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10 Jun 2024, 03:24
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Hi all I recently completed giving my GMAT FE first attempt and scored 665 (V81, Q86, DI 82). I'm sharing my journey here, hoping to share some helpful insights for anyone who might be appearing for the exam.
I started my journey in December 2023 by giving an official mock and scored 475 (Q 76, V77, DI68). Although I had given the mock without any preparation, I was quite disappointed with the score specifically quant as I come from a tech background and had thought quant would be an easy section for me. After giving my mock and analysing it I realised that I needed to practice and build my strategy to attempt the exam.
I started looking for prep courses and I tried two trial courses before finally taking e-GMAT. Two key things that I liked from the course based on the trial were the focus on process skills in quant and a very detailed inference-based approach to the Data insight section.
I started my prep with the Verbal section where the major challenge for me was visualising and understanding the argument/passage for CR/RC respectively. I spent a major chunk of my prep time on this section and practised heavily using both e-GMAT question bank and GMAT club questions. The pre-thinking process taught in the e-GMAT course helped me immensely. When I started immersing myself in the scenario and imagining what would happen, it became easier to understand the assumption of an argument or what could explain a paradox or strengthen a scenario. This is especially important for Hard / Medium- Hard questions because it feels like the answer choices are very close and a lot of times we are able to narrow down to the last two answer choices but still not get the correct one. In the beginning, I wasn’t too concerned with the time, I was more worried about understanding the logic and getting my answer correct. Sometimes it took me a lot longer to solve the question but ultimately I think that’s what helped me get the accuracy as well. Once I was comfortable with the visualisation, it became second nature and naturally the speed also improved.
For Quant, I realised that it wasn’t the conceptual knowledge that I was lacking but rather I was missing out on key details mentioned in the question stem. e-GMAT quant is enabled by a PACE engine which helped me save time and skip out on certain sections while focusing on process skills, which helped me identify patterns of mistakes. Maintaining a detailed error log helped me greatly here, I was practising questions from both e-GMAT and GMAT club and created an error log for all questions where I took more time, missed some detail or got incorrect. From the error log I derived some key insights which I used for revision the day before the exam.
By the time I was done completing quant to my desired proficiency, I had already scheduled my exam and had around 2 weeks left. Since I had scored lowest in Data Insight in my mock I was quite nervous about taking the exam and considered rescheduling as well but after talking to my mentor (strategy expert ) at e-GMAT, I got the confidence to continue my prep and give my best shot for the exam. One thing my mentor said that helped me greatly was to diligently focus on whatever topic I was studying and not skimp or take shortcuts. I followed that and I actually found that DI is much simpler if you have mastered verbal and quant, as skills built in the other two sections are the ones used in DI as well. Initially, I was heavily relying on the calculator, but through mocks and e-Gmat practice questions I realised the GMAT isn’t testing calculations so I need to be wary of using the calculator, instead most questions test your inference skill, so I tried to formulate an approach and infer what I could can from the data given. This helped me solve the question correctly in the prescribed amount of time. Paying attention to the data and the question stem and drawing inferences from data helps a lot before jumping into solving.
I attempted 3 mocks in the 10 days before taking my final exam and my scores were as follows
My entire journey took me around 5 months and it was filled with ups and downs. With a full work schedule and household responsibilities to manage, it does feel overwhelming at times. Especially when your mock scores don’t improve, it is very easy to get discouraged but I kept reminding myself why I was doing it. Visualising the goal helped me keep myself motivated to study and prevent burnout. While one has to do the prep alone I think GMAT club as a community is extremely helpful with the amount of resources it provides students and it was pivotal in helping me achieve my score. I hope through my debrief, I'm able to share some insight which may in turn help other students in getting their desired scores. Good luck!
I started my journey in December 2023 by giving an official mock and scored 475 (Q 76, V77, DI68). Although I had given the mock without any preparation, I was quite disappointed with the score specifically quant as I come from a tech background and had thought quant would be an easy section for me. After giving my mock and analysing it I realised that I needed to practice and build my strategy to attempt the exam.
