Strengths:

Scholaranium - verbal and Quant both.

I started my gmat journey in the year of 2018. I took several courses including e-gmat's. However I failed to score in my first two attempts. Meanwhile covid happened. All of my family members including myself were infected. This derailed my preparation. But I always had the urge to score 700 at least once. In the beginning of 2023, I started preparation again. I liked e-gmat's course because of couple of reasons:
1. Modular approach. So that we can finish each topic of SC, CR and RC and we can practice each of those topics of each subsection. The best part is we can gauge our ability using scholaranium and then move to next section if we are happy with our ability.

2. Detailed explanation of each question. It helped me to understand my mistake. Conceptual knowledge we all acquire. The real test comes in harder questions when multiple concepts are tested in a single sentence and when we need to choose one from couple of grammatically correct sentences. Same for CR and RC also. In RC the main idea encompasses the complete passage. Some options may be true for most of the passages but miss one important point. That particular option cannot be the main point. The detail explanation helps to understand these points.

I was eligible for LMP program, Last Mile Push as I scored well in first sigma X mock. I opted for the program. However, I didn't do well in subsequent mock tests. My mentor Rashmi was very kind and helpful. Although this program was for 1–2-month duration, I had to stretch it for 6 months. E-gmat team has never raised any concern. I created multiple 1-1 sessions with her to understand my drawbacks and to improve test taking strategies. When I scored back-to-back 710 in the GMAT official mock, I booked the GMAT online and scored 700 (Q49, V36).

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Strengths:

Very detailed course andfocus on processing skills, not just conceptual understangin which is key to achieve elite scores

Excellent support from GMAT mentors, Rida Shafeek was excellent! They see hundreds of students and thus guide you through the process and tell you what to focus on

Would make the product better:

Sigma mocks are harder than the GMAT. I scored 630 the weekend before my 740 score. They are excellent practice but they may not be as good to predict scores

Achieved 30 point increase in only one month! From 710 to 740!

Totally recommend E-GMAT, it is a fantastic top-tier program that has embedded mentorship without additional cost.

EXTRAORDINARY VERBAL AND QUANT

Very detailed course and focus on processing skills, not just conceptual understangin which is key to achieve elite scores

Excellent support from GMAT mentors, Rida Shafeek was excellent! They see hundreds of students and thus guide you through the process and tell you what to focus on

Sigma mocks are harder than the GMAT. I scored 630 the weekend before my 740 score. They are excellent practice but they may not be as good to predict scores

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Strengths:

Structured approach to the curriculum

Would make the product better:

None

Even though I did not use the course for long, I found it to be a well structured course with a good personalized approach. Rashmi was my mentor and she gave me a plan that took into consideration my strengths and weaknesses. I used the verbal section for SC and the 3 step approach prescribed in the course is a great way to tackle the SC questions. I did not use the other sections but the Master Comprehension course was also helpful. However, I found the UI/UX to be very generic and I could not spend too many hours at a stretch on the platform.

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Strengths:

Content Pedagogy
Question bank
Personalised content
Last mile program

Would make the product better:

A Android app will be extremely helpful.

As part of my professional experience in the ed-tech sector, I have come across and evaluated content of various platforms. Let me evaluate e-GMAT on some key parameters

Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the single most important parameter when evaluating any learning medium, not just ed-tech platforms. e-GMAT course does quite well on this front.
-There is a solid question solving strategy for each question type that you come across in GMAT - Quant, SC, CR and RC.
-The strategy becomes important when you want to apply the concepts that you have learned to complex and varied problem statements. For example in SC, there is a lot of focus on meaning based approach.
-I also found the strategy to solidify concepts through cementing quizzes very helpful. Overall the course design felt very thought through.
-Typical attention span is less than 5 min in an online learning scenario and the e-GMAT course seems to have been designed keeping that in mind. You don’t keep watching videos for hours on end, there is plenty of practice interspersed to keep you engaged and solidify the concepts. It is not possible to complete a module without continuously engaging with it.
-I love the attitude with which the course is designed. It is not about tricks, but building ability. The end goal of what we are learning is not to just clear GMAT but build ability that will help during an MBA or professional career. This attitude is reinforced throughout the course and with this attitude, the time investment towards the course just seems so much more worthwhile.

