A Well-Organized Course can Save Prep Time (and Other Takeaways)

When I had applied to the ISB YLP, I wasn't expecting even a Round 1 shortlist. It was only in Round 2 that a GMAT score was required. When the shortlist email came, my first thought was panic. I had exactly 2 months and 3 weeks before the August 31st deadline. I started researching about the best way to study for GMAT in 2 months - with a goal of crossing the 700 mark somehow.

First Impressions :
I tried the e-GMAT free trial for a week. What sold me instantly was the pre-assessment quizzes for each individual topic. For example, if I wanted to study Absolute Values, I could give a short pre-assessment quiz of GMAT type questions to check my ability. This saved a lot of time later on as well, where I could just skip/skim through topics whose questions I could solve.

SigmaX Mocks :
I gave my first free mock, where I got a 510 (Q30 V31). That immediately pointed out to me what my weaknesses and strengths were. I had to work on Algebra and Sentence Correction questions. I was doing okay in Geometry, CR, and RC. After I finished analysing this mock, I bought their course, because the clear direction it gave me (in terms of my weaknesses) was invalable.

Learning/Teaching Approach :
The learning approach e-GMAT follows feels very scientific. They first measure your current ability, based on which they recommend modules for you to study, finally follwed by a post-assessment quiz which shows you your improvements. Their focus is on increasing the ability to solve GMAT type questions first, not on general accuracy - which is a great metric because ability automatically improves accuracy in the Medium-Hard questions.

Verbal :
Their verbal is a bit lengthy if you follow every single video. While it did help me visualise the sentences better and break down what the question was asking, I personally could skip many of the basic lectures and complete only the guided question solving files.
For someone with low confidence in verbal, it will help you visualise the problems GMAT throws at you in a more structured manner, and approach it in a step by step way. I would recommend the course with great confidence. Also, note that questions in verbal seemedto me harder than actual GMAT questions/

Quant :
The subject I had to spend a month perfecting. It took a long time but again, the structured approach to teaching it helped me immensely. The best thing is that they take questions that are so similar to what the GMAT expects you to solve, due to which you're not wasting time doing unnecessarily easy/difficult questions in the beginning.

Summary :
After 2 months of prep (3-4 hours a day), I finally got a 690 (V39 Q45). I will be giving a second attempt soon, and will continue with e-GMAT. Go for it if you (a) want to maximise a short prep time by focusing on only some topics in depth, or (b) you have 6 months at hand and can utilise their course completely. In eiter case, you will see improvement - I am sure about that.