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Apr 2212:30 AM EDT
-01:30 AM EDT
At one point, she believed GMAT wasn’t for her. After scoring 595, self-doubt crept in and she questioned her potential. But instead of quitting, she made the right strategic changes. The result? A remarkable comeback to 695. Check out how Saakshi did it.
Apr 1612:00 PM EDT
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Apr 2301:30 AM EDT
-02:30 AM EDT
Struggling with GMAT Verbal as a non-native speaker? Harsh improved his score from 595 to 695 in just 45 days—and scored a 99 %ile in Verbal (V88)! Learn how smart strategy, clarity, and guided prep helped him gain 100 points.
Apr 2308:00 PM PDT
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Video explanations + diagnosis of 10 weakest areas + 150+ short videos + study plan!
Apr 2610:00 AM EDT
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The Target Test Prep course represents a quantum leap forward in GMAT preparation, a radical reinterpretation of the way that students should study. Try before you buy with a 5-day, full-access trial of the course for FREE!
Apr 2711:00 AM EDT
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Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors
Apr 2808:00 AM PDT
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Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.
27 Oct 2021, 13:35
Kudos
Bookmarks
3rd time Lucky with e-GMAT
I will tell you a little story of a student who decided to take the GMAT exam not knowing anything about it (I even ignored its existence before deciding to apply to a business school).
Having obtained a natural sciences degree 5 years ago, I did not have any test experience, let alone some standardized test one. It took me about a month (Jan 21) to explore the different programs, decide on which of them I wanted to focus, and do some research around them. My conclusion was that GMAT was the key to be considered by the programs as a prospect candidate and even unlock the gates of admission to these schools. The most common element of the admissions criteria was the GMAT score. All of them had reported a mean or median GMAT score higher than 700, so I thought that it may be common or easily reachable a score near or above 700 (thinking of it right now, I realize how reckless I was).
My first action was to search online for GMAT prep material in order to take a taste of this beloved (at last) exam. Since I live in Greece, the first results the Google algorithm promoted were from local prep centers, specifically four centers offering online classes. Each center was offering a free consultation call, but it turned out to be just some basic information regarding the structure of the courses and some of their success stories, but not their number, who had scored between 680 and 740. I then decided to enroll to one of them which was offering 8 mock tests, 4 from Kaplan and 4 from Manhattan prep. The course consisted of 24 hours of verbal and 24 hours of quant lessons with GMAT coaches. The problem was that they were guiding us through the various GMAT topics and question types by solving 8 paper tests in total. For someone like me, who has not been into math since many years and was trying to acquire all this knowledge in just 8 weeks, solving approximately 320 questions (8*31 from the paper tests, most of them easy and medium level, and 70 hard level questions provided by the course) was not enough to become ready for the mock tests. Nevertheless, I took the Kaplan and Manhattan mock tests and my scores were ranging from 670 to 710.
Given the range and my goal (700+), instead of taking the exam after only two months of preparation I decided to study alone for one more month and then take it. This was the beginning of another journey. I started reading some articles in GMAT club and opted for Bunuel’s questions and explanations in quant, while in verbal I chose to read the explanations from GMATNinja. I also watched all of the YouTube videos that GMATNinja has filmed for Gmat Club’s channel. Gmat Club provided me with an exceptional rule and a tool: the error log. I solved many OG questions of various levels and realized that I was lacking in some quant topics (NP, Primes, P&C) and in almost every verbal section. Although nonnative speaker I did not follow a suggested strategy for improving RC, reading books in English, since I could not afford the time. It was mid-May, when I decided to attend an e-gmat webinar, as I was amazed by the number of high scores and the good reviews the course had. I watched all of the webinar carefully and was amazed that the proposed strategy for RC was to take notes and write down headlines for each paragraph. Until then, my approach (the one that I had been taught) was to skim the passage, search for the author’s opinion, if stated, and then jump to the answers. By doing this, I used to spend about 8 minutes for 3 questions! My timing was terrible also considering that I needed almost 1,5 minutes for every SC question and 2+ minutes for every hard CR one.
I had already planned the exam, so I did not have the right amount of time to change my mindset and my strategy. On May 24th I attempted the GMAT Online exam for the first time. During the exam, I felt that every question was a punch that was pushing me to failure and not a step in the ladder of success. Finally, my score was 690 (V31, Q49) and I had no feelings upon seeing it on the display. Q49 was a great achievement for me, but I think that I was a bit lucky during the exam. V31 was a disaster. I remember struggling between two answers in almost every SC and CR question, so I decided to concentrate on hard level OG questions and their explanations from GMAT Club for 15 days and retake it. Unfortunately, after 15 days, during the exam a strong earthquake hit my city and I had to evacuate my house. By then, I had attempted about 20 questions in Verbal, but again realized that I was not doing well. There was obviously a lack of luck but also a better approach.
