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28 Oct 2025, 00:06
Kudos
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Hi GMAT Club,
I'm Krishay, and I recently scored a 715 (Q90, V83, DI83) on my first GMAT attempt. But here's the kicker - just three months before this, I scored a 495 (Q67, V79, DI78) on my first diagnostic mock. Here’s how I did it.
Early Days
I spent my first month preparing with random materials I found online. I watched YouTube videos, solved questions, and falsely believed I was making progress. Then on July 13th-14th, I took an e-GMAT Sigma-X mock test to assess where I actually stood.
495
I was frozen when I saw that score report. Q67 (6th percentile) was particularly brutal - here I was with an economics degree, and I couldn't even handle basic GMAT math. The DI section was a disaster too - I had 6-7 questions left with no time, and I didn't even know what each subsection contained.
But you know what? That test humbled me in the best way possible. The next morning, I purchased the e-GMAT program, since I had explored the free trial version and really liked it! I also realized that it doesn't matter where you start - if you put in the hours and follow the right process, you can reach your goal.
Quant: From 6th Percentile to Perfect Q90
During my first month of prep before joining e-GMAT, I read tons of reviews about how solving questions online would help. So, I kept solving questions, thinking I was good at Quant. But when I faced that adaptive test, I couldn't answer the difficult questions after the first few easy ones.
That's when it hit me: there’s no point in solving as many questions as you can if you do not understand the concepts.
And there's no shame in admitting that you might have to relearn things from class seven and class eight - because those are exactly the type of questions you'll see on the GMAT.
The Structured Approach
From that point on, I followed e-GMAT's structured program religiously. The four main topics - Number Properties, Word Problems, Algebra, and Advanced Topics - became my focus areas.
The videos helped me understand the basis of every topic and how to approach different kinds of Quant questions. But what really made the difference were the Learning Activity Files.
Unlike practice quizzes that were designed for assessments, Learning Activities prioritized learning. You get the explanation right after each question, so it doesn't matter how long you take as long as you understand it.
I felt much more comfortable knowing that I had looked at 100 different questions in every subtopic and understood the unique way or trick to solve each type.
Cementing: The Game Changer
The cementing quizzes after every subtopic were a really humbling experience, especially the hard mode questions. You don't encounter a lot of very difficult questions prior to cementing, so these quizzes made me realize that even building foundation is not enough - you have to practice a lot.
Looking at my Number Properties grades, you can see there were initial Cs and Bs - that learning curve was real. I was being overconfident, thinking I didn't need to watch the videos. Those C grades put me in my place. After that, I watched the videos, practiced thoroughly, and you can see the consistent 70%+ accuracy towards the end.
Process Skills and Video Explanations
Process skills are specific approaches that one takes to solve a Quant question. From translating the English to numbers, to simplifying and inferring, these processes meant that I had a framework on solving the Quant questions, which ensured that I was solving the questions with higher accuracy.
The video explanations after every wrong answer were eye-opening. More often than not, there was a different, more efficient way to solve the problem.
I remember the first time I saw an estimation and rounding question - 0.9999 divided by 0.10. I had no idea how to approach it efficiently. The video made it really simple. Having an actual person explaining it to me rather than just an automated process or a wall of text made all the difference.
Scholaranium: Cementing Quizzes and Sectional Mocks
Even though I knew how to solve questions, managing time overall was a challenge.
This is where the cementing quizzes came into play. The best part of the cementing quizzes was that they were representative of all the topics in that particular section. So, if I was attempting a Word Problem quiz, then it had all the questions from the topics covered, from Sales and Purchase to Savings and Interest; from Time and Work to Distance and Speed.
Moreover, we had the option of first attempting the quiz in relaxed time, with slightly higher time, to get comfortable with timed quizzes before moving to the standard time quizzes.
This helped me improve my accuracy on hard questions on Word Problems to 75%+ while helping me reduce my time to 2 minutes 30 seconds.
After this, Scholaranium's sectional mocks became invaluable. Here's why I loved them:
What I loved about sectional mocks was seeing a score at the end of 21 questions - seeing Q85 or Q83 felt much more satisfying and closer to the actual exam compared to just seeing “85% accuracy.”
