DISCLAIMER AND VERBIAGE ALERT
1. A score of 710 may not mandate a debrief especially when there is hardly anything new I can add with respect to preparation tips, test taking strategies, motivational words etc. Notwithstanding, I am writing this debrief for two reasons primarily. First, to put on record my gratitude and indebtedness to all those who have knowingly or unknowingly helped me in my short GMAT journey. Second, I ve noticed that there are very few debriefs from people on the wrong side of 30/early 40s presumably because very few are crazy enough to go for an MBA that requires GMAT at this stage of their life and career. But I know that, for reasons of their own, such daredevils, though few and far in between, do exist. Therefore, being someone from such a demographic looking to transition from the armed forces into the civil world, my debrief is primarily aimed at those who might be contemplating GMAT while handling high pressure jobs and weighing the pros and cons of doing an MBA and/or making a career switch in the prime of their lives (20s may seem like the prime of one’s life but believe you me it’s not ;)).

OF NO RELEVANCE TO MAN OR BEAST – STILL ...
2. My first brush with GMAT was about a year ago when intrigued by the time and effort one of my senior was putting into his GMAT preparation, I took the GMAT prep mock just to see what the big deal was. I bombed quant without even getting to attempt 5-6 ques and got 640 with a V39, which I subsequently realized is not bad for someone who had not even heard about SC, CR and RC till before the test. After that, though I enjoyed the experience, promptly forgot all about GMAT till early this year when I started seriously considering hanging up my uniform. Someone who had already treaded the path advised me to get a good GMAT score irrespective of whether I use it or since getting one at short notice if required would be impossible. He also told me that based on past track record, a score in the late 600s would be sufficient for my experience and profile. I took the first advice but chose to ignore the second since I have always been a ‘go big or go home’ sort of guy and I naively assumed that I could easily get at least 730 if I worked on my quant and SC. Only time would prove how wrong I was.

3. Started by attending a few free weekend webinars by various prep companies and the ones by e-gmat really stood out. Liked their free trial and on a whim subscribed for the full course - one of the best decisions of my GMAT journey. It took me some time to build up a tempo and a fixed routine and my earnest preparations started in early Apr. After that I didn’t take a single cheat day till the exam except for a week’s vacation to recharge my batteries 10 days before the exam.

E-GMAT – ALL YOU COULD ASK FOR AND THEN SOME

4. Egmat was everything I could ask for in a course. It is highly customizable based on one’s performance at each level. The various performance parameters and data points ensure that you neither overestimate nor have any self doubts about your abilities. I used to think I was god's gift to grammar and comprehension but e-gmat showed me that I knew squat about SC. But it also told me that RC and CR were more up my alley may be because reading between the lines, critical analysis and paraphrasing came very naturally to me due to what I do professionally. I also realized that I had to first unlearn maths and tackle it from a totally new perspective for Quant. I followed a roughly 70(Quant)/30 (V)% time management split with about 80% of the 30% verbal time for SC. It's therefore ironic that CR and to some extent RC, which I considered my trump cards, let me down in the actual exam. More on that later.

5. I also happened to be lucky that Quant 2.0 was launched round about the time my preparations were peaking and it really helped me shift gears. The detailed explanations and entire format of pedagogy was something I had never seen before and were simply mind blowing. Scholaranium 2.0 was another revelation. Just when you think you are through and almost ready for GMAT, it delivers a sucker punch and literally knocks you out. Only option is to dust yourself, keep your bruised ego aside and keep learning. The deep dive analysis of each aspect is simply amazing and to be frank mind boggling at first. That’s when I happened to be approached by e-gmat for their last mile program by Dhananjay, DJ. He helped me make sense of the various data points and was the ideal pace setter, never letting me relax but also never letting me get totally out of breath. His customized plans for taking tests on the scholaranium, analysing the data and time management techniques helped me a lot. Thanks DJ for everything and so sorry that I couldn’t live upto your (and my) expectations. Special shout out to the resident verbal and quant experts Shradha, Shwetha and Atreya who are amazing amazing teachers from whom I learnt a lot courtesy their webinars. Only wish each webinar covered different questions.

