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After scoring a 700 on the GMAT for the second time, I was at a loss for words, effort, and time. I knew that R1/R2 applications and deadlines would be fast approaching and that in order to be competitive at top 10-15 schools in the world I would need a 700+ GMAT score.
Having already used every single GMAT resource out there (and I truly mean every single one, Magoosh, TTP, a private course, gmatclub mocks, OG guides/books) I was really running out of options. At that point I started seeing youtube videos of success stories for eGMAT and people achieving 30-50 point increases in the span of a few weeks with a guided plan. A guided plan is what attracted me in the first place. Clearly at this point with a 700 I had all the requisite skills but was lacking some fine-tuning and having troubles figuring out exactly what and where I was going wrong.
I reached out to Egmat support on June 26th with this email:
Hi,
I just wrote the GMAT and got a 700 (Q47, V38) same score as the first time.
I’m struggling to break this barrier.
Is there someone who can provide targeted support, I really want to break the 700 barrier!
Hoping to rewrite the exam again in 2 weeks.
Thank you!
Right away the next day a strategy consultant reached out to me and assured me that getting a higher score is possible. After that I was paired with an instructor (DJ). DJ and I had a 15 min zoom call where in which we went over my ESR. From the get-go it was noticeable that DJ knew what he was doing, he quickly analyzed my ESR and told me that quant and specifically number properties and geometry is where I needed to improve. Within a day he came back to me with a targeted plan. Best thing about DJ was that he was more confident in my abilities than I was. He assured me that I am capable of a higher score and that the current score (700) is not a true reflection of my abilities.
After our meeting he sent me a personalized study plan spanning over 20 days. The study plan was great as it had specific instructions of what I needed to do to improve my Quant score and my weak areas in Verbal.
Egmat is a very well built program and platform. The way the course is structured really suited me. They have a 3 step process to everything 1) Learn the basic concept 2) Master the process skills for questions related to that 3) Master GMAT like questions and difficulty. I did 80% of the quant course completely, and all of the sentence correction module. Essentially I did more of the course then was even recommended by DJ as I really liked how the course was structured and felt as if I was learning something new everyday. Their platform scholaranium is one of the best that I've used, it's very easy to do a certain amount of questions and quickly get a detailed solution to those questions, along with analytics to pin-point your weak areas. Their mocks called "Sigma-X" were also very representative of the actual GMAT, in-fact they were harder than the real thing. I felt the "medium" questions on scholaranium are equivalent to the "hard" questions on the actual GMAT. In my 3 weeks of preparation I did no OG questions and still never felt that I was "under-prepared".
In summary, if you're looking for a program where you'll have ample support, while also having the ability to use a platform that prepares you for the GMAT adequately this is a great program. I wouldn't say it's better or worse then competitors as I feel all programs have their strengths. However, the one-on-one support and personalized study plan really stood out for me and hence it suited me.
Overall after using the platform for 3 weeks and following the study plan, I was able to score a 730 (Q49/V40/AWA 6/IR 8).
Where do I start... Hmm... Let me start with a little background. I am from an Engineering background who has been dealing with math all his school, college life. I also had good English teacher in school which helped me get good grades in 10th and 12th grade. Most of you might have guessed where I am getting to by now. Yeah... I thought I could just brush up my concept and be ready to crack the GMAT. I gave a mock to establish a baseline. Got a 620 (Q46, V29). I studied for 2 months on Verbal and Quant concepts for GMAT and gave a mock again. Got a 650 (Q46, V34). Looking at the score, I was too disappointed. Didn't know how to proceed.
One fine day, I came across the e-GMAT website. Signed up for free consult with Dhruv. He showed me the results of one the students. I was particularly impressed by the analysis and the numbers that they had. I absolutely didn't think that verbal could also be approached through numbers. He then asked me to give a mock and did some analysis. Found out my weak topics and guided me on how to approach them. I right away brought the course and made a personalized plan. Gave myself a target date and started working on it. One thing that stands out is the approach taken while teaching the concepts. Like it is said, a strong foundation leads to a strong building, e-GMAT brought this to life. Each of its concept is based on building the concepts ground up - be it RC or be it Geometry. It doesn't focus on any tips and tricks that one needs to memorize. If one is clear with the basic concepts, handling of 700-level questions becomes much easier.
What I liked most about the course:
> Quant: It starts right from the basics (for ex: it even explains what a triangle is). Every module follows a step by step approach. I found this method especially effective as I used to skim through the question and miss the important details. The question bank is slightly difficult than what you would find on an actual GMAT but it makes sure we are well prepared for anything that the GMAT throws at us.
