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Learn how Keshav, a Chartered Accountant, scored an impressive 705 on GMAT in just 30 days with GMATWhiz's expert guidance. In this video, he shares preparation tips and strategies that worked for him, including the mock, time management, and more.
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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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575 to 685: How I Fixed My Verbal Foundations and Jumped 10 Points to V86
The Foundation Problem: Master Comprehension
Critical Reasoning: From Guessing to 87% Hard Accuracy
Reading Comprehension: The Counterintuitive Truth
Data Insights: DI82
Quant: Strategic Efficiency with PACE
NEURON: Targeted Practice with Official Questions
Last Mile Push: The Final Breakthrough (645 to 685)
Test Day
I'm Nishan, and I recently scored 685 (Q84, V86, DI82) after starting at 575, with a 10-point jump in Verbal - from V76 to V86.
When I walked out of my first attempt with 575, I realized my Verbal foundations were shaky, my timing was a mess, and I was guessing through questions. That wake-up call led me to e-GMAT and six months of systematic rebuilding.
The Foundation Problem: Master Comprehension
Here's what I didn't understand initially: you can't build strong CR and RC skills without strong comprehension fundamentals. I used to think Master Comprehension was something you could skip if you were "already decent" at reading. Wrong.
Master Comprehension teaches you how to actually read and understand - not just recognize words on a page. It's about identifying pause points, extracting meaning, and processing information efficiently. Without this foundation, every CR and RC question becomes a struggle because you're fighting both the content and your own comprehension gaps.
Critical Reasoning: From Guessing to 87% Hard Accuracy
My CR approach before e-GMAT was simple: read the stimulus, read the question, pick whatever "felt right." I was constantly worried about the timer. My accuracy ranged from decent to low.
This is when I realized that I needed to unlearn my process, and relearn the pre-thinking approach taught at e-GMAT.
The systematic process: read question stem, understand the argument, pre-think the answer, analyze choices methodically, confirm why correct answers work. Initially felt impossibly slow. But through cementing quizzes on Scholaranium, it became natural.
Initially, this felt impossibly slow. I kept thinking "there's no way I can do all this in 2 minutes." But here's what happened: as I practiced through cementing quizzes on Scholaranium, the process became natural. My brain started doing it automatically.
By my final test, CR was nearly perfect. On NEURON practice, I hit 87% accuracy on hard questions. When you're getting questions right consistently, slightly longer time is worth it.
Reading Comprehension: The Counterintuitive Truth
RC was where I fought the process the most. I'd been skimming passages for years - spending 2-3 minutes scanning, then going back to hunt for answers. Every question took forever because I hadn't really understood what I'd read.
The e-GMAT approach flipped this completely: spend 3-4 minutes reading actively upfront, then answer questions in under a minute each.
- Reading each paragraph and immediately summarizing what the author is saying
- Anticipating what might come next based on the passage structure
- Identifying the main point and how each paragraph supports it
- Creating a mental roadmap so I knew where information lived
Once I committed to the process, that time investment paid off 3-4x. Questions became easy because I actually understood what I'd read.
Data Insights: DI82
My initial DI80 was lucky. Coming from consulting, graphs are second nature. I could score decently on intuition without understanding the systematic approach. But intuition doesn't scale.
The e-GMAT DI course broke everything down - different question types (DS, TPA, MSR), proper approaches for each. Data Sufficiency is a perfect example: I achieved 100% accuracy on DS by learning to categorize questions (yes/no vs. value) and segment answer choices systematically.
My DI82 on test day was confident and repeatable. Not lucky.
Quant: Strategic Efficiency with PACE
Starting at Q80, I didn't need to build from scratch. PACE assessed my ability in each topic and recommended skipping foundational content where I was strong, jumping straight to Level 3 cementing. This saved approximately 32 hours.
Two shifts helped me improve: First, the "2 minutes per question" is a myth - it's an average. Some take 3+ minutes, others under 1. Accepting this removed artificial pressure. Second, I learned to take the test one question at a time. During one mock, I was convinced Quant went terribly. Reality? Q86. That false perception affected subsequent sections.
NEURON: Targeted Practice with Official Questions
In my final month, NEURON was invaluable. The platform has OG questions with structured custom quizzes. Instead of flipping through PDFs, I could target exactly what I needed.
The analytics showed real-time improvement - strengthening topics, timing improvements, question types needing work. The questions matched test day difficulty and style perfectly.
Last Mile Push: The Final Breakthrough (645 to 685)
By 645, my foundations were solid but I was stuck. I couldn't figure out what needed fine-tuning to break through to 680+.
That's when Last Mile Push became critical. Having Rashmi as a dedicated mentor meant: a clear personalized strategy, 2-3 calls per week dissecting performance, custom solutions for my specific issues, and someone to keep me from reverting to old habits.
The counterintuitive RC process? LMP helped me commit. The strategic Quant mindset shifts? Came from LMP discussions. That 40-point jump in the final stretch came from systematic fine-tuning I couldn't have done alone.
Test Day
The usual anxiety, but everything felt familiar. The interface matched e-GMAT's platform. Questions were similar to Scholaranium and NEURON. My body clock was adjusted from multiple mocks. The processes were automatic. That familiarity eliminated most stress - I could focus on execution.
575 to 685 isn't just 110 points. It's rebuilding how you think and approach problems. The improvement raised both my score and my confidence.
To everyone working toward their target: the process works. Even when it feels counterintuitive. Keep showing up, trust the systematic approach, don't skip foundations.
Happy to answer questions.
Best,
Nishan
14 Dec 2025, 10:53
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Congratulations on a marvellous improvement..All the Best for the applications journey.
15 Dec 2025, 12:39
Kudos
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Congrats on the 685! I wish you all the best with your applications.
