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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.
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29 Jul 2024, 06:46
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First, let me give a brief introduction about myself. I'm Neha Sharma, 24, from Kolkata. I completed my B. Tech in Information Technology from NIT Durgapur in 2021 and currently work as a Software Engineer II at Verizon with 3 years of experience.
After realizing the tech industry wasn't for me, I decided to pursue an MBA. I attempted CAT and XAT but didn't achieve my target scores. In late January, I focused on GMAT preparation.
I have been aiming for top B-Schools for which I knew I required a great GMAT score. For over a month I tried to self-study, but I realized a great GMAT score requires effective study strategies, quality content, and preparation with expert guidance and support. That’s when one of my close friends suggested the e-GMAT platform to me.
My biggest challenge – Verbal:
From the beginning, my biggest challenge has been the Verbal section. This was a significant factor in my decision to choose e-GMAT, given its stellar reputation and excellent reviews for its Verbal course.
e-GMAT helped me build my verbal ability and confidence by following a structured approach to improvement:
Master Comprehension: It started by working on the basics of comprehension. This course helped me build the right kind of foundation for verbal. It guided me on how to properly read sentences and paragraphs to grasp what’s written, without the need to re-read it again, like by showing the importance of pause points. This set the right context for verbal, and I was able to grasp the comprehension in one read itself.
CR and pre-thinking
In CR, my biggest challenge was not able to choose the correct option. The options in CR are usually so close that if one doesn’t know the correct approach, they are bound to get confused between options.
This is where pre-thinking came as a game changer. Rather than diving directly into analysing the option choices, I started taking a few moments to pre-think after reading the question stem. Slowly this developed naturally and usually, I used to know what to look for in the answer before jumping to the options.
This not only helped me improve my accuracy for CR questions to 70% but also helped me reduce my CR time to less than 2 min, and improve my confidence multifold.
RC and reading strategies:
In RC my biggest challenge was the approach of solving. I used to jump onto the questions quickly after skimming through the passage and having half knowledge. I thought if I skim through the passage, it would save my time, allowing me more time while solving the questions. Specially, long RC passages seemed dreadful.
Here the reading strategies helped the way I approached the passages. Strategies like keeping yourself engaged and immersed in the passage and pausing after a few sentences to grasp the additional information, helped me in tackling difficult RC passages with ease. I was no longer sceptical about lengthy and dense passages.
Cementing quizzes then helped bridge the gap between the concept and its application. It helped me to validate if I understood the concepts well enough to apply them.
I found the Scholaranium to be a really valuable tool. It provided access to a varied pool of questions. I used it to create custom quizzes based on specific topics, difficulty levels, or question types to fine-tune my abilities. I loved how it provided detailed performance analysis and insights.
Data Insights –
When I started with Data Insights, I was good at Data Sufficiency and Graphs and Table Analysis but was faltering in Two-Part Analysis and MSR.
That is when Rashmi, my mentor told me that it was because my Verbal was weak while my Quants were strong. That’s why she emphasized the need to work on my verbal skills before moving to DI.
Since DI is a mix of Verbal and Quants, you need to be good in both of them to be good in DI. Like MSR is similar to RC, the approach to solving it is also on a similar note.
The course at e-GMAT helped me to apply my skills in a structured process.
Even in DS, where I was mostly good, e-GMAT helped me to approach DS questions more systematically. Like first read the question stem and note down exactly what is asked. Then read Statement 1 and check if it’s sufficient. If yes, then either A or D is the answer, otherwise B, C, or E is the answer. Then move to statement 2, and it will lead you to the correct answer.
As I already said MSR is similar to RC and e-GMAT’s data analytics helped me to reflect on the time distribution in both sections. It showed me that my approach to target the questions wasn’t appropriate, because of which I was taking more time than required. I followed the correct approach and could see the change in the time distribution.
Quants:
Given my engineering background, my quant was strong. This is where cementing helped the most, to validate those concepts. It helped me to see if there was still any weak area that needed to be covered, and it did. I needed to improve my Number Properties.
This is where the PACE feature of e-GMAT jumped in. So, this is the feature in quants where you need to give a few quizzes with basic foundation questions, which helps the algorithm to identify the weak areas. Based on the quiz result, the algorithm then highlights the content one needs to cover and not the whole course. So, this feature helped me to actually focus on the area that needed improvement and saved me time. In Number Properties, which was my weakest section, I was able to save me over 15 hours.