Question bank size and difficulty level
-The question bank is quite sufficient. I was barely able to use 50% of it. (387/1067 in verbal and 337/1363 in quant)
-The platform also has a separate section to practise QG questions. All questions have detailed solutions.
-The platform allows you to design your own highly customised tests using this question bank (using either OG or proprietary Questions).
-One can also take up to 4 adaptive mocks in addition to the diagnostic mock one takes in the beginning. They were more than enough for me, I was only able to take 3.
-The question level is just slightly above or equal to GMAT level for all sections, which is exactly what you want.
-The data analytics provided on questions is targeted and very helpful. It does not drown you in data based graphs and visuals but only shows some chosen key graphs that help you understand your performance and weak areas.

Platform
- the platform is clean and easy to use once you get the hang of it.
- It complements the learning pedagogy well.
- The ‘PACE’ feature available in the quants sections is a real time saver. Based on the diagnostic test before each module, the platform auto skips some parts for you so that you can save time. I think I saved about 60 hours this way.
- It works decently well on the phone browser. It would have been amazing if there was an app to complement this content and make it available for study offline.

Forum for doubt clarification
- there is a forum where you can post queries or doubts that you come across while studying. Most of the common queries have already been answered so that’s very helpful. Typical response time is less than 24 hours.

Content errors
- I did not come across any major glaring errors, which is a big deal for such a vast content. From personal experience, I know how difficult it is to achieve that.

Support
- My mentor was Rashmi. Her support was crucial to my success. She typically gave me a detailed and helpful response within 24 hours of raising a query via email.
-Once I was done with my course and scored 740 in the first mock, I reached out to her to help me improve my score further. She informed me that I was eligible for the LMP (Last Mile Program) as part of which she gave me a detailed study plan after analysing my test results and the data of all the tests that I had given.
-The discussions, and videos analysing my test data brought so much clarity and helped me redirect my efforts in the right direction over the last 2 weeks leading up to the exam.
-Even though I performed poorly in the next two mocks, 730 each, she assured me that it was just a result of fatigue and not ability because the overall data showed a different picture. Her emails really kept me motivated and confident right up to the exam day.

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Strengths:

PACE
CEMENTING
SC & CR MODULES
MEANING BASED APPROACH
MENTORING
SIGMA-X MOCKS

Would make the product better:

RC MODULE

I had given GMAT once, in which I got 660 Q50 V28, after that I gave GMAT again in some stressful situations and I got even less and so I cancelled the score. I heard about e-Gmat from GMAT club reviews and also from some friends, and found it as one of the most economical and focused GMAT prep program, so I chose to go with it. E-Gmat has its unique way for preparation planning. I was adviced to give one Sigma-X mock and on the basis of its analysis I was suggested full prep plan as per my timing availabilities. For a working professional, this kind of flexible plan can work well. I started doing Quant with PACE enabled mode which made me more confident in Quant as I found my strength easily and also saved a lot of my prep time so that I could focus on the weak areas. After that I started improving my Verbal part. I was always struggling in Verbal part but as I started doing modules it felt like I cleared many concepts that were very confusing for me. SC modules were quite good, while I found a scope of improvement in RC modules in the manner student can identify his/her weakness with ease. In the end, I gave 4 Sigma-X mocks and I can say that those were very similar to actual GMAT. I score exactly same in actual GMAT as I got in all Sigma-X mocks. Although e-Gmat has better UI for Sigma-X mocks than GMAT in actual has, the UI should be much more similar to the GMAT. That will help to create a similar kind of experience. In all this process my mentor Ms Abha M guided me whenever I got stuck somewhere and she also provided specific plans for me to follow to improve in perticular area.
All in all, my leaning with e-Gmat was good. In the end, I got 710 Q51 V34.

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The e-gmat course is the best gmat material I have come across. The study material, scholaranium, and sigma x mocks are excellent and the best resources to ace the test. The question forum and mentor support is incredible and has been pivotal in giving me personalised advice to address my strengths and overcome my weekenesses. I could not have made it this far without my mentor Dhruv Joshi’s genuine support and help.