Since I did not have any other time to devote to GMAT, I decided to cope with the 690 and apply with that score, although I knew that I could break the 700 barrier with some refinements, but the essays were more important and had to become my priority. One day before submitting my application I saw a score report on YouTube from a student who managed to achieve 720 after a 690 in just 4 weeks of preparation with e-gmat. My GMAT score was something that made me lack confidence and any hope of admission. The following steps were crucial. I talked with my partner and she advised me to retake the exam and apply in round 2.
e-gmat Online 360 journey
I emailed e-gmat explaining that I had a 690, lacked confidence and needed some fine-tuning to score 700+. After about an hour, Dhananjay (DJ) reached me and this was the start of a short but full of knowledge journey with e-gmat.
I explained everything to him, sent him the error log, and after analyzing everything, he proposed to spend my day taking one cementing quiz, which contains 10 questions, for each section in both verbal and quant. He used the Xpert tool, as I was not familiar with the platform yet, to analyze my results and reached me immediately. He found some points that needed improvement and the next day we had another call to assist me creating the Personalized Plan that the platform provides. Now, one month later, I am sure that he exactly knew what was he doing. That plan was for one month and only. During the first 7 days I sticked to the plan and tried to study hard, while also working hard.
The first steps included the most important section of my GMAT journey: Mastering Comprehension. While going through the course I learned to approach every question with no hesitance. What I had to do was to focus on the way I was reading and on the meaning, utilizing the meaning-based approach. I had heard about the meaning-based approach but did not know how to perfectly implement it to every verbal question. Thanks to the detailed tutorials I got familiar with the approach but it took me a while to completely rely on it since I was accustomed to a much different approach that did not entail strategic pause while reading each sentence I was facing. Focusing on the meaning was the key to solve almost every question correctly. I began implementing the meaning-based approach after some quizzes and saw my accuracy reaching even 100% in hard questions. I could not believe it.
Having solved 11 cementing quizzes, some above and some below the 70% accuracy mark that was suggested by the e-gmat experts, I was craving for more but did not have the sufficient amount of time. On the 7th day, DJ reached me. He was concerned about a drop in my results after taking one quiz after another, so I explained to him the situation (working hard and studying hard at night). I had the Personalized Plan to follow, but I then received a surprise email from DJ. A complete, extremely precisely crafted, and analytical guide for every quiz that I had to take in the upcoming days. The guide included number of questions, level, subsections, weak points and most importantly time for each quiz. We had daily interaction with DJ and this interaction made me feel so relaxed since I had someone who was truly believing and always encouraging me through my journey.
So, here are my results after 3 weeks with the platform and the expert’s help and daily feedback:
Verbal
SC: Accuracy reached 89% overall. I focused on the suggested strategy and I was able to solve almost every question efficiently and correctly.
CR: 90% accuracy overall!! I could not believe that mastering the pre-thinking method would provide these results. My mean time in hard CR questions was 1 min and 31 seconds. I was so impressed with the results from the Xpert analysis.
RC: Here I saw the biggest difference in my results. By pausing when necessary and using the pre-thinking method while reading I was hitting every passage with high levels of confidence. From about 65% accuracy I reached 88%! I could not believe it. It was then that I started feeling that I could really achieve a score above 700.
Quant
In the Quantitative part the story was different. I had to go through many sections of the main course since my results were not the desired ones and the strategy expert selected every course that I had to take to achieve the greatest score possible and illuminate every shady corner that was left in my preparation. I completed Primes and LCM-GCD from NP and WP files from the Quant 2.0 platform.
Such an impressive work. The Quant 2.0 was so precisely structured. The questions were so close to the OG ones that I had already solved. I felt that I was getting prepared for the worst type scenario during the exam eliminating any possible danger.
OVERALL
Throughout the course and after taking quizzes, strategic review of the questions was obligatory! The Xpert analysis was pointing out every possible weakness and suggested the right steps in order to review and avoid any mistake or inefficient approach. I was keeping track of every mistake or inefficient approach using the error log which was being reviewed almost daily by DJ in order to provide me the right feedback.
I found that the questions were a bit on the difficult side especially some hard level ones, but turned out to be really helpful during the exam.
