Everything Happens for a Reason

I am like any typical Indian Male Engineer who would give CAT (Indian Management Entrance Exam) to get into a top Indian bschool during college years. Okay, the result was 96 percentile. But unfortunately, I didn’t get the school of my choice and one of my friends got into my dream school with just 88 percentile. Reason: I am from General Quota and he was not. 

I thought of preparing for it again the next year but suddenly I got into a very good company (It’s below 10 in fortune 500). I was excited, “Ohh man, I got into a great US company. I will go to the US soon. ” My plans to give CAT lost somewhere and I started working very hard in the company. Then my manager sent my name for H1B Visa. Result: My H1B Visa got rejected in April 2015. I was so excited to go to the USA but my Visa rejection screwed up everything. I had only one thing in mind,” Everything happens for a reason”. (I used to ask myself what is Good in this? But my brain always said the same thing, “Dude, calm down. Something good will happen”.

Okay, what’s next? Go for Higher Studies. Step: Let’s start working on GMAT. I gave my first ETS mock and ended up with 540 (Q37 and V20). Yes, that was my performance when I didn’t know anything about GMAT.

I joined Jamboree. They took lots of money but at the end result was zero. Quant was still good(maybe because I have been a topper in Maths since childhood, Family Genes you know!! ) but verbal was nowhere what is tested on GMAT. Some of the rules they gave were even wrong. I am sorry guys, but this is what I felt. At the same time, my friend asked me to join egmat verbal. Although I won’t say they are bad, they might be good for people out there. Actually, they are good if you want to get into the study mode. It may be good to help you reach above V30.

But again that didn’t work for me. By that time, I knew that it is me who has to put in the effort. No one in this world can help unless I multiply my efforts by 10 times and make my own strategies. I started solving GMATClub Quant questions daily. Do you know what once I solved 150+ questions on a single day?  I know this is strange but this really helped me to remain at 50 even after so many months. I did almost all the questions of Bunuel and any question that I got in my email.

Yes, Quant needs lots of practice. I gave GMAT and scored Q50 and V21. Okay, Quant reached my goal but verbal was far behind.

Then again my brain said “Come on! everything happens for a good reason.”. I again started working on GMAT a couple of months later. I joined Magoosh. I looked at their videos and tried to find new strategies. They were good. No doubt. But poor me, I ended up with Q50 and V32. Okay, my quant was the same but verbal saw some improvement. But it was not enough for me. I am a poor Indian IT Male :'(

Later, I found that I was spending way too much time for Quant but only 1/4 of that time to verbal every time. Please don’t do this mistake. If you are weak in something, work on it more. Now, round 2 applications were on my head and I tried to apply to a couple of colleges. As usual, my aim was to get into top schools, else don’t go.

I screwed up everything there for multiple reasons: 1. BAD demographic area 2. Round 2. 3. Low GMAT 4. 1 year less experienced than the average.

Fine, I learned a lot many things from these experiences and continued my process of getting a higher score. By this time, I got so much experience that I don’t really need an online course to get knowledge. All I did was stopped studying for Quant at all. I knew that even if I don’t do Quant(Please don’t do this if you are not a Quant-Like person), I can get whatever score I want. I focused completely on verbal. I followed everything I have written down(end of the post) and booked my exam. I ended up with Q50 V35. I was like what the hell is going on. I was going too slow, very calm, and completely focused but still the same range?? I requested my ESR. I found a very horrible thing:

First 3 sections my percentage of correct was more than 85 but the last section was just 25. This was not because I was rushing. It was because when I was in question 30, I wanted to go to the washroom because I had taken lots of water before that. I was both crying and laughing at myself. 😀 

Now, I practised a bit more and then booked my exam on 5th Sept. I found the nearest date was 8th Sept at 5 p.m. I booked it and this time while avoiding all the mistakes I did in the past, I gave my best shot. When I saw the V40, I was on the stars. Quant didn’t decrease nor improve. Anyways, I know I always end up doing 3-4 super silly mistakes but I am happy now. I talked to bb first. He congratulated me. Then I tried reaching out to souvik101990 (he was watching a movie but later congratulated me.  ) and then mihir0710 (He also congratulated me). 

Now, the question is what good thing happened? My brain said ” Look, you got V40 dude. This is way above you would have ever thought. You did it and now focus on your apps. Let’s target the school you always wanted.”  My fingers crossed.