From 680s to 710: Consistency matters!

Question

Hey fam!! I finished up my GMAT journey with a 710 (Q49 V37 IR7 AWA6) This score has come after 3 attempts and 1 year of drudgery. There were innumerous people who helped me on this platform and this debrief is a tribute to them. Before, I begin my journey, I want to thank a few people. First, DJ (aka Dhananjay) from EGMAT Team. This guy has been with me since my first attempt and when I lost hope, he still believed in me. I’ll talk about him more in my debrief so hold on. Next, the GMAT Rockstars, as I call them. bb , Bunuel , GMATNinja nightblade354 , late daagh , souvik101990 , VeritasKarishma , Sajjad1994 , Ron, GMATWhizTeam , EMPOWERgmatRichC and all other experts – You all have played such a crucial role in this 710. I owe it all to these people. Out of all these, there's one guy, I have become a fan of. Charles Bibilos from GMAT Ninja. If you're reading this, I want you to know that you changed my life. Your sessions, your answers, everything just made me awe-inspired of your intelligence and personality. You are just best, man

I still remember I was going home after getting a 710 and just re-visited your RC post on not making gimmicky notes, which helped me so much that day!! Let’s roll into my ride through hell xD Background Information : So, I am an Indian Undergraduate in my final year of Bachelor’s in Business Administration. I am enrolled in an Integrated (BBA+MBA) Course at IIM Rohtak. It’s a nationally acclaimed college and I always had the backup of doing MBA from there without any hassle. So, even if I faltered, MBA was still secured. But, I really wanted to go abroad. Even in my high school, I gave SAT but couldn’t go out. So, in Oct 2020, I decided – I am gonna do Master’s from the best, whatever time or effort it takes. My tryst with GMAT started then. First Attempt – 680 (Q49 V32) : I sat for this on March 2021 after 6 months of practice. From Oct 2020 to Dec 2020, I self studied. I used Manhattan Books, MGMAT Advanced, OG 2020 and Kaplan Prep Plus. I sat for free mocks of Kaplan, GMAT Prep-1 and MGMAT -1. My mock scores were encouraging: GMAT Prep 1 (After 2 Months of Prep): 670 Kaplan 1: 660 Kaplan 2: 670 Kaplan 3: 690 Kaplan 4: 700 Kaplan 5: 690 Kaplan 6: 710 MGMAT -1: 590 It was the MGMAT-1 that shattered my confident a bit. I went online to the forum to find it is actually tough than others and even the real exam. Till Jan 2021, this is how I actually studied: Concepts from Kaplan or GMATClub Articles --> Practice from OG (Only Hard and Medium) ---> Mock This approach was a bit erroneous as I did not practice too much outside OG. I had exhausted all questions by Nov and I was just giving Mocks every week in December. Since, I had no clue what to do or how to do, I began exploring prep options. This is when I came across – EGMAT. I booked a free study plan session and I was taken aback by their approach. Although, in my mind, I wanted a timetable building session but their logical approach to study just allured me. I enrolled in their course for 2 months and from Jan – March, I used their course. I completed the concept files and used Scholaranium as well. As soon as I enrolled, I was asked to take a free mock, on the basis of which my timetable would be made. I scored a 710 on that and the next day, I received a mail from DJ, telling me that he will be mentoring me. It was then that I actually studied. I went through their amazing concept files and then completed quizzes. It was really tough to score the stipulated 70% in Medium quizzes and 55% in Hard ones. So, for anyone reading this – EGMAT is hard! Hard! Hard! The real GMAT also is, so it’s good

