I thought I could get a good GMAT quant score just by brushing up on my maths concepts. Easy right? Not at all. The GMAT quant section is a different beast, and I was not prepared for it. I realised I had gaping holes in some of my concepts. After wasting a couple of months studying from a few popular books, I finally signed up for TTP. I had seen glowing reviews, but did not imagine the course to be this thorough.

Each module first explains the concepts, and then drills them into your head with the sectional tests. I did all the modules and all the sectional, and review tests in order. It definitely took me some time, but do keep in mind the course is front loaded i.e. the first few modules take longer to complete. I spend 250+ hours on the platform and solved over 3500 problems. The fact that the platform is so well designed and thought-out also helps.

When I started taking Practice Tests, I felt great. No question type felt unfamiliar, and that was true even for the actual GMAT. I used the practice tests to better my timing strategy - which was also something the TTP team covered during the initial strategy call they offer.

The verbal module is also great, and very very extensive. I personally did not complete the whole thing, but if you have the time, I highly recommend it.

Read More

I got the GMAT Club tests as part of the Premium MBA Bundle.

This bundle provided great value - including test access, mock tests, discounts on mba.com mocks and more.

The GMAT Club quant is definitely harder than the mba.com mocks and the official GMAT, but it trains your brain to make quick "executive" decisions instead of solving stuff the hard way. Some of the questions did feel like they were too hard, and sometimes the scoring algorithm seemed to give me a score too high - but I would recommend using the scores as a measure of progress rather than a predictor of actual test scores.

Absolutely recommended for anyone whose target is Q50/Q51.

Read More

My experience with the Red Pen for US MBA applications was great! I used their comprehensive services for Round 1 of the 21-22 cycle, and have an admit offer from my dream school (with a full-tuition scholarship), plus other admits and interview invites (which I declined for personal reasons).

They have a well-structured process, from the beginning when they spend a lot of time getting to know you and your stories and then help you structure those according to each school's essay prompts. They use an online system that's easy to navigate and saves a lot of confusion between draft versions.

Coming from a non-traditional background in an over-represented demographic, and targeting top US B-Schools - I was quite anxious about how this would turn out. You are paired with a Lead Consultant and a Content Specialist, and I was paired with Nikhilesh (a Wharton MBA himself) and Ankita. They gave me immense support throughout the process and helped me with countless edits on even the most abstract essays, finally even going over each detail of the online application forms. But that's not to say that you won't have to put in the effort yourself! You need to do your own research and need to be very clear about what you want from your MBA.

Highly recommend the Red Pen's MBA services.

Read More