Best Strategies for GMAT

I started with the GMAT Preparation way back in 2016, when I enrolled myself for an in-class GMAT preparation course. The course was for about 2 months, and I spent another 4 months trying to figure my way to at least a 700 in the official mba.com mocks. After about 6 months of preparation, I was confident about Quant (I anyway have an engineering background, so Quant wasn’t an issue) and SC. With absolutely no approach, I faltered majorly on CR; I wasn’t clear on the reason to eliminate the incorrect answer choices, and even after looking through the solution, I got really confused between the answer choices. I anyway booked a test date because I thought my Quant, SC and to some extent the RC section will get me at least a 700. On the test, I took really long to answer the SC question, so I had to leave 1 RC passage completely, and as expected faltered on the CR section; hence, scoring a 660 (Q49, V35).
Fast forward to May 2020, when I decided to retake the GMAT. I took the e-GMAT course, and spent considerable amount of time to understand the concepts and learn the strategies that could be applied to each question in Verbal or Quant. I was surprised and relieved to know that there is a platform that has decoded the strategies for how to approach each question in the Verbal section, especially the CR questions. e-GMAT gave me the concepts and strategies that built in me the confidence to get the approached questions right.

e-GMAT strategies

- The SC course is extremely well structured and details out all the grammatical concepts that one would require to get a GMAT SC question right. The meaning based approach emphasised by e-GMAT makes it easier to solve the harder level questions.

- e-GMAT helped me tackle the section that I absolutely hated –CR. The concept files gave me a well- structured approach to solve any CR question that comes my way. This approach helped me score a 98th percentile on my GMAT exam. The course provided me with a process to break down the argument into premise and conclusion, to create a falsification scenario, to pre-think, and to correctly analyse answer choices. I was better able to comprehend the information and analyse how each particular answer choice affected the argument.

- The reading strategies taught as part of the RC and MC concept files helped a lot to improve my ability to comprehend the passage and arrive at the correct answer choice

- Quant course gives all the concepts required for the test. E-GMAT’s quant questions are a little harder that the official GMAT questions, preparing you for the 700+ level questions on the exam. The solutions are very detailed and easy to follow. Because of the hard level questions that I practiced on the e-GMAT, I was extremely confident when I approached the quant section in my exam and was able to manage time well, with 5 minutes to spare at the end of the section

Mentorship by DJ
After I restarted my GMAT prep, I needed someone to guide me through the process and suggest me how best to plan my study schedule given a hectic job. I had already read a lot of positive reviews about how he helped students get to their targeted GMAT score, and so I was elated when I got to know that DJ was assigned to me as a mentor. He was a constant support and motivated me throughout the process. He analysed my Sigma-X mock test and highlighted how I could improve on my weak areas in both the Verbal and the Quant section. DJ provided me with a structured approach and weekly plans that included reviewing certain concept files, giving cementing quizzes, and creating custom quizzes to be solved within a time less than the standard time (This helped incredibly with managing my time on the test). He also shared the section wise error log, which is worth all the efforts it takes to fill it. The error logs give you an indication of the repeated errors one makes and suggests a corresponding corrective action, ensuring that you do not repeat your mistakes.
Skill Data on the e-GMAT Platform – The best way for you to analyse your performance
I first bought the e-GMAT course in May 2020, and again in March 2021, and I was surprised by the updates to the platform. Scholaranium 2.0 provided all the possible data points that one would need to analyse the areas of improvements. The skill data provided distribution by difficulty levels, time, concepts, median time, etc and this was incredibly helpful because then I could focus specifically on topics that needed improvement.
Takeaways:
- It all comes down to applying what you have learnt. I have seen myself getting a fairly easy question wrong because I failed to apply the strategies suggested by e-GMAT in its course. On the other hand, I could easily solve extremely complex and hard to understand arguments, by using the step-by-step strategies.

- I started with the GMAT prep again in May 2020, completed the course by August 2020, but then my GMAT Prep was on-and-off for about 6 months because I switched jobs and wanted to concentrate my efforts entirely on the new projects. This was a HUGE mistake. In January 2021, when I decided to get back with the Preparation, I had to start all over again. Hence, taking breaks between your preparations is a very bad idea and you will just end up exhausting yourself. It will double the overall time and effort required for you to reach your targeted score, so one should be consistent with his/her preparation.
e-GMAT is the best source for your GMAT Preparation and I would highly recommend it. I have already recommended e-GMAT to everyone who has spoken to me personally about the GMAT exam, and I hope this review helps you make a decision about the GMAT program that will get you to your targeted score.