I started looking for prep courses and I tried two trial courses before finally taking e-GMAT. Two key things that I liked from the course based on the trial were the focus on process skills in quant and a very detailed inference-based approach to the Data insight section.
I started my prep with the Verbal section where the major challenge for me was visualising and understanding the argument/passage for CR/RC respectively. I spent a major chunk of my prep time on this section and practised heavily using both e-GMAT question bank and GMAT club questions. The pre-thinking process taught in the e-GMAT course helped me immensely. When I started immersing myself in the scenario and imagining what would happen, it became easier to understand the assumption of an argument or what could explain a paradox or strengthen a scenario. This is especially important for Hard / Medium- Hard questions because it feels like the answer choices are very close and a lot of times we are able to narrow down to the last two answer choices but still not get the correct one. In the beginning, I wasn’t too concerned with the time, I was more worried about understanding the logic and getting my answer correct. Sometimes it took me a lot longer to solve the question but ultimately I think that’s what helped me get the accuracy as well. Once I was comfortable with the visualisation, it became second nature and naturally the speed also improved.
For Quant, I realised that it wasn’t the conceptual knowledge that I was lacking but rather I was missing out on key details mentioned in the question stem. e-GMAT quant is enabled by a PACE engine which helped me save time and skip out on certain sections while focusing on process skills, which helped me identify patterns of mistakes. Maintaining a detailed error log helped me greatly here, I was practising questions from both e-GMAT and GMAT club and created an error log for all questions where I took more time, missed some detail or got incorrect. From the error log I derived some key insights which I used for revision the day before the exam.
By the time I was done completing quant to my desired proficiency, I had already scheduled my exam and had around 2 weeks left. Since I had scored lowest in Data Insight in my mock I was quite nervous about taking the exam and considered rescheduling as well but after talking to my mentor (strategy expert ) at e-GMAT, I got the confidence to continue my prep and give my best shot for the exam. One thing my mentor said that helped me greatly was to diligently focus on whatever topic I was studying and not skimp or take shortcuts. I followed that and I actually found that DI is much simpler if you have mastered verbal and quant, as skills built in the other two sections are the ones used in DI as well. Initially, I was heavily relying on the calculator, but through mocks and e-Gmat practice questions I realised the GMAT isn’t testing calculations so I need to be wary of using the calculator, instead most questions test your inference skill, so I tried to formulate an approach and infer what I could can from the data given. This helped me solve the question correctly in the prescribed amount of time. Paying attention to the data and the question stem and drawing inferences from data helps a lot before jumping into solving.
I attempted 3 mocks in the 10 days before taking my final exam and my scores were as follows
- Mock 1: 615 (Sigma X- Mock )
- Mock 2: 565 (Sigma X- Mock )
- Mock 3: 605 (Official Mock 2)
- Make an error log and use that to see patterns. I was extremely detailed while making my error log and I used that to derive a checklist of things where I commonly falter and which I should revise the night before the exam
- There is no point in revising till the last moment or doing questions till the last day. It is more important that you get rest and go with a calm peaceful mind so you can process information while taking the exam. A lot of people taking the exam are out of the student phase and it has been years since you sat and gave an exam for 3 hours, so go with a well-rested mind and body.
- Work on building mental resilience and strategy to attempt the paper through your mocks. Start with the strongest section first so you feel comfortable while giving the paper. Take it one question at a time, one section at a time. I had started with verbal but I was unable to complete it due to nerves, and normally that would send me into panic and jitters but I learnt through my mocks to stay focused and calm and just put all my attention to the next section, this helped me finish both DI and Quant with a couple of extra minutes to spare.
My entire journey took me around 5 months and it was filled with ups and downs. With a full work schedule and household responsibilities to manage, it does feel overwhelming at times. Especially when your mock scores don’t improve, it is very easy to get discouraged but I kept reminding myself why I was doing it. Visualising the goal helped me keep myself motivated to study and prevent burnout. While one has to do the prep alone I think GMAT club as a community is extremely helpful with the amount of resources it provides students and it was pivotal in helping me achieve my score. I hope through my debrief, I'm able to share some insight which may in turn help other students in getting their desired scores. Good luck!
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