The journey with e-gmat was incredible even until the day of the exam. I had a tailor-made study plan, the two most efficient approaches (the meaning-based approach and the Pre-thinking method) and the most complete tools overall (Scholaranium and e-gmat onlince 360) in order to succeed. I cannot hide that I was a nervous before the exam although DJ (the strategy expert) was so confident that I could achieve above 700, considering my results in Scholaranium and in the Mock tests. About an hour before the exam, I received an email from Rajat Sadana wishing me good luck for my exam and it relieved some of my anxiety.
EXAM
I decided to take the GMAT exam in a test center to avoid any unfortunate events such as power outages, earthquakes etc. Everything was working fine for me and I was not so nervous upon sitting in front of the PC but then the supervisor asked me to hand him my bottle of water. I depend so much on water, especially under stressful conditions such as the exam, that this ruled socked me. I took three deep breaths and then faced the screen. I was attempting every question and I knew what was I doing. I was feeling so sure about my results and my timing. Unfortunately, after the 22nd question my throat started soaring and I desperately needed water, so I took a mid-test break and lost some valuable time. I decided to sacrifice 2-3 questions in verbal instead of the entire exam. Finally, I left 2 questions unanswered (even now, I cannot believe that I was so drawn to the questions that I did not see the timer!!). I was worried about my results and I was faced with the same condition during quant; I had to take a mid-test break and drink water.
After two mid-test breaks, I would be extremely grateful with a score near 700. I would be so happy with that, considering the plot twists and the frustration I felt because of the water policy. I had finished the exam and saw my score: 750 (V41, Q50)
I could not believe it. I exited the classroom and had to sit for about one minute to realize that all of my effort and all these sleepless nights I had spent studying were actually worth it. I had made the right decision to retake the exam after only a month of further preparation.
But, this success was orchestrated by e-gmat, their experts and their approaches. I cannot even describe the words of gratitude to the team and everyone who is working even on weekends (Dhananjay) and puts the greatest effort to enable students achieve their dream scores, and even higher!
I could not believe that I had spent two months and 800€ attending live classes that had offered me only the fundamentals instead of spending 249€ and eventually getting fully prepared for every possible scenario during the exam.
FINAL VERDICT
I did not follow any strategy that included isolation, supplements, special food etc.
I was trying to spend my time in the most efficient way, although I have failed with my money.
I can reassure everyone out there aiming for a high score that If I made it, then you can also make it. Focus on quality first and then on quantity if needed, keep your error logs updated and, most importantly, adapt to the test taking conditions.
I will tell you a little story of a student who decided to take the GMAT exam not knowing anything about it (I even ignored its existence before deciding to apply to a business school).
Having obtained a natural sciences degree 5 years ago, I did not have any test experience, let alone some standardized test one. It took me about a month (Jan 21) to explore the different programs, decide on which of them I wanted to focus, and do some research around them. My conclusion was that GMAT was the key to be considered by the programs as a prospect candidate and even unlock the gates of admission to these schools. The most common element of the admissions criteria was the GMAT score. All of them had reported a mean or median GMAT score higher than 700, so I thought that it may be common or easily reachable a score near or above 700 (thinking of it right now, I realize how reckless I was).
My first action was to search online for GMAT prep material in order to take a taste of this beloved (at last) exam. Since I live in Greece, the first results the Google algorithm promoted were from local prep centers, specifically four centers offering online classes. Each center was offering a free consultation call, but it turned out to be just some basic information regarding the structure of the courses and some of their success stories, but not their number, who had scored between 680 and 740. I then decided to enroll to one of them which was offering 8 mock tests, 4 from Kaplan and 4 from Manhattan prep. The course consisted of 24 hours of verbal and 24 hours of quant lessons with GMAT coaches. The problem was that they were guiding us through the various GMAT topics and question types by solving 8 paper tests in total. For someone like me, who has not been into math since many years and was trying to acquire all this knowledge in just 8 weeks, solving approximately 320 questions (8*31 from the paper tests, most of them easy and medium level, and 70 hard level questions provided by the course) was not enough to become ready for the mock tests. Nevertheless, I took the Kaplan and Manhattan mock tests and my scores were ranging from 670 to 710.
