My rollercoaster GMAT journey to 730

I have read several stories on this forum for the past two years - every one of them have helped me carve my path; This post is NOT a story about someone who scored an amazing score in her/his first attempt, instead it is about someone who struggled her way to a 730 score. I will try to keep it as informative and to the point as possible.

As I started my GMAT journey Verbal was my main concern, however, after exploring some materials and attempting few mocks I came to realise that though my Quantitative ability was strong my test taking strategies were not up to the mark, acting as a roadblock to a high score. After studying several GMAT Official and GMAT Club materials, I could improve my Quantitative score to Q48 GMAT Club Quant tests: They more difficult than the actual GMAT but they prepare you to face difficult questions in GMAT) , and I still struggled with application of verbal concepts that I learned - V34 in Feb'21 was the maximum I could score at that point. Then a friend of mine suggested eGMAT - yes, I had read plenty of reviews and saw multiple ads, but you can never be sure, right? So, I signed up for a 1 month Verbal Online course in March 2021. As I progressed through the course I kept re-purchasing and then ended up taking a 6 month Verbal course with eGMAT. Here is the reason why -
• Prior to eGMAT course I was solving questions from GMAT Club, Official guide, etc. , looking for learnings, and moving to the next one. But in the eGMAT course there is an Application file, after every concept, that ensures that you go through the logical steps of solving a question. It was tiresome to follow the steps for every question, but the thought process here was one that was in sync with mine, every small little "what if?" or "but, what about?" that popped in my head was covered. So, I decided to stick to the process.

• Once I crossed the cementing stage I realised that I was not making a conscious effort to follow the steps, instead the thought process came naturally to me, hence it wasn't that time consuming anymore.

Trying to juggle GMAT prep and a very demanding high-pressure job, the time pressure took the better of me during my GMAT attempt in Nov'21 (V27). But the eGMAT team went an extra mile to follow-up and encourage me to fight back. This is the point at which I realised that eGMAT is not just about the students who do well in their first attempt but helping the ones who are struggling too. The subject matter experts and strategy experts are very approachable and involved in your journey (I always received a response from the team within 36 hrs). A big shout-out to Harsha who guided me every step of the way in terms of subject matter on RC and CR, and strategy when it comes to SC and Quant, and encouraged me to keep going. After my Nov'21 attempt I was so disappointed that during my session with Harsha I told him "I feel like I cannot get a decent score under pressure no matter how much I study". To which Harsha showed and explained to me the statistics from my tests on Scholarium that gave a comprehensive analysis of my performance on GMAT like questions and Official questions; This re-assurance about my ability encouraged me to keep going.
• I reviewed my AI guided stats on the Scholarium portal and identified that there were few aspects of Quant that could help me get that Q50+. Hence, I signed up for a full GMAT Online course and followed every step of the detailed plan suggested by Harsha and team.
o The PACE mode in Quant helped me move through the concepts quickly and focus on only the areas which required improvement
• I followed a detailed and personalised revision plan for RC and SC and a timing improvement plan for CR. These plans really helped bring structure to my preparation.

Finally, at the risk of repeating what every other post might have highlighted, it is the error log - It is painful to fill and takes much more time than the time taken to solve the questions, but it is essentially what helped me improve the most. And, eGMAT actually provides a very comprehensive error log that captures a lot of the nuances that I could've otherwise missed.
o Timing was my main concern in the test. There were two aspects of time during the exam :
1. I often ran out of time towards the end of the exam because I spent a lot of time trying to ensure I was getting each question correct.
• This stemmed from the notion that I knew the necessary concepts hence, I couldn't let a question go. Yes, letting some questions go, was the most important lesson I learned while analysing my mocks.
This is one aspect that was not stressed upon a lot during my eGMAT experience, but it came handy in my case.
2. The fact that I might run out of time at the end played in my head as soon as I got confused or started taking longer in a question - This, in turn, impacted my ability on that question.

Thus, I reviewed my error log for the 10-question set quizzes to understand when and where do I get confused, what kind of wordings in the answer choices confuse me, does it have anything to do with my understanding of the question stem or passage, etc. As I worked through these aspects, the next time I was in a similar situation I knew what to do, this helped me avoid the confusion, and as a result save time.
This video helped me understand how and where I can manage time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INmDqeVjB04

As I came close to the exam I focused on Official questions (from Official Guide and Advanced Official questions by GMAC) to practice and get accustomed to them.

By now, I was tired of preparing for GMAT, but this time around I felt confident about my ability, and honestly a positive attitude and faith in your efforts as you walk into that exam centre is as important as the months/years of effort that goes into the preparation.
And finally the score popped-up on the screen 730 (Q50 V40)!

To those who are currently fighting for that score, this quote I heard in the TV series The Good Doctor kept me going - "You haven't failed until you stop trying!". I hope my experience helps you in your GMAT journey.
All the Best! Hang in there!