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13 Aug 2020, 05:09
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I had thought about the GMAT over the last few years but started seriously considering taking the GMAT only in July 2019 and committed to it fully in February 2020. I was looking at completing the GMAT before the application deadlines of 2020.
Initially, I was overwhelmed with the information overload of GMAT resources on the internet. There were so many options and I was not sure which one to go with. I looked around on the internet but was not entirely convinced. In December 2019 and January 2020, I just solved questions from the GMAT Club in an ad hoc manner and looked at Manhattan Quant books for Quant concepts. However, I knew I needed a more comprehensive and streamlined solution to be able to work consistently to get a good score.
I had attended an eGMAT webinar with Payal through GMAT Club. After this, I received an email from eGMAT about the possibility of speaking to a mentor regarding my GMAT journey. I booked a session with Karan. He first asked me to take a mock test on eGMAT to understand my baseline score. After the test, he reviewed my performance through the brilliant analytics of eGMAT and explained to me which areas required improvement. I had scored 620 (Q38; V36). Karan was happy to see my Verbal score but we knew we had to work on Quant. While I had done well in Math in High School, I had not studied Math for a long time as I had pursued my undergraduate degree in law. I was not sure if I would be able to improve in a few months but Karan was confident in my abilities and agreed to guide me.
We started with Quant as that required more improvement in my case. Karan sent me weekly schedules with milestones that guided me thoroughly and motivated me to push myself to meet my targets. My week was quite busy on the work front and I usually managed to study for 3 hours on good weekdays and lesser on many others. However, every weekend I diligently spent 6-9 hours/ day to catch up on GMAT studying.
In my initial days, I really struggled with Data Sufficiency. However, eGMAT’s way of first teaching you the theory and then allowing you to practise on application files and then ultimately take practice quizzes is brilliant. It really helped me wire my mind to the GMAT style of questions and ensured that at the end of every section, I had refined my understanding of the subject and the kind of questions GMAT could ask. At the end of every large topic such as Number Properties or Algebra, Karan would ask me to take customised quizzes of Medium and Hard Level Questions. This was a great way to put all the learning from the week into practice and refine areas of weakness. Every 7-10 days Karan would review my eGMAT account and provide me with his reviews about my performance. For instance, if I was scoring lower points on a particular subject in the Scholaranium quizzes, he would try and understand if this was owing to time or concept gaps and guide me to take course correction accordingly.
After completing the Quant Prep, I took an eGMAT mock test but scored 640. Karan reviewed my account and explained that while it seemed that my conceptual knowledge had improved, I needed to focus on better time management skills for Quant. We thoroughly went over a new plan of action which involved revision of concepts and taking a few GMAT Club Quant CATs which were a part of my eGMAT package. These 31 question Quant practice runs were very useful to understand how to pace myself in those 62 minutes. It also helped me identify the areas which were my weakness and consumed more time. After this I gave a GMAT Prep Test and scored 730. This was very encouraging as I had not started my Verbal prep yet.
After this, Karan provided me with a Verbal plan for the next few weeks but I was keen to take the GMAT soon so I focused primarily on SC and CR. As a lawyer, I am used to read long passages and distill the information quickly so RC was not a big area of concern. However, soon after there was a lockdown and I was unable to book a test date. I was not keen on GMAT online as I did not feel comfortable using the online whiteboard for Quant.
This led to a break in my preparation for a month. Even though I continued to practise questions, I was not as consistent as before. Once the lockdown was relaxed, I booked the GMAT at the Test Centre.
Obstacles
Time – My work was very hectic and often involved a lot of travel. This was one of the main reasons why I could never fully commit to the GMAT over the last few years. This year, COVID-19 meant that I could not travel anywhere for a few months and this allowed me to focus fully on GMAT.
Family – I live with my parents and it was difficult to manage their expectations as they were not too happy to see me either working or studying a lot of the time.
Lockdown – I felt that when I was ready to write the GMAT I could not owing to lockdown. This led to an interruption in my preparation.
First Attempt
Due to COVID-19, there were only very limited spots available for GMAT at the test centre in Singapore. I booked my first test for 10 AM as that was the only time available. This was not ideal as I usually sleep late and would prefer another time for the exam.
In my first attempt, I got 690 (Q48; V 36). I had hoped for a score of 700+ so this was slightly disappointing. When I spoke to Karan, they were happy with my results and encouraged me to take another test in a few days.
Second Attempt
After my first GMAT experience, Ashutosh advised me to order an ESR report. Once that became available, we set up a Zoom call to discuss my performance. His detailed review of the ESR was immensely useful to understand the kind of course correction that I needed to do better in my next test. After my first attempt, I was keen to take the GMAT Online in a few days but Ashutosh advised against it. He felt I needed to work on CR to see an improvement in my score.