6. My advice to all present and future e-gmat students would be to trust the process and not try and short circuit or game the system. Payal, Rajat and the other architects of e-gmat curriculum are visionaries and there’s a method to their madness. Average difficulty level of Questions on e-gmat and more so on scholaranium are definitely a notch higher than actual GMAT and sometimes it can be bit demoralizing to not see the expected % accuracy. Also don’t miss the wood for the trees and get too obsessed with the scores on scholaranium or other tests. Remember these are all means to an end that is the final GMAT score. Last but most important advice - keep reaching out to the e-gmat support team. They are a wonderful team. I actually got offered the mentorship opportunity with DJ when I wrote to the team to review my initial scholaranium performance.

GMAT CLUB – THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
7. Where do I even get started about the wonderful GMAT club community? It has truly been a godsend. To the moderators - apologies for being a wallflower and only taking without giving anything back in return. Bunuel, GMAT Ninja, other moderators and regular contributors are doing yeoman service to the GMAT aspirants without expecting much in return. if I were to pick just one thing other than e-gmat that helped me the most in my entire GMAT journey it would the GMAT NINJA lecture series on SC. They were pure gold and I am still in awe of his humility, crystal clear explanations and even his wonderful sense of humor. Other than his surname, which I could never grasp, each and everything he spoke is still imprinted in my mind.

UNSOLICITED ADVICE
8. My advice to GMAT aspirants with professional/personal commitments similar to mine:-

(a) Make a plan and stick to it. Irrespective of how tired one is try and spend 1-2 hrs daily and 4-5 hrs on weekends.

(b) Try not to exceed 3-4 months prep time coz the above pace may not be sustainable due to other commitments which can only be stalled for so long. Further, laws of diminishing returns might start kicking in.

(c) Get your family on board. Like mine, your spouse also may be working with his/her own professional and personal commitments. So, like most things in a married life, it would be impossible to embark on this journey without your partner's support. No more kid’s tennis/soccer classes during weekend, Saturday night family board games, grocery shopping or whatever it is that keeps the family ecosystem in balance. Make kids, if big enough, a part of the process. My 10 yr old son used to watch GMAT Ninja videos with me and the younger 7 yr old was my water boy, errand runner and biggest cheer leader.

(d) Announce your plan to people who matter at work . keep your boss informed. Even more important take your team and subordinates in confidence. They will have to deal with the extra delegation.

(e) Be innovative and jugadu. I can’t access internet or smart phone at work. So used to do OG ques or take printouts of 3-4 good questions and analyse them threadbare whenever I got time in office. I started using metro instead of driving to utilise the travel time effectively. But that experiment ended before it could take off due to COVID.

(f) Be ready to press the pause button on your interests/hobbies. Forget your golf, regular runs, gym visits, book readings, Netflix, and similar me time stress busters for at least the last two months of prep.

(g) By hook or by crook manage atleast 2 weeks off from work just before the exam. If one does not have the luxury of WFH or accessing internet at work this is indispensable.

(h) Ride the wave, there will be stages within the preparation cycle when your performance will rise and dip. Identify when you are peaking and take the test then. More prep time need not always translate to better score.

(i) Internalize and verbalize your envisaged score. Be ambitious but realistic. Best way to keep yourself reminded of the same is to tell it to your kid(s). But if your kids are anything like mine do have an explanation ready if you can’t reach your target ‘coz they sure will want one. The usual shoot for the starts to land on the moon BS won’t work and may come back to bite you. I started with a 730 target, revised it upwards to 750 based on mocks and data inputs from e-gmat/DJ. The fact that the final score was nowhere near it meant either that I was deluded or that I just had a bad day.

