Hey there!
I have had a rollercoaster ride while studying for my GMAT. Initially, I did not want to spend on any course. I thought I was "smart enough" to self-study (and I still believe that). In fact, (full disclosure) I even reported e-GMAT's ad on YouTube in order to hide it from my account.
Started with a 690 (Q50 V32), which was a pretty decent starting point. One month of OG and bam, still 690. I consulted my seniors who had aced the GMAT, and from them, I got the notion of error logging and practising hard questions from GMATClub. This really helped me shape my understanding of questions and even improved my verbal score from V32 to V37. I once got a 730 on my GMATPrep and thought that if I simply continue with the error logging, I will break that 750 barrier. However, I stagnated again. Instead, my score dropped to 710 (dropping one point each in Quant and Verbal), meaning that the 730 was a score on a good day. This is after over 3 months of GMAT study. In my head, I was thinking, "This is taking way too much time, and I do not even know what I am doing wrong". I had already gone through GMAT Ninja's videos and solutions (which are GOLD, btw) and diligently worked on logging my errors and practising tougher official questions everyday. But V40 STILL seemed out of reach.
I sent an email to e-GMAT (yes, I had the gut to mail them even after I blocked their ads on YouTube :P) and I got a response within 5 hours, on a Sunday. Not gonna lie, their promptness moved me a bit. I had 2 calls first in order to discuss which e-GMAT program would be suitable for me. Bought the course for a month and started right on, hoping to keep a fresh and open mind.
I realised my SC, which I believed was great, had some particular conceptual gaps because of which I was missing Medium questions on SC. RC was actually great, thanks to a reading of The Economist articles for 2 weeks. CR was conceptually alright, but the timing was super bad (3 mins on average!). I had never timed my practice - I used to do a question, reflected on why I got it wrong, did a thorough review (20 mins/question) of that question, and only then moved on to the next.
e-GMAT courses really helped me structure the process of learning. I was not wasting time on WHAT I should study. Rather, I was spending time refining my process. The SC modules are awesome for someone who prefers video lessons over textbooks. I also got guidance from their mentorship program (A big shout out to Atreya and Arathy for all the help). Atreya guided me on what to do next, and took to my concerns. Yes, there were times when I would not get a response, but he went out of his way to get back to me.
Scholaranium, their practice platform, is where I worked on my CR timing. In fact, I even improved my timing on SC. It is something that I realised while practising on Scholaranium that I could say to myself, "Oh, ok, I should approach the problems this way". The biggest realisation: Read slow. Like a 5th grader. Literally. (Thanks to Gin's RC tips and a free e-GMAT video on RC strategy). I applied the same to CR and SC, and I was amazed at the improvement in my timing.
Of course, these improvements will be specific to your case. What to takeaway from this review is that invest in a course. Sure, you are brilliant and can self-study. But these courses are designed to minimise the time that goes into the prep. By the end of 5 months, I was burned out (even after the e-GMAT courses). I had to re-take the actual GMAT (first score was 700) because of something at the test center that distracted me during my Verbal section. I had to re-take even after I had gotten 760 and 770 in my mocks. Something unprecedented like this can really affect you. I am surprised to get a V40 even after all the wear and tear and a stupid sickness on D-Day.
Another thing is, if you decide to take e-GMAT and are invited to their mentorship program, please be nice to your mentors. They handle a lot of students (which might lead to less attention to some students, frankly). But they work like hell to help you out. You do not want to get a good GMAT score at anyone's expense. Being nice to them actually motivates them to work harder.
All in all, e-GMAT has a great course. Had I not been a miser in my first 3-4 months and bought the course already, I would have been in a mental state to hit 760 or more on the actual test (and I mean it). 2 months of e-GMAT can really get you there, provided you have a good starting point. All the best to anyone who takes up the course! (Sorry for the long post!)

