My Journey from 600 to 700-GMAT TUTOR REVIEW:RAHUL (YOUR GMAT CLASSES)

My GMAT journey began roughly in May 2020. The pandemic was still new to our lives and I had never really given MBA a very serious thought. Then something in me changed and all of a sudden, I wanted to pursue a business degree. Anyway, my entire GMAT experience is for another post where I shall mention all the key points and takeaways relevant to my preparation and how I went from a 440 (Q28, V24) on a mock to a 700 (Q49, V35) in the actual exam, but this is a special appreciation post for my tutor and guide- Rahul Raj, Founder of Your GMAT Classes.

Some context: I am a fashion technology graduate with work ex in one of the leading fashion houses of India. The last time I studied for any entrance exam was in 2013. So, studying for math after 7 years was itself a huge task for me.

I approached Rahul in August 2021, more than a year after I decided to pursue MBA and prepare for the GMAT. I had been very inconsistent till November 2020. Thereafter, I purchased a few online courses (I shall mention them in my detailed GMAT debrief, the link to which I shall mention below, at the end of this post) but in vain. I won't say that those courses didn’t help me at all- each course taught me few things that ultimately contributed to my 700-success. But none of the courses helped me truly target my weakness, because I didn’t know where the problem was. That’s where Rahul came in. Just few classes with him and I could already see myself solving quant questions with a better understanding of the concepts. Earlier, whenever I would see a Number Properties or Modulus question on the screen I would freeze. I used to not even finish reading the question and could feel myself sweating and overthinking. But after Rahul taught me the concepts, asked me to religiously revise those concepts and familiarized me with few strategies to approach the trickier mod and NP questions, I could see the nervousness and anxiety slowly fading- something I could not see happening earlier. I took my first ever full-length mock test without any significant preparation on 5th June, 2020. It was the E-GMAT sigma mock test and I scored a 440 (Q28, V24). By the time I approached Rahul in August, 2021, I had already taken 2 GMAT attempts and had received a score of 600 (which was disappointing because by then I was scoring 620-640 on my official mocks and 650-660 on unofficial mocks from seemingly reliable test prep companies). It was the journey from 600 to 700 that needed the most work and I knew in my mind and heart that I wasn’t very confident even though I had already solved the OG once.

After tutoring under Rahul, it took me 2 more attempts to shake off the anxiety because by then the initial 600 had already messed with my head and I was constantly doubting myself. Even though Rahul used to ask me to relax I used to pressurize myself into believing that each attempt was my last. When you put that kind of pressure on yourself you tend to get more nervous. Finally, on 22nd June, 2022, I relaxed a bit, having learnt from my past mistakes, and went ahead for my 5th attempt. I scored a whopping 700! While this may not be a very impressive score as compared to what so many people on this platform achieve, it was a huge win for me. And I have learnt in the past few months that its never a good idea to keep comparing your story to others'. Now that I have finally scored a 700, after a very long struggle, I would like to mention some crucial tips and pieces of advice that Rahul gave me during my preparation. I found those tips very helpful and would like to share them with you all so that you too can understand how great a teacher he really is:

1. PRACTISE, PRACTISE, PRACTISE!

The most cliched yet sound advise you’ll ever get from ANYBODY who has prepared for the GMAT. Sounds so basic, right? It is and it isn’t. It is basic and obvious because of course, you gotta practise, duh! But it is also not so obvious because you need to know HOW to practise and WHAT areas to target. Think of it as a workout- if you want to grow your bicep muscles, you need to target the right area. You can’t target your thigh muscles and expect your biceps to grow, isn’t it? (Too much gym analogy??)
Rahul helped me target the topics I was the most nervous and underconfident in and that’s what led to more confidence.

2. STAY OPTIMISTIC

Winning the mind game is winning half the battle in the GMAT. When I stopped getting anxious over the tests and questions I started scoring better. Why? Because all that energy that went into overthinking started getting invested in solving questions with logic. Rahul used to ask me to not lose hope just because of one bad mock test and as someone who used to lose her mind over every bad score, I can assure you that when your tutor has faith in you, you automatically start to feel much better.

3. BASICS FIRST

I think this is pretty basic advice but Rahul helped me actually understand the importance of this step. You need to know your basics before you can do anything else mentioned in this post. You could solve 100 questions but if you don’t know the basic concepts or formulae, there is simply no point in practising.

4. QUALITY OVER QUANTITY

It is any day better to solve just 10 questions in a day as long as you understand the solutions inside-out than to solve 50 questions in a day and not really grasp the concept/logic. Rahul emphasized on one technique and that was the game-changer- every time I used to sit to review a sectional or full-length mock test, Rahul used to ask me to solve each wrong question again but without looking at the solution till I could solve it on my own, irrespective of how long it took me to solve that question. If I would feel tired after trying for 30 min, I used to skip that question during review and revisit it the next day with a fresh state of mind. Once I started using this strategy I could see a positive impact. When you force yourself to figure out a solution your mind shows immense promise and in 90% of such cases you do end up solving it on your own- even if your method is longer. This applied to questions that I skipped/guessed or solved correctly but with a lot of difficulty.

5. REVIEW

Taking the mock test as if it’s the real deal is one huge task, but the review is equally important. Earlier I used to just read the solutions to the verbal questions but later on I started focusing more on the conclusion (in CR) and the purpose of each passage (in RC). The way you review your questions is VERY important. Do not try to fool anyone. After all, you’re doing this for yourself, not anybody else.

6. SECTIONAL MOCKS

This is something that I’ve heard from friends who prepared under other tutors or test prep companies too- you MUST solve sectional mocks regularly. If not daily then at least on alternate days. This really helped me in verbal because verbal is a very “heavy” section on the GMAT. Its full of text that you need to read and understand, and its more logic than mere English. If you get into the habit of taking sectional mocks everyday you put yourself through the grind daily. That prepares you for the D-DAY.

7. FOCUS ON ACCURACY NOT TIME

I’ve seen so many people, including myself at some point, worry about the amount of time they take to solve each question. Let me tell you one thing straight- if you improve your accuracy rate, your timing will automatically improve. Its simple- the better you get, the lesser time you’ll take to solve each question. So, focus more on getting your answers right, or in the case of verbal, focus on why the wrong answers are wrong so that you get to the correct option. Point of elimination (POE) is a savior!

8. GMATCLUB TESTS

I cannot emphasize enough on the importance of GMATCLUB Tests in my GMAT journey. Rahul made me solve all 27 mocks with thorough revision. I have even reshuffled and solved the tests because they're so helpful. I owe a huge part of my Q49 to these tests!

Last, but not the least, Rahul was always there to answer any queries I had and always helped me calm down every time I thought I was on the verge of giving up. It took me a long time to get here and he has been very supportive throughout, reminding me that once I have the score I have been working so hard for, everything will have been worth it, and boy, was he right! If you have the right mentor or tutor, then targeting your weakness becomes much easier and logical and you tend to gain more confidence as a result. I hope this review, though quite exhaustive, helps someone in some way. I would definitely recommend Rahul to anybody who feels the need to study under personal supervision. Hope this helps. 😊

P.S.: I'm planning to retake the GMAT in few weeks just to see if I can improve my score by 10-20 points minimum. This is just to help me get a better edge, although I am now much more relaxed. I shall update this section if I do end up improving my score. Wish me luck!