My Journey to 760(Q49V44)

So, it was a long journey with many lengthy interruptions and severe doubts, which finally gave me a satisfying GMAT score. This community has helped me a lot in finetuning my approaches, and I am eternally grateful. With an intent to share and help as many as possible, I might have written a post too long—my sincere apologies for the long post and if it comes across as too indulgent.

I took my first GMAT in Dec 2020 and scored a 700. Coming from an engineering background, I was strong in quant (I know, I know.. will come back to this later). While preparing, I studied the Manhattan Sentence Correction guide and was doing reasonably well. I tend to read a sufficiently good amount daily; hence, it was not intimidating at first. A lot of my preparation was focused on CR while solving mostly OG questions. My preparation for this attempt was borderline casual and centered chiefly around mock tests. I eventually scored 700 in my official exam. I knew I had to take a retest but was unsure as to how to proceed further. I thought it would be better to enroll in a course as it would help me keep things organized, and I could target specific modules as and when required.

After going through the reviews on this forum, I subscribed to the E-GMAT course. However, work pressure had increased substantially, and there were some personal disturbances as well. My preparation went nowhere till December 2021. I would want to cite procrastination as the reason for not diving into the prep; however, I feel procrastination was a symptom. I was intimidated by the enormity of the task ahead, coupled with the genuine doubt if I could prepare for three months given the existing circumstances. There were many times in between when I started the preps, completed a couple of modules, and then let the intensity die down. It was finally towards mid-March 2022 that I decided that I would take the GMAT exams around June. It helped that I worked towards figuring out the relevance of an MBA for me and my post-MBA aspirations, which in turn helped me stay motivated.

SC
In the first phase of my preparation, I concentrated almost exclusively on SC concept learning. While it used to be boring, as it is challenging to engage with the content when you already know 60% of the taught material, I pushed through. The concept, application, and practice quizzes in the egmat helped to keep the focus. I would try to review, analyze and think about the questions I solved incorrectly on these quizzes, and if I still felt unconvinced, I would visit the e-GMAT forum queries to engage in the relevant discussions. I could see the improvements, but I also sensed that I was not 100% confident in the concepts learned. When I started going for the Hard scholarinium questions on egmat, I had a decent accuracy but struggled with time. I figured we face timing issues primarily due to two reasons- slow reading and inefficient processes. Since my reading speed is decent, I tried to rectify my process by revising concepts and trying to create patterns in my head. This is where I started overthinking; as a result, my confidence dipped, and I kept getting worse. I stopped practicing SC for a week and returned to it again. On the first day, I didn't solve a single new question. I went over my e-GMAT metrics and the concept quizzes to figure out what exactly was going wrong. I was able to deduce a couple of things-
1. If one of the answer choices presented a better meaning(it is subjective) of the sentence, I would get entangled with weighing the apparent meaning of the original sentence and the better seeming answer choice. In the process, I would not retain the flaws I detected in the choices or the original sentence and would eventually mark an option without thoroughly weighing in my analysis.
2. Modifiers and parallelism were not my strong suites. E-GMAT has a highly well-curated set of questions that tested meaning parallelism at an incredibly detailed level, which induced a few errors. Modifiers, especially the distant modifiers, the distinction b/w verb and noun modifiers, and their applications in sentences made me uncomfortable. The EGMAT questions were tough, no doubt, but I would notice the percentage of students who got the question correct and the time they would take. That data was an indication that the concepts needed to be further polished.

I returned to the Manhattan SC guide, reread the concerned chapters, and solved the practice questions. This time, I was reading the chapter to find answers to the questions I had formed while analyzing my error log. In addition, I went back to the egmat courses and paid more attention to the approaches possible and the one that was finally taken. I solved custom quizzes of only the "Hard" questions that I had previously answered incorrectly, and even if I remembered the answer to a particular question, I would ensure that I could eliminate the other options for the right reasons. I also tried to do most of these quizzes in "practice" mode to keep evaluating my exact line of thought with the explanations given. I also used the GMAT club forum to discuss these questions. The primary reason to visit the GMAT club forum was the follow-up questions of my fellow journeymen, and I used to try to answer them myself(in my head) before checking out the response by the Verbal experts/Gods. I was surprised to see how often I would get things wrong, but it helped me get clarity on many topics. I also ensured that the intended meaning is paramount and the option choice that offers a better sense is still wrong.
Then, I solved the last 20 questions of the Official GMAT book. I got 18 correct, and I was also able to solve them in a decent time. This is the point where I stopped practicing new questions and would occasionally revise questions from the error log. I did panic a couple of days before the exam, but I just revised the concepts, and while doing so, I was able to map things correctly, which was reassuring. During the official exam, I was highly sure about all the SC questions, and I also answered them in an average of 1:08 mins while achieving a 96%ile score.

