Hi everyone!
I am Vaibhav, a current student in ISB PGP Co '24.
I am here to share my experience of preparing for and writing the GMAT in 2022. I categorize this journey into two phases:
Phase I - 1st attempt 610
After being somewhat disappointed with my CAT (Indian MBA competitive exam) results, I decided to switch my efforts toward the GMAT and achieve admission to ISB. I started my GMAT prep in April 2022 with the official guides in hand (verbal, quant, and advanced). I practiced all of the questions and practice problems in the books and felt fairly confident in my prep. There were a few breaks in the prep cycle because of professional and personal commitments, which were detrimental to my prep, however, I made a conscious effort to recover the lost momentum. I felt confident enough to book a GMAT test slot on 4th August 2022 (it also nudged me to fast-track and prioritize my prep with a date in front of me). I wrote the official mocks and consistently scored in the range of 720-740.
I wrote the exam only to find out that I had scored only a dismal 610 (QV28, Q47). The high score in mocks was a mere fluke because I had already practiced some of the questions before.
Phase II - 2nd attempt 730
Taking some time off from work, I recovered from this disappointment and moved my focus to writing another attempt before the R1 closure. While evaluating my attempt, I figured that sentence correction was the area where I struggled the most. I realized I needed a bit of focused help to correct this. Therefore, I got in touch with
ParamjitDasGMAT over LinkedIn.
Our first communication involved him dissecting my GMAT attempt's ESR, wherein he found the pain points not only in SC but also in CR and RC. Post the call he shared a study plan that would go over the next 70-80 days with the next GMAT attempt in November 2022.
We started with our 1:1 sessions in August with the focus being building a solid foundation of all the grammatical concepts. Following were the key components/characteristics of this prep journey:
- Heavy focus on concepts/conceptual clarity
- Revising the shared recording of the session and doubt clearing over
WhatsApp - Solving the 20-30 questions in the practice set post the revision
- Maintaining an
error log with info mentioning subjects like "Where I went wrong?", "What I could have done better?", etc
- Consistent revision of older concepts from previous classes
Around the 50th day of my prep, I found a new confidence in my prep. The most significant change was that earlier I used to rely on my gut to answer questions in the verbal section (example - this must be the correct option because this SOUNDS right) but now post the sessions with Param Sir, the process of elimination almost became mathematical. Because I had gained so much conceptual knowledge, I could solve each question with conviction.
We went ahead with attempting mocks prescribed by Param Sir in a specific sequence (sources being mainly Manhattan, Kaplan, and OG). Only when we started scoring 760+ in these mocks, we booked our GMAT slot.
As I went into the testing area, I had a fair share of confidence and just believed in our efforts. This resulted in a 730 (Q47, V44).
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I hope this journey helps anyone out there struggling with the GMAT and trying to turn it around. The only requirement is you put effort in the direction it is required.
ParamjitDasGMAT helped me identify this direction and mentored me to achieve the above-mentioned turnaround.