1. From the foundational concepts to the most advanced strategies, the content was exceptionally well-structured and thoroughly covered all sections of the GMAT exam including IR. Whether it was Quantitative, Verbal, or Integrated Reasoning, the materials were top-notch and tailored to suit all learning styles.
2. One of the course's standout features in Quant section was its adaptive learning platform. Adaptive learning analyzed my performance and tailored subsequent lessons based on my strengths and weaknesses. This personalized approach ensured that I focused on areas where I needed improvement the most, making my study sessions efficient and productive.
3. The vast array of practice questions, mock tests, and timed quizzes helped me build my confidence and test-taking stamina, ultimately refining my approach to each section of the GMAT exam.

In conclusion, I can confidently say that E-GMAT was the turning point in my GMAT preparation. The remarkable increase in my score from 610 to 710 speaks volumes about the effectiveness of the course. I am now well on my way to fulfilling my dream of attending a top-notch business school, and I owe a significant portion of my success to this exceptional online course.
If you're serious about excelling in the GMAT exam and unlocking your true potential, I wholeheartedly recommend E-GMAT. The investment will undoubtedly pay off, and you'll find yourself closer to your academic and career goals than you ever imagined.

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Strengths:

Excellent Verbal course content.
Advanced analytics platform

After my first GMAT attempt, I was looking for an excellent platform to practice and learn concepts, a mistake I made on my first attempt. During my first attempt, I decided to study verbal on my own and used GMAT Club extensively to find practice problems. After going through multiple reviews and trying out a few other platforms, I decided to join eGMAT online 360 program. I’m happy that I made the right decision.
As I already had 680 on my first attempt, I was eligible for the Last Mile Push Program (LMP). I cannot express how impactful this was for me. I was assigned a mentor, Akash, right from the beginning. Akash helped me with analyzing the ESR, identifying the knowledge gaps, and creating a custom action plan for approaching the course content. This plan was extremely helpful as it helped me focus on the topics I was actually struggling with. Also, he consistently monitored my performance and pushed me to get better scores in every practice and cementing quizzes.
The course content is structured and very well explained, especially the SC (Sentence Correction) course. As SC was one of the topics I was struggling with, I started with SC, as per the plan. The approach eGMAT suggests and the simple explanation of topics helped me to improve my SC score substantially. The approach eGMAT suggests to solve CR questions helped in reducing the time I took to solve CR questions and scholaranium provided enough quality questions to practice these approaches. The inbuilt analytics platform helped me monitor my performance and identify the topics I should work on.
As I was scoring well in the quant section, I did not go through the quant course. However, after attempting scholaranium quizzes, I could see that some topics needed more attention. After going through the specific topics as per the modified plan that Akash suggested, I could see improvement in my scores.
Thanks to Akash and eGMAT team for the support they’ve given throughout the journey. I highly recommend this program for anyone looking for a course that covers everything from absolute basics to advanced topics.

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Strengths:

The Verbal module is their absolute strength.
Starting with Master Comprehension course which enabled me to dissect sentences better, pause at the right places, and infer the right meaning, the course provided all the foundations I needed.

The 'Meaning-based' approach to SC was easy to grasp and effective in nature. The course did not shove technical grammar details at all, and the nuanced approach to understanding the underlying meaning of the sentence helped me improve my accuracy in SC to a large extent.

CR was my weakest part. Again, the 'Pre-thinking' part and understanding the 'Falsification scenario' of each question helped me to understand the passage tremendously. The CR module is a must for someone looking to get into the 90th percentile.

Another strength is their Question bank - Scholaranium portal and the massively important data analytics which helped me pinpoint my weak areas

Would make the product better:

The Quant portion is too vast and for someone who's looking to increase from a Q47-48 to Q49-50, there can be a separate module for them to address their weak areas while keeping the momentum of the strong areas with regular practise.

I started using E-GMAT after getting V28 in my GMAT attempt.
I realised that my Verbal needs a re-approach from the absolute basics and hence, enrolled for E-GMAT after everyone recommended their course.
The course provided the perfect push, with excellent question banks to sharpen my skills.
The cementing quizzes helped me strengthen my skills and the periodic reviews helped me to understand why I was failing in certain areas.

As part of the Last Mile Push programme, my mentor Rashmi ma'am jotted down a perfect strategy plan for 3 weeks before my test date. It helped me to keep my focus and be consistent in my prep, which was mighty important. Other than that, she motivated me on my bad days and reinvigorated my sense of self-belief and confidence. I owe my performance to Rashmi ma'am and to the entire E-GMAT team.