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Content was great for both Verbal and Quant. I was more interested in Quant because I didn't recall any of the concepts, and really needed a good coverage, and eGMAT definitely delivered, brining my Quant from baseline of 39 to 49.
The Verbal course was also really though rough in teaching concepts, and it made me realise that there were quite a few things that I was unaware of - especially in the Sentence Correction bit.
Also, they have a near-endless question bank which provides the required practice (Scholaranium).
I did at times feel lost because eGMAT strategy guidance is given purely through email, and that form of communication feels very impersonal and is problematic for me because I tend to get a lot more information if I'm talking with someone. However, it was not too much of a hassle, I was able to relate to and apply at least 50% of the given strategy advice, which helped me on my journey.

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If you are in need of a light at the end of the tunnel but can't seem to find it, I'd say work with GMATNinja. They'll surely help you navigate better.
I started my exam prep a few years ago and I think I poured over every single GMAT question multiple times incessantly for over 14 months or so. My approach to GMAT was, study every day for 4 hours non-stop and the improvement will come. To my surprise, my mock scores were all over the place, (740, 750, 700). While I tried some online prep courses in these months I saw inconsistent improvements. While I improved one section of my exam, I noticed a drop in some other area.
When I finally booked my Online GMAT exam and got a score of 670 (Q50/V30). I was mentally, physically, emotionally wrecked. I kept thinking who else can help me? Is a good score even possible? Has the exam got the best of me?
After much thought I decided to give it one last try. I'm sure anyone who has seen Charles's videos will agree that there are no better videos out there to understand verbal concepts. The GMATNinja platform has everything you ever need to help you with your prep even if you decide not to actually sign up for tutoring. I decided to reach out to Charles and that’s when I was fortunate enough to meet Harry.

From my first mail to Harry, I saw a complete shift in philosophy. Rather than start focusing on my past scores or effort, he was more concerned with understanding what my current ability was. A mountain of homework came my way even before a single session. Harry's methodology was to break my approach down on every single question and find common problem areas. He's the perfect coach. He expects a lot of effort but rewards you with brutal honesty. When you get a question wrong, he'll be the mirror you need to help reflect on your mistakes. I was shocked to see my accuracy improve in CR and RC in just the third session. He drove me to do fewer problems and spend maximum time reflecting on my approach. Outside of my actual problems with GMAT concepts, I realized that my issue was a lot with test anxiety. He shared insightful materials to help with my personal habits and focus on mindfulness. I saw my score jump on my actual GMAT exam to a 720. I am taking the exam again soon to improve it further as the score doesn’t do justice to the work both of us put in. I finally know what my true capability is when it comes to standardized tests and he's given me the confidence to keep pushing. I can't thank Harry enough for promptly responding to every single one of my email and providing accountability. Rest assured, he will work with you diligently to understand what's going on and make a customized plan no matter what stage of prep you are in. If I had to start my GMAT journey all over again, I would rather start with GMAT Ninja tutoring with no concern for cost than go through an endless path of experimenting.

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Hi everyone,

I am writing this post to walk you through my GMAT journey in the hopes that you might find it useful. At the very onset, what I have written is not meant to be prescriptive. It is a record of my experience with the GMAT exam and how I prepared for it - if, through this post, you can find even one idea that helps you in your journey, I would have done my job of giving back to the gmatclub community. I have broken this story down into three parts: 1) choosing a study plan, 2) preparing for the GMAT, 3) leading up to the test and the test experience.

Before that my daily schedule (high level):

Wake-up: 6:30 am
Sign-in at work: 8:00 am
Sign-off: 6:00 pm.
Work Out and Dinner: 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm.
GMAT Prep - 9:00 pm - 11:30 pm

Choosing a Study Plan
I decided to take the GMAT in May this year, hoping to apply to business schools by the first round of deadlines in September. I knew a few folks who had already taken the GMAT, so I reached out to them to learn about their prep journey (read quite a few posts from the gmatclub - all very helpful) - a few suggested Manhatten Prep, some suggested Math Revolution, and some others suggested e-GMAT. Everyone who suggested the e-GMAT course raved about its verbal infrastructure and how that was especially important for non-native English speakers.

I chose the e-GMAT because of its strong verbal infrastructure. I knew I had a comparative advantage in verbal over the others, because of my background in public policy. I develop and analyze policies for a living, so CR and RC are, in a way, a part of my job. I had also done my research and knew that breaking the 41/42 mark on the Verbal section in the GMAT exam increases your score substantially as long as you are hitting a Q48/49. Since my undergrad is in economics and I also do a fair bit of data science (for fun), my quant skills are decent. So I wanted a course that could complement my existing strengths and help me break the V41/42 threshold. I set a V45 target for myself.

