GMAT 720 High Score Story: Never Give Up Until Your Dream is Achieved – How I Succeeded on My Fifth Attempt

November 2019 (bluesky07) GMAT 720 V36 Q51 (7-Week Elite Training Program)

Author: bluesky07 (Jellyfish)
Board: GMAT
Title: [Experience] 5th Attempt 720: Don’t Give Up Until Your Dream is Achieved
Time: Fri Nov 1 18:13:17 2019

Test Scores:

• 1st~4th Attempts: Max 640 (all canceled)
• 5th Attempt: 720 V36 Q51 AWA4.5 IR6 2019/08/16

Educational Background:

National Chengchi University, College of Commerce

Preparation Time:

Jan 2017 – Aug 2019, total 2.5 years

Preparation Materials:

A2GMAT Training Program + SC Special Class + Terminator Course materials, OG, PP, GWD, KaoManFen mock tests, Manhattan Prep mock tests

Foreword

In October of my junior year, an information session inspired me to pursue graduate studies abroad. Throughout my academic journey, I’ve always considered myself quite fortunate, but I never expected the path to studying abroad to be so challenging.

Throughout my two and a half years of GMAT preparation, I’m very glad I chose A2 GMAT. The team’s continuously updated materials and lifetime consulting services allowed me to repeatedly identify my weaknesses and adjust my approach in the right direction.

In 2017, I enrolled in the winter training program with a friend. At the time, due to heavy coursework from my double major, I wasn’t fully prepared for my first attempt (June 2017) and second attempt (August 2017); The following April, I picked up my GMAT materials again and took my third and fourth attempts in July and September, respectively. I remember both times my total scores were exactly the same, which was incredibly frustrating after preparing for so long, and I felt quite down for a while.

However, I’ve always been a persistent and determined person, so this year I decided to give myself another chance. I reviewed the training program materials and enrolled in the Terminator Course, hoping to “end all detours in my GMAT preparation” as advertised by the course.

Below, I’ll share the preparation methods for each section that I found most beneficial, hoping to provide some guidance for test-takers who have taken the exam multiple times.

Preparation for Each Section

1. SC: A2’s five SC handouts are essentially the super-condensed essence of GMAT-SC, covering almost all testable points. If you thoroughly read and understand them, SC should be the easiest section to score well on. However, when solving SC questions, as A2 and Dustin always emphasized in class, you must first understand the sentence meaning before identifying the test points and making a comprehensive judgment, rather than randomly picking out test points and eliminating options without considering their hierarchy or priority.

   Furthermore, I believe that when studying the handouts, you should never just memorize. A2 always thoroughly explained in class why a certain test point is categorized as absolute or relative. Once you understand this, you can grasp the concepts thoroughly and apply them to unfamiliar questions on the exam by finding similar test points mentioned in the handouts.

2. CR: I admit I’m not the smartest person, and my logical reasoning isn’t as sharp or keen as many others, so I encountered many difficulties while preparing for CR. Later, I discovered that the most crucial step in solving CR is to first untangle the question’s logical chain, and then, using A2’s taught method of argument evaluation, understand whether the final answer attacks or supports the cause-and-effect relationship or the conclusion. Before looking at the options, it’s essential to form your own idea—that is, to first think of a possible answer for the question yourself, and then examine the options. This reduces the risk of being led astray by the choices.

   While it seems that logical reasoning can only be strengthened through daily practice, combining it with the horizontal and vertical summaries taught in class allowed me to develop a higher sensitivity to related topics. This helped me quickly anticipate possible answer choices and improve my answering speed.

3. RC: Initially, I was at a loss with RC and usually resorted to a brute-force strategy when encountering passages and questions. Later, I realized that A2’s training program heavily emphasized RC passage structure, and the Terminator Course repeatedly mentioned the need to skim passages. This taught me that for reading comprehension, you only need to understand the most important parts of the passage, not necessarily 100% of it. When answering questions, it’s also crucial to pay attention to keywords like “arbitrary” or “attitude” and avoid over-inferring. Additionally, because GMAT RC passages are long and cover many difficult topics, I believe that building reading comprehension skills and maintaining an active reading habit are still the most important ways to improve RC. Once you can quickly grasp the main points and understand the primary semantic structure of a passage, solving RC questions will no longer feel like an uphill battle.
4. Q: For Taiwanese students, math is usually not as vexing as Verbal, but I personally believe that one should not neglect its importance. As KH emphasized, completing the GWD and PP questions is fundamental, especially in the two to three weeks before the exam, it’s crucial to maintain the habit of practicing math daily to keep your skills sharp. I’m grateful to KH for meticulously organizing the materials. Although I still used math somewhat during university, I had essentially forgotten many important concepts from junior and senior high school. KH’s handouts allowed me to quickly review concepts and solve problems, significantly reducing the time spent on Q preparation.
5. AWA & IR: For AWA, I mostly reviewed the “Seven Deadly Sins” from the handouts about a week before the exam, practiced writing 2-3 essays myself, and then went to the test. I believe that the logical thinking skills acquired during CR preparation are fully applicable to AWA writing, so there’s no great need to spend too much time preparing for it. As for IR, I personally think the most important thing is patience, because the information in the questions is often extensive and complex. If you can patiently read and interpret it, it shouldn’t be too difficult to master.