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Strengths:

1. Verbal strategy in all the three sections - SC, CR, RC
2. Scholaranium questions
3. Great User Interface

With consistency, dedication, hard work, and structured learning, anyone can achieve a score of 700+.

After three attempts and sub-700 scores, in March 2023, after a year's break, I decided to embark on the journey again. I sought guidance from e-GMAT's support and purchased their online 360 course. I attempted the first Sigma X mock and scored a 720. Encouraged by the fact that I still had the ability, I joined e-GMAT's "Last Mile" program, where I received personalized guidance from Akash, their strategy expert.

Fixing the strategy:
Akash pointed out the flaws in my approach, stressing the importance of maintaining error logs, adopting the meaning-based approach in SC, using prethinking in CR and setting daily targets. I wholeheartedly embraced the process this time and shifted my focus from merely completing a high number of questions to improving the quality of my problem-solving skills using scholaranium, which offers the best set of questions available. As a result, I could see my accuracy in verbal’s 700 level questions improving significantly within 2-3 weeks.

For quants, I practiced from GMAT club tests and e-GMAT’s scholaranium.

Keeping an error log turned out to be a game-changer, as it helped me identify and rectify my mistakes. As my preparation neared its conclusion, my practice test scores consistently ranged from 720 to 750.

Filled with determination and with three months of dedicated preparation under my belt, I attempted the GMAT once more. This time, my efforts paid off, and the score that appeared on the screen was 720 (Q50, V38)!

My GMAT journey was riddled with challenges, but thanks to the invaluable guidance from the e-GMAT team, I finally achieved my desired score. I owe an increase of 16 points in my verbal score (from my first attempt to final attempt) solely to e-GMAT.

Final advice:
For anyone preparing for the exam and facing challenges, believe in yourself, follow structured learning, and trust the process. Don't be disheartened by the success stories of those achieving elite scores in a short time, as everyone has their unique set of strengths and weaknesses. Stay committed to your journey, and with dedication, you can achieve your desired score.

GMAT attempts -

1st attempt - 560 (Q46, V22)
2nd attempt - 650 (Q48, V30)
3rd attempt - 690 (Q49, V35)
Final attempt - 720 (Q50, V38)

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Strengths:

Master Comprehension and meaning based approach in SC
Prethinking in CR
Process skills based approach in Quant

IF I CAN, YOU CAN TOO…

If you have never taken a standardized test before and are worried about how you will fare in the GMAT, read on..
If you are dealing with issues such as nervousness and anxiety in your prep for GMAT, read on..
If you think you are out of touch with your studies and too old now to get a decent score in the GMAT, read on..

The Beginning
It all started with the decision to switch careers after 20 years. An MBA from a prestigious institution appeared to be the most appropriate bridge from government service to corporate. Hence taking the GMAT seemed to be the most logical step. After searching the internet for resources I subscribed to a particular test prep company to start with. I took their online classes for 3 months, in which they taught me the basics of quant and verbal. Having never taken a standardized test or anything that tested my quantitative and verbal abilities, I found this to be a good start. It was only during these three months that I came across gmatclub.com.
As per the suggestion of the test prep company, after completion of their course, I revised the syllabus and took the first official mock test as a Diagnostic test. I was hoping to be somewhere between 650 and 680 at that stage. And with another 2 months of preparation, I hoped to reach my target of 700 +. However, I was in for a rude shock as I scored only a 540. Nevertheless, I prepared for another two months all the while using resources of the test prep company and GMAT club. After another two and half months, i.e. sometime in September, I took another mock test (free) from another test prep company and scored a 600. Needless to say, I was depressed by this. My abilities in verbal never gave me confidence that I could score above a v33. I kept preparing all through October on my own and took another mock test (free) this time on the egmat portal. I again scored a 600.
I was undecided for some time whether I should continue preparing on my own using gmatclub resources or seek some other professional help. I decided to reach out to egmat this time. They give me a specific plan after having analysed my performance in their free SigmaX mock test. They told me my weaknesses and strengths and accordingly suggested me a study plan. This is what I was looking for. Somebody to tell me exactly what to do, since I had no clue how to proceed, and did not want to waste time in figuring that out.