(j) Pick one source other than GMAT club to prepare and stick to it but not blindly. There is no one size fits all solution so customise the suggested methods based on your strengths and weaknesses. For instance, common wisdom dictates SC questions in less than 1.30 mins to leave more time for RC . For me I rarely, if ever, took more than 4 minutes for a RC set and never ever felt the need to make notes for RC and CR. The time saved I used for SC.

(k) Don’t be obsessed with +700 questions. I fell into the trap and wasted some time in my prep in the middle. Stick to only your test prep and OG questions specially for verbal. Only exception is LSAT questions for CR, which I now wish I had done more of.

(l) Last 20 days if possible dedicate solely for OG and mocks. Solve OG ques on GMAT club so that one gets and idea of timing, difficulty level and of course the threadbare analysis of each ques.

TEST EXPERIENCE – IF EVERYTHING SEEMS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE , IT PROBABLY IS

9. I had initially registered for online GMAT in end Jul which ran into all sorts of trouble due to technical issues and also ended up messing up my laptop settings ( has to be a separate debrief in itself). So I booked the retest at test centre on 18 Aug ( 0800 AM) which was the earliest available date. Went for a week’s road trip with family after that and once back didn’t want to tackle anything new. So just revised my error logs and redid some OG questions. With one week left and nothing much left to do, bought the GMAT prep tests 3-6. Did one test every day and with scores of 750, 770, 770, 730, 760 ( 2 to 6), coupled with the 720 and 750 from e-gmat sigma mocks, I thought I was peaking at the right time.

10. Test day ( Pearson, Noida) couldn’t have gone any better. Just 5 mins drive from my home, excellent facility, professional staff just about everything went without a hitch. Since my brain takes some time to start ticking and since mental fatigue has never been an issue AWA, IR, Quant, Verbal sequence works best for me. AWA felt good even though I never attempted AWA even in mocks and it was only the second AWA pssage I had ever written. IR was much tougher than any of the mocks, which was good in a way since it helped me focus better in quant for which I didn’t take the break. Felt really good through out the Quant, managed to keep pace (using the Manhattan yellow pad technique) and though I encountered some lengthy and tricky ques in coord geometry and algebra during the latter stages, didn’t have to skip or guess a single question. I thought I had managed to see most of the traps in DS. All in all this was the most comfortable and confident I ever felt. Up beat, took a small break and started verbal. It also went along the same lines as Quant. RC passages were a breeze as usual and though one can never be 100% sure about SC, I felt confident about most of my choices since I could eliminate four choices on solid grounds and then select the remaining one (hat tip to GMAT Ninja) . I was not confident about only one CR quant based double negation quest where I was stuck with two choices.

11. All in all, I was super confident and thought the test had gone as good as, if not better than my GMAT prep mocks. So I was totally shocked when the screen flashed 710 (Q48, V39)) . For a moment I did consider rejecting the score but then better sense prevailed since it really doesn’t matter in the larger scheme of things and based on my profile and experience, this should be enough even if I decide to apply somewhere. But my delusions of grandeur about my GMAT abilities have been shattered to smithereens

ESR HELP - LAYING THE GMAT GHOSTS TO REST

12. Once back, I mentally revisited most of the questions I could recall to visualise what could have gone wrong but I really couldn’t pinpoint anything other than the one CR ques. So hoping to solve mystery got the ESR though I ve absolutely no intention of taking the test ever again. The ESR ( attached for reference) shows about 5 ques wrong in Quant (mostly DS with 1,1,1,2 wrong in each quarter I guess) so must be some silly mistakes and/or GMAT DS traps which I failed to notice and I can reconcile with that. But, I also seem to have got about 6 ques wrong in Verbal (1,2,1,2 split) . I have absolutely no clue which the 5/6 ques other than the aforementioned CR are. If they were SC I could still have understood but %ile shows most are CR and one/two RC. Also based on what little I ve seen in other ESRs I thought my splits would translate into a slightly higher score than 710. Though DJ has been kind enough to analyse and make some sense of it I would be grateful if any of the other specialists here can throw some light on my score vis-à-vis ESR only so that I can get some closure.

