Abhimahna's Secret No. 1: GMATClub Follow Functionality

Do you know GMATClub has lots of resources that you really don't need any third party to improve your scores? But the thing is its an ocean. So, inorder to know how to get the most out of this ocean, you must know how to use it efficiently.

I am going to write all that I did to use this club to improve my final scores.

Note: This post is for those who are struggling in improving Verbal or Quant for a long time but have been unsuccessful to do so. I was also one of you and hence I can understand your feelings. Those who are just beginning their preparation can also get the most out of this post.

GMATNinja , Here is the 1st part of the answer to your query "Though like many of the others here, I'm still itchy to see what that composite turned out to be." (Taken from your post on my debrief).

Step 1: Start following the experts of the forums.

For Quant: Bunuel and chetan2u
For Verbal: GMATNinja , GMATNinjaTwo , daagh, VeritasPrepKarishma , mikemcgarry and sayantanc2k.

All you need to do is click on the follow button against each of the names I mentioned.


Make sure you are spending extra efforts on your weak areas first. So, I would prefer following the forum/experts of my weak areas first.

Step 2: Start following the respective forums.

For Quant: Open Problem Solving Forum and Data Sufficiency forum and start following them.
For Verbal: Open SC, RC and CR Forum and start following them.

You need to click on the button "Follow this forum" as below


Alright now you have done step 1 and step 2. You will start receiving emails whenever someone adds a new question or makes a post/reply on the exiting questions. What's next?

Step 3: Start solving those questions as well as try to answer others if they have any queries.

This step played a very important part during my preparation. Whenever I used to receive any question on my email, my steps were

a) Open the question on the browser.

b) Check whether I have done that question before (If you have done it before, you will see the stats in the timer).

c) If the question is new, start the timer and solve the question with right strategies.

d) If you are correct, awesome. Now, go back to what was posted for that particular question. If someone is asking something,try to answer that person on the basis of what you think..

The highlighted line really helped me go beyond my own thinking and understand what the other person was thinking and whether there is any flaw in what I was thinking or what the other person is thinking. If you think you found something and you answered the same, check that whether the other person is satisfied. If the other person doesn't come back or just give you kudos or say thanks that means he/she is convinced. It may happen that what you said was wrong. In that case one of other experts or users will surely try to answer the query. Once he/she does that, you will receive a notification for the same question again. I have been into so many big big discussions for a couple of questions in the past. But trust me, every discussion helped me get the better understanding of the concepts. Go back and see what other minds are saying.If your thinking was wrong, put that question in the error log to review later.

e) If you are wrong, put that question in error log and at the same time try to read what other explanations are saying. Learn those explanations and make notes of the missing information. Now, go ahead and answer the other person if you can.

For both d and e, I would say force yourself to think in that direction. Initially you may face alot many difficulties, but trust me this will gradually help you only.

Step 4: Try to solve all the questions that you receive in your email.

Don't pile them up. I would prefer solving them as and when they arrive or maybe 2-3 times in a day.

Step 5: Myth: I will solve all the pending questions tomorrow.

If say you received 100 questions on a particular day, but you could solve only 50 on that day, make sure you don't just delete those questions or keep them for to be done later. Trust me this won't work. You will never get that "later" time. This will only increase the count of unread emails in your inbox. Moreover, our forum has the functionality that if you receive an email but you don't open it using the link or directly on the forum, you won't receive further posts emails for that question in your inbox. We have implemented this functionality to avoid any spamming of your inbox.

Step 6:How to get rid of questions that you haven't completed on a particular day but still make sure you receive notification for that question in future?

Open every question on the browser even if you are not going to attempt it. This will ensure that you have visited that question. This way whenever someone makes a reply on that question in future, you will receive a notification and you can do that question at that time. My point is don't pile up your email with lots of questions. Trust me if you subscribe to above forums, you will receive 100s of questions in your inbox on a daily basis. So, keep your inbox with fresh questions only.

Step 7: Revisit your error log questions twice a week and try to solve them again.

If you are still facing problems, keep the question in RED and try to seek help from experts.

Benefits of this approach:

1. You can see how poor people like me can improve their scores drastically. Read my story here.

2. Making someone understand something will really force your brain to think in the right direction and thus get you a great score.

3. I heard alot about "God help those who help others". I am not sure about God but I think helping others really helped me.

4. If you start contributing, your efforts will be recognized and you may join the big network of awesome people who will always be there for you. Trust me these people are so helpful that they have become a part of my extended family.

STOP BEING A LURKER, START CONTRIBUTING.

Follow this approach for next 15 days and let me know how it goes. Be honest while following it.

Feel free to shoot out questions, if you have any.

ALL THE BEST.