How did data tools help drive my improvement?
e-GMAT has very beautifully used data to drive the preparation of students. For example, the average time to solve questions is around 2 minutes, but some questions take more time than usual. The median time feature showed me that it’s okay to take more time in a few questions because it’s a difficult one and people took more time to solve this question. Then, data also helped me when I wasn’t sure if I was really improving. There’s a feature to filter the data of each section with the last 10,20,30 and overall questions based on the level of difficulty. It shows if you are progressing or not. Also, it’s because of the data-driven approach that I was able to identify the actual areas that needed my focus and improvement.
Another key area that helped was the focus on the error log. I would analyse each question I made a mistake in and categorize why I made that error. Was I not able to pre-think? Did I not understand the question? Was I not able to identify the conclusion? These questions in error logs made me understand the value of quality over quantity.
Last Mile Push Program: The Last Mile Push Program of eGMAT was really helpful. It’s particularly tailored for those who are close to their goal but need a final push to get there. I got a very supportive mentor, Rashmi, who with her experience, created a personalized plan for me and guided me in every step of my preparation. We used to get on calls weekly and discuss my progress. She helped me see things that I wasn’t able to see on my own. I felt that I wasn’t alone in the journey and someone was there with me who cared about my goal too. At times, she believed in me more than I could, which gave me the confidence to do better.
Mock challenges – How I overcame my fear of mocks:
From the start I was not good with mocks. Even after good sectional scores, I wasn’t able to reflect that in my mock. It was very demotivating for me. I started questioning my ability. But Rashmi showed me using my own Scholaranium data that the issue wasn’t my potential, but my mindset.
I started focussing on having a positive mindset. I used to panic a lot while giving mocks if any section was not going as per plan. Rashmi gave me tips to overcome it. She told me to pause for 10 seconds if this happens, take a deep breath, tell myself that everything is all right, and then continue. It did help. One can’t know while giving a mock if it’s going well or not. So, I stopped assuming that it wasn’t going well and focussed on the next question which popped on the screen. All this helped me to develop a positive mindset, which led me to let go of my fear of mocks.
I gave 15 mocks in total. I feel I gave more mocks than people preparing for the GMAT usually give. As mentioned earlier, I wasn’t very confident when it came to giving mocks, but I knew I needed to make myself better because the GMAT is nothing but your final mock. I wanted to figure out the best time for me to give a mock with the least disturbances, calm myself down even if anything is not going as per plan, and test all the scenarios of what can go wrong in the main exam.
Analysing mock is very important, otherwise giving mock is a waste. It helps in identifying and improving the weak areas, like understanding which types of questions you frequently get wrong, and then figuring out the reason behind it.
Test day experience:
On the test day, I was really calm, with a positive mindset and a “will see whatever happens” kind of attitude. I reached the test centre on time to avoid any last-minute rush, in fact, I was done with all my formalities in 20 minutes, and they asked me to start the exam early. The exam hall was very quiet, I was able to give my 100% focus. I applied all of my mock learnings in the GMAT. I completed the quants nearly 5 minutes before time and utilized the remaining time to review my answers. I also managed to complete Verbal and DI on time. I was so excited and impatient to see my score that even though I had almost a minute left for the DI section, I ended the section because I was done with my review too. Though I actually aimed for more, I was happy to see a 685 on the screen,
Key Takeaways:
Overall, I would say that believing in yourself, that’s most important. Even people who scored a 100%ile must not have had a smooth journey. It’s the right mindset with the correct practice that creates a difference and takes one to success. For those preparing for GMAT, e-GMAT is the ideal choice. It provides comprehensive resources and programs that can significantly enhance your preparation.
After realizing the tech industry wasn't for me, I decided to pursue an MBA. I attempted CAT and XAT but didn't achieve my target scores. In late January, I focused on GMAT preparation.
I have been aiming for top B-Schools for which I knew I required a great GMAT score. For over a month I tried to self-study, but I realized a great GMAT score requires effective study strategies, quality content, and preparation with expert guidance and support. That’s when one of my close friends suggested the e-GMAT platform to me.
My biggest challenge – Verbal:
From the beginning, my biggest challenge has been the Verbal section. This was a significant factor in my decision to choose e-GMAT, given its stellar reputation and excellent reviews for its Verbal course.
e-GMAT helped me build my verbal ability and confidence by following a structured approach to improvement:
Master Comprehension: It started by working on the basics of comprehension. This course helped me build the right kind of foundation for verbal. It guided me on how to properly read sentences and paragraphs to grasp what’s written, without the need to re-read it again, like by showing the importance of pause points. This set the right context for verbal, and I was able to grasp the comprehension in one read itself.