> Verbal: Here again, it starts from the basics (for ex: Starting from sentence structure for SC). Going through this help get the attention to detail. This comes in handy in verbal since presence or absence of one word can completely change the meaning of the sentence. The meaning based approach in SC, Breaking down the argument and pre-thinking in CR, and individual paragraph summaries in RC were the standout concepts/approaches for me.
I'll elaborate a little more on the analysis, data points that are available for our disposal here. On the scholaranium 2.0, we are able to check topic level accuracy, time taken per question classified at the difficulty level and recency of the attempts. This helps to understand weaker topics, subtopics which need refinement - by going back to the concept/application file and giving custom quizzes just on these topics. Once you get good enough score in these custom quizzes, the confidence level gets back up which is instrumental in an exam such as the GMAT. This is also true to the Sigma - X mocks that e-GMAT offers. I have not seen a block level analysis on any other mock test (which is very close to the ESR that GMAT provides except that Sigma - X mocks have much more depth to the numbers). The analysis tell us the topics that we spent more than average time on and how to improve that. This played a very important role in understanding what went wrong in the mock and how to improve in the next one.
Coming to the support from the e-GMAT team, it is simply outstanding. I will go so far to say that it would have been impossible for me to get 700+ had there not been a support from the e-GMAT team, especially Dhananjay (DJ). He played a role of a mentor in the preparation as well as a motivator. I felt particularly down after scoring low on one of the mocks and was partly demotivated. DJ believed in me and motivated me to do better. He drafted a plan for me, made a video explaining the next steps and was available anytime I needed some support. There was some issue with my passport, which meant I had to delay giving the GMAT, during which time my course access expired. DJ went out of his way to get that extended and help me revise for the exam with a 8-day plan before the exam. I am currently working with DJ for my second attempt to improve the score further(I will edit this review with my second attempt score). This is all possible with the support and mentor-ship from DJ.
In conclusion, I feel that e-GMAT provides a holistic approach to the GMAT exam and would recommend it to anyone planning to give the GMAT.
After more than a year of self-study, I took the GMAT for the first time and got 650, with a verbal score of 28. Utterly disappointed with my performance, I was about to give up on my MBA dreams. As I made up my mind to put an end to my GMAT preparation, a friend of mine suggested that I give e-GMAT a try. I was well aware of the e-GMAT platform as I had attended several webinars of e-GMAT. Though initially I was apprehensive about signing up for the course, today I feel that it was the best decision I took at that time.
The verbal course of e-GMAT is beautifully crafted. The "meaning based approach" to solve SC problems was really a game changer for me. Prior to joining e-GMAT, I used to solve SC problems by eliminating the answer choices mechanically, without caring about the intended meaning of the sentence. This technique failed miserably as most of the medium to hard level SC questions play on the meaning aspect. The e-GMAT "meaning based approach" worked really well for me and I was able to see a huge improvement in my SC ability. Though this approach used to take some time initially, with regular practice it became a second nature to me and I was able to solve most of the SC questions within a minute and a half.
In CR, e-GMAT's "pre-thinking" approach made life easier for me. As I followed this approach, my ability in CR improved form 44th percentile to 80th percentile. The detailed explanation in each of the CR questions helped me to master the pre-thinking skill.
RC was a pain point for me. I used to take a significant amount of time to read and understand a passage and still used to make mistakes. e-GMAT's key reading strategies helped me to read and comprehend a passage effectively. The e-GMAT's RC course content instilled the habit of reading a passage in an involved and evolved manner.
Though e-GMAT is more popularly known for its verbal course, I found that the e-GMAT quant course is as good as the verbal. The Quant 2.0 in my opinion is the best quant course available for GMAT today. In my quant preparation, I used to waste a good amount of time learning and relearning concepts I was already good at. The granular analytics in Quant 2.0 precisely predicted the concepts I was weak at, enabling me to spend most of my preparation time in only those areas. The Process Skills I had mastered through this quant course helped me a lot during the test.
