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05 Dec 2021, 08:50
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As one can guess from the title, my preparation was broadly divided into two parts. One being completely unstructured which involved solving a large number of questions without focusing a lot on engraving a process to solve different type of questions. The second phase involved solving fewer questions but spending a lot of time on understanding my mistakes and creating a framework/process to solve different types of questions. However, the journey from unstructured to structured phase involved making a number of mistakes. In this debrief I would like to 1) give the readers a brief about how I went about the preparation 2) what I feel is the right way to go about the preparation. Through this I would like to highlight the mistakes that I made and then talk about how I corrected those mistakes.
I started preparing for GMAT from Mid May21' and most of my preparation in the beginning centered around Official Guides. I used to solve a fixed number of questions everyday. This part of my preparation helped me by familiarizing with the different type of questions that are asked in GMAT. However, solving questions did not help me in creating a framework that I could replicate in solving questions. During this phase I gave a number of mocks and I realized that SC was my weakness and my current method of preparation was not helping me in improving accuracy in SC section.
It was then that I researched extensively on GMAT CLUB platform and I came across the meaning based approach. I attended the E-GMAT's SC webinar and the meaning based approach appealed to me. This is when I decided to enroll for the E-GMAT verbal course. I made extensive use of the SC modules and they proved to be extremely helpful in improving the way I approached an SC question.
For Quants I mainly focused on solving difficult questions that were available on gmat club platform. This phase of extensive question solving took around 3 months and by the end of the 3rd month I decided to give my first attempt. In the last week of my preparation I decided to spend time giving tests in time constrained environment to ensure that I got accustomed to the stress on the test day. However, it was during this time I realized that were process related gaps in preparation especially in the CR and SC section.
I gave my first attempt and I got a v36 and q49. Right after the exam I spoke to my mentor Dhananjay from egmat about how I felt that this score was not reflective of my true abilities. It is then when we spoke at stretch about how to proceed with our preparation with the focus being on cementing the processes rather than on solving tons of questions.
This phase I can further divide in two parts 1) Strengthening my weak areas which were SC and CR. I spent around 70% on strengthening my weak areas 2) Increasing pace and cementing processes for relatively strong areas- RC and Quants.
For SC and CR I went through the entire egmat course and spent a lot of time in understanding different types of questions and the processes that can be used to solve the different question types. After going through the course I solved questions on egmat platform. But this time I spent a lot of time on understanding why I was making a particular mistake and how I could avoid that mistake in future.
For RC and Quants I did not spend a lot of time on theory but rather I spent time on solving questions and working on the mistakes that I made.
Post this phase I decided to give my second attempt and I was able to score a 740 with a q51 and v39. I would like to share one advice each for different sections that according to me played the most pivotal role in my preparation-
1) SC- Understanding the meaning is a very important aspect for improving accuracy on SC. But in order to extract meaning efficiently one should know how to fragment a sentence into different elements. So creating a processes to fragment a SC can prove to be really helpful in both increasing speed and in increasing accuracy for SC.
2) CR- Fragmenting the argument into Premise, intermediate conclusion, anti premise and conclusion helps in eliminating options quickly and in avoiding wastage of time in understanding the argument.
3) RC- Read diverse topics so that you get comfortable in handling passages from different domains.
4) Quants- Solve questions from sources other than OG especially if you are targeting a higher score in quants.
5) Test Taking Strategy- Have a broad strategy on how you would want to tackle the two different sections on the day of exam. And try testing those strategies on mocks. Also taking mini test of 20-30 questions in time constrained conditions also helps immensely in training your mind to highly stressful situations.
For reference on how to frame a strategy- for verbal I used to break the test down in to 6 blocks of 6 question each. For first block I used to assign 10 min whereas for others I used to assign 11 min. For quants I tried completing half off the questions by 35min mark.
Finally I would like to end by stating that according to me the major difference between my first and second attempt was my increased focus on developing a process and learning from my mistakes. I would recommend all the test takers to emphasize more on understanding the basics and creating a process that works for you and then focus on solving questions to cement that process.