CR and pre-thinking
In CR, my biggest challenge was not able to choose the correct option. The options in CR are usually so close that if one doesn’t know the correct approach, they are bound to get confused between options.
This is where pre-thinking came as a game changer. Rather than diving directly into analysing the option choices, I started taking a few moments to pre-think after reading the question stem. Slowly this developed naturally and usually, I used to know what to look for in the answer before jumping to the options.
This not only helped me improve my accuracy for CR questions to 70% but also helped me reduce my CR time to less than 2 min, and improve my confidence multifold.
RC and reading strategies:
In RC my biggest challenge was the approach of solving. I used to jump onto the questions quickly after skimming through the passage and having half knowledge. I thought if I skim through the passage, it would save my time, allowing me more time while solving the questions. Specially, long RC passages seemed dreadful.
Here the reading strategies helped the way I approached the passages. Strategies like keeping yourself engaged and immersed in the passage and pausing after a few sentences to grasp the additional information, helped me in tackling difficult RC passages with ease. I was no longer sceptical about lengthy and dense passages.
Cementing quizzes then helped bridge the gap between the concept and its application. It helped me to validate if I understood the concepts well enough to apply them.
I found the Scholaranium to be a really valuable tool. It provided access to a varied pool of questions. I used it to create custom quizzes based on specific topics, difficulty levels, or question types to fine-tune my abilities. I loved how it provided detailed performance analysis and insights.
Data Insights –
When I started with Data Insights, I was good at Data Sufficiency and Graphs and Table Analysis but was faltering in Two-Part Analysis and MSR.
That is when Rashmi, my mentor told me that it was because my Verbal was weak while my Quants were strong. That’s why she emphasized the need to work on my verbal skills before moving to DI.
Since DI is a mix of Verbal and Quants, you need to be good in both of them to be good in DI. Like MSR is similar to RC, the approach to solving it is also on a similar note.
The course at e-GMAT helped me to apply my skills in a structured process.
Even in DS, where I was mostly good, e-GMAT helped me to approach DS questions more systematically. Like first read the question stem and note down exactly what is asked. Then read Statement 1 and check if it’s sufficient. If yes, then either A or D is the answer, otherwise B, C, or E is the answer. Then move to statement 2, and it will lead you to the correct answer.
As I already said MSR is similar to RC and e-GMAT’s data analytics helped me to reflect on the time distribution in both sections. It showed me that my approach to target the questions wasn’t appropriate, because of which I was taking more time than required. I followed the correct approach and could see the change in the time distribution.
Quants:
Given my engineering background, my quant was strong. This is where cementing helped the most, to validate those concepts. It helped me to see if there was still any weak area that needed to be covered, and it did. I needed to improve my Number Properties.
This is where the PACE feature of e-GMAT jumped in. So, this is the feature in quants where you need to give a few quizzes with basic foundation questions, which helps the algorithm to identify the weak areas. Based on the quiz result, the algorithm then highlights the content one needs to cover and not the whole course. So, this feature helped me to actually focus on the area that needed improvement and saved me time. In Number Properties, which was my weakest section, I was able to save me over 15 hours.
How did data tools help drive my improvement?
e-GMAT has very beautifully used data to drive the preparation of students. For example, the average time to solve questions is around 2 minutes, but some questions take more time than usual. The median time feature showed me that it’s okay to take more time in a few questions because it’s a difficult one and people took more time to solve this question. Then, data also helped me when I wasn’t sure if I was really improving. There’s a feature to filter the data of each section with the last 10,20,30 and overall questions based on the level of difficulty. It shows if you are progressing or not. Also, it’s because of the data-driven approach that I was able to identify the actual areas that needed my focus and improvement.
Another key area that helped was the focus on the error log. I would analyse each question I made a mistake in and categorize why I made that error. Was I not able to pre-think? Did I not understand the question? Was I not able to identify the conclusion? These questions in error logs made me understand the value of quality over quantity.
Last Mile Push Program: The Last Mile Push Program of eGMAT was really helpful. It’s particularly tailored for those who are close to their goal but need a final push to get there. I got a very supportive mentor, Rashmi, who with her experience, created a personalized plan for me and guided me in every step of my preparation. We used to get on calls weekly and discuss my progress. She helped me see things that I wasn’t able to see on my own. I felt that I wasn’t alone in the journey and someone was there with me who cared about my goal too. At times, she believed in me more than I could, which gave me the confidence to do better.
