A course based on naturally intuitive thought process building

Strengths:

1. Course content:
Verbal: Extensive yet crisp
Quant: Precisely what is required- not more/not less

2. Cementing Process:
If followed correctly, there is no surprise if one excels at ability building

3. Support from Mentors:
If you know what to ask with proper rational, you will get precise guidance for way forward. Quick response from mentors as well as in forum where we can ask doubts pertaining to specific questions

4. Sigma Mock analysis:
Once you finish any mock as guided by mentors, you will get in dept personalized test review. The review is crisp, insightful, and full of self reflection points.

Would make the product better:

If anything, there is one point that can be improved. When I review any quiz in Scholaranium, I can straight away see the correct and/or incorrect answer choices. It is okay if I am reviewing the test just after completing it. However, if I am reviewing during revision or after some time, it would be great if I can only see the answer choices without the correct or incorrect answer choice. Adding a button such as “show answer” to unravel the correct answer choice can provide one an opportunity to recollect the thought process that one may have utilised while attempting the question without getting biased about correct and/or incorrect answer choice. It would have increased my error log quality, I believe.

Instead of writing review, I reckon that writing my journey will make more sense to get the idea about the course. I am a non native English speaker, and my schooling was in vernacular language. So, my verbal section required special attention.

It was my second e-GMAT subscription. My first subscription was purchased in July 2020. To be honest, I completely ruined that subscription by randomly going through the course and by not following strategic cementing process. I assumed that going through the course would be sufficient to get a reasonably good score. I ended up scoring a 590 (Q49 V21) in December 2020.

My learning from the whole experience was that GMAT is not the test of concept but rather it is the test of reasoning and processing. If the concepts are not commissioned with proper process, they are of no use as far as GMAT is concerned.
I enrolled for the second time in June 2022. This time I was clear for at least what not to do. This time I followed the guidelines by the course and the mentors from the beginning to the end before adding my rational to a particular topic/section. Earlier I used to challenge the thought process that is being taught in the course by contending that the “eGMAT process following algorithm” takes longer than my method. Doing so hindered my learning in the previous attempt.

Preparation beginning:
Attempted a sigma X mock. Assessed my ground level. Prepared a PSP - an overall outlook of how long should it take to reach test readiness.
2. I started with Verbal and then moved to Quant. (Reason: I am better at quant than at Verbal. Building ability takes time. It is a good idea to give yourself sufficient time to make the process application your second nature before taking GMAT)

For Verbal:
Master Comprehension >> SC >> CR >> RC
Meaning based approach in SC and Pre-thinking method in CR are game changer. If followed the process in right way, majority of the questions can be solved with relative ease. However, it is not easy to get acquainted to these process if you cut the corners at understanding level.
First, I finished all the course content and made proper notes in such a way that if I want to refer to a particular topic after a few time I can go back quickly and connect with that topic.
Finished cementing stage for each subsection as instructed in “Yes loop algorithm” of Cementing Process. Moved to next step after validating progress from the mentors.
After Cementing, I followed instruction of Abha/Akash (Mentors) for Test readiness stage.
Mentors actively asked me to revise the older learning along with learning new things. The idea is not to lose on what we have earlier gained.
Prepared an extensive error log as instructed by Mentors.

For Quant:

PACE is a beautifully crafted Quant course. The concept and process diagnostics in the beginning of the section gave me a fair idea about how prepared I am and where should I focus particularly. It saved me a lot of time. I finished the quant course in 16 days with full time job.
It teaches how to decode the question statement to understand what exactly is asked. It has helped me in understanding complex problems with relative ease.
It is a myth that e-GMAT quant is tougher than the actual quant that is being tested in GMAT. Sometimes, the question statement length is overwhelming in cementing state. However, the requirement is to score 5-6 question correct out of 10 such question. In sigma X mock, medium and hard questions are perfectly balanced and are of similar spectrum of what GMAT tests.

Overall:
The cementing stage is, I believe, the most important tool to increase our basic abilities. Mentors repeatedly state the same, and now I understand the reason behind it. Once I finished stage 2 cementing stage, I asked all my process related doubts to the mentors in form of long extensive emails, and all my queries were addressed by Abha/Akash/e-GMAT team. In the last 3 weeks of my GMAT test, I informed the mentors about my calendar and my commitments. Abha/Akash/Mentors gave me a proper plan to follow for test readiness and Mock schedule. There were times when I felt low, and these mentor made sure I don’t lose faith in myself.

I scored 680 in my last sigmaX mock and 700 & 720 in my official GMAT mocks. As far as I could understand, Official GMAT mocks did not feel like an adaptive test. On the other hand, Sigma X mocks are actually adaptive. Increased difficulty level question on the later stage of the test is quite challenging under timed environment. I scored a 680 (Q49 V34) in actual GMAT, and I felt quite similar to Sigma X mock experience. I am in the process in deciding whether to re attempt GMAT or not.

Overall, it was a good learning experience. If I compare my current work emails with my earlier emails, I see a vast difference in the way I write and in the way I read anything. It will not be exaggeration if I claim that eGMAT approach has not just increased the test taking ability but also increased the overall reasoning ability.