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09 Mar 2021, 09:52
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"Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did”
These words above are in brief the story of my GMAT journey which spans across 3.5+ years and 5 attempts (excl. one failed GMAT online attempt).
It started in 2017 when I decided to prepare for GMAT with a goal to pursue MBA in 2018. Being an Indian-Male-Engineer, I was aware that I will need 700+ score to get into ISB or higher score to get into any international business school.
Attempt 1: July 2017
Materials used: Verbal – Manhattan, Quant – self-study, OG, GMAT Prep mocks and Veritas mocks
I appeared for the exam with 45 days of preparation. I was shattered to see extremely poor score on the day of exam and was confused where it went wrong as I was scoring close to 700 on free GMAT prep mocks and veritas mocks. I was surrounded by people who have scored 700+ and a few who have scored 750+. Since everyone was scoring 700+, I felt that that I can also do it too and underestimated the difficulty of the exam and the exam pressure. Because GMAT has limited content to understand, I felt that finishing and understanding the content will be enough. In addition to underestimating the exam, I was also preparing for CAT. While this simultaneous preparation can work for quant, it is a recipe of failure for verbal. GMAT Verbal requires a completely different mindset and strategy. This made me realise that GMAT is more about strategy and logic than the topics to study and understand. Attempting both the exams at the same time i.e. GMAT and CAT together didn’t work out well for me.
Attempt 2: Jan 2018
Materials used: Verbal – e-gmat videos classes, Quant – self-study, OG and Manhattan mocks
After the first failed attempt, I have decided to give another shot at GMAT. I was suggested to use e-gmat for verbal for the first time. I started to go through the videos and solved question from OG. I could see the immediate improvement in by verbal accuracy. I was solving the OG questions from OG book so it was not properly timed. Come the exam day, I was able to finish quant with 15 min left but had to guess last 4 questions in verbal. The screen flashed to show 690 (Q49, V34). I cancelled my score as I didn’t want to reflect a score of less than 700 on my score sheet. Though the score was better than last time but it was not the scored that I wanted or will get me to any good college. Again, this led to think that where did I go wrong as I was consistently getting 700-720 on the Manhattan mocks. I realised that mocks core ± 30 is expected due to factors such as foreign environment, exam pressure, etc. Therefore, if the target score is 720 then aim for 740 on mocks to be better equipped for the exam. The score improved because I was preparing for only GMAT this time but I was using more of a brute force approach i.e. solve more questions to correct mistakes. Additionally, I didn’t use scholarinium from e-gmat (I realised the importance of scholarinium while preparing for my last attempt)
Looking back at the score, I realised that accepting scores above 690 is not that bad as having an accepted low may open doors depending on your profile. This can also provide benchmark for the improved higher score later.
Next, I moved to UK for some time and my focus shifted to my job which is very demanding as it required 12-14 hours on an average day.
Attempt 3: Jan 2020
Materials used: Verbal – e-gmat videos classes, Quant – self-study, OG, GMAT Prep mocks and Veritas mocks
Fast forward 18 months, I have started preparing again for GMAT and used the same methodology as last attempt. I was out of touch for 2 years so kind of back to ground zero again. I was inconsistent with preparation thinking that I will be able to cross barrier of 700 score with little incremental effort as I had already scored 690. To my surprise, I scored 620 (Q49, V21). I was absolutely devastated to see the score as I had put in decent amount of time. This kind of score can lead to self-doubt. I was preparing with my friend, who was using a classroom program, and he scored 710. I realised that I need to change the way I prepare.
Attempt 4: Aug 2020
Materials used: Verbal – e-gmat videos classes for SC, CR Bible for CR and The Economist for reading materials, Quant – self-study, OG, GMAT Prep mocks, Veritas mocks and Manhattan mocks
After multiple discussions, I decided to join a classroom program with the intention to get personalised touch for my preparation. With my ESR in hand, I discussed it with teachers at the coaching class. I was advised to take to mock and then take it from there. After the initial buzz of joining the course, I was surprised when they asked me to use e-gmat material for SC. My thought process was that I didn’t signup for this. Additionally, I realised that I am not changing inputs and expecting different output. In Mar 2020, Covid-19 happened and prep is back online. Teachers at the coaching class are not competent enough to handle online classes. Students faced significant lag in receiving response from them. I couldn’t get the personalised touch I was looking for and eventually decided to prepare on my own. I read the CR bible for CR prep and Economist for RC. CR bible can teach you concepts but not the strategy. I could feel the improvement in reading speed through timed reading of 2-3 articles from Economist daily. Fast forward to mocks, I scored 700-750 on all the mocks I attempted and I attempted 11 mocks. The average score for mocks was 730. I was feeling confident that I will be able to do better as this was GMAT Online attempt and I as going to give exam in the same environment where I was preparing and attempting mocks.