Mock challenges – How I overcame my fear of mocks:
From the start I was not good with mocks. Even after good sectional scores, I wasn’t able to reflect that in my mock. It was very demotivating for me. I started questioning my ability. But Rashmi showed me using my own Scholaranium data that the issue wasn’t my potential, but my mindset.
I started focussing on having a positive mindset. I used to panic a lot while giving mocks if any section was not going as per plan. Rashmi gave me tips to overcome it. She told me to pause for 10 seconds if this happens, take a deep breath, tell myself that everything is all right, and then continue. It did help. One can’t know while giving a mock if it’s going well or not. So, I stopped assuming that it wasn’t going well and focussed on the next question which popped on the screen. All this helped me to develop a positive mindset, which led me to let go of my fear of mocks.
I gave 15 mocks in total. I feel I gave more mocks than people preparing for the GMAT usually give. As mentioned earlier, I wasn’t very confident when it came to giving mocks, but I knew I needed to make myself better because the GMAT is nothing but your final mock. I wanted to figure out the best time for me to give a mock with the least disturbances, calm myself down even if anything is not going as per plan, and test all the scenarios of what can go wrong in the main exam.
Analysing mock is very important, otherwise giving mock is a waste. It helps in identifying and improving the weak areas, like understanding which types of questions you frequently get wrong, and then figuring out the reason behind it.
Test day experience:
On the test day, I was really calm, with a positive mindset and a “will see whatever happens” kind of attitude. I reached the test centre on time to avoid any last-minute rush, in fact, I was done with all my formalities in 20 minutes, and they asked me to start the exam early. The exam hall was very quiet, I was able to give my 100% focus. I applied all of my mock learnings in the GMAT. I completed the quants nearly 5 minutes before time and utilized the remaining time to review my answers. I also managed to complete Verbal and DI on time. I was so excited and impatient to see my score that even though I had almost a minute left for the DI section, I ended the section because I was done with my review too. Though I actually aimed for more, I was happy to see a 685 on the screen,
Key Takeaways:
Overall, I would say that believing in yourself, that’s most important. Even people who scored a 100%ile must not have had a smooth journey. It’s the right mindset with the correct practice that creates a difference and takes one to success. For those preparing for GMAT, e-GMAT is the ideal choice. It provides comprehensive resources and programs that can significantly enhance your preparation.
29 Jul 2024, 14:04
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Quote:
So true!
Congrats, and may all go well for you going forward.
29 Jul 2024, 22:02
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SharmaNeha - what a journey you've had! Let's break this down:
Master Comprehension: You nailed it with the pause points technique. Glad it helped you grasp content in one go. By the way, we've added 50 more questions to that course - might be worth checking out if you're still practicing.
Reading Comprehension: Smart move using data to tweak your approach. Spending more time on the initial read clearly paid off. I'm curious - what were your before and after numbers for first read and question-answering times? That data could be gold for other students.
Data Tools: Love how you used the median time feature and those L10|L20|L30 filters. That's exactly how they're meant to be used. =12ptError Log: Your quality-over-quantity approach to the error log is spot on. Tell me, what specific behaviors were tripping you up in CR at first, and how did that change as you progressed?
Mock Tests: Overcoming your mock test fear is huge. Those breathing techniques and focus strategies you developed? Pure gold. And you're absolutely right - the GMAT is just your final mock.
Overall, you didn't just work hard—you worked smart. Using data, adjusting your approach, and keeping a positive mindset is the winning formula. Thanks for sharing your story in such detail. It's going to help a lot of other GMAT takers out there.
Keep crushing it, Neha!
Master Comprehension: You nailed it with the pause points technique. Glad it helped you grasp content in one go. By the way, we've added 50 more questions to that course - might be worth checking out if you're still practicing.
Reading Comprehension: Smart move using data to tweak your approach. Spending more time on the initial read clearly paid off. I'm curious - what were your before and after numbers for first read and question-answering times? That data could be gold for other students.
Data Tools: Love how you used the median time feature and those L10|L20|L30 filters. That's exactly how they're meant to be used. =12ptError Log: Your quality-over-quantity approach to the error log is spot on. Tell me, what specific behaviors were tripping you up in CR at first, and how did that change as you progressed?
Mock Tests: Overcoming your mock test fear is huge. Those breathing techniques and focus strategies you developed? Pure gold. And you're absolutely right - the GMAT is just your final mock.
Overall, you didn't just work hard—you worked smart. Using data, adjusting your approach, and keeping a positive mindset is the winning formula. Thanks for sharing your story in such detail. It's going to help a lot of other GMAT takers out there.
Keep crushing it, Neha!