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS NOT SO WELL

13. To summarise, the short GMAT journey was exhilarating though the actual destination left a lot to be desired. I did get involved much more deeply than I initially thought I would and even if plain statistics reveal that I wasted my time without much improvement, ( V 39 baseline and V39 final), I would like to believe that I learnt a lot from the experience and any other day the score could have been different. Anyways in the end GMAT did get the better of me and though DJ has been asking me to retake the test I think its time for me to burn my bridges. Thanks for the ride everyone and may each and every member of this wonderful GMAT club community encounter fair winds and following seas in all his/her personal and professional future endeavors.

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Strategy piece:

Archit helped me a lot to understand what my week points were and how should i go about improving the same. Archit was always super supportive on both academic and emotional quotient

His verbal diagnosis was on point and really helped me narrow down on what was important for me. The course content was relevant and gave great mental models to solve with. The content was up to date and the type of questions covered were exhaustive.

Some pointers on the course overall:

SC is very detailed and special at egmat; Concepts were precise and you are just required to apply them on the real gmat questions (nothing more nothing less)
I had previously used other resources and coaching notes but the difference with egmat was that they only focus on what is actually asked in the exam and not random concepts. This helped reduce a lot of stress for me and kept my game plan simple; High focus on meaning based approach was unique and honestly the most important skill in solving hard questions

RC course is also pretty exhaustive and structured, practise questions are brilliantly designed and actually super engaging; The nuanced paragraph reading techniques are novel but very effective.

CR is also very well designed for everyone, the pre-thinking approach was a game changer for me; The hard level questions on the platform were very close to what i saw in the exam - this was super helpful for my test readiness.

Loved the quant curriculum as well; The hard questions are really stimulating and thought provoking. The solutions provided were detailed and really helpful for my conceptual growth
The 24/7 forum support was beautiful and actually saved me a lot of time; The overall question bank is the closet you can get to real GMAT experience

The sigma mocks were great and scholaranium was an amazing tool to track and monitor progress. I would recommend this course to everyone and special thanks to archit for his support.

I highly highly recommend egmat and specially Archit for anyone looking to score 700+ on GMAT

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Pros:
1) Great discussion on every question i.e. you can learn from other student's points of view.
2) Good support on queries.
3) Detailed explanation of every concept.
4) Scolarinium is a great tool
5) Concept quizzes are helpful.

Things to improve:
1) RC section is easy as compare to that of the real exam.
2) Subscription time should be more than 6 months.
3) No. of tests should increase.

I liked the company's approach to focus on the concepts building, though I scored less as compared to my expectation.
I feel every course is as good as the student who is taking it but e gmat provide a good platform to learn