Come the exam day, I started with quant first and was able to finish it with 17 min left. On verbal, I started with three CR question. I remember giving them enough time to get them correct and took 7-8 min to solve them as they were the initial questions and I wanted to get them right. There onward I had RC next and I was under constant pressure to catch-up on time. Eventually, I guessed last 3 questions to finish my exam. I was expecting some improvement over previous attempt but just saw a 670 (Q50, V31) on my GMAT online attempt. Took a few days to decide that I need another attempt. I saw an improvement in accuracy for SC as I got better at relying on meaning. I was struggling with CR strategy as I was taking 2.5+ min to solve CR questions. on RC, I was taking more time but realised that I was in good place for reading speed but needed better comprehension of the passage.
Attempt 5: Feb 2021
Materials used: e-gmat videos verbal and quant, scholarinium from e-gmat, OG, GMAT Prep mocks, sigma-x mocks and The Economist
10 days after I got the result of last attempt and after facing numerous questions of whether I am capable of scoring 720-730 on GMAT, I reached out to e-gmat and spoke to Karan (mentor at e-gmat) and literally asked him that should I consider other exams? He guided me on the way I should use the course for both verbal and quant. I took the course in Aug 2020 and started preparing.
I was enrolled to a mentorship program by Dhananjay (DJ) in which I was given a study plan for next 2 months. Eventually, I had to take a break from preparation a couple of months but started preparing again in mid-Dec. I found a mentor in DJ who understood the scenario and didn’t shy away from helping me. I revised my plan for new timeline to give exam in mid-Feb. DJ provided me with a plan to prep and then an extensive plan for exam readiness. He asked me to focus on the process in SC and CR and helped me to comprehend better in RC.
The plan from DJ was structured such that I was able to improve on the process execution for SC and CR. By using exam readiness quizzes, I was asked to solve 28q in 59 min, 32 question in 61 min and 36q in 61 min for verbal and similar quizzes for quant. If I have missed out on target score in quizzes then I mailed the issue to support team for help. These quizzes prepared me for the worst-case scenario on the exam day (“Prepare for the worst and hope for the best”). DJ guided me to use the scholarinium properly i.e. identify the gaps in your preparation and go back to strengthen concepts. The segmentation on scholarinium is created in such a way that it can pin point to the gaps in your understanding. This helped me get better grip on the process in CR and SC and helped me comprehend better on RC passages. I attempted four GMAT prep mocks with average of 750.
This time I had prepared consistently for the exam and did the preparation as guided by e-gmat support team, revised error logs, quizzes, and mocks. Fast forward to the GMAT online exam day, I am 40min into my exam and the screen froze. I was asked to abandon the exam and was advised to try to find another slot. 1 week after the incomplete exam, I decided to schedule the exam on centre and give it a shot as I was convinced that GMAT online issue will not be solved in 2 weeks (the issue is not solved after 3 weeks at the time of de-brief).
Fast forward to new exam date, I was full of joy to see my dream score of 750 (Q50, V41) on screen. The mentorship program from e-gmat and the scholaranium were the key factors for my 160 point score improvement and 20 point improvement in verbal section. The mentorship program provided the customized touch for the students and encouraged students to perform better with right strategy and focus. This human touch to the prep was what I needed after 4 failed attempts.
I will be happy to address any further queries. Please drop a message on LinkedIn.
Apologies for the inadvertent typos.
Sandeep Jain
These words above are in brief the story of my GMAT journey which spans across 3.5+ years and 5 attempts (excl. one failed GMAT online attempt).
It started in 2017 when I decided to prepare for GMAT with a goal to pursue MBA in 2018. Being an Indian-Male-Engineer, I was aware that I will need 700+ score to get into ISB or higher score to get into any international business school.