New Beginning
I subscribed to egmat and my journey with them started in the first week of November 2022. I was assigned a mentor (Abha) who told me exactly where to start. To my surprise she told me that as per my performance in the mock test, I am already at an 89 percentile in SC, and so I could skip the SC module. However, I was suggested to go through the Master Comprehension module before taking the cementing quizzes in Sentence Correction. The master comprehension module of egmat was a game changer for me. Never ever had I been taught to read, the way Master Comprehension taught me. I realised reading and understanding are two different things. And in verbal on the GMAT, if you read a single word without understanding it in the overall context, you are doomed. Using the process that I learned in the Master Comprehension module and applying the ‘meaning-based approach’, I completed the cementing phase in Sentence Correction in good time and went on to CR. In CR, the ‘pre-thinking’ approach really helped me. I did use it earlier, but now I was doing it better, even in Inference questions – something, I earlier thought, did not need pre-thinking. I did take some time to clear the cementing phases in CR and likewise in RC.

Quant, in Egmat, is ‘PACE’ enabled, I was told, and that would save me time by skipping modules in which I am comfortable. I started going through the sub sections, however, I could not clear all the cementing phases in one go. During such difficulties, Abha kept guiding me at every step. As I was going through cementing in various subsections, Abha told me to keep taking the ability quizzes to remain in touch with the subsections I had already covered. The most important part in quant is the process skills that egmat teaches you and their relentless pursuit and insistence on the same. To be honest it took me some time to realise that these process skills will make a big difference in the end. I always used to wonder how can someone decide what approach to take while dealing with high-difficulty problems and even solve them correctly within 2 minutes. I thought I could never be able to do so. But by following the process skills egmat taught me, I developed the confidence to do so. I was doing well in Number properties and Inequalities / Absolute Values – topics that appeared very difficult to me earlier. Every time I had difficulty in crossing the cementing stage, Abha would analyse my performance and if need be she would refer my case to a subject matter expert, who would then suggest improvements in the process I follow.

