deal with my weaknesses
   
4. I ran behind in both sections, and couldn't recover
   
5. I planned for disciplined self study, but didn't
   
6. I tried to save money
   
7. I thought the test was about math, english, and writing
   
8. I didn't know all I should expect (that they would take my analog watch away, that I couldn't use my own pencils, that cameras were watching my every move, etc.)
   
9. I took the test at 8:30am, and I'm normally just waking up at that time.
   
10. I took the test at the wrong testing center (San Jose).[only after the second time can I say this with a straight face]
    

So after bombing it the first time, I called Coach, and she told me to write it off and not think about it for the rest of the day. I tried following that advice, and obsessed anyway. Ego in the gutter, I asked my tutor-husband what he thought went wrong. He focused on 2 and 5 above specific to the math section, and searched the internet for ways to get a refresher course going. Couldn't find a class that would fit, so we ordered books, tests, and solutions manuals from the Saxon Math Homeschooling series from 7th grade math through Algebra II. Turns out I had forgotten a whole lot in the last 15 years--a lot of little properties and rules that, taken together, really added up on the GMAT. Since I had bombed both verbal and math sections, I focused on figuring out what went wrong overall. I decided that we needed to shell out some more cash for a private tutor (Manhattan GMAT, $2000-$3000), but the husband disagreed. He thought the time spent with the tutor (15-20 hr) was not enough, and it was very expensive.

We had to get over the expensiveness and leave it open as an option, because I needed the solution that would help me pass, not something picked for its reasonable cost. Being in the nonprofit sector has taught me that sometimes a large part of solving problems is throwing some money at them. We call it "building capacity" and "expanding resources," but it's basically throwing people, who cost money, other resources, which also cost money, or money itself, at the problems. Even strategic planning has an opportunity cost that translates into money.

So I looked into Kaplan and Princeton, and a Manhattan GMAT private tutor for two people since I learn well with other students around me. I also told my story to Kim who handles the scheduling at Manhattan, and she helped me identify 1 and 3 as issues. I was in process of coordinating schedules with one other guy, and then he decided to get a Veritas private tutor instead. I had totally forgotten about Veritas. He said folks in the Business Week forums were recommending the company. A friend of mine who decided not to apply this year had taken a Veritas class, so I talked with her. She had a good experience. Turns out a class was being offered in a month in Palo Alto, and the class time was 42 hours (3 hrs, 2wice a week for 7 weeks) and the same $1,200 as the other classes. While I waited for the class to start, I studied the Saxon math books and took the chapter tests. <--This was major. Even while taking the Veritas class, I continued to go through the Saxon stuff. Relearning 4 years of math is no small task when you haven't seen it for so long, and knowing that you know the material cold helps overcome uncertainty in the test. Veritas has very few bells and whistles, and feels kind of underground, since classes were held in a hotel multipurpose room with a makeshift whiteboard--they were originally scheduled to be held at Stanford GSB. What I got out of the class:

• lots, and I do mean tons, of practice problems
• helpful teacher who produced crib sheets of each workbook and could speak at length about strategy for each problem and obscure grammar and logic some of us never learned formally
• giving and getting help from those around me who were in this to win, too, and had much to share
• strategies that worked for me in the reading comp and critical reasoning of the verbal section
• a good understanding of what I was missing when I read the problems in math and verbal that previously made me get them wrong
• a number to call when I got stuck
• CD's full of practice exams for me to do on my own
• a sense of how to tell if I was scoring well (what problems in both sections were automatically considered at the high difficulty level)
• a breakdown of proportions of certain types of problems (geometry vs. algebra, data sufficiency vs. problem solving)
  

After the class, the rest was up to me. I had some time between the end of the class and my test to just go through the books and give myself practice exams. At that point, I eliminated a number of my previous challenges, and what remained was to get through whatever in the test was psyching me out.

Part of the problem, which I still think is a problem, is that the practice exams and the books with the problems give you stuff you've seen before. In the math section especially, I felt that during the test I saw a bunch of stuff I had never seen before. <--This is major. The reason why: I was led to believe from the practice I had gotten that what I had seen was what I would see on the test. But they come up with new stuff all the time. And the new stuff is interesting and challenging, just what us MBA hopefuls get excited about, and even though I knew better, I still spent too much time on them and starved more than a few questions at the end that I could have gotten right. The confidence built during the study time is one thing that has to be managed on the test. The decision tree that has to be made: can I do this? yes/no. can I do this quickly enough with accuracy? yes/no. can I afford to invest in doing this? yes/no.

