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Kishlay_Singh
GMAT Focus 1: 745 Q87 V84 DI90 
Posts: 1
Updated on: 05 Oct 2024, 11:01
Originally posted by Kishlay_Singh on 05 Oct 2024, 05:08.
Last edited by Kishlay_Singh on 05 Oct 2024, 11:01, edited 2 times in total.
Last edited by Kishlay_Singh on 05 Oct 2024, 11:01, edited 2 times in total.
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Hello GMAT Club Members,
I am thrilled to share my GMAT success story. I am thrilled to inform you that I recently scored 100 percentile on the GMAT with a perfect DI90! I am so excited about this score. When I started, I did not even dream that I would come close to this score. This journey from my initial 635 to 745 has been incredible, and I have relied on the GMAT club during this journey. So, through this story of mine, I wanted to give back to the community in my own small way!
Here is a quick snapshot into my journey:
1. March 24 – decided to prepare for and write the GMAT
2. 2nd April 24 – started my GMAT journey with e-GMAT.
3. 28th August 24– first mock after preparation – 745😊
4. 10th Sept 24 – GMAT date that I had to postpone since I did not have the passport! Yes, you heard it right☹
5. 27th Sept 24 – First GMAT attempt – 745!!!!
The Beginning: Choosing the right course and Setting Goals
I graduated from IIT Dhanbad in 2019. Since then, I have been preparing for the UPSC civil services exam and for the last few years doing it with a full-time job. These exams are difficult to crack, but I made all the way to the mains 3 times but fell short. Finally, I decided that what I was looking for was to broaden my horizons, and what better way to do that than an international MBA? I spoke to a few of my seniors before deciding to write the GMAT.
Now the question was how to go about preparing. Again, I spoke to my seniors and friends, who highly recommended e-GMAT! I am so happy to have got this recommendation since it was my preparation with e-GMAT that helped me get here. Initially, I thought I would prepare from multiple sources, but upon starting with the course, I realized that I did not need any other resources and relied on the e-GMAT itself.
But let us take a step back – how did I start my journey?
The first step was to assess my baseline – so I took the first mock on the e-GMAT platform and scored 635 (Q85, V83, D76). Next, I created a Personalized Study Plan on the platform – which is a great tool. It gave me the sectional targets and the path that I needed to follow to reach my target.
Now it was all about following the plan – Verbal < Quant < DI
Initially, I aimed for a 705, but as I progressed through the course, I realized I could push for an even higher score. I revised my target to 735 and followed my study plan religiously.
While I started my journey with verbal, I really want to speak about DI first given that this was my weakest section and turned out to be my strongest section in the end.
How I scored a perfect D90 on DI
In my first mock, I could only complete 14 out of 20 questions. However, through focused practice, I developed strategies for each question type.
The best thing I did was to do verbal and quants before DI – when you have the right kind of verbal and quant skills, your core for DI is set. CR gave me the right kind of skills for TPA verbal, RC for MSR, and quant for all the quant-based DI topics.
The way the course was structured really helped me develop the right kind of skills for DI. As I said, I had the core skills through verbal and quants, but through the course, I focused on:
1. Learning the specialized skills for DI through doing the course files – this not only helped me understand the different kinds of datasets but also equipped me with the skills needed to tackle these varied questions.
2. Practicing the medium and hard questions on the Scholaranium through cementing to be able to solve these questions under time constraints.
3. Working on bringing all this together through sectional mocks.
My cementing quiz stats show my progress: I achieved 80% accuracy on hard questions and nearly perfect scores on medium questions.
I actually scored a D90 in the last sectional mock that I took during the prep😊
Here is an insight into how I approached each question type:
My Quant Journey:
Being an IITian, I was pretty confident about quants. But attempting the first mock where I scored Q85, made me realize that the score was inflated. There was a lot of guesswork involved and some questions took me a whole lot of time. Since I was off practice since 2019, I had forgotten a lot of topics and was rusty with the rest of them.
So, I wanted something that would help me focus on my weaker areas, but not make me waste time on the areas that I was already strong at.
This is where the PACE feature of the quant course kicked in – here you take a couple of diagnostic mocks for each topic, and the AI tells us which topics that you need to focus on depending on your score. It was an amazing time-saver – I saved over 45 hours of prep time through this.
Then came the highly focused practice on the Scholaranium through cementing quizzes, custom quizzes, and sectional mocks. This helped me overcome my rustiness. As I approached the test, I was consistently scoring Q90 in my mocks.