Before starting the course in June, I took an official mock test to see where I stood. I started with a 650 - Q44 and V35. I realized I was relying too much on my instincts on SC. And while your instincts can serve you well (depending on how strong your foundations are in verbal), they won't take you too far when you start getting those hard (>700) type questions. My accuracy on >700 SC questions was abysmal, and I knew that was holding me back. e-GMAT treats SC like science and breaks down each sentence into various components - one then analyzes each component independently to see if they fit together well. Does the meaning of the sentence make sense? And if it does, does the grammar fit well into it? Once you can comfortably answer those two questions, picking the right answer becomes easier.

Preparing for the GMAT
I input my mock test scores on the e-GMAT diagnostic report and they gave me a plan for the next three months. I tweaked that plan to suit my own goals. So through the course of the three months, I spent 70 percent of the time on Verbal, understanding the "science-like approach to sentence correction" and 30 percent of the time on Quant.

For SC I started from the very basics - what is a sentence and built on my prep from there. For every module, e-GMAT starts you off with a pre-assessment quiz. This tells you where you stand before taking the module. Then after you complete the module, they do a post-assessment quiz to show you how far you have come. The "pre-assessment, prepare, and post-assessment" structure was very important for me since I got to see my progress daily.

I would study the module, take the post-assessment quiz and then attempt 10-15 OG questions daily. Once you complete each module on the e-GMAT in its entirety, you can take "cementing quizzes". These quizzes are there to test how far you have come and how well you understand the concepts you have studied.

For RC and CR, I read 4-5 articles a day from the economist on topics I was not used to such as geology, and other sciences. I did not dedicate as much time to learning the basics of RC and CR but spent a lot of time doing mock questions daily. In addition to the 10-15 SC questions, I would do around 3 RC and 10 CR questions daily. You will notice as you read more your RC and CR automatically improve. That said, if you are not a reader then e-GMAT does have some very helpful tips on tackling RC and CR too and they follow the same "pre-assessment, prepare, post-assessment" structure here.

For quant, I focussed predominantly on the word problems section since they make up for the most number of questions on the GMAT. The section is broken down into topics, and each topic starts from the basics. Once you are done with the concept file, you take post-assessment quizzes and see how well you understand the section. I would often couple my preparation with about 20 questions from the OG daily.

Leading Up To The Test and The Test Experience

Through the course of my prep I took four mock tests:
June (before starting my prep) - 650: V35, Q44 (official test 1)
July (mid-July, a month into my prep) - 740: V42, Q49 (official test 2)
July (last week) - 690: V38, Q47 (official test 3)
August (1 week before my test) - 720: V41, Q48 (official test 4).
I never attempted the AWA or the IR sections of the official mock tests. I would suggest you do. Doing so will give you a good sense of the entire exam and how long it takes. Also, IR and AWA can be tricky for some people, and you don't want any surprises on test day. My third mock score threw me off a little bit, but my performance was a function of how I was feeling that day. I had not slept well and was tired. It is important to know what you need in terms of prep for test day to be your optimal self. In my case, it is a good night's sleep and a light breakfast. Another important factor (for online test takers from home) is to prep on a whiteboard with markers. Make sure you are comfortable using a whiteboard before test day. Using it for the first time on test day can be detrimental to your performance. I started working on a whiteboard 2-3 weeks before my actual test. Small things, such as the smell of the marker, being used to erasing after solving 2 or 3 questions, getting used to the feel of the board, etc. may seem minor but can prove to be useful on the test day.

My actual test day was alright. I logged in 15 mins before the test was scheduled to start. The proctor checked my room through the camera and performed the formalities and I was on my way. My last tip to you would be to start your exam with your strengths. The GMAT allows you to structure your exam the way you like. Always start with the section you are good at. That sets the pace for the rest of your test. Imagine not performing well and moving onto the next section - you are already demoralized. So you might not be your best self in a section you would otherwise ace had you been happy and confident. Now imagine starting strong - you are happy and confident with your performance so far, you move to your relatively weaker section but because you have done well so far, you perform better than you would have as a disappointed test taker. That is the approach I take - does not mean it is correct.