Before my first shot, I did not do anything else but EGMAT Course and their mocks. I was getting 720-740 in their mocks and I was happy with this. I went for the exam and got a 680. I cannot say it was a bad score but it was just below my expectations. I ordered my ESR and the EGMAT team told me to improve on SC,CR, RC. I had a 60th percentile on roughly all of them. DJ, then told me, the real problem. He mailed - your Pre-thinking (A CR Technique by EGMAT) is not up to the mark and you need to read better in the entire Verbal section. He told me no need to worry about Quants and focus on Verbal. Second Attempt – 680 (Q48 V34) Seems surprising right! Same score even after 2nd attempt. What a stupid guy. Trust me, even I thought this. I gave this in Aug 2021, after 5 months of prep. In this prep, I had decided to not shed out any money and so did not purchase any course. Here is the material I used: GMAT Ninja Videos, Thursdays with Ron Videos, Daagh’s explanations and self-made questions for Verbal, MGMAT Advanced, OG Advanced and Quant & Verbal Review and Powerscore for CR. In this attempt, I knew my problems were CR and SC and I was working on them. I was working with a combination of approaches in CR. I was using Pre-thinking and the MGMAT-Ron-Powerscore approach of Pattern Identification. They may seem different but seem to converge, if you know how to use them. It really helped me and I became much more confident in CR. Huge shoutout to Nightblade here. This guy is literally the God of CR. His notes are amazing. I have read them over and over for 50+ times. If you read his explanation, you cannot argue that there’s anyone more logical and rational than this guy. In SC, I made it an aim to literally know every rule out there. I had a small notebook in which I used to write all rules, by hand. Daagh and his explanations, were really helpful in this. But, when I went over GMAT Ninja’s videos, he gave me a much simpler approach. The EGMAT Meaning based approach is also in sync with this. Eliminate out the ones with obvious errors and choose the best out of the remaining. This really helped me with SC. Knowing every rule may work, but this is a much better and more efficient way of doing SC. I ignored RC. I would be up front honest about this. I knew there were no rules or formulas to do so but just sheer practice. That is why, in my 2nd attempt prep, I just missed on this. I just did few RCs through mocks or GMATClub 14 days before my actual attempt. I don’t know, if I was overconfident as I could not know what might come or I was just not understanding how to do RC Prep. Anyhow, I sparingly practiced these. In Quants, I owe everything to the Manhattan team. I am sorry I did not purchase your course but I did buy your Advanced book and it is awesome. It is so hard that in one of their Workout Sets, I had tears when I couldn’t do even 1 question out of the 10. In retrospect, that was training for the real deal, which is tough. I even love their guessing techniques. In many videos by Ron and the free 1-hour prep, there are some brilliant guessing strategies outlined. I used to even get answers to some questions in 30 seconds by using these. CAUTION: Do not use these guessing techniques every time. They are only for times of rush or no knowledge . I went in for the 2nd attempt, but this time exam anxiety was on another level. Night before the exam, I was sweating and could hardly sleep for 3-4 hours. In the exam hall, as I was waiting to start, I was shivering. Once I began, Verbal felt smooth. But in 2nd RC, I was stuck. I just couldn’t solve it. I tried the main idea question and I was confused between 3 options. It took me more than 11 minutes to solve those 4 RC Questions. Due to this, I rushed through some CR Questions as well. In the Quants, I was seeing some abnormally easy questions till Q13-14. I was a bit scared but at the end, questions became really hard and I was thinking, I cannot go down from a Q49. Post, AWA and IR, as I clicked the submit button, my biggest nightmare became true. It showed a 680. Again. My Verbal stood at 34 but Quants dropped to a 48. Not gonna lie but tears flew as I exited the exam center. I called my mom and she herself got too emotional. I may not be able to explain through words, but getting the exact same score after putting in time, money and energy is really disheartening. GMAT Attempt 3: 710 (Q49 V37) I was contemplating whether to give a 3rd attempt or not for 2-3 weeks. DJ knew about everything I did and he asked me to send him my ESR. We analysed that my SC was at 94th percentile, CR at 76th but RC dropped to a 40th percentile. In Quants, I was having a hard time with Algebra-Geometry. I wrote him a mail that DJ I think I am a 680 guy only, I cannot improve. He had a strong belief in me and he told me to give another attempt in 30 days only. I prepared again. I went through EGMAT Course and revised my RC. In this attempt their platform had changed a lot. In Quants they had a brilliant customizable option in which it allowed you to only study weak concepts. For instance, You have to give a Diagnostic quiz first and then the course outlines what topics you need to cover. The scholaranium is another amazing feature. It allows you to take mini mocks that too topic wise for Verbal and Quants. It really helped a guy like me who wants to consistently test himself. I focused on my weaker sections but I was struggling with Hard Quants Questions. DJ advised me to remain calm and still focus more on Verbal. In this attempt, I tried to keep as much low pressure on myself as possible. I did not take money from my parents but rather earned $250 in the 28 day break I took after 2nd attempt. I had not told about my GMAT Journey to anyone so no peer pressure. It was really less stressful this time. Here is a breakdown of my mocks before the 3rd attempt GMAT Prep 3: 760 GMAT Prep 4: 770 GMAT Prep 5: 750 GMAT Prep 6: 770 I knew I cannot sleep one night before so I used a new approach to make myself sleep. I pulled an all-nighter two nights before my actual attempt. I revised every single topic in SC and CR, practiced 2-3 LSAT Tests, Took Hard Scholaranium Quizzes every 1 hour and after 6-7 hours of constant studying, I was hell tired. Thanks to a very close friend of mine, who stayed up with me that night. I slept for a couple of hours to wake up for my college classes. I spent the entire day taking them and by night, I was really very sleepy. I looked at my notes and the chat forum once and slept for 7-8 hours before waking up for the final shot at GMAT. In this attempt, I was laughing while waiting for the exam to start. I still remember chuckling when I couldn’t match the signature on my passport. I thought, this is the end, let’s go home. I was scared but I realized I was scared of the consequences, not the exam. This kept me up and I knew I could get those questions. I began with Verbal, going confident. SC was a breeze. 2nd RC was again tough but DJ specifically said do not get stuck on this. I read it carefully and finished it in time. To my shock, I got a Boldface CR Ques at Q20 or Q19. A BF question in the end is a sign of somewhat good in Verbal like a V40+. I didn’t knew what to make of it but I moved ahead. In the end, I had some trouble with CR Questions and lost a few in my opinion. I really can’t stress how much I benefitted in RC this time. EGMAT made me practice like hell and it really paid off. I was still confident of a better Verbal score. In Quants, I started off strong, but the 4th question took my life outta me. I spent 4 minutes on it and still had to guess. It was really tough and lengthy. I know I should have spent less time but I was shooting for the Q51 and wanted to get every question till Q17 correct. I managed to somehow cover up and finished Quants with just 11 seconds to spare. Again, thanks to MGMAT. You guys rock and to anyone who thinks their strategies are hokum, believe me they work. I was a bit scared of my Quants because of time management but I was thinking that it wasn’t as bad as the previous ones. It’s either better or even worse. I clicked the submit of my AWA in just 11 minutes. I couldn’t wait I am sorry haha I just looked at the 7 there. It was a 710. Bit low from my expectations but I was happy. I was thinking of 730+ but I was just praying 700+ after my Quants. So, in all it was okay for me. To anyone who is struggling, my advice: Hang in there. Anyone who is struggling at 650+ and unable to cross 700, have faith in yourself. The test will try to break you but just believe in yourself. Academically, the biggest takeaway is: Focus on what wrong you do. It doesn’t matter if you do 1000 questions but if you know where you are losing out in core problems, you are going to do better. I faced a very big setback in the form of same score. It really takes away your mental peace: It is depressing. But, this community, one’s family and mentors like DJ are why you need to keep going. To this family, I again need your advice. I don’t think I am going to get into any Deferred MBA Programs with a 710 like HBS, Wharton, Stanford, etc. I am looking forward to a good MiM. I have already applied to ESSEC and LBS, any other suggestions would be really welcome. Once again, thank you to each and every one. I may not be a perfect scorer but I take pride in being a consistent learner. Live Long and Prosper!

