(This is the third in a series of blog posts in which Julie DeLoyd, a Veritas Prep GMAT alumna-turned-instructor, will tell the story of her experience through the MBA admissions process. Julie will begin her MBA program at Chicago Booth this fall. You can also read Part 1 and Part 2 to learn Julie's whole story.)
I had invested 42 hours of summer evenings learning about the ins and outs of the GMAT, and the time finally came for me to do the work on my own. I booked my test date for 5 weeks after my class ended, giving me enough time to go on tour one last time before I really hunkered down.
My band toured the Midwest for about 10 days, driving on vegetable oil fuel and breaking a lot of strings along the way. While another girl was driving, I'd pull out my Veritas Prep books and work on a few problems each day. I wasn't absorbing too much, honestly, but it was good to keep my GMAT brain active. When I dropped off the girls at the airport, it was time to really get down to business. I set up a study schedule for myself for the last 3 weeks.
21 days to go, with 4 practice tests completed, my schedule looked something like this:
Monday Morning: Sentence Correction
Monday Afternoon: Practice Test
Tuesday Morning: Go over results of Practice Test
Tuesday Afternoon: Geometry
Wednesday Morning: Reading Comp
Wednesday Afternoon: Practice test
Thursday Morning: Go over results of Practice Test
Thursday Afternoon: Critical Reasoning
Friday Morning: Combinatorics and Probability
Friday Afternoon: Problem Solving
Saturday Morning: Practice Test
Saturday Afternoon: Go over results
Sunday: Eat good food, Ride my bike, Spend time with dogs and lovey
---
Yes, it was a little intense, but it wasn’t all just answering problems. My initial study time was spent creating new flashcards and reviewing ones I had already made. (I did this all over a brilliant, frothy, cappuccino most days.) Any time I spent on public transit was another excuse to look over them—the stack got rather large.
As for homework problems, my Veritas instructor had advised our class to answer all questions in the book on the lower third of the page. This way we could reuse the questions we had already completed in class. This turned out to be great advice. For many of the questions, I was able to do them again and re-learn the strategies that had been introduced in the class. However, there were a few types of questions for which this strategy didn’t work. For some reason I had a very spongy brain when it came to Critical Reasoning. If I’d done the problem before, I already knew the answer. Therefore, I ran out of problems quickly and had to buy an Official GMAT Guide for questions to supplement my studies.
During the last week of studying, I employed another study technique recommended by my instructor – 10 Data Sufficiency per day. For the last seven days, I chose 10 D.S. problems to complete so I’d have my strategies firmly absorbed by test day. Even on my pre-test Rest Day, I still took 15 minutes to complete a little set of problems. I truly came to love Data Sufficiency. It was like my own personal version of Sudoku.
As you can see from my mock-schedule above, I was doing a practice test every 2-3 days. My last week of studying, I got out of control. I probably did 3 or 4 on back-to-back days – which I probably wouldn’t recommend, but it worked for me. All the studying had certainly built up my stamina and the thought of sitting down for a practice test ended up seeming like a perfectly lovely way to spend an afternoon. (I attribute much of this happy-feeling to the positive visualizations I mentioned in my last blog.) My practice test scores ranged from 650-750, but mostly hovered around 720—which was my goal score. Some students worry about their fluctuation in test scores, but believe me, you never can tell what’s going to happen the day of the real test.
The day before my test I tried to act relaxed, knowing that I had done everything I could. So, maybe my understanding of combinatorics could have been a little better… but there was nothing more I could do at this point. I tried to get what sleep I could.
I woke up too early. My test wasn't until noon, but I was staring down the clock: "7:30am." It couldn’t be helped. I got up and started prepping the day’s snacks. I made some peanut butter toast and put together my various tupperwares of nuts and fruit, with a Clif Bar thrown in for a jolt of protein halfway through my test. I got to the test site too early. I hadn’t checked out the site ahead of time, and I way over estimated my commute time. I found a local bakery and bought some OJ and fresh made pecan-berry bread to bring home. Still early, I went on over to the test center. The proctor was especially friendly and though my heart was beating a full 20 beats faster per minute than normal, I enjoyed the company. I put my cell phone and snacks in a locker and had her scan in my fingerprints and take my picture.