RC
In the gap between my first and the second Official attempt, I had read around 15 pretty dense books. There was no general underlying theme connecting these books; some delved into the finer aspects of law and activism and culture, while others dealt with human emotions and anthropology. While I have always been an active reader, I did read these books with an extra intent to disagree or question. During the preparation, I did study the egmat course material, though I was not entirely tuned in. After practicing more challenging questions on EGMAT, I discovered I had issues with Main point questions and tough inference questions, and it was then that I properly studied the EGMAT course again. For passages I used to find challenging, I did write points and tried to connect with the help of decision diagrams( arrows and squares, really). Towards the end, I didn't mind spending a couple of minutes more just reading the passage because I felt it helped me answer the following questions faster. However, on my official GMAT attempt, I did struggle with an RC much more than I had imagined. It was in the second/third quarter, and it came to a point where I did stop solving and just took deep breaths to keep my wits about me. What should I have done to avoid such a scenario- maybe read more alien passages? The more significant takeaway would be to hold your nerves even if you are struggling. GMAT does allow for a couple of mistakes, and hence losing your composure over a couple of tough questions would be far more damaging.

CR
I read the frameworks prescribed by EGMAT and delved right into the questions. I was decent in the initial phase but found my accuracy taking a hit while doing the 700+ level questions. At this stage, I was very committed to the prethinking step. While it helped me get the medium questions correct more often than not, it took significantly longer. Usually, it was not very effective in scoring the more challenging questions. I visited a few GMAT club forum posts, watched a couple of CR youtube videos, and raised a few questions on the EGMAT forum. I modified my prethinking approach by stopping trying to come up with probable answers and focusing heavily on understanding the conclusion and the reasoning used to reach it. Secondly, I ensured I always reacted to quantifiers found in the stem and the option choices. I also started writing the options and crossed them off as I went about eliminating them. These strategies helped, and I was highly confident about CRs in the lead-up to the official exam.

Quant
I picked up topics I was not very confident about and worked almost exclusively on them. I followed E-GMAT only for my quant studies, and I was slowly able to bring the mistakes down to errors due to concentration lapses. I was aware of the confusing NP questions that GMAT tends to throw at you, and I put extra effort into these questions. I also went through the various types of questions on the P&C and Probability section from the OG book and solved the EGMAT questions on these topics, which are slightly on the more challenging side but also come with great explanations. I did not study the other topics very aggressively; however, I did ensure that I kept solving questions based on topics. I used the GMAT club forum to understand alternative approaches to questions that take longer to solve in the traditional method. Apart from the conceptual issues, I faced time management issues, and I will elaborate on this later. The exam day experience was smooth; however, I was slightly disappointed with the eventual quant score.

Time Management-
Three weeks before the official GMAT attempt, I had taken an OG mock and found severe time management issues, even in quant. I felt I could not sustain the momentum through the test and decided to build test stamina. I used the Egmat portal to mimic the verbal or quant section (the breakup of questions is provided in the portal). I would solve a section, do the analysis and related reading, take a break and then take on the next section. I solved one set each every day, and after a week or so, I could see the improvements.

Miscellaneous/Strategy Tips-
Choice of Course material is immaterial- I think it would be apparent from my debrief that EGMAT helped me immensely. However, if you are studying from some other material, please stick to it. Please stick to one course and try to make the most out of it. If you are not enrolled in any particular course, there are enough free resources. However, the importance of your error log increases manifold; hence, ensure that you record the logs with as much information as possible. I took up the course because I needed help properly organizing my learnings.

You never walk alone - The forum does provide access to an obstinate amount of questions; however, the real value of the forum lies in its discussions. It is not enough to read just the most helpful comment; please dive deep into it and engage, if necessary. I also participated in a couple of study groups towards the fag end of my preparation. If you decide to be involved, the right time would probably be halfway into the preparation, when you need to dig deeper into questions or formulate particular strategies. I found a few genuinely beautiful souls out there who encouraged me and helped fill the confidence gap I was reeling from.

Pivot, Pivot, Pivot- Having your exam strategy ready is one of the key elements to a successful GMAT attempt. Do not be fixated on one strategy; pivot whenever you feel something is not working for you. This forum and its youtube channel will help you validate the strategy you come up with. It is essential to take these pivots as a means of bettering your performance rather than as a reflection of the failed strategy used earlier. If you are active in study groups and discussing strategies, there would be great since your group mates would have a sneak peek into your thinking.

Reading- Verbal is really a test of careful and speed reading. Developing a habit of intense reading and reflection would help you understand arguments better. I think it helps in skimming off the non-important sections of the passage/stem, helping you reduce the time taken to read and decluttering the information presented to you.

Prioritize quality over quantity. Solving a truckload of questions might not be as beneficial to you as revising and redoing your error log questions.
Your study plan should not exceed four months. It becomes increasingly challenging to retain concepts longer, and a shorter timeframe would force you to develop strategies with defined timelines. Doing so would, in turn, stop you from scampering for every other resource available, and you would want to have some deadline pressure to accelerate if you have the room for it.

This is a rough collation of how my preparation journey was. But as we know, success has many fathers. I may want to believe that I scored a 760 because my preparation was well-rounded and incorporated the above "useful" strategies, but that's for the Gods to determine. Maybe I was just plain lucky. On a mental level, I did not stop envisaging myself scoring a 760 on the final day and just hung on, working on the basics and figuring out strategies that work for me. I had to develop the patience to let things come together, and the GMAT journey and the results have definitely nudged the impulsive me to take note.

Thanks,
Meenhaz