My GMAT journey to 770

Hello! I am Bhavesh and like many others here on GMAT Club, I too aspire to pursue an MBA from a top B-school. My GMAT journey was filled with its fair share of trials and tribulations, but it helped me grow and learn valuable lessons. I have shared below the challenges I faced and strategies I used to achieve my target GMAT score. If you are also an MBA aspirant, or simply someone looking for tips to prepare for the GMAT, read on!

Attempt #1: One step forward, Two steps back
My journey towards achieving a high GMAT score started in June 2022. Before beginning my preparations, I wanted to assess my ability and hence, decided to take a diagnostic test (Practice Exam 1 in GMAT official prep). I scored 560, which was far from my target score of 730+. At this very moment, I knew that my preparation was not going to be easy.

I spent the next three months studying the Quant and Verbal concepts, and practiced the entire GMAT Official prep package (GMAT OG 2021, Quant & Verbal Review 2022, and Advanced questions). To assess my progress during the practice, I built error logs and took 2 official practice exams in which I scored 680 & 710.

560 to 680 to 710…...That’s amazing! What’s next - 740?

Quite impressed with the pace of my improvement, I booked the slot for my GMAT exam in early September 2022. I decided to re-do the OG questions I answered incorrectly and make use of the other 3 official GMAT practice exams to achieve my target score.

To my surprise, this is when everything started going downhill!

I could cross the 710 mark only once in the 3 mocks, and it was still not even close to my target score of 730+. However, I went ahead with my GMAT exam in September and ended up with a score of 680 (Q48 V34).

Okay, so what went wrong? These were my learnings from attempt#1:
1. Review ALL your answers: Though I maintained an error log for tracking my mistakes during practice, I never reviewed the questions I answered correctly. Did I get them right because I knew the other options were wrong or was it just luck?
2. Have a solid exam strategy: Devising an effective GMAT exam strategy is not simple. There are numerous articles online on the best exam day strategies, but not everything works for everyone. Exam day strategies should be formulated based on strengths and weaknesses, identified during the mock exams. "What kind of questions did I skip?” “How often did I track my time?” “Was I rushing in any section?” “At what time did I take the exam?” Probe yourself with similar questions in the initial mocks and firm up a robust strategy.
3. Take the exam only when you are ready: The numbers don’t lie (at least, not always!). The scores of my last 3 mocks clearly indicated the state of my readiness and were a cue to postpone my GMAT exam. Always take the final exam only after consistently performing well in the mocks. The GMAT exam is $275+ and has a cooling-off period of 16 days between two attempts. You do not want to waste time and money on an exam you are not fully prepared for.

Attempt#2: Another shot at the GMAT
After taking a break from GMAT prep till the end of October 2022, I decided to take the GMAT again. At this point, I was confident of scoring high in Quant and focused on improving my verbal score (especially after realizing the importance of the Verbal section on the overall score).

I chose egmat's online course for their Scholaranium, which provided a fresh set of questions to practice, and for their outstanding verbal strategies. I started building topic-wise quizzes in Scholaranium to practice different concepts, and revising video modules whenever I found myself weak in a particular topic. Although I had to unlearn a few concepts initially, following a process-based approach instead of shortcuts helped me see visible improvements in my accuracy and Verbal scores.

egmat's Verbal strategies, particularly the meaning-based approach for SC and reading strategies for RC were the game changer for me. For instance, during my first attempt I used to isolate the underlined part in SC and check for grammatical errors. However, this method proved helpful only while answering easy and medium difficulty questions. With the help of egmat's meaning-based approach, I was able to crack even the hard SC questions with ease. Moreover, I previously used to spend a considerable amount of time reading each and every line of an RC passage without a structured approach. After discovering egmat's highly structured reading strategies, I was able to comprehend the entire passage thoroughly in a shorter span of time, without skipping even a single line.

Simultaneously, I took mock exams and found myself consistently achieving my target score. Happy with my performance, I decided to take the GMAT exam in mid-December. This time I was confident in my preparation and was ready to ace the GMAT.

Guess what? I scored 690 (Q49 V34). It was a shocker!

I felt that I had performed really well except for a few mistakes in Quant but definitely did not expect a score of less than 700. Maybe it was just a bad day!

Attempt#3: Third time’s a charm
My faith in my preparations was still intact and I did not want my efforts to be futile. I stayed optimistic and booked the next available GMAT Online slot after the 16 days cooling-off period. When I finally took the exam again, I was calm and determined, and focused only on the things I could control.

All my hard work and perseverance paid off, as I ended up getting a score of 770 (Q50 V45). It was an incredible feeling to enter the 99th percentile!

What attempt#2 and attempt#3 taught me:
NEVER GIVE UP: Sometimes, despite putting in our best efforts, we might not achieve our desired goals. Do not get discouraged. There are many factors beyond our control and one bad day shouldn't be a reason to give up on your dreams. Instead, keep a positive mindset and work towards the goal.

I knew that if I didn't achieve it now, I would soon enough.


I hope everyone found my GMAT journey to be an interesting read, and that it provided some useful insights for those who are also preparing for the exam. This experience showed me that it is important to keep pushing forward even when things don't go as planned.

Bonus content!
Here are a few tips that might help you prepare for the exam more systematically:
1. Do not practice using the OG at the beginning of your preparation. The Official GMAT prep questions are extremely valuable and should be used only after mastering the concepts. Firm up your understanding of different concepts using question banks provided by tutors. egmat's Scholaranium has played a significant role in sharpening my quant and verbal skills. I would recommend egmat to anyone looking for GMAT-like questions to master the fundamental concepts.
2. After learning the concepts and taking 1-2 mock exams, decide the mode of GMAT exam you will be opting for (Test center vs Online). Accordingly, customize your practice and mock exams to mimic your test environment. For example, GMAT Online requires the use of a whiteboard whereas the test centers require the use of laminated scratch pads + fine-tip markers. Getting familiarized with the test-taking method will help in improving your speed of answering.
3. Use keyboard shortcuts such as Alt+N for “Next” and Alt+Y for “Yes” during the official GMAT prep mocks. This practice can help you save up to a minute in the final exam.

Good luck!