Scholaranium 2.0 is a major part of the e-GMAT course. Scholaranium is not only a question bank of hundreds of high-quality questions, but also a great place to get granular analysis on one's ability and performance in different sections. From Scholaranium, I was able to get precise information about what are my weak areas, on which topic I should work on, and in what type of questions I am taking longer than the ideal time. This level of detailed analysis helped me to work on my weak areas in both verbal and quant. The course also provides an OG Scholaranium, in which one can practice Official Guide questions. I found this really beneficial, as detailed analysis is provided for each OG question. The 5 Mocks (Sigma-X mocks) I got with this course were fairly representative of my actual GMAT score.
e-GMAT is not only about its course contents and scholaranium. The e-GMAT support team, especially Nava and Dhananjay (DJ), helped me throughout my preparation by creating personalized study plans. I was fortunate enough to get DJ as my mentor in the LMP program, with whom I worked for the last couple of weeks of my preparation. The hyperspecif study plans and personalized strategy videos he made for me were immensely helpful.
Above all, during my entire journey with e-GMAT, I felt that I was a part of a large family. The team reached out to me whenever I needed any help with my preparation. Such support is much needed during GMAT preparation, which can be really lonely and frustrating at times.
When I started off with my GMAT preparation, I was under the impression that I would not need a structured program to get 700+. Afterall, how difficult could high school math and elementary verbal reasoning be? Right? WRONG!
GMAT, across both quant and verbal sections is a test of one's logical thinking prowess and mental stamina. A structured preparation is a must and I realized this the hard way in my initial endeavor.
It was then that I reached out to eGMAT and was told about the LMP (last mile push) program which is aimed at providing the right course content along with highly personalized 1-to-1 coaching. I was glad to get assigned DJ (Dhananjay) my mentor who promptly put me on a study plan comprised of the right combination of video lessons and practice on Scholaranium.
Since I had already got a head start in my preparation before subscribing to eGMAT, DJ advised me to go through specific lessons in Verbal while focusing on practicing questions under time pressure. However, I was so enamored by eGMAT's brilliantly crafted verbal section that I ended up completing the entire course - every single video lesson and practice question.
eGMAT's structured approach to cracking CR is extremely helpful in hitting a high accuracy in difficult 700+ level questions. And their SC methodologies are almost guaranteed to enable 90%+ accuracy on even the most convoluted and tricky questions. One just needs to trust in the process and remain patient while the course builds up the ability to take on even the most difficult questions head on.
Since I was focusing mainly on improving my verbal performance, I did not go through the entire quant course. However, the sections that I did go through were very comprehensive while retaining the trademark eGMAT structured approach. Their frameworks are gold standard across topics - the meaning based approach in SC and the pre-thinking mandate in CR being a couple of top-of-mind examples.
Scholaranium 2.0 is a massive upgrade and an extremely useful tool and throws trenchant insights into one's strengths and weaknesses. In terms of making one cognizant about areas of improvement, it is just about as subtle as a sledgehammer! With the level of granularity of inputs it provides on sectional ability and the pointers for improvement it assists with, it is the best "digital coach" that I have come across to build test readiness.
And talking about coaches, I cannot thank DJ enough for all the support and multitudinous insightful recommendations he shared with me throughout my preparation. He was very prompt in responding to my queries and gave sharp weekly action plans for me to execute. With a fortnight to go for my test, he helped me with a hyper-specific, completely personalized plan basis the insights that Scholaranium 2.0 had thrown. This helped me focus on areas of improvement at a time sticking to a sagaciously chosen study schedule mattered the most.
In my first attempt, I got 720 (Q48, V41). I could have done better in quant and will go for a retest. In verbal, I was consistently in the 35-38 zone in prior mocks and the 40+ score in the actual test was thanks to the rigor I was exposed to in the well rounded eGMAT course and ofcourse to DJ's inputs.
All in all, try as I may but I find it hard to critique eGMAT's offerings. It is a rock solid, profoundly well-thought through, robustly crafted, comprehensive course for GMAT preparation and test readiness. In my opinion, easily the best course out there. I would highly recommend it.
After my third attempt in Jan 2021, my confidence was at its lowest and a 700+ score only seemed like a distant dream. This was until I met Dhananjay (DJ) who completely changed my outlook towards the exam.
In our first call, he broke everything down for me from my ESR analysis and identified my gaps - RC was a weak area, there were some process gaps in SC and issues in quant which were collectively affecting my score. In addition to this, he also pointed out how my habit of not letting go of questions was keeping me away from achieving my target score.
Since I had gone through the egmat course for verbal earlier, he did not ask me to go through everything again but rather made small achievable goals for me.
I started with quant, as egmat launched its quant 2.0 course right around the time I started my prep. This was a total game changer. The course is extremely exhaustive and teaches you all the concepts you need to know along with the RIGHT PROCESS you should follow, which is key and something I didn't pay attention to earlier. I immediately began looking at my mistakes in quant in a different way - I could identify what step I made the mistake at - translation, inference, constraint, visualisation, simplification etc.