There is one important aspect in quants – Don't ever go easy on yourself for silly mistakes. In fact, I would say they are the worst mistakes you can make in Quant. Why?
Because the GMAT algorithm punishes you more harshly for getting easy or medium questions wrong than hard ones. Plus, if you start thinking it's okay to make silly mistakes, you will probably repeat them in the actual exam.
So, here's what I did: I became incredibly strict with myself about these errors. I focused intensely during practice and the exam, knowing that even a moment's distraction could cost me. Remember, it's not just about knowing the concepts; it's about being 100% present when solving each question. Trust me, this approach can make a huge difference in your Quant score.
Verbal Journey:
e-GMAT is known for its verbal prep, and it totally lived up to the hype, especially with a mentor guiding me. They didn’t just throw a bunch of strategies at me but helped me apply them through personalized reviews and sessions. The "pre-thinking" approach to Critical Reasoning (CR) helped a lot, thanks to the constant feedback I received.
They also gave me extra exercises and access to an additional workshop in Reading Comprehension (RC) when I was struggling with speed and comprehension, which helped me boost my accuracy for the Focus Edition’s condensed verbal section.
I know the verbal improvement looks less – from 83 to 84, but this 84 consists of only 4 mistakes which on any other day can result in V86 or V87.
Mocks and last days of prep:
The mocks were going well – barring one mock in which I scored 685, all my mocks were consistently over 725 – I knew I was doing well and would get a great score on the test day. I had regular mock analysis sessions with my mentor Rashmi so that we further fine-tune my approach.
My test was on the 10th of September and late on the 8th, I learned that a passport was essential for appearing for the test center in India! I was devastated – I did not have a passport! It was on my to-do list, but I was to do it after the test☹
To be honest, I was at my wit’s end! But then I calmed down and tried to take stock of things! I knew I could do a speed application for a passport so that I would have one in 3- 10 days! Accordingly, I filled in the application and postponed the test to the 25th Sept.
The biggest fear that I had at this point was that I had such a great momentum going on and did not want to lose out on that. Also, given that the test was planned for the 10th, I had exhausted most of the resources.
I connected with Rashmi, and she helped me draw up a plan to keep the momentum up, and boy, am I glad that I was able to maintain it till the test day.
Test Day: Mindset and Performance
On test day, maintaining a calm and focused mindset was crucial. I started with Quant & then DI, took a break, and then proceeded with Verbal. This strategic break helped reset my focus, especially after the challenging Quant section.
During the test, I faced a tricky situation in Quant where I got stuck on a question. Instead of panicking, I remembered my mentor's advice: "Consider it an experimental question whether it is or not. It will give your mind peace, and you will be more focused on the other sections." This mindset shift was game-changing. It allowed me to move on without letting one difficult question affect my performance in subsequent sections.
For DI, I felt incredibly confident, completing the section with a minute to spare. This confidence carried over into Verbal. However, I confess, I let this go toward the end. There was a tricky question toward the end, that I knew I could solve if I tried. But I was so keen to see my DI score that I was distracted and gave up too soon😊
I was in another world when I saw the 745 come up on the screen – that too with a DI90😉
The key takeaway from my test day experience is this: your mindset can make or break your performance. Stay calm, trust your preparation, and don't let individual questions derail your focus.
The Last Mile Push:
The Last Mile Push (LMP) program was, in my opinion, the most crucial part of my e-GMAT experience. Here's why it made such a difference:
Some learnings from my journey:
Looking back on my journey, I have realized that success on the GMAT isn't just about knowledge—it's about strategy, mindset, and effective preparation. Here are the most valuable lessons I learned:
Remember, your GMAT journey is unique. These strategies worked for me, but the key is to find what works best for you and to believe in your ability to succeed.
Here is wishing you all a brilliant GMAT success,
Best regards,
Kishlay
I am thrilled to share my GMAT success story. I am thrilled to inform you that I recently scored 100 percentile on the GMAT with a perfect DI90! I am so excited about this score. When I started, I did not even dream that I would come close to this score. This journey from my initial 635 to 745 has been incredible, and I have relied on the GMAT club during this journey. So, through this story of mine, I wanted to give back to the community in my own small way!
Here is a quick snapshot into my journey:
1. March 24 – decided to prepare for and write the GMAT
2. 2nd April 24 – started my GMAT journey with e-GMAT.
3. 28th August 24– first mock after preparation – 745😊
4. 10th Sept 24 – GMAT date that I had to postpone since I did not have the passport! Yes, you heard it right☹
5. 27th Sept 24 – First GMAT attempt – 745!!!!