Remember, the GMAT is just an exam and you can take it multiple times (ideally you would not have to but not doing well is not the end of the world). Also, it is just one of the many factors in a bschool application (assuming you are applying to bschool). If you don't do as well as you would have liked, IT IS OKAY. Be honest in your preparation. Be kind to yourself. And you will do well :)

Final score - 760: V47, Q48, IR5, AWA6

If you'd like to talk more about the exam, my prep, or just get to know me better, feel free to connect with me on Linkedin - www.linkedin.com/in/pratiquekain

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e-GMAT has been instrumental in my journey to 740 in my very first attempt. The course is very well structured and takes you through all the concepts necessary to score the 90th percentile in GMAT. Working diligently on the e-GMAT practice files and application files will ensure that you pick up all the required skills to ace GMAT, right at the time of learning the concepts. The cementing stages and strategic review further helps to fill any gaps left during your study. The course structure has been further aided by the use of analytics such as xPERT to give you targeted inputs to improve upon. Such targeted feedback has been extremely beneficial towards the end of my preparation to fill the gap between my score and the target score.

The Quant section of e-GMAT may be slightly on the harder side but nevertheless provides you the confidence and skills to solve even very hard questions on your actual GMAT.

e-GMAT also helped me through one on one mentorship by creating hyper-specific improvement plans, once I was test-ready. This helped me maximize my potential in the run-up to the GMAT and I'm extremely thankful to DJ for working with me on this. He gave me strategies and weekly targets that helped me immensely in the final leg of my preparation. Overall, I'm quite happy to have made the decision of choosing e-GMAT.

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Before I signed up for e-GMAT program, I had heard about it from few of my friends. So, once I made up my mind to appear for the exam, I browsed through their website and got in touch with the team. As per their advice, I appeared for a SIGMA-X trial mock and got 700+. Basis this score, I was enrolled for a mentorship programme, which allowed me to have a 1-1 guidance from one of the mentors. Following is my experience with the content and the team:

1. Sentence Correction - It truly lived up to its reputation (as I had heard from my friends basis their personal experience). I found it quite detailed and engaging. This content helped me to attempt SC questions in an objective and critical manner, thus improving my accuracy, time and confidence.

2. CR & RC - While these may not have course content as detailed as SC, they offer a very decent overview of question types and help to cement concepts with step-by-step detailed application modules.

3. Scholaranium - I found this an excellent platform to build one's ability and cement conceptual understanding, before moving forward to next concepts. This platform offers a nice overview of current performance and helps to work on one's weak areas as required.

4. Quant Course - The Quant content is quite comprehensive. A new update to this content, called Quant 2.0, has added a lot of practice files, a key requirement in Quant section, thus helping student to cement concepts in the respective sections itself.

5. Mentorship & Support team - I can't emphasize enough the great team e-GMAT has (including the general support team). With great content available, this team brings in their expert guidance and analytics (unique to every student basis his/her profile - current performance, target score, timelines). My mentor was Ashutosh, who was quite approachable and friendly. He used to propose a day-wise plan for me and basis my progress and performance, he used to adapt the same.

As I reflect on my entire preparation journey, I would highly recommend e-GMAT to new students looking for right content and guidance. You can be assured that this platform and the team can offer you a one-stop solution. :)