Overcoming Difficulties

Having completed both Verbal and Quant modules, Abha then guided me towards the test readiness phase. I had some difficulty during this phase too, as I could not deal with my nervousness and anxiety during the tests. I was making silly mistakes too often and also falling short of time. I realised the importance of meditation sometime in February and practiced it daily. I believe it definitely helped me. In Feb 2023, my job required me to go out of station for two and a half months, affecting my preparation. But I made an effort not to lose touch as I had read experts’ views on gmatclub that big time gaps in preparation can put you back by several notches. (Regular studies for however small study-hours are better than long study hours interspersed with big gaps). This difficulty and the delay in cementing phases and thereafter in the test readiness phase were taking a toll on me as I was stretching the limits of my deadline for taking the final test. I returned to my base on 20 April and again started my preparation in full swing. It is during this time I realized that I am stressing myself way too much. I thought lack of sleep or rather lack of good quality sleep was a major contributor to my silly mistakes and nervousness and anxiety. Also as a result of sleep deprivation, I was not having quality in my study. I was just clocking hours without improving my abilities. At this point in time, I decided to start getting at least 7 hours of sleep at night and in fact, started sleeping without an alarm. Having completed the last module of Quant (Permutations, Combinations & Probability) sometime in the 1st week of May, I took two weeks to thoroughly revise all subsections from the start. Thereafter, I revised all subsections for the second time taking around one week. During these revision cycles, I was solving Quizzes on egmat’s portal for validation and trying to cross their specified levels, sometimes failing to do so, sometimes succeeding. All through I was also taking validation quizzes for Verbal. One painful exercise all throughout was maintaining an error log. But I did maintain one, in excel initially as per egmat’s format and in my own format during the revision phases. What was important was to revise these error logs periodically.
I decided to take the test on the 24th of June 2023 and accordingly took a mock test on egmat portal on the 18th June 23. (Too late to start taking Mocks but circumstances were such). I scored a 650 and was obviously dismayed. Having analysed the incorrect questions I realized a lot of them were silly mistakes. Abha suggested that I delay my test by at least two weeks while she works on my test-taking abilities. I did so and kept going through the actions that Abha suggested. In the meanwhile, I had to take leave and move to my hometown to tend to some unavoidable personal commitments. (That was the reason I planned to finish taking the test by 24th of June in the first place, but then one needs to adapt to changing situations). I took my second mock test on egmat portal on the 3rd of July and yet again scored a 660. After this, my anxiety was at its peak. I started doubting myself and was thinking that the last 7 months were a waste of time. Abha kept telling me that the problem is not in my quant or verbal abilities but in my ability to focus and concentrate and that is what I should work on. I believed her. I knew my abilities in quant and verbal had developed significantly. The only thing that could stop me from reaching my target score was my anxiety and nervousness. I needed to manage those feelings. An important point to note here is that I could never reach beyond the 27th question in Quant and 30th or 31st question in Verbal. So I had to guess the remaining questions. I needed to work on my time plan. I did read a few articles on timing strategies. But Abha was point blank. She gave me exact times when to bail out in Quant questions, SC CR and RC. To be able to follow those timings was the issue.
At this point I spoke to my family and realised that I need to change my approach. I changed the way I meditated. But I still had doubts about whether I should delay the test by another two weeks. Eventually, I booked a test for 11 July considering that there will always be another chance that I could take. I took my last mock test on the Egmat portal on the 8th of July and again scored a dismal 670. After having analysed my mistakes in the test Abha again flagged the main issue which was my focus. 90% of the mistakes that I was making were related to my lack of focus. There was no problem that I could not do within 2 minutes when I used to solve it later on. Yet I was making mistakes on the test. I could feel the nervous energy building up in me prior to the test, clouding my ability to follow all the process skills. And that was making all the difference. While I could follow all the process skills when I was not taking a test in the test environment, I was unable to do so in test environment.
Since I had already booked my test for the 11th of July I went ahead with the plan. Instead of fighting my anxiety and nervousness, I decided to take the test with those feelings. Accepting that these feelings will be there and I need to coexist with them on the test. In the last couple of days I did not take any timed quizzes or tests. I went through my notes, certain questions that I was repeatedly getting wrong, and some formulae that needed to be remembered. An important aspect that struck me during this time when I was reviewing a particularly difficult question (I got it wrong four times, in spite of reviewing it every time!) was the relevance of patterns. (Bit late in the day, but then as they say, “it's never too late to learn something”). Since the GMAT is a standardized test, it follows a definite pattern. The difference between the brilliant and the otherwise is that the former are good at recognizing patterns quickly and using that knowledge to their advantage. For example; a question that has only one linear equation with two variables is generally not enough data to get values of both variables. But if there is any constraint imposed by the question, such as both variables being integers or any other such limitation, the data might be enough. Explore that possibility before marking ‘E’. Having understood this concept, one should be able to apply it to other situations also. For eg; when there are 3 variables x, y, and z, and the number of equations is only two, and there are no other constraints then one cannot find the values of x, y, and z. However, if the question asks the ratio of x and the sum of x, y, and z, or just the sum of three variables then the data is likely to be sufficient! In such problems, it is critical to recognize what the question is testing and proceed accordingly. These are just a couple of examples. If one can recognize this and other such patterns and apply the relevant process skills, any GMAT problem can be solved in 2 minutes.

