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MJ1710
Joined: 24 Feb 2025
Last visit: 20 Apr 2026
Posts: 110
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 6
Location: India
Schools: Ross '26 (I) Darden '26 (D) Owen '26 (A$$$) Duke '26 (D) McCombs '26 (D) Jones '26 (WL) Rotman '26 (II)
GMAT Focus 1: 685 Q87 V83 DI82 
GPA: 7.55
Products:
Schools: Ross '26 (I) Darden '26 (D) Owen '26 (A$$$) Duke '26 (D) McCombs '26 (D) Jones '26 (WL) Rotman '26 (II)
GMAT Focus 1: 685 Q87 V83 DI82
Posts: 110
Kudos:
2
26 Sep 2025, 14:11
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Hello There,
I gave my second attempt of the GMAT FE a week ago and wanted to share my journey.
I decided to start the prep for my GMAT this February and GMATCLUB was the first stepping stone. I started attemting questions from the question bank without any preparation to check my initial level. Did it for a couple of days and straight on went to give the free official mock. At that time I was not aware about the limitation of official mocks available else I might have not done that. Anyway I did and scored 585. With not being able to complete any of the sections before time running out. Upon my research I had set a Target score of 695. Which was more than 100 points away from my initial level. So I decided to purchase one of the study plans.
About TTP
I read reviews on GMATCLUB as well as did some research on Youtube and reddit and decided to check out the free trial offered by TTP. I found their plan to be well designed and easy to follow with flexibility. So I went on and purchased the Monthly, Flexible preparation plan. It had ample number of examples and broke down each topic in nice little chapters for better understanding. I loved their AI assist feature which answered my questions in real time and even provided with more similar examples when prompted so. I took 2 months to complete my studies. [color=#222222]When I started the course, I struggled the most with time management on Questions. By solving around 1000 examples and 1500+ Chapter Test questions in Quant alone, I ended up averaging 95%+ accuracy with less than 1:45 min per question. Verbal chapters gave thorough explaination in each chapter with talking about most common answers, most common wrong answers and traps in CR and RC. It helps in understanding why an answer choice is wrong and can be eliminated, which I think is the most useful skill in Verbal section.[/color]
First Attempt
I took the TTP course for 2 months and completed it. My course ended on 1st May and I took 2 weeks to give the official Mocks and the Tests available on the GMATCLUB PRO Focus Tests. In about 6 officil mocks I averaged at 665 and was pretty confident going in that I'd be able to score at least that much in the actual exam. Although it was not the Target score I was aiming for I had to book a Test as I was going on a long family vacation beginning in the 3rd week of May and I had to attempt the exam before that. So I decided to go through with the test with expectations of scoring 655+. But as we all know, Luck does play a factor in these tests and I learned it the Hard way. On my first attempt, I ended up with a terrible score. Which was in no way indicative of my level of prep going in. I was pretty upset. I knew I was not going to be available for next couple of months as I was going on a vacation, My preparation came to a halt.
Back to the grind with TTP
In August, after more than 10 weeks, I resumed my preparation for the second attempt. I again purchased TTP's Flexible preparation plan. Went through bookmarks and Flashcards for a couple of days and again gave a mock and scored 655. This helped me feel better and reassured me that the first attempt was just a blip and with a month's time, I could get close to my Target Score.
From my Official mocks, I had analysed that on an average my score in Quant was 20/21, in Verbal 14/23 and in DI 14/20. By scoring the average score I had in all those mocks in Quant and DI, I would be on track with my target score If I could Improve in Verbal by getting 4 to 5 more questions right. This time my focus was largely on Verbal only. I took about 15-20 days practicing and getting the grove back in Quant and DI first and then went on to focus on Verbal for more than a month. I could improve largely on RC. Out of 12-14 RC Questions, I started to get 10-12 correct on an average. I started eliminating wrong answers easily this time around without having to go back to the passage multiple times which reduced the time per question and increased accuracy. The only thing that bothered me now was CR. Out of 9-11 RC questions, I was scoring 5-6 correct with the time constraint. I went back and revised each CR chapter from TTP again. Watching explaination of each wrong answer and why it was eliminated. I gave about 3 weeks time for CR only.
My course had ended and my Test Day was within 2 weeks. Again it was time for the mocks and reviews. I had 5 Official Mocks left. I used up 4 in the time leading to the exam. But upon review, I had no where to go back and revise things from. This is where TTP helped so much. Upon my request folks at TTP allowed me the access to the course for one extra week. This helped a lot with last minute revision of certain chapters. Of the 4 mocks my average score was 695, with the highest even being 725. Bang on the Target so I was pretty confident around this time.