Still with 20 minutes before my scheduled test time, the proctor asked if I was ready to go in. Ready? I still have 20 minutes! But, well, I guess I’m as ready now as I'll be in 20 minutes… and the more time I spend looking at the clock, the more nervous I’ll be… So I followed her into the room. From spending weeks working on my skills and my positive affirmations, I approached the computer with a gaggle of little cheerleading angels on my shoulder.
Sitting down with my wet erase board and marker, I was surprised to find myself looking at a computer asking me for my demographical information. I’d forgotten about this part. Filling out my information and selecting the schools to which my scores would automatically be sent took a lot more time than I anticipated. There was something slightly frightening about the audacity of assuming I'll score well enough to even be considered at some place like Chicago or Harvard. What if I bombed? I called on my little angels again to scare off these nay-saying demons.
The test itself was the easy part. It was all really familiar. When your instructor tells you, "there are only a limited number of types of questions on the test, it's just a matter of recognizing them and using the new information presented"—it's no lie. In fact, I started feeling like maybe it was TOO easy. Maybe I was actually getting more wrong than I thought and my score was decreasing by the second… but I couldn't dwell on that. My time was ticking down and I certainly didn't have any time to spare. For my last 3 math questions I had just enough time for a quick read and educated guess. I maintained my composure and I'm pretty sure I got at least 2 of them correct.
I took every break I could between sections, but still came back to the test with a few minutes to spare. Before the verbal section, I ate my Clif Bar and drank a little bit of water before heading back in. When the verbal section began, I really had to refocus. Though I was pretty good at Verbal, it always took the most energy. ESPECIALLY reading comprehension. Boy howdy, did I dislike reading comp. I knew that I would only get 3-4 passages though, so I kept track in the back of my head as I did them. 1, check… 2, check… 3, check! 3 down with only 7 questions to go, I began to relax. 4 questions to go, HOME STRETCH! 3 questions to go—wait. What? ANOTHER reading comp passage? NOooooo… On top of that, I only had 5 minutes left and this was a long passage. With a vengeance, so angry that I had to finish my GMAT experience in this way, I focused my anger towards the passage. I jabbed my way through it, picking out the important information (using the Veritas method) and answering the last 3 questions without much of a problem. It was surprising really, how alive my brain felt through these last few minutes of the test. I knew I had prepared well.
So just as I completed my test, and I'm feeling pretty proud of myself, a funny screen comes up asking if I want to throw out my score. A little piece of me started thinking, 'What if it felt easy because you really did bomb? Do you really want Harvard to see your scores if you aren’t anywhere near that range?" I shook it off, and denied the urge to erase the last four hours of my life. Then it happened. The results I'd been waiting for and working towards all those weeks...
I must have misread it. I looked around, thinking I was maybe a part of the cruelest "Punk'd" episode ever. I looked at the number again. I had read it correctly. 770.
770?
I hadn't ever scored this high on a practice test, and would have been thrilled with a 700… so I was a bit beside myself. On my way down to the bar, (fortunately located in the same building as the test center) I called my wife and I made her guess my score. It didn’t take her as long to believe it as it did for me. Her next response was, "You know what this means right? Not only can you get into a top school, you’re a good scholarship candidate." This was beyond my wildest expectations. (And, since my sister scored in the 99th percentile on the LSAT, I knew it would be fun to have news of my own to brag about at family get-togethers.)
In the following months, I started the application process and began teaching for Veritas Prep. I had used up such a huge part of my brain with "useless" GMAT knowledge, that I figured it was only appropriate to return the favor and share some of it with the next generation of Veritas students. As I started spending less time on the road touring and playing music, I really enjoyed this new outlet that felt like a different kind of performance. My classes continue to be a source of a lot of joy for me, and every time I get someone excited about Data Sufficiency, it's a particularly good day.
NEXT UP: choosing schools and the beginning of the admissions process
(a.k.a. "Soul-searching, Strategizing, and Writing, Writing, Writing.")
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Studying for the GMAT does not have to be a chore -- it can certainly be made enjoyable through fun challenge problems! That's why we try to keep things lighthearted (yet effective) when it comes to your GMAT preparation. 