In the weeks leading up the re-take, Ashutosh advised me to practise tests from eGMAT scholaranium in sprints of about 40-60 minutes to get used to test taking strategies and time management for Quant and Verbal both.
In addition to this, I also obtained a copy of Power Score CR to work on CR strategies. This book was a game changer for me when it came to CR and I wished I had used it before. Besides this, I focused on Geometry from eGMAT and the GMAT Club resources as my geometry performance in my first attempt was not ideal.
Test day experience
While I felt that I had worked hard on concepts, I knew that time management and strategy would be key to get my desired score. I was definitely nervous on the day of the exam.
I consistently scored above 700 on all my GMAT Prep Mock Tests. However, I ended up taking one mock test just before the day of the exam and there I scored 680. Ashutosh had advised me to not take a mock test on the day before the exam as it can lead to exhaustion and cause stress if the results were lower than the expectation. In retrospect, I should have paid more heed to his advice as he spoke from experience of mentoring many students and was sharing best practice with me.
I had planned to sleep for 10 hours but due to some personal issues I could only get 6 hours of sleep. This was a cause for concern because I have read how sleep can be a game changer as GMAT is not just a test of ability but more of a test of strategy and a well-rested mind would perform better than one which was not. Ashutosh was available that entire morning to answer any questions.
I scored 720 (Q49 and V38). My improvement is Quant was amazing and I am grateful to eGMAT, Karan and Ashutosh for the faith they had in me and the relentless guidance and advice that they provided.
Conclusion
eGMAT mentorship is excellent. I think I was very lucky to have chanced upon it. I think it is ideal for busy working persons who need a structured approach to cracking the GMAT. Not only was the content on the platform great, but the format of questions was akin to the GMAT. The guidance from experts such as Ashutosh and Karan who have mentored hundreds of students is unmatchable particularly for someone who has time constraints. They kept me on my toes in the first 2-3 months particularly and that push really helped me get over my mind block on Quant.
I am very grateful to Karan & Ashutosh who guided me every step of the way. As a mentor, they are par excellence and I cannot recommend them highly enough. While Karan guided and motivated me in the early phase of my prep to overcome my fear around Quant scores, in the month leading up to my exam, I was working with Ashutosh to improve my test taking strategies and time management skills. They were both available at all times to even answer some of silly questions and give me a pep talk when I was doubting myself. I am just glad I found them and could complete my GMAT journey finally.
Initially, I was overwhelmed with the information overload of GMAT resources on the internet. There were so many options and I was not sure which one to go with. I looked around on the internet but was not entirely convinced. In December 2019 and January 2020, I just solved questions from the GMAT Club in an ad hoc manner and looked at Manhattan Quant books for Quant concepts. However, I knew I needed a more comprehensive and streamlined solution to be able to work consistently to get a good score.
I had attended an eGMAT webinar with Payal through GMAT Club. After this, I received an email from eGMAT about the possibility of speaking to a mentor regarding my GMAT journey. I booked a session with Karan. He first asked me to take a mock test on eGMAT to understand my baseline score. After the test, he reviewed my performance through the brilliant analytics of eGMAT and explained to me which areas required improvement. I had scored 620 (Q38; V36). Karan was happy to see my Verbal score but we knew we had to work on Quant. While I had done well in Math in High School, I had not studied Math for a long time as I had pursued my undergraduate degree in law. I was not sure if I would be able to improve in a few months but Karan was confident in my abilities and agreed to guide me.
We started with Quant as that required more improvement in my case. Karan sent me weekly schedules with milestones that guided me thoroughly and motivated me to push myself to meet my targets. My week was quite busy on the work front and I usually managed to study for 3 hours on good weekdays and lesser on many others. However, every weekend I diligently spent 6-9 hours/ day to catch up on GMAT studying.
In my initial days, I really struggled with Data Sufficiency. However, eGMAT’s way of first teaching you the theory and then allowing you to practise on application files and then ultimately take practice quizzes is brilliant. It really helped me wire my mind to the GMAT style of questions and ensured that at the end of every section, I had refined my understanding of the subject and the kind of questions GMAT could ask. At the end of every large topic such as Number Properties or Algebra, Karan would ask me to take customised quizzes of Medium and Hard Level Questions. This was a great way to put all the learning from the week into practice and refine areas of weakness. Every 7-10 days Karan would review my eGMAT account and provide me with his reviews about my performance. For instance, if I was scoring lower points on a particular subject in the Scholaranium quizzes, he would try and understand if this was owing to time or concept gaps and guide me to take course correction accordingly.
After completing the Quant Prep, I took an eGMAT mock test but scored 640. Karan reviewed my account and explained that while it seemed that my conceptual knowledge had improved, I needed to focus on better time management skills for Quant. We thoroughly went over a new plan of action which involved revision of concepts and taking a few GMAT Club Quant CATs which were a part of my eGMAT package. These 31 question Quant practice runs were very useful to understand how to pace myself in those 62 minutes. It also helped me identify the areas which were my weakness and consumed more time. After this I gave a GMAT Prep Test and scored 730. This was very encouraging as I had not started my Verbal prep yet.