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I had given 2 GMAT attempts in Oct'20 and Nov'20 and scored a 700 in each, after which I decided to take a break and restart afresh at a later date. In May’21, I attended a free e-GMAT webinar related to Number properties and found the session really insightful. After going through multiple reviews and debriefs on GMAT Club, I took a counselling session with their team and found their personalized study plan approach best-suited to my requirements. In no time I took a free SigmaX mock (on e-GMAT portal), in which I scored a 680 and enrolled myself for a 3-month course. I got a personalized study plan, based on my performance in the mock and my target score, and started preparing.
E-GMAT’s self-paced course is so well designed that you’ll learn all the concepts that require most of your attention without wasting time watching videos of topics you’re already well-versed with. In verbal section, the CR and SC modules were particularly helpful for me. The CR modules progress in a manner such that they test your detailed understanding of the argument given, recommend skillful ways to pre-think the answer and provide feedback on your selected choice versus the correct answer. Before adopting the e-GMAT approach, I used to go through the answer choices first and then decide the best one, which did not always work out. WIth e-GMAT's approach, I started to pre-think potential answers and it became easier to eliminate the wrong answer choice. thus, the time spent in solving a question significantly reduced. SC modules also help you gain a very clear conceptual understanding of all the topics. In QA, all the modules had a problem based approach in which you get to solve the questions and learn the concepts accordingly. QA in particular was a huge blessing for me in my GMAT journey. In general, all of e-GMAT's modules start with a diagnostic quiz to test your current level of understanding and then guide you through the rest of the modules according to your performance. The GMAT Skills and Application based modules that contained higher difficulty level questions, allow more careful analysis of the question and answer choices to avoid any potential mistakes. Moreover, Scholaranium 2.0 helps you cement your concepts at every difficulty level and has tools for in-depth analysis of your mistakes and weak areas and accordingly decide on the further course of action. The strategic review videos and error log templates are extremely helpful for improvement. I specifically liked the prompt and detailed responses to posted queries (which, honestly, I initially thought wouldn’t be as useful).
Within a few days of starting the course, I was enrolled in their Last Mile Push (LMP), given my decent performance in practice quizzes. As part of the program, I was allotted a dedicated mentor, Mr. Atreya Roy, to help me and guide me on a daily basis. I was given daily study plans, with specified timelines, which gave a structure to my self-study regime. My performance in quizzes was constantly monitored and my study plans revised, as per the need of the hour. My mentor connected with me on a regular basis to ask about how I felt about my progress and about my next steps in learning. The prompt responses to all of my doubts made it no less than private tutoring. My mentor literally went the extra mile by motivating me whenever I scored low and help me plan my studies with adequate breaks. I got advice and key-pointers from other subject experts also until the end day for improvement in my weaker areas and it certainly helped me score well in the exam.
Not to forget, the Sigma X mocks by e-GMAT are very well created. They give you a fairly accurate idea of your potential score and analysis tools, which are very crucial to your performance in future tests.
I gave my third attempt in Jul’21 end when I scored a 690 because I got extremely nervous and panicked during the exam. I was so demotivated, but my mentor encouraged me to try once again as I had consistently performed well in my mocks. For 20 odd days, I prepared myself, not just for the exam, but also to not take stress (Atreya helped me with stress management articles as well). This time I scored a 750 (Q50, V41, IR7 & AWA6) and I was finally satisfied with my performance.

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Every journey is different. After procrastinating for several weeks at the start of 2021, I finally purchased the E-GMAT course. I believe self-study doesn't work in most cases for students aiming for a 720+ score.

A few friends endorsed the product as they had scored fantastic scores after taking the online course. Like many before me, I had my doubts whether an online delivery will be sufficient for my prep. Thankfully, the doubt resolution turnaround time is <24 hours and I was improving my concepts along with the prep.

Allow me to share the key differentiators of the course and I hope this honest review will help readers make the right choice.

- The SC course is very comprehensive! (takes the longest to complete). It is hard to get OG questions wrong after going through the course

- CR course focuses on pre-thinking - something that works magically on the real test

- Quant 2.0 is a life savior. E-GMAT until recently was known only for their verbal course but the team has revamped the entire quant section. It is fun to learn Quants in the course.

- The dark horse is their question bank - called Scholaranium 2.0. One will not find ambiguous explanations or tricky questions in Schol - something I noticed in practice questions of many test prep companies.

- I got an unimpressive 610 on my first mock. This is after I had put in 3 months of study. I was naturally devastated. I emailed the support team and got in touch with a mentor.

- Enter DJ from Egmat team: This review cannot be complete without mentioning the support of their chief mentor - Dhananjay (or DJ as how many call him). DJ helped me when I wasn't doing so well. He is a nice guy who will take you seriously! He evaluates the problems at the nuts-and-bolts level and gives out strategies to work on weak areas. We exchanged countless emails and got in a few calls to cross off my weak areas. So thank you DJ for my GMAT journey.

So anyone out there who is convinced to apply for a B-school should just opt for the E-GMAT course. Just remember, no course can really really help you unless you put in the effort first :)


- The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.

