My GMAT Journey: Breaking The Losing Streak

Last year, at this time, I was struggling in life. I wrote a poem Dear Mother — I Have Failed.

I was dejected, and more importantly, I was not clear what I want to do with life.

After much struggle, though still not clear, I accepted my state. I accepted that if you don't have life changing multi-billion idea, it's okay to take time out.

I accepted that taking two years out of my fast paced life and reflecting on my core skills — leadership, teamwork and communication will be worth it.

I accepted that for the last time in life, I will go back to college. I will pursue MBA.

With acceptance came realization. Talking to alumni and discussing the possibilities, I realized what I want to pursue — FinTech. I once even tried a startup in FinTech and failed.

But now I am at least clear that's the tentative path. As management consultant with extensive experience in financial services and growth strategist at tech startup, it makes so much sense now. Surprisingly, it was so opaque just a year back.

Facing the hurdle

After this acceptance and realization, came the biggest struggle — sitting for a tough exam — GMAT, especially when you have not given exam in past four years.

My GMAT story has been a hell lot of struggle. I work in a startup, where I spend 12–13 hours a day. This leaves little time for study. However, sacrificing a bit of sleep, I used to regularly study for 4–5 hours a day.

GMAT has been toughest exam of my life. Depsite clearning IIT exam in India, which has acceptance rate of 0.01%, GMAT was more tough for me.

First, I never scored good in English — 72 in 10th and 62 in 12th. Indians will know that it's poor score.

Second, I have extreme anxiety issue, and during the exam, I couldn't even read first five questions.

Finally a success

Along the way, we never know where our efforts will be aided by superpower. When the task is big and difficult, but if we still take daily small steps with humility and faith, magic happens. #KeepFighting

Despite all the struggle, I pushed everyday. Even when I was down with fever a day before exam, I had belief. Even when on the route to exam centre my car broke down, I had belief.

After 6 months of preparation, a month of Headspace premium, three GMAT attempts, and a fight with fever just two days of the exam, I have finally conquered it. I scored 750 (Q50, V42) — 98 percentile.

It was a great change from series of losses last year. Just a small win has made so much of a difference.

The next month is going to be more crucial, as I will be applying to schools. I will also write about my GMAT experience in details. This is just me getting back to blogging.

My mantra for next month is — work hard, stay positive, and follow the process. I will detail the weird choice of "follow the process" in next blog.

I want to keep writing and sharing my experience. I might not give time to find best of words, but I want to inspire someone who is struggling in life that you can climb back. Stay in the fight!