Hi Reader,
I have given multiple GMAT attempts, comprising both GMAT Classic and GMAT Focus Editions. You can read the story of my previous attempts for GMAT Classic
here.
In the last few months, I've also given 2 attempts of the GMAT Focus edition, mainly because I was waitlisted in a few B-schools. Since I had a decent amount of GCE practice under my belt, I was pretty confident with practice on the common sections such as CR, RC, and Quant. Here are few learnings from my GMAT Focus Edition experience -
- DI section is very different from what IR used to be earlier. It is now a scored section with multiple kinds of questions, so the stakes are much higher. All these questions types take varying amounts of average time to solve, so one should perform a good amount of practice to become familiar with these.
- It is crucial to understand the increased weightage of Algebra in the Quant section. It comprises of nearly half of all Quant questions, so I had to do some deliebrate practice and improve my accuracy on this sub-section.
- Since the number of questions are lower in Quant and Verbal sections, each mistake can cause that much more harm to your overall score. It is crucial to have siginificant test readiness before the actual exam.
- The sequence of sections to be attempted is also a very important aspect of the test now. Through my discussions with experts at e-GMAT, I got to know that the score in section 1 determines the level of difficulty to be set for section 2 and 3, therefor one should reserve section 2 and 3 to be their stronger sections.
All thse tips and practice were supported through my association with e-GMAT. I had prepared for my previous attempts also with e-GMAT, and I knew they are the perfect partners to support my journey this time as well. e-GMAT has created a fantastic DI section that mirrors the level of difficulty I observed during official mocks and GMAT attempts. The concept files are designed to provide an experience for the real test and help calibrate the difficulty level of the section early on in the prep. This helped me push stronger during the prep phase, to avoid any unpleasane surprises in the later stages. I would highly reccomend everyone to go through that.
Apart from that, I had a fantastic support in the form of my mentor,
Rida. She was incredibly supportive and helped me pace my preparations in an efficient manner. Since we had done ample practice in the previous attempts, we focused more on getting back to the previous levels of ability through targeted cementing. This proved to be massively helpful, given my unforgiving work schedule during the prep phase.
Test Readiness is also an integral aspect of the GMAT prep plan. Rida helped me create a solid test readiness plan that allowed me to prepare for the timing constraints and the sequence of sections I was familiar with.
I owe a great deal of my success to Rida and the wonderful team of experts at e-GMAT! You can watch the GMAT debrief interviews with Rida here -
GCE attempt ,
GFE attemptThanks for reading!