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I tried multiple resources for my first attempt and solved hundreds of questions to get a 700+, but I ended up at 670(Q49,V32). I decided to enroll for e-gmat after reading lot of success stories and answer explanations by e-gmat mentors in gmatclub. I believe this was the best decision for my GMAT prep.

Master comprehension module is the best module I have come across. It is the gateway for GMAT Verbal and a must go through module. This module was an eye-opener for me in understanding and following a comprehension based approach.

SC course covers all the rules and strategies needed to score 700+ level questions. Focusing on just the grammar rules or 2/3 splits (or any shortcuts), etc. would yield a score of 670-680 but if you want to break the 700 barrier, you need to master the Meaning based approach.

CR course is very well designed and you need to follow the given order to master every concept and solve all the concept and practice files. Breaking down a sentence, taking notes effectively and pre-thinking are the core skills that you need to master to ace CR.

7 RC strategies, when put to practice, yield great accuracy in less time.

Scholaranium is the only platform that I used to solve questions apart from OG. You can customize your tests as per your needs and get a detailed feedback on your performance. This helps to improve the weak areas and reduce the preparation time.

Quant scholaranium has higher difficulty level questions than the official guide ones. This prepares you for the worst case scenario. If you get a Q49 here, you can definitely get a Q49-51 in the actual exam.

Sigma-x mocks are very close to the GMAT exam. Do not waste these mocks and give them appropriately to get the best results( I wasted a couple of mocks :( ).

My 15 day plan with Dhananjay:
I got a 640 close to my exam after 2 months of preparation in which I reached a 730 long back. I reached out to the support team and Dhananjay helped me exactly figure out the weak areas and suggested a hyper-specific plan. I realized giving lot of mocks hindered my performance. I postponed my exam by 15 days and followed the plan that he suggested and solved entire OG. I could reach a 730 (slightly inflated score since I had given this mock for my first attempt) in the last official mock two days prior to my actual exam and ended up at 710 on the D-day.

Last but not the least, you always get a quick reply from e-gmat support team throughout your preparation time. So, if you want to break the 700 barrier in a short span of time, go for e-gmat and follow the entire process that e-gmat proposes. Good Luck!

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I started preparing for GMAT from Mid May21' and most of my preparation in the beginning centered around Official Guides. I used to solve a fixed number of questions everyday. This part of my preparation helped me by familiarizing with the different type of questions that are asked in GMAT. However, solving questions did not help me in creating a framework that I could replicate in solving questions. During this phase I gave a number of mocks and I realized that SC was my weakness and my current method of preparation was not helping me in improving accuracy in SC section.

It was then that I researched extensively on GMAT CLUB platform and I came across the meaning based approach. I attended the E-GMAT's SC webinar and the meaning based approach appealed to me. This is when I decided to enroll for the E-GMAT verbal course. I made extensive use of the SC modules and they proved to be extremely helpful in improving the way I approached an SC question.

After going through the SC modules I started implementing the strategies on questions that were available on the Scholaranium platform. There I found detailed solutions to all the questions along with analytics that helped in benchmarking my performance with that of other course takers. Scholaranium helped me immensely as I was able to internalize the framework that I had developed using the modules and was able to work on specific topics.

Also, the constant mentoring that is provided during the course is worth mentioning. I was struggling with the time management in the verbal section and that is when I came in contact with Dhananjay. We got over a call and discussed in detail various issues that I was facing and planned out a strategy to work on those weaknesses. I followed his advice and was able to complete my Verbal Section before time in the actual exam.

Overall, I believe that the e-GMAT team has done a great job in creating a very well structured and easy to follow program and I would strongly recommend it as a one-stop shop for complete GMAT prep.

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I scored 740 in my first official GMAT attempt (V44, Q48). While there are many resources and people that helped me achieve my dream score, E-GMAT is definitely one of them.

