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31 Mar 2023, 07:13
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Setting the Stage
I am an Indian GEM (General Engineering Male) candidate from the northern part of India, working in the finance domain for over three years. It was in the last quarter of 2022 when I started thinking about taking the GMAT exam. I knew that a good GMAT score would open doors to some of the top business schools in the world and help me advance my career.
Like most engineers, even I had a knack for mathematics and never found numbers intimidating. I decided to take up the responsibility of preparing for the GMAT exam along with a full-time job that required 12 hours out of me every day. I knew my next few months were gonna be tough, but I was up for the challenge.
Initial Preparation – A Wake-up Call
At first, I started with self-study using the Official Guides like everyone else. However, within 2-3 months, I soon realized that I needed more structured and comprehensive preparation. For example, if I was struggling with a particular topic or concept, then I wanted more in-depth explanations, practice questions, and personalized feedback to overcome my weaknesses. I always believed in the mantra – “Quality always trumps Quantity”.
By solving OG questions, I was taking care of the quantity part. However, I was clueless about where I am in the context of the GMAT score. I knew I had to get an expert’s opinion who can guide me to a good GMAT score.
e-GMAT & its Last Mile Push Program – A Game Changer
After researching various test preparation companies, I chose e-GMAT because of their superior online presence and many recommendations from friends and colleagues. I joined them in the third week of January and was straightaway inducted into the Last Mile Push program, wherein, I was assigned a dedicated mentor, named Akash.
After my initial conversation with him, I really felt confident for the first time in this journey. I got to know that my then ability level was already around the 670-690 range wherein I needed the maximum improvement in Verbal.
The nature of my job is more of financial modeling for my clients. Because of this, I always liked things in a structured manner. I found that Akash’s mentoring style matched my learning style perfectly. He devised a day-wise plan for me until the exam date. He structured everything for me. He gave me weekly milestones with clear instructions – For example, if my target score in CR was to reach 90%ile, then I would have to get an accuracy of 70-80% in medium-level questions and 70-75% in hard-level questions.
I followed his methodical approach throughout, and he was available for me every time. In fact, the entire course is structured in such a logical manner. I never thought GMAT preparation can actually be structured so much.
My Verbal Preparation
1. Master Comprehension – The foundational course under Verbal. I was told it helped in not re-reading the sentences. And it delivered the exact same thing. At first, I used to fret about longer sentences that were fully underlined. By the end of the course, it made me feel so much more confident about the same.
2. Sentence Correction – SC was always a stronger section for me. But, the meaning-based approach was a complete beast altogether. I just mixed my conceptual knowledge with their meaning-based framework and voila! I was able to complete SC sentences within 75-90 seconds. Understanding the meaning was never my focus while solving SC questions. But I can assure you all that if you understand the intended meaning of the original sentence, half of the problem gets solved then and there.
3. Critical Reasoning – Similar to the meaning-based approach in SC, the pre-thinking approach in CR is another powerful technique. Once I read something about pre-thinking in a debrief from another student of e-GMAT – “Pre-thinking in simpler terms is visualizing the question stem, thinking of a situation where the argument doesn’t stand, negating that thought to come up with the assumptions and then selecting the correct option”. I don’t think I can articulate it in a better way.
4. Reading Comprehension – I was given clear instructions in RC. Read the passage in 3-4 minutes and then complete a question every 1 minute. Making summaries of every paragraph saved me a lot of time for me while reading the passages. As soon as I read the question, I knew which paragraph to refer to find the answer. I followed reading exercises every day. 5 minutes of reading, followed by 15 minutes of probing myself on the passage. To make things interesting, I used to read different things every day. One day a business newspaper article, another day some passage on American/European history and culture and someday I used to read National Geographic articles.
My Quant Preparation
As I mentioned earlier, Quant was always a stronger area for me. I knew if I was in the correct mindset, then I finish this section in a breeze. The process skills in Quant helped me solidify my conceptual knowledge. It helped me to focus on the question stem more and to be more cautious about it.
For Quant, I was given a strategy. I divided my 31 questions into 4 blocks of questions (8, 8, 8, and 7 questions) just like in an ESR. And then I was given clear strategies again for each block. Before starting a block of questions, I was aware of my target accuracy and the time that I should be taking to clear it. For example, for the first block of 8 questions (mainly medium-level questions), I had a target of 90% accuracy and planned to complete the section within 12-13 minutes. My main motive was to leave myself enough time for the last two blocks wherein I was going to face the toughest questions (again assuming I met my target accuracies in previous blocks)
Scholaranium
One of the unique features of e-GMAT is its Scholaranium platform, which is a tool designed to help you track your progress and identify areas that require more practice. Scholaranium provides a large number of questions organized by difficulty level and topic, allowing you to focus on the areas that you need to improve.
