Studying tons and still struggling with the GMAT? READ THIS

My journey with the GMAT started on late Feb 22. I started studying by focusing on the Verbal side, because my math was already strong since my background is from Engineering. I mainly prepared using the OG and I had access to one of the already well-known platforms in the market. I prepared for about 6 weeks without any structure, just jumping around from different topics and exercises and I got a 700 Q49 and V35. After all that preparation my verbal was still weak, and I knew it because I wasn’t feeling confident when answering the questions. It was clear that this approach wasn't working so I started to explore other options, talking to friends and reading reviews. Many people pointed me out to E-GMAT, especially for the verbal section.

I took some weeks off to rest and then I wrote the E-GMAT team, describing my situation and my need to improve in Verbal; within a couple of hours someone wrote me back proposing to have a Zoom call, stating that I needed a specialized plan to achieve my target score. I was already overwhelmed; I was used to the typical bot e-mails from the other platforms that do nothing but get you on your nerves, because you know they ain’t made for you. After having the Zoom call with the E-GMAT expert, we looked at my ESR and went on with a specialized plan for me. I started right away with the SC module.

The SC module is the best course that I could find for GMAT…by FAR. It is so well designed to help you tackle SC questions. I barely made any mistakes after doing the course and was feeling 200% confident. The meaning approach method is the KEY. Meaning is everything in SC, I am telling you this from experience. On my first attempt, after reading option A, I went directly looking for splits; that is not the right way. If you get the meaning right, then the rest comes alone. Therefore, I was feeling ready to go for the GMAT again and starting taking mock exams that the platform offers you. Since I was still struggling with CR and RC, I wasn’t getting to my target score. It was there when Payal, co-founder of E-GMAT, wrote to me personally. She is so deeply committed with the students of E-GMAT that she does a routine audit of student progression. She noticed that though I was doing some things right, I wasn’t getting other things right and gave me specific instructions on how to proceed with my hyper-specific study plan. Payal then assigned me to Rida, one of the experts from E-GMAT. Rida really helped me plan everything. She gave me insights into my performances based on my Scholoranium performances. She continuously helped me create a plan to improve my weak areas until I was finally ready to move on. Overall, I had a wonderful experience with Rida and I would really recommend her.

I then continued with the CR course, and although it does not have many concepts to master, the pre-thinking approach used by E-GMAT really helped me master CR. It helped me understand the importance of classifying the arguments into conclusions and premises and pre-think all the possible approaches to work on it. I then finished the verbal section with the RC course, which is centered around really getting the meaning of the passage, by connecting sentences and inferring what the authors intends to say, emphasizing not to read fast or skip-read, but take your time to understand the passage. In the end, it takes you less time because you don’t have to come back to the passage for every question.

I already had my test date appointed and I couldn't move it, because I was leaving on vacations. Therefore, I didn't have enough time to do the whole Quant course. I actually had less than two weeks. So, that's one of the first things that I would suggest when preparing for the GMAT; plan and study with enough time. The Quant course is fantastic, it includes a special feature called PACE that makes you save time in all the topics that you already know, if you are from a math background. You get diagnostic tests in every section and the system smartly marks which lessons you can skip. If you are weak in Quant don't worry, it includes until the tiniest detail and starts teaching you concepts in a progressive way so that anyone can master them.

Finally, I would also give a 100% vow for the Scholaranium platform and question bank. It includes detailed analytics on sub-sections that make it so easy to identify your weak and strong areas. Scholaranium also includes 5 mocks, which are almost the same to the real exam (and I’ve tried many free mocks from different sources, all have flaws and do not resemble the real exam). My last mock was 720 and two days after I got the 720 in the real exam, so the mocks are very accurate.

Summing up, having tried other platforms, E-GMAT is the very best among the market. If I were you, I wouldn’t doubt a second about choosing it, especially if you are struggling in Verbal.

To recap, key learnings and takeaways:
1) Start with time, like at least 4 months: GMAT is a tough exam to master, requires tons of practice. You can also sit for it many times, so it's better to leave you enough time to study and be able to sit for 2 or 3 times before your applications
2) Have a plan: don't just skim through the OG guide or practice the 1000 SC Questions, you need a detailed plan to make your master the techniques. I suggest to get a complete online course, and I strongly recommend E-GMAT. They provide you a plan, the structure, question bank, analytics, everything...makes your life easier and ensures your success
3) Use the meaning based approach...for everything! Yes, not only in SC, you will see that figuring out the intended meaning will help you in all Verbal sections
4) Use pre-thinking for RC and CR: this changed my life in those two sections, because with this technique you can easily cross out the so tricky options that appear to be correct but are only there to fool you
5) Mocks: I did all 6 official mocks and Scholaranium mocks. In the official mocks I was getting 760-770 scores and my personal opinion is that they are a little bit easier than the real exam, specially the Quant section. Scholaranium mocks are much more accurate, so I wouldn't bother buying the extra official mocks
6) Error-log: quality over quantity is so much more important. Before I started with E-GMAT, I had solved hundreds of questions, with very little results. When E-GMAT introduced me to the error-log, I focused more on quality and on reviewing and learning from my mistakes

I wish you all the best in your GMAT learning!