As the test day approached, I told myself that a 680 seems doable and it may be enough to get admission to a decent Business school given my work experience. That was just my way of trying to lower my own expectations. After all, all the anxiety and nervousness were an interplay between my expectations and reality. The wider the gap between these, the greater the anxiety, nervousness and depression. On the test day, as I had read on gmatclub, I tried to keep every part of my daily schedule the same. Had a slightly early dinner hoping to sleep earlier. But I couldn’t. I had imagined this would happen and did not let it affect me. I tried to sleep, meditate, sleep, meditate, and so on till I finally fell asleep. My exam slot was at 0945hrs so I woke up at 0600 hrs. Had a light breakfast. Abha had advised me to carry a banana or an energy bar to recharge during the break. I got the essence of the advice and carried a protein shake instead. The BCAAs have helped me maintain energy levels in the Gym in pretty quick time and I hoped they would do the same here. I reached the exam hall at 0900 hrs. As the exam hall procedures began I started chatting with another aspirant, a young chap just 2 years out of college. I asked him about his mocks and he said he was scoring consistently between 700 and 740. Wished him luck and chatted some more. The Procter then guided us to the cubicles and I commenced with the much-awaited exam process. I had not decided which colleges I would select to send my scores to. I kept searching for ISB and it just wouldn’t appear in the menu. Selected the ones that appeared after searching for them - LBS, MIT Sloan and Michigan Ross. Then I tried searching for IIMs. They appeared. I then scrolled down to find ISB and selected it. This process took me quite a long time and the candidates in the next cubicles had already commenced their exam. I bring this up because such a delay could affect your state of mind negatively. But I had conditioned my mind adequately to not get bothered by such things. I was expecting hiccups and deviations from normalcy. I started the exam with the sequence I had planned for, Quant - Verbal - IR/AWA. I had developed a habit to look at the timer only after every 7 to 8 questions and had the block timings in mind. I was doing well on the timing part till the 2nd block (16th question with little over half the time remaining). As I approached the last 3 questions I had a good 6 minutes remaining - perfect. The 30th question was a typical geometry question (Area of a rectangle given with two variables in length and breadth) that I had solved many times. So I realized it's going to end up in a quadratic equation. As has happened many times during practice quizzes, I could not get the break up of the quadratic equation in a decent time. I did not waste time and took an educated guess and moved on with 2 minutes for the last question. The verbal part also went in a similar fashion as far as the timings were concerned. The last RC passage was short but savage – couldn’t make head or tail out of it. Took educated guesses and moved on – had a good 2 minutes for the last CR question. All in all, both the Quant and Verbal sections had gone in an unprecedented manner for me – completing them in perfect time. IR and AWA were my sore points as I had not practiced them at all. One should practice for IR at least a little bit. I missed out on attempting the last question in IR, but could complete AWA. Having completed that part, something came up on the screen. I realized this might be the score sheet. It was quite bland – I was expecting a colorful graphical display as one has often seen in the ESRs. Nevertheless, in all the typed matter in a small font, a particular number caught my attention. It said 730. Before I could grasp it, the Procter had sneaked in behind me and asked me if I wanted to accept my score. Yes! Click ‘Accept’, pick up the passport and walk out slowly he said. While I was thinking about what had just happened, the Procter printed out a page and gave it to me. It was true – a 730 (Q49, V41). A certain numbness and disbelief that I felt continues to affect me in varying degrees till date….

Key Takeaways.
Choose the right resources for your preparation. The money spent in preparation will be only a small fraction of your MBA journey.
Abilities such as analytical reasoning, and critical reasoning come naturally to some, but others can develop these abilities through practice and following due process. If I can, you can too. I cannot overemphasize the importance of following process skills taught by Egmat. Payal’s (Payal Tandon) voice asking me to do so every now and then reverberates in my head even now.
Error logs are important. Find a way that suits you to maintain one. Revise it periodically.
Make notes of important and frequently appearing concepts and revise them regularly. Revision is the keyword here.
It makes sense to follow your mentor even when you do not understand how a particular action is going to help you. A mentor like Abha, and others in Egmat team would have coached many students like you. They know what they are doing, and where they are taking you.
Patterns – try to recognize patterns. You may not succeed immediately, but keep trying and you will. It will surely help you in more than one ways, it certainly did help me in Q No 30 of Quant section (at least) in my final exam.
Official Guide questions are precious, especially in Verbal. Do not use them to learn concepts. Use them only to validate your skill level after you’ve learned the concept. LSAT questions in CR and RC are good for learning concepts – there is no dearth of them on Gmatclub.
Meditation helps – it works slowly but surely. Start practicing it now! Anxiety, panic and nervousness are feelings you can’t wish away. Try managing and co-existing with them rather than fighting them. You may not realise when they have stopped bothering you.
Build test readiness and test taking abilities by taking 10 questions quizzes initially, then progressing to 15, 25, and 31, and so on. Egmat gets this done nicely.
Official Mock tests can give a better assessment of your preparation level. I couldn’t take any Official mock test in the run up to my final exam due shortage of time imposed by unforeseen circumstances. I could’ve delayed my test further but I wasn’t sure if things would necessarily turn favourable later on. Nevertheless, since I was guessing all of the last 4 to 5 questions in Quant and a couple more than that in Verbal of the egmat mock tests, I guess the mock scores couldn’t have been better.

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