Mocks
For mocks, I just relied on their 5 SIGma-X mocks.
Below were my mock scores –
1st Mock – 710 (Q48, V38) – This had to be my lowest in Quant. Knew it from here that cannot take Quant lightly.
2nd Mock – 690 (Q50, V34) – Kind of a bummer when I received this score, but after reviewing the mock, I knew that I had the conceptual knowledge but due to some of my avoidable silly mistakes, I got a lower score in the Verbal.
3rd Mock – 750 (Q51, V41) – Finally reached my potential! 😊
4th Mock – 750 (Q50, V41) – Replicated the performance, but missed on that Q51 by a question.
5th Mock – 720 (Q49, V39) – Pressure started taking the better of me!
D-Day – 720 (Q50, V38) – Was nervous throughout the time. I believed in my potential but somehow the pressure was playing its part.
When I came out of the center, I was feeling I may have done blunders in CR and RC. And I might have breezed through SC. But when I saw the ESR, it was a completely opposite scenario. I kind of rushed with the SC questions and had the lowest percentile in SC out of all the 3 subsections.
The strategies given to me for the mocks were simple –
1. Build your stamina before the mocks – Practice more of longer quizzes from multiple subsections to build your stamina. These test-readiness quizzes prepare you for the long run in the mocks.
2. Strategize accuracy and time to be taken for each block of questions from before.
3. Give the mocks around the same time when you want to give the actual exam – I intended to relive my exam days on those mock days so that the exam would look like just another mock for me.
4. The last 10-12 days before the exam was all about mocks – Each mock was distanced out by 2-3 days. Once I was done with a mock, used to review it and maintain my error log with it. Can stress the importance of this task. It may seem a tedious task at first but trust me and make your error logs your best friend in this journey. For the other 1-2 days I used to work on the areas where I faltered in the previous mock along with some semi-mock custom mixed quizzes.
Lessons learned
Looking back on my GMAT journey, I realize that I've learned some valuable lessons that I can apply to other areas of my life as well. Here are some of the key takeaways from my experience apart from the ones discussed in the above journey:
1. Persistence pays off – Even when I felt discouraged after my first attempt, I didn't give up. I kept working hard and found a study method that worked for me.
2. Focus on weaknesses – Instead of just practicing what I was good at, I focused on improving my weaknesses. This helped me to become a more well-rounded test-taker.
3. Stay calm and composed – During the exam, it's easy to get flustered and make mistakes. Stay calm and composed to perform at your best.
4. Take advantage of resources – There are so many resources available to help you prepare for the GMAT, from study materials to practice tests. Choose wisely that is suitable and customizable to your needs and then use it to your advantage!
Final thoughts
GMAT is a tricky exam. More than Verbal and Quant, it tests a candidate’s potential to perform under time pressure. And probably that’s the reason b-schools love the GMAT exam. It will occasionally ask you a question that will take you between 5 and 6 minutes to correctly answer. But it is just testing your ability to make decisions as to whether you would spend those 5–6 minutes on that question or would you bypass it and attempt another 3 questions in that time, where you could probably answer 2–3 of them correctly.
I hope all the GMAT aspirants enjoyed this journey and learned something from it! All the best everyone! 😊
I am an Indian GEM (General Engineering Male) candidate from the northern part of India, working in the finance domain for over three years. It was in the last quarter of 2022 when I started thinking about taking the GMAT exam. I knew that a good GMAT score would open doors to some of the top business schools in the world and help me advance my career.
Like most engineers, even I had a knack for mathematics and never found numbers intimidating. I decided to take up the responsibility of preparing for the GMAT exam along with a full-time job that required 12 hours out of me every day. I knew my next few months were gonna be tough, but I was up for the challenge.
Initial Preparation – A Wake-up Call
At first, I started with self-study using the Official Guides like everyone else. However, within 2-3 months, I soon realized that I needed more structured and comprehensive preparation. For example, if I was struggling with a particular topic or concept, then I wanted more in-depth explanations, practice questions, and personalized feedback to overcome my weaknesses. I always believed in the mantra – “Quality always trumps Quantity”.
By solving OG questions, I was taking care of the quantity part. However, I was clueless about where I am in the context of the GMAT score. I knew I had to get an expert’s opinion who can guide me to a good GMAT score.
e-GMAT & its Last Mile Push Program – A Game Changer
After researching various test preparation companies, I chose e-GMAT because of their superior online presence and many recommendations from friends and colleagues. I joined them in the third week of January and was straightaway inducted into the Last Mile Push program, wherein, I was assigned a dedicated mentor, named Akash.
