A challenging, but wonderful journey to GMAT 720 (Q49/V39):
Thank you, Gmat Club
Firstly, I wan to thank all the members of the GMAT club community. I have been a member of GMAT community for 4 years now, but I never imagined that I would be writing for this community one day because my GMAT experience has been challenging, but rewarding at the end. This post is dedicated to Retakers, especially non-natives ones, who want to give up on their dream score or business schools. Please, don’t quit!
My Background
I old a master degree in statistics and another one in financial engineering. I have been working since 2016. In December 2014, I took my first GMAT exam, but I was very disappointed on the test day because I got 610 (Q46, V29). I was especially disappointed but my Quant score because it was too low for someone with my background (statistics/ quant finance) and I did not know how to justify such a low quant score, even in my optional essays. Thus, I decided to prepare more seriously and to retake the exams in 3 months.
I purchased Gmat Club tests and began to take quant tests, one test every week. My preparation was strongly focused on the Quant section because I thought that raising my Quant score to Q50 or Q51 would help me reach my dream score (700) more easily than attempting to raise my verbal score above V35.This time, I allocated the remaining 2 weeks of my preparation to verbal. However, this strategy was flawed because I did not understand how the GMAT algorithm works. On March 12, 2015, I appeared again for the gmat exam and scored a disappointing 650 (Q50, V28), mainly because my verbal score was very low. I was so disappointed that I decided to postpone my GMAT ambition and to focus on starting my career.
First set of lessons learned:
• If you want to get a good score (>700), you MUST also get good subsection scores, especially in the verbal section.
• It is very important to use official questions and exams wisely. Use them from the middle of your preparation or at the very end. This is especially true for the Official mock exams because their number is very limited (6). In my case, I wasted a lot of official questions and exams because I did not prepare well before taking them. I was repeating the same errors again and again because I thought improvement come only through practice while mastering the fundamentals is much more important
• Quality is much better than Quantity. Thus, pay careful attention to the preparation materials you use, if you don’t want to lose time, energy, and money.

Three years later, in 2018, I decided to restart my GMAT because I had not abandoned my ambition to move to a b-school. Thus, retaking the GMAT was a mandatory step given my low previous score. However, this time, I did not want to lose my time and money for nothing. I read a lot of reviews about the GMAT course providers on the GMAT CLUB. I was attracted by the high number of reviews E-GMAT had received and decided to attend a free GMAT preparation strategy session which changed the perception I had of the Gmat exam. For me, the most important takeaways were:
• GMAT is a test of ABILITY, not JUST a test of accuracy. Gmat test your ability to solve difficult question. The higher the difficulty level of the questions you solve, the higher your sectional score will be. Thus, focus on clearing the fundamentals to build good sectional ABILITIES
• You must adopt a VERY STRUCTURED approach in question solving and, in your preparation, if you don’t want to waste your time.
After attending a few verbal and quant E-GMAT webinars, I finally decided to subscribe to their GMAT ONLINE package. It was the most decisive decision I made during all my GMAT journey. My feedback regarding their platform and its contents are the following:
 Platform presentation and organization: The people at EGMAT have done a very great job because their platform is organized very well. The GMAT PLANNER is a very wonderful tool because it helps you build and/or get an idea of the sets of subsection score required to obtain a given total score. Furthermore, at the beginning and end of each lesson on the platform, the user can take an ABILITY test to get an idea of the evolution of his skills and continue confidently in his preparation. Finally, E-GMAT’s SCHOLARANIUM is a powerful tool that allow the student to take subsection-focused ABILITY tests an get detailed analytics on his/her weaknesses
 Sentence correction: the meaning-based approach of EGMAT has been a life changing concept for me as it helped me tackle the most difficult sentence correction question with confidence. Thanks to this approach, I was able to raise my SC percentile ranking from 63 percent to 86 percent in my last official exam
 Critical Reasoning: Prior to E gmat, the approach I used for CR was very unstructured. I used to guess most of the time. Using E GMAT platform, I was discovered the concept of Pre-thinking which is applicable to any CR question and helped me raise my percentile ranking from 45 to 76 in my last exam.
 Reading comprehension: Prior to E GMAT, I used to lose confidence any time I was faced with a passage out of my comfort zone (Economics) and guessed. Then, I discovered E-GMAT 7 reading strategies which where very helpful, especially for a non-native English speaker like me. I was able to solve more difficult question and, finally, I raised my reading comprehension percentile ranking from 47 to 83!
 Quantitative section: Overall, E-GMAT quantitative material are of extremely good quality. They are as structured as the verbal material and very similar to what you will get on the actual test. The difficulty level of the question is sometime higher than GMATCLUB tests and prepare you for the worst.
Overall, in my opinion, E-GMAT is definitely the best preparation provider for anyone who has a difficult time with GMAT verbal section. The technology behind their platform and the way the platform is organized will help any serious GMAT test takers get 700+ total score. In my case, I went from 650 (V28) to more than 700 (V39) using only E GMAT material for the verbal section.