After finishing each block in quant, I would update DJ and share my error log with him and he would send me an analysis and detailed next steps.
For verbal, egmat taught me way more than just concepts:
- importance of meaning in SC
- visualization and prethinking in CR
- reading slowly by applying learnings from master comprehension in RC and making para summaries
One difference in my prep this time around was the emphasis on error logs - both for quant and for verbal. I learnt that it's okay to make mistakes, but not to make the same mistake twice. In all my previous attempts, I was crazily chasing accuracy and was doing questions after questions. It didn't take me anywhere and I was stuck at 680-690.
Making a concrete error log and focusing on my mistakes is what took me to 710! Another helpful strategy was to really learn the art of letting go of questions, which is where DJ helped.
Key takeaways:
- Follow the egmat plan exactly as prescribed
- If you don't understand a concept, don't rush through and move to the next one. Understand it completely before moving forward.
- Make error logs! They are supremely helpful
- Solving 100s of questions wont help, doing them right would
- Learn to let go of questions if you too are someone who struggles with timing
Lastly, I want to take this opportunity to highlight that this won't have been possible without DJ - the first call he had with me to analyse my ESR and share an action plan and the countless videos and emails he shared with me analysing all my mistakes, timing, scholaranium stats!
Joined: Apr 20, 2021
Posts: 0
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Verified GMAT Classic score:
700 Q50 V34 (Online)
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On scoring 620 (Q48 V27) in December 2020, I was a tad bit taken aback. Having been a bright student throughout school and university, I couldn't settle with such a low score. Soon, I came across the ESR Analysis service provided by e-GMAT and signed up for it. They scheduled a video call with an expert who helped me analyse my ESR thoroughly and meanwhile, I registered for the e-GMAT free course post which I decided to enrol for the full course.
The e-GMAT prep program stands out in terms of -
1. Meaning based approach for solving Sentence Correction problems - The emphasis is not just on correcting grammar but also on making sure that the chosen answer choice conveys the intended meaning per the original sentence.
2. Visualisation and Pre-thinking for answering Critical Reasoning Questions - Dissecting the argument in terms of background information, premise, and conclusion helps understand given information better.
3. Process Skills for solving Quant questions - I feel just applying formulae consumes a lot of time while attempting hard Quant problems. So, application and process skills need to be sharpened to reach your optimal potential.
4. Analytics provided by Scholaranium - The tool keeps a track of accuracy and average time you spend on questions (question-type wise, subsection wise and section wise). Each question is supplemented with detailed explanation which helps you solidify your concepts as you get to check your thought process behind rejecting options and choosing the correct one.
5. Mocks and LMT Program - Sigma-X Mocks provide great insights into your performance and as and when you attempt a mock, your mentor helps you analyse it further and provides the course of action ahead.
On scoring scoring 700 (Q50 V34], I had a chat with DJ to discuss the specifics of the exam I had appeared for and to chart the plan ahead. He believed in my abilities and was of the opinion that I could have done much better. So, he advised me to take another shot at the GMAT in 16 days. This time he took up one micro issue at a time and provided a plan to sort it out. For example, I was facing a problem with Humanities RC Passages so he suggested me to read about 2-3 articles from any reputed newspaper daily for about 2 weeks and this really improved my Takt Time and accuracy. Further, this time the plan wasn't as hectic as the last one and it just involved 3 mocks with strategic review and revision of notes. It felt as if I was doing too less but DJ had the optimal plan to pull up my score and he was confident about it. As per the charted plan, I booked a date for the exam and ended up scoring the coveted 740 (Q50 V 40).
I would like to thank DJ from e-GMAT for consistent support and guidance all through the process. He helped me analyse my sectional tests and mocks. He also provided video feedback for the first two mocks, explaining the areas that need improvement and created a hyper-specific plan. I couldn't have asked for a better mentor.
e-GMAT is a one stop platform for your GMAT prep needs. You are covered in terms of concepts, application skills, and even periodic motivation; you just need to be disciplined and follow the plan.
Useful Tips:
1. Start your GMAT preparation with a target score and make a precise plan and stick to it.
2. Take notes of the points you'd like to revisit and add the questions you get wrong or spend extra time on to error logs (E-gmat provides templates), I cannot emphasise this enough. It played a huge role in preparation.
3. Do not rush to solve questions as the question bank has only a limited number of questions. Focus on understanding and internalising the concepts first.