The Beginning: Choosing the right course and Setting Goals
I graduated from IIT Dhanbad in 2019. Since then, I have been preparing for the UPSC civil services exam and for the last few years doing it with a full-time job. These exams are difficult to crack, but I made all the way to the mains 3 times but fell short. Finally, I decided that what I was looking for was to broaden my horizons, and what better way to do that than an international MBA? I spoke to a few of my seniors before deciding to write the GMAT.
Now the question was how to go about preparing. Again, I spoke to my seniors and friends, who highly recommended e-GMAT! I am so happy to have got this recommendation since it was my preparation with e-GMAT that helped me get here. Initially, I thought I would prepare from multiple sources, but upon starting with the course, I realized that I did not need any other resources and relied on the e-GMAT itself.
But let us take a step back – how did I start my journey?
The first step was to assess my baseline – so I took the first mock on the e-GMAT platform and scored 635 (Q85, V83, D76). Next, I created a Personalized Study Plan on the platform – which is a great tool. It gave me the sectional targets and the path that I needed to follow to reach my target.
Now it was all about following the plan – Verbal < Quant < DI
Initially, I aimed for a 705, but as I progressed through the course, I realized I could push for an even higher score. I revised my target to 735 and followed my study plan religiously.
While I started my journey with verbal, I really want to speak about DI first given that this was my weakest section and turned out to be my strongest section in the end.
How I scored a perfect D90 on DI
In my first mock, I could only complete 14 out of 20 questions. However, through focused practice, I developed strategies for each question type.
The best thing I did was to do verbal and quants before DI – when you have the right kind of verbal and quant skills, your core for DI is set. CR gave me the right kind of skills for TPA verbal, RC for MSR, and quant for all the quant-based DI topics.
The way the course was structured really helped me develop the right kind of skills for DI. As I said, I had the core skills through verbal and quants, but through the course, I focused on:
1. Learning the specialized skills for DI through doing the course files – this not only helped me understand the different kinds of datasets but also equipped me with the skills needed to tackle these varied questions.
2. Practicing the medium and hard questions on the Scholaranium through cementing to be able to solve these questions under time constraints.
3. Working on bringing all this together through sectional mocks.
My cementing quiz stats show my progress: I achieved 80% accuracy on hard questions and nearly perfect scores on medium questions.
I actually scored a D90 in the last sectional mock that I took during the prep😊
Here is an insight into how I approached each question type:
- Data Sufficiency: I found this to be the easiest part of DI. The key was recognizing patterns. I practiced extensively, which helped me solve many DS questions in under a minute.
- Graphical Interpretation and Table Analysis: These were initially time-consuming. I developed a strategy to skim the data quickly, focusing on keywords in the question stem. For tables, I learned to identify the total data points and what we needed to find, then jump directly to the relevant information.
- Multi-Source Reasoning: This was the most challenging. I applied my improved RC skills here, treating it like a complex passage. I quickly skimmed all sources for a general idea, then tackled questions by referring back as needed.
My Quant Journey:
Being an IITian, I was pretty confident about quants. But attempting the first mock where I scored Q85, made me realize that the score was inflated. There was a lot of guesswork involved and some questions took me a whole lot of time. Since I was off practice since 2019, I had forgotten a lot of topics and was rusty with the rest of them.
So, I wanted something that would help me focus on my weaker areas, but not make me waste time on the areas that I was already strong at.
This is where the PACE feature of the quant course kicked in – here you take a couple of diagnostic mocks for each topic, and the AI tells us which topics that you need to focus on depending on your score. It was an amazing time-saver – I saved over 45 hours of prep time through this.
Then came the highly focused practice on the Scholaranium through cementing quizzes, custom quizzes, and sectional mocks. This helped me overcome my rustiness. As I approached the test, I was consistently scoring Q90 in my mocks.
There is one important aspect in quants – Don't ever go easy on yourself for silly mistakes. In fact, I would say they are the worst mistakes you can make in Quant. Why?
Because the GMAT algorithm punishes you more harshly for getting easy or medium questions wrong than hard ones. Plus, if you start thinking it's okay to make silly mistakes, you will probably repeat them in the actual exam.
So, here's what I did: I became incredibly strict with myself about these errors. I focused intensely during practice and the exam, knowing that even a moment's distraction could cost me. Remember, it's not just about knowing the concepts; it's about being 100% present when solving each question. Trust me, this approach can make a huge difference in your Quant score.