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I needed to improve my quant score, which is why I chose TTP. They have a program specific to quant. After taking the diagnostic test, you get a study plan.

The way I attacked the curriculum is I focused on going through all the textbook chapters (which cover every single kind of problem you could possibly see on GMAT quant). Then I would emphasize the "easy" and "medium" practice tests, because TTP says what separates the good from great is not the ability to get easy questions right but the inability to get the easy questions wrong.

This seemed to ring true because I finished the whole textbook and 2/3 of the practice problems (I did 1640, totaling over 33hrs of working problems) and proceeded to score in the middle of my target range.

The lessons are so clear. The curriculum is easy to follow. The solutions make sense. And Scott and Jeffrey respond to emails.

I wouldn't try any other study plan.

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I sometimes feel intimidated when I see other reviews for others that are scoring 750+. I hope to score 700+ on my retake in a few weeks, but I am very happy with the score that I received. I am not a brilliant student, nor am I naturally gifted with numbers, I just worked as hard as I could with the Manhattan Prep program. I want to be clear, without Manhattan Prep, and specifically Elaine Loh, there is NO WAY that I would have scored as well as I did.

As the title states, I first scored a 520 on a practice test in December 2018 with a different GMAT test prep company. I used that particular program consistently from October-December of 2018, and I was crushed that I could only score a 520. At that point, I decided that I needed to get serious, and I started the Manhattan Prep instructor led course.

I was skeptical that using a Manhattan Prep instructor led course could really help since I had been working so hard with the other GMAT program. I was completely wrong. The Manhattan Prep materials are simply the best that you can get. I’ve used some different materials from other prep courses, and they were pretty good. However, the Manhattan Prep strategy guides are clearly better than the competition. The online content, including the GMAT Navigator, is phenomenal and certainly worth the money spent. The strategy guides are comprehensive, easy to read, and effective. The course syllabus provided the exact type of structure that I needed to prepare for the GMAT.

However, I think the real difference was the course led by Elaine Loh. I can’t say enough good things about the actual course. When I was taking the class, I had confidence knowing that who I was working with actually scored in the 99th percentile. Elaine was fun, charismatic, and most importantly, she was genuine in wanting to help us score as high as possible. She really took the time to make sure that we understood the material. She taught the class in such a way that I could actually recall specific moments while I was taking the GMAT. I know it sounds weird, but I was actually singing our “peanut butter” words song under my breath while doing the verbal section. My wife laughs at me when I randomly say “when in doubt, get the pronoun out!” And lastly, I specifically recall Elaine telling us to “WORK IT OUT” when doing data sufficiency questions.

Elaine not only taught us the appropriate content, but also the strategy behind the questions---I think this is the real difference between high scores and mediocre scores. She taught us different ways to approach questions, and made sure we understood WHY we worked problems the way that we did. Knowing content will only take you so far with the GMAT. After completing the course and actually taking the test, I’m convinced that anyone can score above a 650 with the right preparation.

In closing, I want to thank Elaine Loh and the Manhattan Prep team for helping me to score as well as I did. This sounds dramatic, and maybe it is, but her course really helped me get closer to my dreams. For 3 long months, I had serious doubts about whether I could make it in business school. I could only see myself working in sales for the rest of my career. However, with Elaine’s help and Manhattan Prep, I can not only say that I WILL go to business school, but I also have a good chance of going to legitimate top business school. Thank you Elaine!