Given the range and my goal (700+), instead of taking the exam after only two months of preparation I decided to study alone for one more month and then take it. This was the beginning of another journey. I started reading some articles in GMAT club and opted for Bunuel’s questions and explanations in quant, while in verbal I chose to read the explanations from GMATNinja. I also watched all of the YouTube videos that GMATNinja has filmed for Gmat Club’s channel. Gmat Club provided me with an exceptional rule and a tool: the error log. I solved many OG questions of various levels and realized that I was lacking in some quant topics (NP, Primes, P&C) and in almost every verbal section. Although nonnative speaker I did not follow a suggested strategy for improving RC, reading books in English, since I could not afford the time. It was mid-May, when I decided to attend an e-gmat webinar, as I was amazed by the number of high scores and the good reviews the course had. I watched all of the webinar carefully and was amazed that the proposed strategy for RC was to take notes and write down headlines for each paragraph. Until then, my approach (the one that I had been taught) was to skim the passage, search for the author’s opinion, if stated, and then jump to the answers. By doing this, I used to spend about 8 minutes for 3 questions! My timing was terrible also considering that I needed almost 1,5 minutes for every SC question and 2+ minutes for every hard CR one.
I had already planned the exam, so I did not have the right amount of time to change my mindset and my strategy. On May 24th I attempted the GMAT Online exam for the first time. During the exam, I felt that every question was a punch that was pushing me to failure and not a step in the ladder of success. Finally, my score was 690 (V31, Q49) and I had no feelings upon seeing it on the display. Q49 was a great achievement for me, but I think that I was a bit lucky during the exam. V31 was a disaster. I remember struggling between two answers in almost every SC and CR question, so I decided to concentrate on hard level OG questions and their explanations from GMAT Club for 15 days and retake it. Unfortunately, after 15 days, during the exam a strong earthquake hit my city and I had to evacuate my house. By then, I had attempted about 20 questions in Verbal, but again realized that I was not doing well. There was obviously a lack of luck but also a better approach.
Since I did not have any other time to devote to GMAT, I decided to cope with the 690 and apply with that score, although I knew that I could break the 700 barrier with some refinements, but the essays were more important and had to become my priority. One day before submitting my application I saw a score report on YouTube from a student who managed to achieve 720 after a 690 in just 4 weeks of preparation with e-gmat. My GMAT score was something that made me lack confidence and any hope of admission. The following steps were crucial. I talked with my partner and she advised me to retake the exam and apply in round 2.
e-gmat Online 360 journey
I emailed e-gmat explaining that I had a 690, lacked confidence and needed some fine-tuning to score 700+. After about an hour, Dhananjay (DJ) reached me and this was the start of a short but full of knowledge journey with e-gmat.
I explained everything to him, sent him the error log, and after analyzing everything, he proposed to spend my day taking one cementing quiz, which contains 10 questions, for each section in both verbal and quant. He used the Xpert tool, as I was not familiar with the platform yet, to analyze my results and reached me immediately. He found some points that needed improvement and the next day we had another call to assist me creating the Personalized Plan that the platform provides. Now, one month later, I am sure that he exactly knew what was he doing. That plan was for one month and only. During the first 7 days I sticked to the plan and tried to study hard, while also working hard.
The first steps included the most important section of my GMAT journey: Mastering Comprehension. While going through the course I learned to approach every question with no hesitance. What I had to do was to focus on the way I was reading and on the meaning, utilizing the meaning-based approach. I had heard about the meaning-based approach but did not know how to perfectly implement it to every verbal question. Thanks to the detailed tutorials I got familiar with the approach but it took me a while to completely rely on it since I was accustomed to a much different approach that did not entail strategic pause while reading each sentence I was facing. Focusing on the meaning was the key to solve almost every question correctly. I began implementing the meaning-based approach after some quizzes and saw my accuracy reaching even 100% in hard questions. I could not believe it.
Having solved 11 cementing quizzes, some above and some below the 70% accuracy mark that was suggested by the e-gmat experts, I was craving for more but did not have the sufficient amount of time. On the 7th day, DJ reached me. He was concerned about a drop in my results after taking one quiz after another, so I explained to him the situation (working hard and studying hard at night). I had the Personalized Plan to follow, but I then received a surprise email from DJ. A complete, extremely precisely crafted, and analytical guide for every quiz that I had to take in the upcoming days. The guide included number of questions, level, subsections, weak points and most importantly time for each quiz. We had daily interaction with DJ and this interaction made me feel so relaxed since I had someone who was truly believing and always encouraging me through my journey.
So, here are my results after 3 weeks with the platform and the expert’s help and daily feedback:
Verbal
SC: Accuracy reached 89% overall. I focused on the suggested strategy and I was able to solve almost every question efficiently and correctly.
CR: 90% accuracy overall!! I could not believe that mastering the pre-thinking method would provide these results. My mean time in hard CR questions was 1 min and 31 seconds. I was so impressed with the results from the Xpert analysis.