The second time around, I still ended up investing in problems that I probably shouldn't have. This is after my practice tests had told me that, material familiarity aside, my downfall in math was 1-2 six minute questions. This means 1-2 interesting and challenging problems that I wouldn't let go. I had to pay for those 8 minutes I lost on the rest of the section. When I looked up and there was less than a minute a problem left and quite a few more than 7 problems to go (that was my well beyond my pacing guideline), I got a cold feeling at the pit of my stomach--a sort of deja vu. Then, telling myself to stay calm and get through this thing, I got through it. I said that I would have to do better on the verbal because it would need to work to carry my score. When I obsessed during a reading comp passage about the math section, I used a technique I learned in the Veritas workbook: look away from the screen for 5-10 seconds and refocus, then begin again.

Somewhere in there I also talked with an MLTer that passed the test on his 4th try. He has some unique learning challenges, and told me about some of the strategies his tutor helped him employ, like writing AD BCE in a little pyramid for data sufficiency problems, and keeping a journal of what he got wrong, when, and why.

What was important for me to take from the journey so far was the fact that I needed to learn from a variety of diverse sources. I call myself a difficult learner, partly because I can be a bit demanding of and exasperating to some, more inexperienced, teachers. But this time, it was on me to gather what I needed from a wide variety of sources, which is somewhat like collecting eggs in a basket, to get through. Contrary to what most of us has heard about not putting all of your eggs in one basket, this method means investing in yourself with whatever combination of resources (the big three--time, talent, and treasure--and others, too) works for you and helps you pass the test. To name a few of the lessons I put an asterisk by as keys to my relative success that I think are unique to the source in my experience:

• Manhattan GMAT materials taught me a foolproof charting strategy for rate and work problems
• Saxon books showed me how much I had forgotten, helped me remember why I loved math a long time ago, and gave me some neat divisibility tricks I hadn't seen anywhere else
• Reaching out to get help from other people is something only I can do and knowing what definitely may or may not work for me is something only I know (I use definitely because there is a huge gray area in there where I needed to try various methods to get the right one. In this respect, I trust my gut that tells me that I know how I don't learn best. I don't compromise on that.)
• GMAT, english and math experts come in many forms and helped me identify and troubleshoot my weaknesses, and some of that advice was free
• Veritas methods on the verbal section were right for me; Manhattan GMAT reading comprehension strategies are not right for me
• If they have the skill set, people who love you can teach you, but your ego must be left in the car (at the door is still too close)
• Going on retreat in the final phases of test study worked for me. I stayed in the room over my sister's garage for 4 days before test week and just did and debriefed on practice tests. Getting away from my life and my SNAIL mail, and my email and my voicemail was very necessary.
• Doing yoga stretches and dancing in my living room to my favorite smooth jams CD (which includes D'Angelo and Lauryn Hill Nothing Even Matters) a few hours before the test helped me transition from crunch study thinking to pre-test, "Dead Woman Walking," preparation mode
• Going early to the test center to walk by the bay and hang out with the ducks helped me calm my nerves (Oyster Point Center in South San Francisco, evening test can't be beat)
• Taking the talismans that bring me comfort with me to the testing center helped me, too. my testing talismans are my tutor-husband and my yellow livestrong band. Somehow being able to chat as I was filling out the forms helped me keep my mind off of the test. And when tutor-hubby left, I brought in my "pocket people" to help me during the test. Pocket people are the mini versions of positive people whose voices coach me through the test. I mentally pull them from my pocket and place them beside the computer screen. These are the people who gave good advice or invested in me, and, to name a few, include our cohort coach, my tutor, my Veritas teacher Cliff, and the small group of folks from my class who were mostly engineers struggling with the verbal and acing the math while I was doing just the opposite. Usually they just hung out with each other to watch the action on the screen, but sometimes they helped me let a problem go and move on, too.
• Study discipline is hard when you haven't had it for a while. I needed to understand that it wouldn't happen overnight for me.
• There was nothing wrong with going into the test looking like I did in finals week undergrad--pajama pants, several layers (since Bay Area weather changes in a moment), long sleeved shirt (can't let elbows get uncomfortable on table), the most comfortable shoes I own. I saw this one guy have to relinquish his coat and take the test cold, literally.
• No surprises is a good thing for me when it comes to standardized CAT exams. This means not being surprised by whatever gets thrown at me. The last time I took the test, I was still surprised by the newness of some of the questions I saw. I thought it wasn't fair that I couldn't show my math tutor that I wasn't, in fact, an idiot, that there was a lot of new stuff. Come to expect that you will see plenty of what you haven't see before, especially in the math, and especially if you're doing halfway OK. Experimental problems are just that, so giving them a shot and moving on if you can't get them is fine.
  

This seems like a long list, but it has been a trip--a harrowing one. I'm sure I'm making a lot more of this test than was originally intended, and taking far too many life lessons from the experience, but that's my story. This is major-->And it's the only one I've got.

TMG