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Well i have been using e gmat online course for a month now.The entire course flow is terrific.One can easily understand the basic as well the advance concepts.I had previously scored in gmat with self prep but after learning the concepts here i feel i had some concept gaps due to which i could not score earlier.The quant as well as verbal course is thorough and exhaustive,but it is really required to score high on the gmat.The support is also good,all your doubts will be answered or you can easily find them in the help section.Will recommend to all indian students instead of joining any tution class.
Will post my new scores once i give the exam again!
Cheers!

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A detailed post of my preparation is here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/my-journey-from-690-to-720-to-750-q50-v42-importance-of-analytics-293406.html

I will keep it brief for this review.

I found e-gmat course to be very comprehensive in that it covers all the topics and subtopics in both verbal and quant. The course content is organized very well to gradually build and improve your skill in a particular topic - be it quant or verbal.

The verbal section of e-gmat deserves a special mention because of the below reasons:

1. I found e-gmat verbal course very methodical in its approach while teaching concepts. For example, sentence correction lessons start with basic building blocks - verbs / nouns / modifiers and then move gradually into complex structures such as 'noun' + 'noun modifiers'.

2. Course teaches you how to dissect large sentences and understand the meaning to spot errors quickly. Most importantly, the course teaches grammar in simple words. All the esoteric words and grammar jargon are avoided while teaching sentence correction

3. THE BEST course for CRITICAL REASONING. I couldn't find better critical reasoning questions than the ones I saw in e-gmat. The CR section of the course is designed very cleverly. It gradually builds the concepts starting from premise, conclusion, intermediate conclusion and then moves to inference, assumption etc. If you practice 3 step process, your accuracy in critical reasoning improves magically. My accuracy/ability in critical reasoning was upwards of 80% after completing this course. Believe me - scoring 80% and above in tough critical reasoning questions will give you immense confidence.

3. Reading comprehension strategies presented are awesome. I should say none of those are new, but what this course does is - it teaches you how to trick your mind in to believing that the RC passage is very interesting. You will automatically start paying more attention and grasping the passage quickly. Strong foundation in critical reasoning and ability to understand complex sentences quickly are the key skills needed for scoring high on reading comprehension. e-gmat course builds both these skills gradually in SC and CR sections.

4.SCHOLARANIUM - I need not talk about this. It is the most widely celebrated testing platform and for a reason.
Overall, the course gives you 200% return on investment.

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My GMAT Journey was extremely long and hard but e-gmat was a very valuable resource for me. The videos are extremely well done and the way the platform is build makes it easy to follow the course very smoothly. I also used the live webinars that were incredibly helpful in both Quant and Verbal.
In Quant the problems are sometimes too difficult and could make you feel that you are not making progress, but if you keep your head focused and try to understand what you did wrong, they will help you improve significantly.
In verbal, the strategies that they use to teach each section are very logical and efficient. You need to spend some extra time at first but it will definitely pay-off.
I will recommend e-gmat to everyone without any doubt.

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I had the most terrible time last couple of months because of a family member's ill health. I had a few weeks of preparation before the exam date and this was my second attempt at taking the exam. I was extremely wary about the whole process but I enrolled myself in the e-GMAT online course. I'll be honest when I first went through the master comprehension course, I didn't believe in the process at all, It seemed too easy to do and that made me think it won't be very effective. I thoroughly enjoyed going through the SC and CR lessons, I took a couple of lessons a day regularly and did a bit of quants every day as well. The RC section always through me back ( In the test I did this section the best) and I tried different shortcuts during my preparation to get to the right answer but ended up failing. Towards the end I followed the e-GMAT process, though long and simple, it ended up being the most effective.

Every concept in the verbal section are explained clearly and there's always the ask expert column to seek out more help. I attended quite a few free webinars of e-GMAT as well before my second attempt. The webinars, the clear explanations on the course made me a little confident in the verbal section. This time around, I did show less focus on quants and that proved in my end score as well.