Neuron for Targeted Practice
Initially, I was confused about what Neuron was for and didn't bother with it. It was only in the later part of my journey that I realized it is e-GMAT’s OG platform with detailed solutions and analytical tools. The quizzes here could be created based not just on difficulty but at a topic-wise level which added a lot of value to my prep.
After an update that added a quiz feature, I could attempt 10-20 questions whenever I wanted, similar to Scholaranium. I looked up the GMAT subreddit and understood the importance of official guide questions - I knew that to succeed on the GMAT, I needed high accuracy on these questions.
Neuron became my go-to for relaxed study sessions when I didn't want to give a timed sectional mock. I could select specific topics, focus on medium and hard difficulty problems, and polish my skills to the absolute maximum.
Towards the last three weeks of my prep, I used Neuron extensively.
Verbal: Consistency Through Strategy (V83)
Verbal was much more volatile than Quant. I was capable of scoring V87 and V86, but on a bad day, dropping back down to V79.
RC Strategy: The Note-Taking Breakthrough
I struggled a lot with RC - I could not comprehend these huge passages. My breakthrough came when I started using e-GMAT’s reading strategies. For long passages specifically, after every paragraph, I would write down just four or five words as to what the paragraph really meant.
This helped me understand the passage a lot better. I realized that longer passages actually have simpler questions - they tend to ask what the author is trying to say or what you can infer. For shorter passages, I stayed attentive to details. The process of not panicking when you see a longer passage is what helped me gain a consistent score of around V83 to V85.
CR and Pre-thinking
Pre-thinking combined with what I felt was working for me helped improve my CR performance. The videos showing how to approach different question types systematically made a huge difference.
Data Insights: Least Prepared, Still Strong (DI83)
DI is actually the section I prepared for the least. With my economics background, I was very familiar with graphs and tables. As I kept excelling at Quant, the mathematical questions in DI also became easier.
Data Sufficiency: The AD-BCE Method
Data Sufficiency troubled me the most. I would get three to four wrong per set because I struggled with not using two statements at the same time.
The e-GMAT strategy that worked: I would write "A, D" on top and "B, C, E" at the bottom, then slowly eliminate each option depending on which statement helped me get the answer. This simple organizational technique dramatically improved my DS accuracy.
The Test Experience
I was caught a bit off guard because in official mocks, I would skip to the page just before you start and wait there for a couple of minutes to take deep breaths. But on test day, there was just a one-minute timer to read instructions, so I was clicking through and suddenly bumped into the first question while clicking. I was caught off guard.
The computer screen was also much bigger than my 15-inch laptop - almost immersive. I was kind of lost sitting there. But once you get settled in with other people giving the exam next to you, it gets much more comfortable.
The Bookmark Strategy That Saved Me
I got the first question wrong, I got the sixth question wrong, I got the twelfth question wrong. But I went back and fixed all those. That's how I reached Q90.
Yes, nervousness did lead me to get three questions wrong initially, but I was attentive enough to realize I had got these questions wrong and needed to go back and rectify them. The bookmark feature and having time management down pat allowed me to do this.
When the score showed 715, I couldn't believe it - it was better than any of my mock scores.
You need to devote the amount of time that the GMAT exam requires. You need to practice and better yourself in all three sections. Some people may not be as good at DI as I was initially, so that may require more effort. Some people may be much stronger at Quant than I was - 94% of people were better than me when I started!
You need to understand how to allocate your time, distribute your time, and formulate strategies that will end up getting you the best results on test day.
For folks still fighting it out there – you will do it too!
Best,
Krishay
I'm Krishay, and I recently scored a 715 (Q90, V83, DI83) on my first GMAT attempt. But here's the kicker - just three months before this, I scored a 495 (Q67, V79, DI78) on my first diagnostic mock. Here’s how I did it.
Early Days
I spent my first month preparing with random materials I found online. I watched YouTube videos, solved questions, and falsely believed I was making progress. Then on July 13th-14th, I took an e-GMAT Sigma-X mock test to assess where I actually stood.