I purchased the online 360 course from E-GMAT which included both verbal and quant resources. To start with, E-GMAT verbal is very good. I trusted the process oriented approach that E-GMAT teaches and promotes for all subsections - SC, RC, CR. The videos are very well structured. Going through each of the SC and CR concept files really helped me build a strong base to tackle the different types of questions. The focus that the SC course lays on meaning based approach really works wonders and becomes the go to weapon while tackling 700+ level questions. And the "Pre-thinking" approach for CR is also extremely beneficial. Although, I developed a modified approach (selective pre-thinking) for the CR questions, pre-thinking undoubtedly leads to high levels of accuracy. I can compare the E-GMAT verbal course to a gym - if you are regular and diligent, spend a good amount of time and most important, trust the process oriented approach, results will definitely follow.

The quant videos are not as good as verbal, but they are also good enough. Specially, the new Quant 2.0 course, which is much better than the previous one. It is quite exhaustive and helps you understand and solidify all the concepts. I used the E-GMAT quant course to brush up the concepts and then the GMAT club tests (which come complimentary with the course) to strengthen the topics and increase my speed.

I will surely recommend the E-GMAT course to everyone. Just one caution - if you are not studying full time and at the same time are looking for a course that's fast paced, then E-GMAT is probably not the right option. But if you have time (min 3 months) and are willing to put in the hours, then you should definitely go for E-GMAT.

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Well, a 30 point jump in 3 months might not sound that great to someone. But, for me, it was a huge jump going from a 720 to 750, thanks to e-gmat!
Before getting into the review, bear with me while I give a brief background of my struggles with GMAT. After contemplating giving the GMAT for a good 6 months, I finally decided in January 2020 to give the exam and booked an appointment for May 1, 2020. However, covid hit, starting a series of appointment cancellations due to closure of centers. Finally after months of struggle with the after-effects of contracting covid and motivating myself, I was able to finally book a test on November 23, 2020! While I thought I had done all there was to do to excel, I was unhappy looking at the 720 score. While I was more than happy with the Q51 score, the V35 felt like a slap on the face.
In those 2 minutes I contemplated not accepting the score but then accepted it thinking it was too late to retake it before the second round applications. So, I went ahead with the score and got rejected at all the schools I applied to. (P.S.: I am sure it was not just the score that got me rejections, it was a combination of gaps in my profile and application)
Anyways, fast forward to April-May 2021 when I finally decided to retake the GMAT and registered for e-GMAT, impressed by the structured program with fixed timelines that can help students achieve their target scores. As per the roadmap constructed by them based on my previous and target scores, I was supposed to re-take the GMAT in first week of June 2021.
Happy with the structure and timed schedule, I started the course, naturally with the SC section and I am very happy to share that I learned a lot of things with that course - idioms I hadn't heard of earlier, new methods that helped me solve SC questions quickly and apt practice quizzes that cemented the concepts well.
Due to a family emergency, there was a gap in my preparation and I started questioning my whole purpose of giving the GMAT and pursuing an MBA. After a few weeks of self-doubt, I finally opened my e-gmat account and saw the activity chart on my profile - I hadn't done any substantial study for a long time. The bar chart showing the number of hours spent daily and the pie chart in each section showing what percent of the activities are pending gave me the push I needed to get back to it.
Completing the concepts and practice quizzes in the SC section gave me some confidence that was boosted further with the improvement I saw in my SC cementing quizzes. Next were the CR and RC sections. E-GMAT's way of explaining the CR question types and how to deal with each of them is just perfect. Though I took some time to grasp and get used to the pre-thinking approach, I realised its importance once I started doing its cementing quizzes. Pre-thinking makes CR questions look so easy!! Same goes with the RC section. In my first attempt at the GMAT, I was over-confident with the RC section and that is what pulled down my score. But, with e-gmat I learned new things about the RC section such as the kinds of wrong answers that can come up and how important it is to read the RC questions and their answers very minutely to find the correct answer.
By the time I finished the verbal section, I was totally free of my earlier misconception that the course couldn't really help me much.
So, even with a starting score of Q51, I immediately jumped into the quant section and let me tell you, I am glad I paid attention to the quant section. This is because there were some shortcuts, methods and formulae that I was unaware of, before e-GMAT.
Nonetheless, I did leave out a few sections that I though I knew, because I was short of time and I had booked my appointment for July 19, 2021. While the test center exam got cancelled just 3 days before, I was lucky enough to book the at-home version. But, torrential rains in the two days before the exam resulted in network issues that didn't let me take the test!
It seemed like the struggle wasn't ending anytime soon. However, soon I realized it was a blessing in disguise. It gave me time to go back to the topics I had left out and get a hold of some of e-GMAT's jewels - the Wavy Line Method of solving inequalities and some other concepts.
Along with getting a good grasp of all the concepts, I was also able to practice more with the custom quizzes (where you can select specific topics to practice) with the medium and hard level questions of both the sections. I believe that those additional two weeks of practice actually helped me improve my ability and score the 750!
I would like to give a special mention to the Sigma X mocks of e-GMAT! They are a decent representation of the official GMAT and the analysis - Wow!! Having taken as many as 20 full mocks, I know the importance of full mocks and I recommend everybody to take the full mocks to get an idea of the format of the exam and getting used to the 3.5 hour marathon that is the GMAT. However, the official mocks only tell you the right or wrong answer, they don't tell you where and why you went wrong. On the other hand, the Sigma mocks of e-GMAT contain only the verbal and quant sections, but the analysis they give post the test is very essential for the GMAT prep. The software analyses in detail the answers you give and the time you take and helps you determine what topics you need to work harder on. A fun fact - My final GMAT score (including the quant and verbal breakup) is the same as the score I got in the first Sigma X Mock!
All in all, I believe that e-GMAT was a good investment for me and I am sure the 30 point jump will help with my applications as well! So, thank you e-GMAT!