After my initial conversation with him, I really felt confident for the first time in this journey. I got to know that my then ability level was already around the 670-690 range wherein I needed the maximum improvement in Verbal.
The nature of my job is more of financial modeling for my clients. Because of this, I always liked things in a structured manner. I found that Akash’s mentoring style matched my learning style perfectly. He devised a day-wise plan for me until the exam date. He structured everything for me. He gave me weekly milestones with clear instructions – For example, if my target score in CR was to reach 90%ile, then I would have to get an accuracy of 70-80% in medium-level questions and 70-75% in hard-level questions.
I followed his methodical approach throughout, and he was available for me every time. In fact, the entire course is structured in such a logical manner. I never thought GMAT preparation can actually be structured so much.
My Verbal Preparation
1. Master Comprehension – The foundational course under Verbal. I was told it helped in not re-reading the sentences. And it delivered the exact same thing. At first, I used to fret about longer sentences that were fully underlined. By the end of the course, it made me feel so much more confident about the same.
2. Sentence Correction – SC was always a stronger section for me. But, the meaning-based approach was a complete beast altogether. I just mixed my conceptual knowledge with their meaning-based framework and voila! I was able to complete SC sentences within 75-90 seconds. Understanding the meaning was never my focus while solving SC questions. But I can assure you all that if you understand the intended meaning of the original sentence, half of the problem gets solved then and there.
3. Critical Reasoning – Similar to the meaning-based approach in SC, the pre-thinking approach in CR is another powerful technique. Once I read something about pre-thinking in a debrief from another student of e-GMAT – “Pre-thinking in simpler terms is visualizing the question stem, thinking of a situation where the argument doesn’t stand, negating that thought to come up with the assumptions and then selecting the correct option”. I don’t think I can articulate it in a better way.
4. Reading Comprehension – I was given clear instructions in RC. Read the passage in 3-4 minutes and then complete a question every 1 minute. Making summaries of every paragraph saved me a lot of time for me while reading the passages. As soon as I read the question, I knew which paragraph to refer to find the answer. I followed reading exercises every day. 5 minutes of reading, followed by 15 minutes of probing myself on the passage. To make things interesting, I used to read different things every day. One day a business newspaper article, another day some passage on American/European history and culture and someday I used to read National Geographic articles.
My Quant Preparation
As I mentioned earlier, Quant was always a stronger area for me. I knew if I was in the correct mindset, then I finish this section in a breeze. The process skills in Quant helped me solidify my conceptual knowledge. It helped me to focus on the question stem more and to be more cautious about it.
For Quant, I was given a strategy. I divided my 31 questions into 4 blocks of questions (8, 8, 8, and 7 questions) just like in an ESR. And then I was given clear strategies again for each block. Before starting a block of questions, I was aware of my target accuracy and the time that I should be taking to clear it. For example, for the first block of 8 questions (mainly medium-level questions), I had a target of 90% accuracy and planned to complete the section within 12-13 minutes. My main motive was to leave myself enough time for the last two blocks wherein I was going to face the toughest questions (again assuming I met my target accuracies in previous blocks)
Scholaranium
One of the unique features of e-GMAT is its Scholaranium platform, which is a tool designed to help you track your progress and identify areas that require more practice. Scholaranium provides a large number of questions organized by difficulty level and topic, allowing you to focus on the areas that you need to improve.
Mocks
For mocks, I just relied on their 5 SIGma-X mocks.
Below were my mock scores –
1st Mock – 710 (Q48, V38) – This had to be my lowest in Quant. Knew it from here that cannot take Quant lightly.
2nd Mock – 690 (Q50, V34) – Kind of a bummer when I received this score, but after reviewing the mock, I knew that I had the conceptual knowledge but due to some of my avoidable silly mistakes, I got a lower score in the Verbal.
3rd Mock – 750 (Q51, V41) – Finally reached my potential! 😊
4th Mock – 750 (Q50, V41) – Replicated the performance, but missed on that Q51 by a question.
5th Mock – 720 (Q49, V39) – Pressure started taking the better of me!
D-Day – 720 (Q50, V38) – Was nervous throughout the time. I believed in my potential but somehow the pressure was playing its part.
When I came out of the center, I was feeling I may have done blunders in CR and RC. And I might have breezed through SC. But when I saw the ESR, it was a completely opposite scenario. I kind of rushed with the SC questions and had the lowest percentile in SC out of all the 3 subsections.
The strategies given to me for the mocks were simple –
1. Build your stamina before the mocks – Practice more of longer quizzes from multiple subsections to build your stamina. These test-readiness quizzes prepare you for the long run in the mocks.