495
I was frozen when I saw that score report. Q67 (6th percentile) was particularly brutal - here I was with an economics degree, and I couldn't even handle basic GMAT math. The DI section was a disaster too - I had 6-7 questions left with no time, and I didn't even know what each subsection contained.
But you know what? That test humbled me in the best way possible. The next morning, I purchased the e-GMAT program, since I had explored the free trial version and really liked it! I also realized that it doesn't matter where you start - if you put in the hours and follow the right process, you can reach your goal.
Quant: From 6th Percentile to Perfect Q90
During my first month of prep before joining e-GMAT, I read tons of reviews about how solving questions online would help. So, I kept solving questions, thinking I was good at Quant. But when I faced that adaptive test, I couldn't answer the difficult questions after the first few easy ones.
That's when it hit me: there’s no point in solving as many questions as you can if you do not understand the concepts.
And there's no shame in admitting that you might have to relearn things from class seven and class eight - because those are exactly the type of questions you'll see on the GMAT.
The Structured Approach
From that point on, I followed e-GMAT's structured program religiously. The four main topics - Number Properties, Word Problems, Algebra, and Advanced Topics - became my focus areas.
The videos helped me understand the basis of every topic and how to approach different kinds of Quant questions. But what really made the difference were the Learning Activity Files.
Unlike practice quizzes that were designed for assessments, Learning Activities prioritized learning. You get the explanation right after each question, so it doesn't matter how long you take as long as you understand it.
I felt much more comfortable knowing that I had looked at 100 different questions in every subtopic and understood the unique way or trick to solve each type.
Cementing: The Game Changer
The cementing quizzes after every subtopic were a really humbling experience, especially the hard mode questions. You don't encounter a lot of very difficult questions prior to cementing, so these quizzes made me realize that even building foundation is not enough - you have to practice a lot.
Looking at my Number Properties grades, you can see there were initial Cs and Bs - that learning curve was real. I was being overconfident, thinking I didn't need to watch the videos. Those C grades put me in my place. After that, I watched the videos, practiced thoroughly, and you can see the consistent 70%+ accuracy towards the end.
Process Skills and Video Explanations
Process skills are specific approaches that one takes to solve a Quant question. From translating the English to numbers, to simplifying and inferring, these processes meant that I had a framework on solving the Quant questions, which ensured that I was solving the questions with higher accuracy.
The video explanations after every wrong answer were eye-opening. More often than not, there was a different, more efficient way to solve the problem.
I remember the first time I saw an estimation and rounding question - 0.9999 divided by 0.10. I had no idea how to approach it efficiently. The video made it really simple. Having an actual person explaining it to me rather than just an automated process or a wall of text made all the difference.
Scholaranium: Cementing Quizzes and Sectional Mocks
Even though I knew how to solve questions, managing time overall was a challenge.
This is where the cementing quizzes came into play. The best part of the cementing quizzes was that they were representative of all the topics in that particular section. So, if I was attempting a Word Problem quiz, then it had all the questions from the topics covered, from Sales and Purchase to Savings and Interest; from Time and Work to Distance and Speed.
Moreover, we had the option of first attempting the quiz in relaxed time, with slightly higher time, to get comfortable with timed quizzes before moving to the standard time quizzes.
This helped me improve my accuracy on hard questions on Word Problems to 75%+ while helping me reduce my time to 2 minutes 30 seconds.
After this, Scholaranium's sectional mocks became invaluable. Here's why I loved them:
- You might not always be in the zone to give a full-blown Sigma-X mock or official mock
- You don't want to waste your limited official mocks when you're not confident yet
- I could give two to three sectional mocks within one day itself with sufficient break time in between
- They gave me an idea of what my score would be and which topics I was making errors in
What I loved about sectional mocks was seeing a score at the end of 21 questions - seeing Q85 or Q83 felt much more satisfying and closer to the actual exam compared to just seeing “85% accuracy.”