Second Attempt
Just like my first attemt, I had gone for the set order of Quant (My strongest), DI and Verbal (my weakest). Test day had a great start. I got stuck on 7th Question, which I guessed and went ahead. I ended up with 6 minutes remaining and only one question to review. But I could not crack it. It was a conditional probabilty question. I know Bayes theorem is not tessted in GMAT but the question for sure looked like it. Maybe I overthough and it could have been solved some other way. Anyway with assurance of at least 20/21 in quant, I went right in the DI question. The very first, a DS question made me strugle. Again on the 4th and 5th question, hit a speedbreaker. But solving number of questions and simulating this situation earlier in mocks helped me stay calm through it this time as compared to the first attempt. I ended the section on time with being able to review two of the questions. And at the end of the section, I was not sure If I had performed to the best of my abilities. Used the optional break to meditate to get in the Verbal section with a relaxed mind. It started pretty well. But to my surprise, there were only 3 RCs with total 10 question. All the others were CR Questions. Which was my comparatively weaker of the two. But I kept a straight mind and kept moving forward with confidence. I was left with 1 minute on the final question so could not attempt it properly. Ended up scoring 685 (Q87 V83 DI82) (in terms of %tile Q94 V83 DI93) (in terms of no. of correct answers Q-19/21 V-17/23 DI-14/20).
I am pretty satisfied with my score on the second attempt. Do I think I can improve? Yes. I feel pretty confident about a 20-30 point improvement from 685.But I believe it doesn't make much of a difference on a profile and looking at the application stage and time, I've decided I'll leave the GMAT journey behind and move forward with a 100% focus only to applications now with this score.
Takeaways / Recommendations
I gave my second attempt of the GMAT FE a week ago and wanted to share my journey.
I decided to start the prep for my GMAT this February and GMATCLUB was the first stepping stone. I started attemting questions from the question bank without any preparation to check my initial level. Did it for a couple of days and straight on went to give the free official mock. At that time I was not aware about the limitation of official mocks available else I might have not done that. Anyway I did and scored 585. With not being able to complete any of the sections before time running out. Upon my research I had set a Target score of 695. Which was more than 100 points away from my initial level. So I decided to purchase one of the study plans.
About TTP
I read reviews on GMATCLUB as well as did some research on Youtube and reddit and decided to check out the free trial offered by TTP. I found their plan to be well designed and easy to follow with flexibility. So I went on and purchased the Monthly, Flexible preparation plan. It had ample number of examples and broke down each topic in nice little chapters for better understanding. I loved their AI assist feature which answered my questions in real time and even provided with more similar examples when prompted so. I took 2 months to complete my studies. [color=#222222]When I started the course, I struggled the most with time management on Questions. By solving around 1000 examples and 1500+ Chapter Test questions in Quant alone, I ended up averaging 95%+ accuracy with less than 1:45 min per question. Verbal chapters gave thorough explaination in each chapter with talking about most common answers, most common wrong answers and traps in CR and RC. It helps in understanding why an answer choice is wrong and can be eliminated, which I think is the most useful skill in Verbal section.[/color]
First Attempt
I took the TTP course for 2 months and completed it. My course ended on 1st May and I took 2 weeks to give the official Mocks and the Tests available on the GMATCLUB PRO Focus Tests. In about 6 officil mocks I averaged at 665 and was pretty confident going in that I'd be able to score at least that much in the actual exam. Although it was not the Target score I was aiming for I had to book a Test as I was going on a long family vacation beginning in the 3rd week of May and I had to attempt the exam before that. So I decided to go through with the test with expectations of scoring 655+. But as we all know, Luck does play a factor in these tests and I learned it the Hard way. On my first attempt, I ended up with a terrible score. Which was in no way indicative of my level of prep going in. I was pretty upset. I knew I was not going to be available for next couple of months as I was going on a vacation, My preparation came to a halt.
Back to the grind with TTP
In August, after more than 10 weeks, I resumed my preparation for the second attempt. I again purchased TTP's Flexible preparation plan. Went through bookmarks and Flashcards for a couple of days and again gave a mock and scored 655. This helped me feel better and reassured me that the first attempt was just a blip and with a month's time, I could get close to my Target Score.
