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08 Nov 2021, 01:44
Kudos
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I started my GMAT prep in the month of December 2020 with the objective of giving the exam in March 2021. I spoke to my friends who had earlier given the exam and bought the Manhattan books. Since I have long work hours, I wanted to finish most of the syllabus in the December holidays and just give mocks later. For my first diagnostic test, I used my first free mock on gmac website. I scored 430. It gave me a starting point and I prepared my timetable accordingly. As I progressed with my studies, I gave another free mock (from EGMAT) in Jan in which I scored 650. I was happy with my progress and continued using the same resources. I liked the analysis of my mock score on Egmat and bought the one month package just to use the Mocks. I got access to 4 Mocks. I didn't use their study resources and continued to refer my notes. In the days to come I gave 3 more mocks and saw my score rise to 700. So the day of the exam I was pretty confident that I would score at least a 700. It was an in-center exam and I could only get the 8am slot. I went for the exam and on clicking on end exam was shocked to see a 610(Q47 V28 IR 5 AWA 6).
I came home dejected, especially with my performance in verbal, and saw a mail from Egmat saying if you want help with your gmat prep, do write to their mail id. I took it as a sign and went ahead and wrote to them. Their mentor DJ told me to order the ESR and after analyzing my progress gave me an action plan. Following this plan to the tee, I then gave my second attempt in June. For this exam, I had studied Verbal from Egmat but used the manhattan books for Quant. This attempt I got a 700(Q48 V38 IR 4 AWA 5).
I was happy with this score and since it was already June, I wanted to now work on my applications for Round 1.
Since it was an online attempt, I sent my scores to my desired colleges in august(2 months after my attempt) when I was done shortlisting my dream colleges.3 days later, I received a mail from GMAC stating that they had noticed a security violation in my attempt and were cancelling my scores. I appealed against their decision and asked them to re-check their records and even to provide a reason for this security violation. 15 days later, on 9th Sept, they came back saying that it was a Testing violation and not a security violation and that even though there was a Testing issue, they would still be cancelling my scores. I was angry and upset and felt like screaming. Since I didnt have a gmat score now, I was definitely missing the Round 1 deadlines.
I then picked myself up after one full day of mourning, and enrolled for the EGMAT 2 months course. This time around, I studied completely from Egmat, whether it be quant or verbal. It took me a month with my work commitments to finish tat course but I would still try and spend at least 4 hours daily. It was like starting from a clean slate. One week after I had started my prep, I gave my first mock and scored a 650. I motivated myself saying that I am still mid-prep and trudged ahead on the weary road.This time I followed Egmat guidelines completely and did Stage 1,2 and 3 as stated in their course. I saw a marked increase in my confidence as I hadnt left anything to chance. I had covered all my bases. 2 weeks before my test, I gave my second mock and scored a 710. I was happy but still egmat analysis told me which are my areas of improvement. I wrote to the Egmat mentor, DJ, again for guidance for the last 2 weeks of gmat prep and this time he helped me again.
This time I was way more confident during the exam and it translated to my final score 730(Q49 V40 IR 6 AWA 5.5). Getting this score has been a marathon and egmat has been my coach all along.
Key learnings and takeaways:
1. Manhattan books didnt help me because I relied only on the books. If you couple them with other mater like gmat club forums , it might help you better.
2. Egmat worked for me because I started off with a blank slate and trusted their process wholeheartedly.
3. While choosing a time slot for the exam, choose one when you are the most productive and not just based on their availability.Its okay to give the exam 2 days late than getting 30 points less.
4. I never got any reason from gmac for why my exam score was violated. They just said that there was a testing issue. So I vote saying that if you can give the incenter exam, just give the in-center exam.
So this was my journey to 730!
Thanks for reading,
Nikita Mondkar
I came home dejected, especially with my performance in verbal, and saw a mail from Egmat saying if you want help with your gmat prep, do write to their mail id. I took it as a sign and went ahead and wrote to them. Their mentor DJ told me to order the ESR and after analyzing my progress gave me an action plan. Following this plan to the tee, I then gave my second attempt in June. For this exam, I had studied Verbal from Egmat but used the manhattan books for Quant. This attempt I got a 700(Q48 V38 IR 4 AWA 5).
I was happy with this score and since it was already June, I wanted to now work on my applications for Round 1.
Since it was an online attempt, I sent my scores to my desired colleges in august(2 months after my attempt) when I was done shortlisting my dream colleges.3 days later, I received a mail from GMAC stating that they had noticed a security violation in my attempt and were cancelling my scores. I appealed against their decision and asked them to re-check their records and even to provide a reason for this security violation. 15 days later, on 9th Sept, they came back saying that it was a Testing violation and not a security violation and that even though there was a Testing issue, they would still be cancelling my scores. I was angry and upset and felt like screaming. Since I didnt have a gmat score now, I was definitely missing the Round 1 deadlines.
I then picked myself up after one full day of mourning, and enrolled for the EGMAT 2 months course. This time around, I studied completely from Egmat, whether it be quant or verbal. It took me a month with my work commitments to finish tat course but I would still try and spend at least 4 hours daily. It was like starting from a clean slate. One week after I had started my prep, I gave my first mock and scored a 650. I motivated myself saying that I am still mid-prep and trudged ahead on the weary road.This time I followed Egmat guidelines completely and did Stage 1,2 and 3 as stated in their course. I saw a marked increase in my confidence as I hadnt left anything to chance. I had covered all my bases. 2 weeks before my test, I gave my second mock and scored a 710. I was happy but still egmat analysis told me which are my areas of improvement. I wrote to the Egmat mentor, DJ, again for guidance for the last 2 weeks of gmat prep and this time he helped me again.
This time I was way more confident during the exam and it translated to my final score 730(Q49 V40 IR 6 AWA 5.5). Getting this score has been a marathon and egmat has been my coach all along.
Key learnings and takeaways:
1. Manhattan books didnt help me because I relied only on the books. If you couple them with other mater like gmat club forums , it might help you better.
2. Egmat worked for me because I started off with a blank slate and trusted their process wholeheartedly.
3. While choosing a time slot for the exam, choose one when you are the most productive and not just based on their availability.Its okay to give the exam 2 days late than getting 30 points less.
4. I never got any reason from gmac for why my exam score was violated. They just said that there was a testing issue. So I vote saying that if you can give the incenter exam, just give the in-center exam.
So this was my journey to 730!
Thanks for reading,
Nikita Mondkar
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Last visit: 23 Feb 2026
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Schools: ISB '18 (D)
GPA: 3.97
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08 Nov 2021, 04:55
Kudos
Bookmarks
beautiful write and a perfect example of persistence and perseverance. Wish you very best for your admissions.