2. Strategize accuracy and time to be taken for each block of questions from before.
3. Give the mocks around the same time when you want to give the actual exam – I intended to relive my exam days on those mock days so that the exam would look like just another mock for me.
4. The last 10-12 days before the exam was all about mocks – Each mock was distanced out by 2-3 days. Once I was done with a mock, used to review it and maintain my error log with it. Can stress the importance of this task. It may seem a tedious task at first but trust me and make your error logs your best friend in this journey. For the other 1-2 days I used to work on the areas where I faltered in the previous mock along with some semi-mock custom mixed quizzes.
Lessons learned
Looking back on my GMAT journey, I realize that I've learned some valuable lessons that I can apply to other areas of my life as well. Here are some of the key takeaways from my experience apart from the ones discussed in the above journey:
1. Persistence pays off – Even when I felt discouraged after my first attempt, I didn't give up. I kept working hard and found a study method that worked for me.
2. Focus on weaknesses – Instead of just practicing what I was good at, I focused on improving my weaknesses. This helped me to become a more well-rounded test-taker.
3. Stay calm and composed – During the exam, it's easy to get flustered and make mistakes. Stay calm and composed to perform at your best.
4. Take advantage of resources – There are so many resources available to help you prepare for the GMAT, from study materials to practice tests. Choose wisely that is suitable and customizable to your needs and then use it to your advantage!
Final thoughts
GMAT is a tricky exam. More than Verbal and Quant, it tests a candidate’s potential to perform under time pressure. And probably that’s the reason b-schools love the GMAT exam. It will occasionally ask you a question that will take you between 5 and 6 minutes to correctly answer. But it is just testing your ability to make decisions as to whether you would spend those 5–6 minutes on that question or would you bypass it and attempt another 3 questions in that time, where you could probably answer 2–3 of them correctly.
I hope all the GMAT aspirants enjoyed this journey and learned something from it! All the best everyone! 😊
31 Mar 2023, 09:15
Kudos
Bookmarks
Indeed, an inspiring effort. Hard work and persistence paid off.
All the Best for the applications.
All the Best for the applications.
04 Apr 2023, 06:21
Kudos
Bookmarks
Dear blackpanther911,
Congratulations on your score of 720 with a remarkable Q50 and a V38!
Thank you for your kind words, and we at e-GMAT are proud of your success and it was our pleasure to be a part of your journey.
It’s the little details that are vital!
It is great to see that you understood very early in your journey that “Quality always trumps Quantity”. The image below shows how you used the Scholaranium analytics to understand that a passage on Humanities was your weaker area in RC and then how you improved your accuracy in it from 60% to 92% by practicing the reading exercises on a regular basis –
It’s okay to make mistakes as long as you learn from them!
As you mentioned that after the first mock, you realized that you cannot take Quant lightly. You put in the required hardwork through all Quant subsections through consistent practice of custom quizzes in the Scholaranium. The image below shows your statistics across all the subsections in Quant in hard questions. These statistics show the consistency through which you got that Q50.
Determination, effort and practice!
Great strategies shared for the mocks! You understood that succeeding in the GMAT was not just about the concepts, but also about time management. With every single mock, you improved your timing and your subsectional abilities in both Verbal and Quant. The below image shows your journey in Quant scores from mocks to the GMAT exam.
I am sure that you will face every challenge thrown at you with the utmost determination and I wish you all the very best for your next steps!
Regards,
Akash
Congratulations on your score of 720 with a remarkable Q50 and a V38!
Thank you for your kind words, and we at e-GMAT are proud of your success and it was our pleasure to be a part of your journey.
It’s the little details that are vital!
It is great to see that you understood very early in your journey that “Quality always trumps Quantity”. The image below shows how you used the Scholaranium analytics to understand that a passage on Humanities was your weaker area in RC and then how you improved your accuracy in it from 60% to 92% by practicing the reading exercises on a regular basis –
It’s okay to make mistakes as long as you learn from them!
As you mentioned that after the first mock, you realized that you cannot take Quant lightly. You put in the required hardwork through all Quant subsections through consistent practice of custom quizzes in the Scholaranium. The image below shows your statistics across all the subsections in Quant in hard questions. These statistics show the consistency through which you got that Q50.
Determination, effort and practice!
Great strategies shared for the mocks! You understood that succeeding in the GMAT was not just about the concepts, but also about time management. With every single mock, you improved your timing and your subsectional abilities in both Verbal and Quant. The below image shows your journey in Quant scores from mocks to the GMAT exam.
I am sure that you will face every challenge thrown at you with the utmost determination and I wish you all the very best for your next steps!
Regards,
Akash