On the exam date, I strictly stuck to the process taught in the course. I took time reading the RC passages and understanding the meaning of every sentence I read. At the end of the verbal section, I knew I did better than the last time. The relief you fee when you know you did well in a section is difficult to explain. That relief is because of e-GMAT and I am extremely grateful for the help they gave and continue to give me.

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When I first started my GMAT prep a few years ago, I din’t do much research and joined one of the Branded GMAT coaching centers, which only taught the RULES to follow to get an answer correct. I diligently followed their course work and gave my first GMAT and it turned out to be THE BIGGEST DISASTER.
I took a break for a while and then resumed my preparation on my own with the help of GMAT Club, yet I dint see much improvement in my scores and learnings. I then met a buddy in one of the Gmat club's Study Buddy Groups, many thanks to him. This friend told me about E-GMAT, I attended one of its webinars and immediately enrolled with it.
I love the methodical structure and the logical approach of E-GMAT’s material. The explanation of every question is very detailed and lucid.
Verbal – The entire course is programmed in such a way that a beginner can start from basics and end up solving the most difficult question that GMAT can throw at us. The beauty of the course lies in the APPLICATION FILES, PRACTICE FILES, OG FILES, and the files’ explanations. These files have 650-750 level questions and push us to solve every question applying the 3-step Analysis with more ease and diligence.
The 3-Step analysis for CR, RC and SC amazingly worked for me. This approach forces us to stick to the process and which in turn lets us to answer the question correctly and confidently. On the other hand, SCHOLARAIUM is another major platform, which helps in honing our skills.
I would definitely recommend E-GMAT Course.

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I switched to TTP after going through the entire EMPOWERgmat course and only seeing an improvement of 20 points on my official GMAT over my initial practice CAT: 640 (Q35, V42) to 660 (Q39, V41). I had always been much stronger in verbal than in quant, but I initially went with Empower with the hope that it would help me boost my scores in both sections. Ultimately, I did improve my quant score by a few points, but I saw no such improvement with verbal. I was deeply disappointed and totally demoralized by the thought of having to take the test again after two months of dedicated and consistent studying, but didn't want to lose my momentum and so I switched to TTP.

I took the diagnostic test, which helped me identify my weakest areas so I could optimize what I spent my time studying/practicing, and spent three weeks drilling, drilling, drilling. I found TTP's ground-up explanations of concepts to be super helpful, and was a little aghast (and grateful) to find myself learning things that hadn't been mentioned once in any of the Empower modules.

After three weeks using TTP, I saw my quant score jump from 39 to 45 on my second official exam. Paired with a verbal score of 42, I scored a 710, surpassing my goal of 700. Needless to say, I was thrilled to see such quick results. My only regret was that I didn't use TTP to begin with. Since I took my second official exam so soon after taking it for the first time, I honestly skimmed, skipped, and jumped around a lot in the TTP curriculum. I can only wonder what I might have scored on the quant section had I put in months of study using TTP and methodically gone through all the chapters and taken all the chapter tests.

For less quant-inclined test takers like me who haven't used or thought about the math concepts tested on the GMAT since high school, I'd highly recommend TTP. It helps you identify where you have the most room for improvement, the chapters very logically build on one another, the chapter tests and review tests force you to retain and solidify your understanding of different topics, and the bookmarking feature makes it really easy to return to sections and questions you may be less familiar with or want to spend extra time reviewing. And although secondary in importance, the site has really good UX.

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I took a chance on Target Test Prep because it was highly regarded by people on this forum, and it did not disappoint in the slightest. If you're looking for a go-to resource for Quant improvement, look no further than TTP. Firstly, the course is extremely reasonably priced. (I used their Flexible GMAT® Preparation Plan due to time constraints, but the other options deliver even better value per month.) The TTP interface was clean and engaging, making the learning of quant concepts (dare I say) fun! The TTP team was exceedingly responsive to course content questions and Jeff in particular was an advocate for my success as I prepared for success. I only wish TTP had a verbal course -- if TTP ever develops one it's game over for other GMAT prep services.

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