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When I initially decided to start studying for the GMAT I bought some prep books and tried to self study but did not feel like I was making much progress. I talked to some friends who had recently taken the GMAT and they recommended TTP so I decided to give it a shot and right away felt much more productive with my time spent studying. The course provides a great structure for working through all the possible Quant topics with detailed lessons, examples, and sample problems followed by quizzes of varying difficulty related to that topic. The questions all come with thorough explanations and links back to where they were originally discussed and you can track the questions you are getting wrong so you can see what areas you are struggling with and then re-visit those questions later to make sure you have it down. There is definitely a great balance between learning new topics and re-visiting old topics periodically throughout your study plan. The thorough and defined structure of the course really helps make the study process straight forward so you can spend your time and effort focusing on learning the topics as opposed to trying to figure out what to study next or what to revisit. And throughout it all are bits of advice about general test taking strategy like when you should start focusing on question timing, how/when to guess, etc.
The TTP team is also very supportive, responsive and friendly; definitely reach out to them if you have questions or concerns and they will be there to help you out. I didnt use the Verbal section of the course very much since I was already pretty solid there so I dont have any input on that, but I was able to get a score I was happy with on my first try so would definitely recommend using TTP for the Quant section if you are looking for a thorough and structured study plan for all topics quant related for the GMAT.

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I followed the e-GMAT intensive study plan. I started with Quant and later continued with SC. After four months, I have really seen enough. What I am gonna say now will definitely upset some people, but I have talked to multiple people with the same opinion about the e-GMAT course.

For quant, the course certainly goes through all the relevant topics on the GMAT. However, there are multiple flaws:
(1) The practice questions are often unrealistic, nothing like the official questions
(2) The explanations to the solutions are often very confusing, and the comments section provides no real background to the reasoning behind a certain approach to a quant question. I feel like it is more about solving a particular question, rather than actually understanding the underlying concept.

For verbal, the course is even worse imo:
(1) The question quality is bad, really bad. Prove for this? One week before my official exam in which I got a 740 (Q48 V44), I took a SC diagnostic test from e-GMAT and had 3 out of 10 questions correct. I received a V44, and I am sure my verbal didn't improve that much within a week. In official questions I normally got at least 9 out of 10 correct, but the unofficial questions from e-GMAT really do not resemble the official questions.

(2) The "pre-thinking" approach for CR almost killed my CR ability. I really had to "unlearn" the approach later! After I used different materials (I will introduce that later), CR was probably my strongest section on the GMAT.

I could say many more things about the e-GMAT course that I didn't like, but I think I really wasted 3 months for this course. After 4 months I took another diagnostic exam and got a 530. Not very impressive after 4 months of almost full-time study. e-GMAT really has some strong marketing and it also got me. They throw around with fancy words like, SigmaX mocks, Scholarinium, AI, data-driven, and all this blabla..really, a test prep company that truly generates impressive results doesn't need such words for their marketing. Additionally, the success stories are impressive, but e-GMAT has hundreds if not thousands of clients. Obviously, with such a large sample there will be some great success stories. But for the majority of students I do NOT recommend the course at all. To improve your score, use TTP. For more details, refer to my debrief on GMAT Club: https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-debrief-from-a-470-q31-v24-to-a-740-q48-v44-369195.html

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GMAT is an exam which is career defining according to me. From scoring a very low score ( below 620 ) to achieving 710 was a long journey. I purchased the E-GMAT course in April, 2021 and took the exam on 2nd of September, 2021. The course materials provided by E-GMAT are very elaborate and covers each and every type of questions one can expect. Quant modules had lots of practice quizzes and excellent video lectures. After completing the quant module, after a long time I started having the confidence to get a good score in it. Even the mock tests started reflecting the improvement in the scores. The verbal section was also detailed. I saw a huge improvement in the critical reasoning section and applying the pre-thinking logic served as the backbone of it. Even the sentence correction modules proved to be of great help. Scholaranium provided by E-GMAT had a great pool of questions. The hard level quants questions seemed to be more tough than one might usually get on the test but that in-turn made me find the difficult official mock questions easier. There are custom and customized quizzes for regular practice and they helped me a lot. Overall, I would highly recommend any GMAT aspirant to take E-GMAT course. I dont think any other material can beat E-GMAT's module. Just trust the process and keep on learning the way its taught and things will start falling into place with time.

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Target Test Prep's comprehensive quant course was incredibly useful in helping me refresh my knowledge of the topics being tested on the GMAT. Although there is a lot of material that takes a significant amount of time to go through, it helps build a solid foundation in all the required concepts, which helped build my confidence going into the exam. It is also very well structured, with a good amount of reading material complemented by practice tests and review tests. The course is well worth the hype, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a comprehensive GMAT quant course.

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