Neuron for Targeted Practice
Initially, I was confused about what Neuron was for and didn't bother with it. It was only in the later part of my journey that I realized it is e-GMAT’s OG platform with detailed solutions and analytical tools. The quizzes here could be created based not just on difficulty but at a topic-wise level which added a lot of value to my prep.
After an update that added a quiz feature, I could attempt 10-20 questions whenever I wanted, similar to Scholaranium. I looked up the GMAT subreddit and understood the importance of official guide questions - I knew that to succeed on the GMAT, I needed high accuracy on these questions.
Neuron became my go-to for relaxed study sessions when I didn't want to give a timed sectional mock. I could select specific topics, focus on medium and hard difficulty problems, and polish my skills to the absolute maximum.
Towards the last three weeks of my prep, I used Neuron extensively.
Verbal: Consistency Through Strategy (V83)
Verbal was much more volatile than Quant. I was capable of scoring V87 and V86, but on a bad day, dropping back down to V79.
RC Strategy: The Note-Taking Breakthrough
I struggled a lot with RC - I could not comprehend these huge passages. My breakthrough came when I started using e-GMAT’s reading strategies. For long passages specifically, after every paragraph, I would write down just four or five words as to what the paragraph really meant.
This helped me understand the passage a lot better. I realized that longer passages actually have simpler questions - they tend to ask what the author is trying to say or what you can infer. For shorter passages, I stayed attentive to details. The process of not panicking when you see a longer passage is what helped me gain a consistent score of around V83 to V85.
CR and Pre-thinking
Pre-thinking combined with what I felt was working for me helped improve my CR performance. The videos showing how to approach different question types systematically made a huge difference.
Data Insights: Least Prepared, Still Strong (DI83)
DI is actually the section I prepared for the least. With my economics background, I was very familiar with graphs and tables. As I kept excelling at Quant, the mathematical questions in DI also became easier.
Data Sufficiency: The AD-BCE Method
Data Sufficiency troubled me the most. I would get three to four wrong per set because I struggled with not using two statements at the same time.
The e-GMAT strategy that worked: I would write "A, D" on top and "B, C, E" at the bottom, then slowly eliminate each option depending on which statement helped me get the answer. This simple organizational technique dramatically improved my DS accuracy.
The Test Experience
I was caught a bit off guard because in official mocks, I would skip to the page just before you start and wait there for a couple of minutes to take deep breaths. But on test day, there was just a one-minute timer to read instructions, so I was clicking through and suddenly bumped into the first question while clicking. I was caught off guard.
The computer screen was also much bigger than my 15-inch laptop - almost immersive. I was kind of lost sitting there. But once you get settled in with other people giving the exam next to you, it gets much more comfortable.
The Bookmark Strategy That Saved Me
I got the first question wrong, I got the sixth question wrong, I got the twelfth question wrong. But I went back and fixed all those. That's how I reached Q90.
Yes, nervousness did lead me to get three questions wrong initially, but I was attentive enough to realize I had got these questions wrong and needed to go back and rectify them. The bookmark feature and having time management down pat allowed me to do this.
When the score showed 715, I couldn't believe it - it was better than any of my mock scores.
You need to devote the amount of time that the GMAT exam requires. You need to practice and better yourself in all three sections. Some people may not be as good at DI as I was initially, so that may require more effort. Some people may be much stronger at Quant than I was - 94% of people were better than me when I started!
You need to understand how to allocate your time, distribute your time, and formulate strategies that will end up getting you the best results on test day.
For folks still fighting it out there – you will do it too!
Best,
Krishay
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28 Oct 2025, 00:52
Kudos
Bookmarks
Congratulations on the excellent score! And thanks for the detailed debrief.
Do you have a rough count of how many hours you devoted to studying GMAT, to achieve that 220 points improvement? I think this number will help future readers.
All the best.
Do you have a rough count of how many hours you devoted to studying GMAT, to achieve that 220 points improvement? I think this number will help future readers.
All the best.
krish2004
28 Oct 2025, 01:52
Kudos
Bookmarks
Congratulations on the excellent score! And thanks for the detailed debrief.