After this, Karan provided me with a Verbal plan for the next few weeks but I was keen to take the GMAT soon so I focused primarily on SC and CR. As a lawyer, I am used to read long passages and distill the information quickly so RC was not a big area of concern. However, soon after there was a lockdown and I was unable to book a test date. I was not keen on GMAT online as I did not feel comfortable using the online whiteboard for Quant.
This led to a break in my preparation for a month. Even though I continued to practise questions, I was not as consistent as before. Once the lockdown was relaxed, I booked the GMAT at the Test Centre.
Obstacles
Time – My work was very hectic and often involved a lot of travel. This was one of the main reasons why I could never fully commit to the GMAT over the last few years. This year, COVID-19 meant that I could not travel anywhere for a few months and this allowed me to focus fully on GMAT.
Family – I live with my parents and it was difficult to manage their expectations as they were not too happy to see me either working or studying a lot of the time.
Lockdown – I felt that when I was ready to write the GMAT I could not owing to lockdown. This led to an interruption in my preparation.
First Attempt
Due to COVID-19, there were only very limited spots available for GMAT at the test centre in Singapore. I booked my first test for 10 AM as that was the only time available. This was not ideal as I usually sleep late and would prefer another time for the exam.
In my first attempt, I got 690 (Q48; V 36). I had hoped for a score of 700+ so this was slightly disappointing. When I spoke to Karan, they were happy with my results and encouraged me to take another test in a few days.
Second Attempt
After my first GMAT experience, Ashutosh advised me to order an ESR report. Once that became available, we set up a Zoom call to discuss my performance. His detailed review of the ESR was immensely useful to understand the kind of course correction that I needed to do better in my next test. After my first attempt, I was keen to take the GMAT Online in a few days but Ashutosh advised against it. He felt I needed to work on CR to see an improvement in my score.
In the weeks leading up the re-take, Ashutosh advised me to practise tests from eGMAT scholaranium in sprints of about 40-60 minutes to get used to test taking strategies and time management for Quant and Verbal both.
In addition to this, I also obtained a copy of Power Score CR to work on CR strategies. This book was a game changer for me when it came to CR and I wished I had used it before. Besides this, I focused on Geometry from eGMAT and the GMAT Club resources as my geometry performance in my first attempt was not ideal.
Test day experience
While I felt that I had worked hard on concepts, I knew that time management and strategy would be key to get my desired score. I was definitely nervous on the day of the exam.
I consistently scored above 700 on all my GMAT Prep Mock Tests. However, I ended up taking one mock test just before the day of the exam and there I scored 680. Ashutosh had advised me to not take a mock test on the day before the exam as it can lead to exhaustion and cause stress if the results were lower than the expectation. In retrospect, I should have paid more heed to his advice as he spoke from experience of mentoring many students and was sharing best practice with me.
I had planned to sleep for 10 hours but due to some personal issues I could only get 6 hours of sleep. This was a cause for concern because I have read how sleep can be a game changer as GMAT is not just a test of ability but more of a test of strategy and a well-rested mind would perform better than one which was not. Ashutosh was available that entire morning to answer any questions.
I scored 720 (Q49 and V38). My improvement is Quant was amazing and I am grateful to eGMAT, Karan and Ashutosh for the faith they had in me and the relentless guidance and advice that they provided.
Conclusion
eGMAT mentorship is excellent. I think I was very lucky to have chanced upon it. I think it is ideal for busy working persons who need a structured approach to cracking the GMAT. Not only was the content on the platform great, but the format of questions was akin to the GMAT. The guidance from experts such as Ashutosh and Karan who have mentored hundreds of students is unmatchable particularly for someone who has time constraints. They kept me on my toes in the first 2-3 months particularly and that push really helped me get over my mind block on Quant.
I am very grateful to Karan & Ashutosh who guided me every step of the way. As a mentor, they are par excellence and I cannot recommend them highly enough. While Karan guided and motivated me in the early phase of my prep to overcome my fear around Quant scores, in the month leading up to my exam, I was working with Ashutosh to improve my test taking strategies and time management skills. They were both available at all times to even answer some of silly questions and give me a pep talk when I was doubting myself. I am just glad I found them and could complete my GMAT journey finally.
13 Aug 2020, 05:38
Kudos
Bookmarks
rip2020 - Congratulations on scoring a 720 on the GMAT, and thank you for sharing a detailed debrief. You have utilized the difficult times of COVID-19 to your advantage. I wish you well with the applications.
13 Aug 2020, 20:03
Kudos
Bookmarks
Thank you, Disciplined Prep! Indeed, it worked in my favour in terms of focus. Very glad to have done it!