From my Official mocks, I had analysed that on an average my score in Quant was 20/21, in Verbal 14/23 and in DI 14/20. By scoring the average score I had in all those mocks in Quant and DI, I would be on track with my target score If I could Improve in Verbal by getting 4 to 5 more questions right. This time my focus was largely on Verbal only. I took about 15-20 days practicing and getting the grove back in Quant and DI first and then went on to focus on Verbal for more than a month. I could improve largely on RC. Out of 12-14 RC Questions, I started to get 10-12 correct on an average. I started eliminating wrong answers easily this time around without having to go back to the passage multiple times which reduced the time per question and increased accuracy. The only thing that bothered me now was CR. Out of 9-11 RC questions, I was scoring 5-6 correct with the time constraint. I went back and revised each CR chapter from TTP again. Watching explaination of each wrong answer and why it was eliminated. I gave about 3 weeks time for CR only.
My course had ended and my Test Day was within 2 weeks. Again it was time for the mocks and reviews. I had 5 Official Mocks left. I used up 4 in the time leading to the exam. But upon review, I had no where to go back and revise things from. This is where TTP helped so much. Upon my request folks at TTP allowed me the access to the course for one extra week. This helped a lot with last minute revision of certain chapters. Of the 4 mocks my average score was 695, with the highest even being 725. Bang on the Target so I was pretty confident around this time.
Second Attempt
Just like my first attemt, I had gone for the set order of Quant (My strongest), DI and Verbal (my weakest). Test day had a great start. I got stuck on 7th Question, which I guessed and went ahead. I ended up with 6 minutes remaining and only one question to review. But I could not crack it. It was a conditional probabilty question. I know Bayes theorem is not tessted in GMAT but the question for sure looked like it. Maybe I overthough and it could have been solved some other way. Anyway with assurance of at least 20/21 in quant, I went right in the DI question. The very first, a DS question made me strugle. Again on the 4th and 5th question, hit a speedbreaker. But solving number of questions and simulating this situation earlier in mocks helped me stay calm through it this time as compared to the first attempt. I ended the section on time with being able to review two of the questions. And at the end of the section, I was not sure If I had performed to the best of my abilities. Used the optional break to meditate to get in the Verbal section with a relaxed mind. It started pretty well. But to my surprise, there were only 3 RCs with total 10 question. All the others were CR Questions. Which was my comparatively weaker of the two. But I kept a straight mind and kept moving forward with confidence. I was left with 1 minute on the final question so could not attempt it properly. Ended up scoring 685 (Q87 V83 DI82) (in terms of %tile Q94 V83 DI93) (in terms of no. of correct answers Q-19/21 V-17/23 DI-14/20).
I am pretty satisfied with my score on the second attempt. Do I think I can improve? Yes. I feel pretty confident about a 20-30 point improvement from 685.But I believe it doesn't make much of a difference on a profile and looking at the application stage and time, I've decided I'll leave the GMAT journey behind and move forward with a 100% focus only to applications now with this score.
Takeaways / Recommendations
- Buy a course. Don't shoot blindly. The return is absolutely worth it. Solving the questions from OG and other free sources will only help to an extent. Do your research and choose what is best for you. GMATCLUB,Youtube, Reddit helps a lot to compare courses. In my case TTP proved to be worth the investment.
- Buy official Mocks. I purchased Mock 3,4,5 and 6. Most of us are for sure attempting the GMAT for more than once. I would recommend buying all of them. As they are absolutely closest in terms of the actual exam.
- GMATCLUB Events. Keep an eye out for events hosted on this platform. They mostly come with free access to Focus Tests upon participation and engagement in the events. I can not stress enough the importance of attempting full test sets to improve your time management.
- Simulate test conditions. Just like the official test, do not pause or take more time in between sets. More mocks you attempt, more number of scenarios you come across in your mocks which you may actually face on test day. So you can be prepared to stay calm on the real day.
- Modify your approach as per your Target. And it is OK to Skip. You know your Target score. Analyse first few mocks and focus on the gaps in each section against your target score. After a certain point, I decided to improve only on my Verbal Score when there was also an opportunity to improve DI score. But decide what can work best for you to reach your target score as per your averages in initial mocks. Unless you are aiming 720+ score, you don't have to master every topic. Choose wisely. For example, even after working hard, you can't improve on Non math related TPA questions, just skip them initially. Better to move forward and attempt those at the last than to spend time initially only to get a correct answer with 50% accuracy.
26 Sep 2025, 19:33
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Congratulations for a great score!!!
MJ1710