bb · Answer

Congratulations on your score and thank you so much for writing up such a great debrief!
Congrats on improving quite a bit! That's a solid score!

BB

egmat · Answer

Hey KabxW , Firstly, congratulations on making to ESSEC’s prestigious MiM program

It’s a tremendous achievement and I know this degree will help refine your business skills to become a successful entrepreneur in the future. (For anyone who’s reading this, how do I know all this – At e-GMAT we don’t just help our students achieve their dream GMAT scores, we help them reach their END GOALS 😊) Me and the entire e-GMAT Team is so proud of what you have achieved

Thank you for talking about your GMAT journey with such passion. A lot of people associate high GMAT scores as the ultimate metric of success, but your 710 did not come easy by any means. Your humility is clearly displayed with the way you have called out names of every single person that helped you in some way during this arduous journey of breaking that Verbal score plateau of V32 & 34 on the GMAT and a 680 score. I know this because you were ready to give up on the 700+ score at a point – Confession: https://success.e-gmat.com/Student-Email However, I am glad you did not! Greatness lies right after the point of inflection . Let me elaborate on this a little more. Stuck on a Verbal plateau, finding out the right lever to improve your score can be essential, the ESR was a blessing in such a case. The image below clearly depicts what needed to be fixed ESR Verbal Plateau Analysis: https://success.e-gmat.com/ESR-Comparison-KabX (If you are interested, you can also rewatch one of the ESR Analysis videos I shared with you – https://www.loom.com/share/3e2014e8ed8740a292bc6b7b8d46d60f In the video below, I have clearly shown the steps you took to improve your CR, RC Ability – all the background work – The error logs, the reading exercise, note making may not be visible but it’s equally important. One more important thing to note here is how your SC Ability improved to the 94th percentile too – this was certainly a positive to take away from all the work you had put in. Kabir’s Efforts to Break the Verbal Plateau - https://cloudfiles.e-gmat.com/rebrandly/DJ_GCcent_R%26D_Content/Video_Player_Button.png https://success.e-gmat.com/Breaking-Verbal_Plateau_KabX An important question to answer here is why you scored only a 680 after scoring so well on Mocks – Every Other Student’s Conundrum: https://success.e-gmat.com/KabX-Common-Student-Issue The key problem in your case was not your lack of ability or diligence but how you applied it on the test. And by deliberately working on changing the way you approach a CR question or RC passage you were finally able to overcome your Verbal Plateau. It took some unlearning and remodeling but it was worth the time and effort. I can imagine this journey being a roller coaster for you and I am glad I could be a part of it because it always gives me immense pleasure when I can help someone with their GMAT scores and get into their dream school too. Makes the circle of success COMPLETE 😊 All the best at ESSEC, stay in touch! PS - You can also watch his interview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdT_ipw5yXo&t=35s Warm Regards, Dhananjay(aka DJ)

KabxW · Answer

Thank you so much DJ and  egmat .
I really owe it all to you!

Any aspirant reading this - you can trust these guys for sure. Not saying coz of any marketing thing but as a student, these guys are really best. The end-to-end support and personalized help is really unmatched.

Kudos to the team and thanks a lot!!

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