eGMAT Online Course + Guidance Review

I started my GMAT prep in Jan’21 and after reading through a couple of articles figured that 3 months should be the ideal time. I started with the official guides and Manhattan strategy books. Although these helped me understand the concepts, I realized that my improvement was limited and I did not have the right approach to confidently eliminate wrong options. At this point, I started looking at the various prep courses available online.

After attending a free 1:1 session, I decided to join e-GMAT course in Feb/M. They provided me with a personalized study plan taking into consideration my current strengths and weaknesses. This made sure that I was not wasting time on topics that I was decently good at and instead devoted that time to areas where I could make significant improvement.

SC – My accuracy was comparatively higher so I was not required to do this course entirely. However their meaning based approach (although it sounds like the most logical thing) really helps eliminate options that might be grammatically correct

CR & RC – I did both these courses and the eGMAT approach helped me reduce the time I spent on these questions and also improve accuracy

Mock Tests – I gave 4 official mock tests which helped me evaluate my performance at different stages of my preparation. They are probably the best estimates of the actual score. However, the official mocks do not provide a detailed analysis of your performance on each section and the time taken per question. In this regard, I really liked the SigmaX mock from eGMAT because they provide multiple statistics to gauge your performance.

Since I have been working fulltime since the past 4 years, I did not know many people around me who had attempted the GMAT recently and could advise me on my preparation. eGMAT not only provided the online course and mock tests, but also provided continual guidance on my performance. Their strategy consultant DJ worked with me during the last 2 weeks before my exam and provided a day to day plan for the final leg of preparation. He also provided detailed analysis of my mocks, error logs and tips to improve my accuracy.

Test Day – I scheduled my exam at 7am in a nearby center. I was comfortable testing at this time and had given all my mocks at the same time. I started with the verbal section and found it to be a bit harder than the mocks. During the break, I was expecting the test center setup to be similar to the GRE exam which I had given a couple of years earlier. However due to the pandemic and our county restrictions, we were asked to go outside the building to have water or snacks during the breaks. Because of this, I misjudged the break time and arrived late after my first break. I ended up losing 3.5 minutes in the quant section and this led to panic which definitely affected my performance. During the 2nd break, I made sure that I arrive early however by now I was aware that my performance so far was not upto my expectation.

Final Score – I received a score of 700 (Q48 V38). Although not a bad score, it was definitely below my target score of 740+. I was consistently scoring Q50 on my mocks so I think Q48 was definitely a true reflection of my ability.

Next Steps – I am planning to reappear for the exam in 4 weeks. I am hoping to not mess up quant as I did last time. Also, I think there is scope for improvement in my verbal ability and so I am focusing most of my efforts there. Hopefully I will have better news the next time I post an exam review. Fingers crossed 