From 640 to 680 through e-GMAT Mentorship!

I had already written 3 attempts of GMAT before I enrolled in e-GMAT with my highest score was 640. After about 2 months of preparation geared mostly towards verbal, and 2 Sigma mock tests with an average score of 680, I booked a date for my 4th attempt. I chose to go to a test center to write the test since I was skeptical of consistent electricity supply at my place but the test at the center this time felt really tough, especially Quant. The difficulty level seemed higher even in Verbal. Sentence correction was my strongest part but I remember the first question was an SC question which took me about 4 minutes to answer. It didn't take me long to realize that the score this time will not be very different than the previous times, and I was right. Yet again, I scored a 640. This time my Quant score had reduced by 3 points to Q44 and my Verbal score had increased by 3 points to V34. It was shattering. I remember coming out of the test center completely dejected. I thought of giving up again very seriously as I felt I had given everything I had to the test. My performance in the 4th attempt was just marginally better than my performance in the first attempt. But after getting hope from my mother and gathering myself a bit, I decided to write the test again. I gave a Sigma mock test and scored only a 630 (Q46 V30). But I was genuinely unable to concentrate during that test so I knew that I could have done better than that. After a few days of more preparation, I wrote my last Sigma Mock and scored a 730 (Q47 V42). I was happy with my verbal score but I knew the score was a little inflated as I had guessed a lot of the Quant questions that miraculously turned out to be correct. With so much variation in scores, I was unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so I wrote to e-GMAT asking for guidance.

The next day I got reached out by Archit, an e-GMAT mentor, who was willing to provide me mentorship. I readily accepted the offer and we began the very next day. Archit looked at my performance history in Scholaranium and even though my accuracy was respectable in medium and hard-level questions in verbal, he still found loopholes to improve. He also pointed out that I just had not practiced enough in Quant and laid out a plan to adequately practice quant. This was very convenient as I was able to have a focused approach. I knew exactly what I had to do each day and there was no time wasted in figuring out daily goals. I diligently followed what Archit asked of me but time was running out for me. I wanted to apply to LBS MIM, the deadline for which was just 2 days far. So Archit considering such a peculiar situation gave me fruitful advice and laid out a plan for the last day before the test, to have the best attempt. He also sensed me undertaking pressure and talked calmly on the phone which in turn relaxed me. I followed his advice and wrote the test, this time online due to lockdown. The test felt easy this time but my test was lagging and I was unable to register my answer on the last question in the Quant section even though there were about 10 seconds left. This made me really worried as I thought I'd be penalized severely. Although during the 8-minute break, I tried to calm myself as much as I could to be laser-focused in the verbal section. The verbal section went pretty smoothly but I had to guess about 3 questions of an RC at the end due to time constraints and the fear of the test lagging again. But soon I saw the score and it said 680 (Q47 V36 IR 5). I was elated. I had definitely performed better in mocks but in an official test, this was my best performance, considering I could not answer the last Quant question and had to guess the three RC questions at the end of the verbal section. Plus 680 was the average score for the LBS MIM program and I had met it just 2 days before the application deadline. I immediately called Archit after the test and thanked him.

But it doesn't end here. Archit stayed in touch even after the test to help me figure out a way to secure the test report which was required in the application process. This was very encouraging and highly unexpected.