Attempt 1: July 2017
Materials used: Verbal – Manhattan, Quant – self-study, OG, GMAT Prep mocks and Veritas mocks
I appeared for the exam with 45 days of preparation. I was shattered to see extremely poor score on the day of exam and was confused where it went wrong as I was scoring close to 700 on free GMAT prep mocks and veritas mocks. I was surrounded by people who have scored 700+ and a few who have scored 750+. Since everyone was scoring 700+, I felt that that I can also do it too and underestimated the difficulty of the exam and the exam pressure. Because GMAT has limited content to understand, I felt that finishing and understanding the content will be enough. In addition to underestimating the exam, I was also preparing for CAT. While this simultaneous preparation can work for quant, it is a recipe of failure for verbal. GMAT Verbal requires a completely different mindset and strategy. This made me realise that GMAT is more about strategy and logic than the topics to study and understand. Attempting both the exams at the same time i.e. GMAT and CAT together didn’t work out well for me.
Attempt 2: Jan 2018
Materials used: Verbal – e-gmat videos classes, Quant – self-study, OG and Manhattan mocks
After the first failed attempt, I have decided to give another shot at GMAT. I was suggested to use e-gmat for verbal for the first time. I started to go through the videos and solved question from OG. I could see the immediate improvement in by verbal accuracy. I was solving the OG questions from OG book so it was not properly timed. Come the exam day, I was able to finish quant with 15 min left but had to guess last 4 questions in verbal. The screen flashed to show 690 (Q49, V34). I cancelled my score as I didn’t want to reflect a score of less than 700 on my score sheet. Though the score was better than last time but it was not the scored that I wanted or will get me to any good college. Again, this led to think that where did I go wrong as I was consistently getting 700-720 on the Manhattan mocks. I realised that mocks core ± 30 is expected due to factors such as foreign environment, exam pressure, etc. Therefore, if the target score is 720 then aim for 740 on mocks to be better equipped for the exam. The score improved because I was preparing for only GMAT this time but I was using more of a brute force approach i.e. solve more questions to correct mistakes. Additionally, I didn’t use scholarinium from e-gmat (I realised the importance of scholarinium while preparing for my last attempt)
Looking back at the score, I realised that accepting scores above 690 is not that bad as having an accepted low may open doors depending on your profile. This can also provide benchmark for the improved higher score later.
Next, I moved to UK for some time and my focus shifted to my job which is very demanding as it required 12-14 hours on an average day.
Attempt 3: Jan 2020
Materials used: Verbal – e-gmat videos classes, Quant – self-study, OG, GMAT Prep mocks and Veritas mocks
Fast forward 18 months, I have started preparing again for GMAT and used the same methodology as last attempt. I was out of touch for 2 years so kind of back to ground zero again. I was inconsistent with preparation thinking that I will be able to cross barrier of 700 score with little incremental effort as I had already scored 690. To my surprise, I scored 620 (Q49, V21). I was absolutely devastated to see the score as I had put in decent amount of time. This kind of score can lead to self-doubt. I was preparing with my friend, who was using a classroom program, and he scored 710. I realised that I need to change the way I prepare.
Attempt 4: Aug 2020
Materials used: Verbal – e-gmat videos classes for SC, CR Bible for CR and The Economist for reading materials, Quant – self-study, OG, GMAT Prep mocks, Veritas mocks and Manhattan mocks
After multiple discussions, I decided to join a classroom program with the intention to get personalised touch for my preparation. With my ESR in hand, I discussed it with teachers at the coaching class. I was advised to take to mock and then take it from there. After the initial buzz of joining the course, I was surprised when they asked me to use e-gmat material for SC. My thought process was that I didn’t signup for this. Additionally, I realised that I am not changing inputs and expecting different output. In Mar 2020, Covid-19 happened and prep is back online. Teachers at the coaching class are not competent enough to handle online classes. Students faced significant lag in receiving response from them. I couldn’t get the personalised touch I was looking for and eventually decided to prepare on my own. I read the CR bible for CR prep and Economist for RC. CR bible can teach you concepts but not the strategy. I could feel the improvement in reading speed through timed reading of 2-3 articles from Economist daily. Fast forward to mocks, I scored 700-750 on all the mocks I attempted and I attempted 11 mocks. The average score for mocks was 730. I was feeling confident that I will be able to do better as this was GMAT Online attempt and I as going to give exam in the same environment where I was preparing and attempting mocks.