RC: Here I saw the biggest difference in my results. By pausing when necessary and using the pre-thinking method while reading I was hitting every passage with high levels of confidence. From about 65% accuracy I reached 88%! I could not believe it. It was then that I started feeling that I could really achieve a score above 700.
Quant
In the Quantitative part the story was different. I had to go through many sections of the main course since my results were not the desired ones and the strategy expert selected every course that I had to take to achieve the greatest score possible and illuminate every shady corner that was left in my preparation. I completed Primes and LCM-GCD from NP and WP files from the Quant 2.0 platform.
Such an impressive work. The Quant 2.0 was so precisely structured. The questions were so close to the OG ones that I had already solved. I felt that I was getting prepared for the worst type scenario during the exam eliminating any possible danger.
OVERALL
Throughout the course and after taking quizzes, strategic review of the questions was obligatory! The Xpert analysis was pointing out every possible weakness and suggested the right steps in order to review and avoid any mistake or inefficient approach. I was keeping track of every mistake or inefficient approach using the error log which was being reviewed almost daily by DJ in order to provide me the right feedback.
I found that the questions were a bit on the difficult side especially some hard level ones, but turned out to be really helpful during the exam.
The journey with e-gmat was incredible even until the day of the exam. I had a tailor-made study plan, the two most efficient approaches (the meaning-based approach and the Pre-thinking method) and the most complete tools overall (Scholaranium and e-gmat onlince 360) in order to succeed. I cannot hide that I was a nervous before the exam although DJ (the strategy expert) was so confident that I could achieve above 700, considering my results in Scholaranium and in the Mock tests. About an hour before the exam, I received an email from Rajat Sadana wishing me good luck for my exam and it relieved some of my anxiety.
EXAM
I decided to take the GMAT exam in a test center to avoid any unfortunate events such as power outages, earthquakes etc. Everything was working fine for me and I was not so nervous upon sitting in front of the PC but then the supervisor asked me to hand him my bottle of water. I depend so much on water, especially under stressful conditions such as the exam, that this ruled socked me. I took three deep breaths and then faced the screen. I was attempting every question and I knew what was I doing. I was feeling so sure about my results and my timing. Unfortunately, after the 22nd question my throat started soaring and I desperately needed water, so I took a mid-test break and lost some valuable time. I decided to sacrifice 2-3 questions in verbal instead of the entire exam. Finally, I left 2 questions unanswered (even now, I cannot believe that I was so drawn to the questions that I did not see the timer!!). I was worried about my results and I was faced with the same condition during quant; I had to take a mid-test break and drink water.
After two mid-test breaks, I would be extremely grateful with a score near 700. I would be so happy with that, considering the plot twists and the frustration I felt because of the water policy. I had finished the exam and saw my score: 750 (V41, Q50)
I could not believe it. I exited the classroom and had to sit for about one minute to realize that all of my effort and all these sleepless nights I had spent studying were actually worth it. I had made the right decision to retake the exam after only a month of further preparation.
But, this success was orchestrated by e-gmat, their experts and their approaches. I cannot even describe the words of gratitude to the team and everyone who is working even on weekends (Dhananjay) and puts the greatest effort to enable students achieve their dream scores, and even higher!
I could not believe that I had spent two months and 800€ attending live classes that had offered me only the fundamentals instead of spending 249€ and eventually getting fully prepared for every possible scenario during the exam.
FINAL VERDICT
I did not follow any strategy that included isolation, supplements, special food etc.
I was trying to spend my time in the most efficient way, although I have failed with my money.
I can reassure everyone out there aiming for a high score that If I made it, then you can also make it. Focus on quality first and then on quantity if needed, keep your error logs updated and, most importantly, adapt to the test taking conditions.
27 Oct 2021, 15:04
Kudos
Bookmarks
Thanks for sharing and congrats on your accomplishment!
I did not know there were local GMAT companies in Greece! 😱 though sounds they were not great 😬 sorry about that….
Are you applying in R2? MBA or Master’s?
Posted from my mobile device
I did not know there were local GMAT companies in Greece! 😱 though sounds they were not great 😬 sorry about that….
Are you applying in R2? MBA or Master’s?
Posted from my mobile device
28 Oct 2021, 00:51
Kudos
Bookmarks
Thank you so much!
There are some prep centers, not GMAT companies such as e-gmat, Kaplan etc.
I am planning to apply in R2 and trying to figure out which schools should I consider given that I have a higher score now.
There are some prep centers, not GMAT companies such as e-gmat, Kaplan etc.
I am planning to apply in R2 and trying to figure out which schools should I consider given that I have a higher score now.