Hope this helps you in your preparation. All the best for you gmat prep
I started preparing for GMAT from Mid May21' and most of my preparation in the beginning centered around Official Guides. I used to solve a fixed number of questions everyday. This part of my preparation helped me by familiarizing with the different type of questions that are asked in GMAT. However, solving questions did not help me in creating a framework that I could replicate in solving questions. During this phase I gave a number of mocks and I realized that SC was my weakness and my current method of preparation was not helping me in improving accuracy in SC section.
It was then that I researched extensively on GMAT CLUB platform and I came across the meaning based approach. I attended the E-GMAT's SC webinar and the meaning based approach appealed to me. This is when I decided to enroll for the E-GMAT verbal course. I made extensive use of the SC modules and they proved to be extremely helpful in improving the way I approached an SC question.
For Quants I mainly focused on solving difficult questions that were available on gmat club platform. This phase of extensive question solving took around 3 months and by the end of the 3rd month I decided to give my first attempt. In the last week of my preparation I decided to spend time giving tests in time constrained environment to ensure that I got accustomed to the stress on the test day. However, it was during this time I realized that were process related gaps in preparation especially in the CR and SC section.
I gave my first attempt and I got a v36 and q49. Right after the exam I spoke to my mentor Dhananjay from egmat about how I felt that this score was not reflective of my true abilities. It is then when we spoke at stretch about how to proceed with our preparation with the focus being on cementing the processes rather than on solving tons of questions.
This phase I can further divide in two parts 1) Strengthening my weak areas which were SC and CR. I spent around 70% on strengthening my weak areas 2) Increasing pace and cementing processes for relatively strong areas- RC and Quants.
For SC and CR I went through the entire egmat course and spent a lot of time in understanding different types of questions and the processes that can be used to solve the different question types. After going through the course I solved questions on egmat platform. But this time I spent a lot of time on understanding why I was making a particular mistake and how I could avoid that mistake in future.
For RC and Quants I did not spend a lot of time on theory but rather I spent time on solving questions and working on the mistakes that I made.
Post this phase I decided to give my second attempt and I was able to score a 740 with a q51 and v39. I would like to share one advice each for different sections that according to me played the most pivotal role in my preparation-
1) SC- Understanding the meaning is a very important aspect for improving accuracy on SC. But in order to extract meaning efficiently one should know how to fragment a sentence into different elements. So creating a processes to fragment a SC can prove to be really helpful in both increasing speed and in increasing accuracy for SC.
2) CR- Fragmenting the argument into Premise, intermediate conclusion, anti premise and conclusion helps in eliminating options quickly and in avoiding wastage of time in understanding the argument.
3) RC- Read diverse topics so that you get comfortable in handling passages from different domains.
4) Quants- Solve questions from sources other than OG especially if you are targeting a higher score in quants.
5) Test Taking Strategy- Have a broad strategy on how you would want to tackle the two different sections on the day of exam. And try testing those strategies on mocks. Also taking mini test of 20-30 questions in time constrained conditions also helps immensely in training your mind to highly stressful situations.
For reference on how to frame a strategy- for verbal I used to break the test down in to 6 blocks of 6 question each. For first block I used to assign 10 min whereas for others I used to assign 11 min. For quants I tried completing half off the questions by 35min mark.
Finally I would like to end by stating that according to me the major difference between my first and second attempt was my increased focus on developing a process and learning from my mistakes. I would recommend all the test takers to emphasize more on understanding the basics and creating a process that works for you and then focus on solving questions to cement that process.
Hope this helps you in your preparation. All the best for you gmat prep
Yogananda
Joined: 26 Jan 2020
Last visit: 06 Oct 2025
Posts: 252
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Given Kudos: 166
Location: India
Concentration: Technology, Strategy
Schools: IIML IPMX'25 (A)
GPA: 4
WE:Information Technology (Computer Software)
05 Dec 2021, 14:22
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Congratulations on the great score.
Best wishes for the application phase.
Best wishes for the application phase.
05 Dec 2021, 19:17
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Congratulations on your achievement !
Best of luck for your applications !
Best of luck for your applications !