Come the exam day, I started with quant first and was able to finish it with 17 min left. On verbal, I started with three CR question. I remember giving them enough time to get them correct and took 7-8 min to solve them as they were the initial questions and I wanted to get them right. There onward I had RC next and I was under constant pressure to catch-up on time. Eventually, I guessed last 3 questions to finish my exam. I was expecting some improvement over previous attempt but just saw a 670 (Q50, V31) on my GMAT online attempt. Took a few days to decide that I need another attempt. I saw an improvement in accuracy for SC as I got better at relying on meaning. I was struggling with CR strategy as I was taking 2.5+ min to solve CR questions. on RC, I was taking more time but realised that I was in good place for reading speed but needed better comprehension of the passage.
Attempt 5: Feb 2021
Materials used: e-gmat videos verbal and quant, scholarinium from e-gmat, OG, GMAT Prep mocks, sigma-x mocks and The Economist
10 days after I got the result of last attempt and after facing numerous questions of whether I am capable of scoring 720-730 on GMAT, I reached out to e-gmat and spoke to Karan (mentor at e-gmat) and literally asked him that should I consider other exams? He guided me on the way I should use the course for both verbal and quant. I took the course in Aug 2020 and started preparing.
I was enrolled to a mentorship program by Dhananjay (DJ) in which I was given a study plan for next 2 months. Eventually, I had to take a break from preparation a couple of months but started preparing again in mid-Dec. I found a mentor in DJ who understood the scenario and didn’t shy away from helping me. I revised my plan for new timeline to give exam in mid-Feb. DJ provided me with a plan to prep and then an extensive plan for exam readiness. He asked me to focus on the process in SC and CR and helped me to comprehend better in RC.
The plan from DJ was structured such that I was able to improve on the process execution for SC and CR. By using exam readiness quizzes, I was asked to solve 28q in 59 min, 32 question in 61 min and 36q in 61 min for verbal and similar quizzes for quant. If I have missed out on target score in quizzes then I mailed the issue to support team for help. These quizzes prepared me for the worst-case scenario on the exam day (“Prepare for the worst and hope for the best”). DJ guided me to use the scholarinium properly i.e. identify the gaps in your preparation and go back to strengthen concepts. The segmentation on scholarinium is created in such a way that it can pin point to the gaps in your understanding. This helped me get better grip on the process in CR and SC and helped me comprehend better on RC passages. I attempted four GMAT prep mocks with average of 750.
This time I had prepared consistently for the exam and did the preparation as guided by e-gmat support team, revised error logs, quizzes, and mocks. Fast forward to the GMAT online exam day, I am 40min into my exam and the screen froze. I was asked to abandon the exam and was advised to try to find another slot. 1 week after the incomplete exam, I decided to schedule the exam on centre and give it a shot as I was convinced that GMAT online issue will not be solved in 2 weeks (the issue is not solved after 3 weeks at the time of de-brief).
Fast forward to new exam date, I was full of joy to see my dream score of 750 (Q50, V41) on screen. The mentorship program from e-gmat and the scholaranium were the key factors for my 160 point score improvement and 20 point improvement in verbal section. The mentorship program provided the customized touch for the students and encouraged students to perform better with right strategy and focus. This human touch to the prep was what I needed after 4 failed attempts.
I will be happy to address any further queries. Please drop a message on LinkedIn.
Apologies for the inadvertent typos.
Sandeep Jain
09 Mar 2021, 16:06
Kudos
Bookmarks
How do you finish the Quant section with 17 minutes remaining? Are you doing the problems all in your head?
Posted from my mobile device
Posted from my mobile device
ramlala
Joined: 22 Aug 2020
Last visit: 13 Dec 2022
Posts: 469
Given Kudos: 30
Location: India
Concentration: International Business, Finance
Schools: IIMA PGPX'23 INSEAD Jan'23 intake Sloan (MIT) ISB HEC Said
GPA: 4
WE:Project Management (Energy)
09 Mar 2021, 17:29
Kudos
Bookmarks
Dear Sandeep Jain,
Many Many congratulations for such a great score.
You have proved that success always follows with Hard work and strong determination.
May God bless you.
Many Many congratulations for such a great score.
You have proved that success always follows with Hard work and strong determination.
May God bless you.