Verbal Journey:
e-GMAT is known for its verbal prep, and it totally lived up to the hype, especially with a mentor guiding me. They didn’t just throw a bunch of strategies at me but helped me apply them through personalized reviews and sessions. The "pre-thinking" approach to Critical Reasoning (CR) helped a lot, thanks to the constant feedback I received.
They also gave me extra exercises and access to an additional workshop in Reading Comprehension (RC) when I was struggling with speed and comprehension, which helped me boost my accuracy for the Focus Edition’s condensed verbal section.
I know the verbal improvement looks less – from 83 to 84, but this 84 consists of only 4 mistakes which on any other day can result in V86 or V87.
Mocks and last days of prep:
The mocks were going well – barring one mock in which I scored 685, all my mocks were consistently over 725 – I knew I was doing well and would get a great score on the test day. I had regular mock analysis sessions with my mentor Rashmi so that we further fine-tune my approach.
My test was on the 10th of September and late on the 8th, I learned that a passport was essential for appearing for the test center in India! I was devastated – I did not have a passport! It was on my to-do list, but I was to do it after the test☹
To be honest, I was at my wit’s end! But then I calmed down and tried to take stock of things! I knew I could do a speed application for a passport so that I would have one in 3- 10 days! Accordingly, I filled in the application and postponed the test to the 25th Sept.
The biggest fear that I had at this point was that I had such a great momentum going on and did not want to lose out on that. Also, given that the test was planned for the 10th, I had exhausted most of the resources.
I connected with Rashmi, and she helped me draw up a plan to keep the momentum up, and boy, am I glad that I was able to maintain it till the test day.
Test Day: Mindset and Performance
On test day, maintaining a calm and focused mindset was crucial. I started with Quant & then DI, took a break, and then proceeded with Verbal. This strategic break helped reset my focus, especially after the challenging Quant section.
During the test, I faced a tricky situation in Quant where I got stuck on a question. Instead of panicking, I remembered my mentor's advice: "Consider it an experimental question whether it is or not. It will give your mind peace, and you will be more focused on the other sections." This mindset shift was game-changing. It allowed me to move on without letting one difficult question affect my performance in subsequent sections.
For DI, I felt incredibly confident, completing the section with a minute to spare. This confidence carried over into Verbal. However, I confess, I let this go toward the end. There was a tricky question toward the end, that I knew I could solve if I tried. But I was so keen to see my DI score that I was distracted and gave up too soon😊
I was in another world when I saw the 745 come up on the screen – that too with a DI90😉
The key takeaway from my test day experience is this: your mindset can make or break your performance. Stay calm, trust your preparation, and don't let individual questions derail your focus.
The Last Mile Push:
The Last Mile Push (LMP) program was, in my opinion, the most crucial part of my e-GMAT experience. Here's why it made such a difference:
- Structured Milestones: Clear targets for skill refinement in Verbal, DI, and Quant.
- Tailored Guidance: My mentor, Rashmi, offered specific advice to improve my weak areas.
- Continuous Feedback: Regular sessions helped me stay on track and boost my confidence.
- Mindset Management: Rashmi's advice on handling difficult questions was invaluable.
- Adaptive Strategies: When I had to reschedule my exam, Rashmi helped me maintain momentum.
Some learnings from my journey:
Looking back on my journey, I have realized that success on the GMAT isn't just about knowledge—it's about strategy, mindset, and effective preparation. Here are the most valuable lessons I learned:
- Quality trumps quantity: "It's not about putting in more hours, but rather about making those hours more effective. What really helps is being fully concentrated and learning effectively during your study time."
- Approach RC with genuine interest: "Whenever you start reading an RC, just take a few seconds and smile and create an interest in your mind that you are going to learn something new." This simple mindset shift can dramatically improve your comprehension and engagement.
- Embrace challenges: Don't let setbacks derail you. Use them as opportunities to refine your skills and build resilience. My passport issue taught me the importance of adaptability in this journey.
- Trust the process: Consistent, focused effort pays off. Even when progress seems slow, stick to your study plan and trust in your ability to improve.
Remember, your GMAT journey is unique. These strategies worked for me, but the key is to find what works best for you and to believe in your ability to succeed.
Here is wishing you all a brilliant GMAT success,
Best regards,
Kishlay
05 Oct 2024, 05:59
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Bookmarks
Thank you for sharing your GMAT success story. Your journey is truly inspiring and the insights you provided are invaluable for GMAT aspirants.
05 Oct 2024, 07:01
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What a score!! 100 Percentile... That's Amazing!!
All the best with your applications!!
All the best with your applications!!