Key to Breaking Through from Fourth to Fifth Attempt

1. A2 GMAT Terminator Course Initially, I enrolled in this class with the mindset of giving myself one last chance to take the GMAT, and I’m incredibly glad I made that choice. Dustin spent two months helping me re-understand the GMAT exam. At the same time, I also discovered many test points and methods that had actually been emphasized in the regular training program. For me, the training program and the Terminator Course are complementary; their core concepts are essentially the same. The Terminator Course has three key features: emphasis on reading comprehension, Dustin’s close supervision, and fellow study partners. For me, these three were indispensable in my journey from the fourth to the fifth attempt. Through the gradual development of reading comprehension skills, I was finally able to see the clear outline of questions when reviewing them in the later stages, feeling like I had reached another level. As Dustin said in class, this ability will be beneficial for life.

   Furthermore, I have truly never seen a teacher work harder than his students. During these two months of the course, I personally believe Dustin dedicated all his personal time (except for sleep, perhaps) to the Terminator class. Often, when we posed a question or shared our thoughts, we would receive his thoughtful reply within a few hours. Moreover, he guided us in a way that strengthened our thought processes, which was incredibly beneficial to me.

   In the Terminator group, Dustin was actually quite strict. Honestly, every time I asked a question, I felt nervous and worried about being called out. However, through repeated guidance and correction, I gained a lot of motivation to confront my own problems and improve.

   On the other hand, my fellow Terminator study partners were also incredibly important to me. They kept me from feeling lonely during my two months of full-time preparation, and discussing our dreams together motivated me not to slack off. I am truly grateful for their companionship and for moving forward together.

2. Mindset I am a person who sets high standards for myself, and during exams, I often pushed myself to the limit. During my first four preparation periods, watching others achieve high scores and go abroad, my psychological pressure gradually accumulated. However, this kind of anxiety about gains and losses didn’t really help me. Therefore, during my preparation for the fifth attempt, as I followed the Terminator course schedule step by step, my mindset gradually became more grounded in the later stages. I also adopted the idea that “in the end, it will all work out for the best.” Perhaps this mindset, which might seem less proactive (?), isn’t suitable for everyone, but for me, it genuinely helped me let go of a lot of inner unease and anxiety, allowing me to focus more on the questions during the exam without overly worrying about the outcome.

Conclusion and Thanks

As expected, I ended up writing a very long experience sharing post XD. During the two and a half years of preparing for the GMAT, I sometimes doubted myself because I couldn’t achieve my ideal score. I even went through many days of severe lack of self-confidence, where just mentioning GMAT or studying abroad would bring tears to my eyes,

But looking back, every less-than-ideal score actually held significant meaning in my personal life journey. So, even if it took me more time than others to reach 700, I would say it was all worth it.

Finally, I want to thank A2 GMAT for the endless help and resources, my parents and sister for their unwavering support, my study partners R and A from 2017, J and L who studied with me in 2018, my fellow Terminator study partners from 2019, my roommates and closest friends who accompanied me through the incredibly challenging preparation period, and all the seniors who offered me much encouragement and help along the way.

In conclusion, I want to thank my own stubbornness and persistence. It’s been a tumultuous two and a half years, but looking back, there were truly no storms and no clear skies; I did it, and I believe you can too.

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“I kept missing questions I shouldn’t have missed”: How one Terminator student rebuilt mindset after 5 failed attempts to hit 675 Six Attempts, 720 Score: Never Give Up Until You See Your Score Improve GMAT 705 高分心得：四个月一战成功，Q 满分达成 Admitted to Rotterdam School of Management (RSM)! My Journey and Preparation Strategies from Struggling to Finish RC to Scoring 625 on the Actual Test