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I took GMAT on 16th August 2021 and scored a 700. eGMAT played a big role in helping me reach this score. I purchased eGMAT course in February 2021.

The best thing about the course is that it is structured, and it focuses a lot on cementing the process of applying concepts. Both quant and verbal courses had their own features:
• Quant 2.0- Here, one doesn't have to do all concepts. Every module will start with a concept diagnostic quiz whose results will recommend which concept we should do in detail. This accelerates the prep. Besides, multiple application files will help you do GMAT-style questions with the right and effective approach.
• Verbal- I found its SC course very helpful. Their meaning-based approach is now embedded in my process and has helped me every time in my practice and official exam. For both CR and RC, while I took time in embedding their pre-thinking and reading strategies in my approach to solve questions, I could see the difference in my attempts. These strategies do work.

Scholaranium is eGMAT's differentiator. It not only helped me track my performance and improve areas but also gave detailed explanations of each question attempted. These explanations are way better than the answers explained in OG.

Sigma X Mocks- I am still not sure about the accuracy of these mocks. Official ones are the best in terms of accuracy. But these will definitely help one in identifying the weak areas- where are you getting questions wrong, where are you taking time, and why are you taking time. Eventually, they will help you in building your test strategy at the final leg of your preparation.

The game-changer in my entire experience with eGMAT program was their Last Mile push program, in which they reach out to dedicated students, assigning a mentor to each of them at the final leg of preparation. My final leg went on for 2-3 months. Atreya Roy was my mentor, and he not only built weekly plans for me but also motivated me throughout my journey. He shared personalized videos during my final prep, which further increased my confidence in specific areas such as Inference for RC. He made my review process easier too. Looking at multiple weak areas, I used to get overwhelmed. But he always calmed me down and built plans around specific topics. Whenever I gave mock, while I could see the improvement, that was very less as compared to the efforts I was putting. Due to this, sometimes, I felt that I was wasting his time as well, but he didn't give up on me. And I am grateful for that.

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