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| All Reviews > anejehci's Reviews |
June 25, 2015
I scored Q48 on the real GMAT, but being from an overrepresented demographic, I decided to try and boost my Q score. I took a chance on e-GMAT.
This course would be a great starting point if you're scoring below 48 or just beginning your quant studies. Unfortunately, this wasn't a good use of my time. Since I already had such a solid understanding of the concepts, I spent much of the course filtering out what to "re-learn" in the e-GMAT way. The course material is incredibly comprehensive - Japinder and Harsh were particularly great instructors - but there was absolutely NO focus on test-taking strategy (which in my opinion, is at least 40% of scoring in the 80th percentile and above).
My score on the real GMAT actually decreased. I suspect that trying to learn e-GMAT's methods was overkill for someone like me who had already put in months of study. In addition, I was very disappointed in Payal's response - she simply said that I must have made silly errors, implied e-GMAT had nothing to do with it, and then told me my score was good enough anyways so there was no point in retaking. So disappointing, especially because I've been so impressed by Payal's SC seminars!
Overall, if you are already scoring 48+, I advise looking elsewhere to focus on test-taking strategy and deep error analysis.
August 05, 2016
Product mbaMission School Package
Consultant Jessica Shklar
I was a non-traditional applicant with a liberal arts major from an Ivy and work experience in startups. I'm a female Asian-American. The weaknesses I knew I had to overcome were a sub-3.5 GPA, lack of quantitative background, and scattered work history due to the nature of the startup world.
As I searched for a consultant, the first mistake I made in the application process was seeking a consultant with a high "success rate." After all, my ultimate goal wasn't to write a bunch of essays; it was to be admitted to my dream school! When I spoke to Jessica, she made me realize that the firms that boast about their numbers push applicants towards safety schools in the interest of keeping their numbers high. She politely explained that her own success rate included having countless clients who felt as though they were her only client, glowing testimonials, and half of her business from referrals. The fact that her own incentives were in line with mine, not against them, was a refreshing break from other consultants - many of which told me straight up that I had no chance at my dream schools, so I shouldn't even try.
When I asked Jessica about my weaknesses, she was nothing but positive. Unlike other consultants, who continued to harp on the fact that it would be difficult to overcome the GPA and work history, Jessica instead focused on my upward trend in grades and how fascinating the work I did in each of my jobs was. She encouraged me to apply to my dream schools. I could feel her genuine excitement upon hearing my story. This is what sold me.
Our first brainstorming session was unforgettable. I'd prepared a 22-page document full of answers to questions about my upbringing, work history, and personal values - not just my numbers and resume points. Jessica read every single page in order to touch upon the most poignant details about my life in our conversation. She eventually drew so much "content" out of me (that I didn't even know I had!) that we were able to come up with an outline for a very personal story.
This story ended up forming the foundation of our relationship. For three months, I'd lock myself in my room to finish a draft, send them to Jessica, anxiously wait for her response, open her document full of thoughtful and honest edits that matched my own effort, and repeat. I was shocked by how far every draft progressed. In just 6 drafts, my essay went from scattered to polished. I'm confident I couldn't find another person that puts as much care into her review as Jessica does, especially considering how personal the story was to me.
In the end, I used the final essay as my main introduction for 5 out of 6 applications to Top 10 schools. I secured 3 interviews, was accepted to all 3 with Jessica's help (2 with scholarship), and I'm now at Wharton - a dream!
Before I had secured any interviews, I told Jessica that no matter the outcome, she had helped me be more introspective about myself than ever before. The story she helped me write helped me come to terms with something I hadn't had the courage to face. If you work with Jessica, you'll be getting so much more than an acceptance letter to business school.
November 29, 2016
Experience during the program
Wharton has not exceeded my expectations as many told me it would, but it has provided a solid business school experience thus far. I have already met what I know will be lifelong friends - with such a large class, you are bound to meet people on your level. One major hurdle I think the school needs to overcome is its struggle to define its core differentiator. Recently, Wharton has attempted to brand itself away from its typical finance image, but it seems to result in a lack of confidence on the part of the administration. I hope the Dean is able to execute on a clear strategy moving forward to make the business school experience more seamless and enjoyable for us full-time MBA's.
Overall BSchool experience (4.0)
Schools contribution (4.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)
Strengths of the program:
Alumni Network
Career opportunities provided by school
Brand/Ranking
Best fit at this program:
Consulting
Finance
Marketing
Investment Banking
Management
Can be improved:
Curriculum, Classes, Professors
Student body, diversity
Culture & Student Support
Facilities
I am very sorry that the poster – Jeena - was not able to improve her score. Our goal is to help every student improve and we guarantee the score improvement. Unfortunately Jeena (the posted in question), could not improve her score, and accordingly we refunded her entire amount right away.
"The Course and Test Taking Strategies"
As Jeena noted, the course is quite comprehensive and we had to extremely dedicated instructors in Japinder and Harsh who go to great lengths to help our students. The fact that they work full time doing just that helps a lot. The course did help Jeena (the student in question) improve as well, as evident from the fact that she was constantly able to score Q50 in GMAT Prep and other mocks - a feat that she probably was not able to achieve in her first attempt. Similarly the course has helped multiple numerous students ace GMAT Quant as evident from debriefs such as the one below and from the fact that the course has overwhelmingly positive reviews (96%+). There is no Quant Only course ion the forum that parallels the same.
Success Story: http://gmatclub.com/forum/i-am-on-cloud-9-why-you-may-ask-760-q51-v41-193388.html#p1486428
"Sometimes the Simplest Explanations are the Best"
I know that we all like to uncover sophisticated reasons for not doing well on the GMAT. However, sometimes the simplest of reasons are the ones that make the most sense, especially in this case. In general there are 5 reasons that a student scores really poorly on the test:
1. The student is not prepared well enough
2. The student loses stamina (should not matter for Quant).
3. The student makes careless mistakes in the initial questions?
4. The student makes mistakes throughout the test.
5. The student is nervous about the timed nature of the test.
Now let’s put this in context for Jeena – the student in question here. Jeena scored 730 in her second attempt, improving her Verbal score from V41 to V45; i.e. she score 99 percentile on GMAT Verbal. Also, prior to her second attempt, Jeena consistently scored Q50 on her mocks. Lastly, Jeena has attempted the GMAT twice and has scored really well on both attempts, indicating that she is not a nervous test taker.
Considering all of the above, it’s very clear that Jeena was not exhausted in Quant, otherwise she would not have been able to score V45 in Verbal. Similarly, given that she is a good test taker and given she consistently scored Q50 in her mocks and given that she did the course reasonably well, it’s safe to assume that she prepared well. Now where that does leave us – careless mistakes.
We understand that such situations are unfortunate and that is why we offer full refund as a consolation in the event that you do not score well. I know that the intent of taking the course is not to get a refund however that’s the most that we, as a test prep company, can do to ease the pain. The last thing that I want to say is that out of the 1400+ Quant Students that we have had during the last 10 months, 96% of them have improved better than the guarantee that we offer. Had we not done so, we would not have had so many positive verified reviews.
I did send this detailed explanation to Jeena recently and she did agree to the same. Below is a screenshot of her email.
https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Jeena.png
In the end, I wish her good luck for her applications. 730 is a great score and will push her case at any school of her choosing.
Regards,
Rajat Sadana