4. Learn the art of letting go questions. I learnt this the hard way. Spending say more than 4 minutes on a quant question is not wise until you have those extra minutes in hand as you'll end up skipping the questions you might know to finish the test in time.
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Someone once said in a video with Rajat, “GMAT is the first exam you study for yourself”. It resonated with me, because you are right this was in deed was the first time I have wanted something for myself; not for mom, not for dad, not for anyone else but me.
Helping me in this journey, as my coach and mentor has been e-gmat and especially DJ. I continue to be baffled at the quantity and quality of help. The mentorship, analytics and a treasure trove of top quality practice questions that helped me along the way has been huge. I know just how grateful I am for their help, because e-gmat was not the first course I turned to for help. I enrolled in 3 other "prestigious" institutions, but, felt very alone and very lost in my prep. And, thanks to DJ, I got my sense of direction, a unique strategy tailor made for me, and a personalized coach invested in my success. With all the guidance & motivation I received over the course of several months, I scored 710 (Q50, V36) in my first official attempt. With that, I personally felt like I let DJ down. That’s how involved he has been throughout this journey for me! And now, as I prepare for my 2nd attempt, all that is in my mind is to make him proud. Can you believe it? Imagine if Virat Kohli or Sachin Tendulkar came to coach you for cricket.. that's how I feel about DJ. He helped me with a plan when to schedule my re-take exam, and made a complete plan for me. I never felt like I was alone on groping in the dark or alone at any point during this journey.
Have you used Nike Run Club app? If you have a marathon in say, 2 months, it will tailor make a training schedule for you on when to do the runs and when to rest. Just like that, DJ gave me a personalized training path, keeping in mind the D-date, and when to re-take the test. It helped tremendously, because you don’t get too many shots at this. Unlike a marathon which you can participate year after year, you only get 7 shots at this life changing exam. With DJ as my coach, I literally feel I have everything I need to go after my target score. I never once felt like I was shooting in the dark. I just hope that I don’t let him down in my next attempt. Right after my 1st attempt, I came back home completely blanked out. I sent him an email. And within a couple of hours, I had a promise from him that he will help me plan my next few days before my 2nd attempt. And as soon as he saw my ESR, within a couple of hours, I had an email from him detailing exactly where I went wrong and how we will try to correct the areas where I lack.
Coupled with DJ, e-gmat also offers an amazing analytics dashboard called Scholaranium 2.0. Believe me, you won’t find a better valuable trove of information anywhere else (not any of the other "prestigious" prep schools!) It’s like your personal JARVIS telling you how well you have fared in each test, with a perfect tool to drill down topic wise and find out your weak zones, and improve them. It tells you everything - how long you took for each question, and it puts that stat in comparison with the mean time to solve that question. Deriving meaningful insight from this, it helped me figure out exactly where I was going wrong and focus on how I needed to improve - this is so valuable to have. It helped me improve my accuracy, and focus on concepts I needed to master. I bought into e-gmat's philosophy when it comes to solving SC questions based on meaning based approach and no shortcuts. e-gmat's SC course is truly phenomenal. Their strategy for RC's, "pauses", was a game changer for me - it helped me comprehend passages faster than I used to and become more efficient. Without their quant material, I wouldn't have been confident to score Q50. With its incredibly detailed stats, I was able to plan and prioritize my preparation really well. Also, the fact that you take a concept assessment quiz right after learning a concept ensures that you have grasped everything there is to be learnt from the concept. I doubt there are many GMAT prep companies out there that have this methodology of teaching.
Many of the questions even have video answers (thanks!), which is really great. You get to listen to the thought process of the teacher, and how the right answer was arrived at. And I must mention, Rajat's other motivational videos are impressive. You get to hear all about your fellow student's experiences and triumphs. You never feel alone in this journey with e-gmat. The sheer quality of explanations and the level of data insights you get from the new platform is breathtaking. It’s all available to you as you aim for your top score.
My only wish list for e-gmat is for them to have more mocks. At 5, I am left wanting more (so that I wouldn’t have to spend extra money trying to buy more for 2nd attempt). Other than that, I feel it’s a package that can help with your success, just as it has for me so far. Personally, I feel that e-gmat is charging much less than the value it is providing to people who want to work with its team. Looking back, I don’t mind paying more than I did. They are worth each penny (and more) that they are charging.
Invest in them, they will invest in you. Good luck for your GMAT journey. Mine isn’t done just yet.
I was lucky enough to be recommended e-gmat right when I was starting my GMAT preparation by a friend who had scored a 730 through them. So, I did not waste any time or energy exploring any other service providers and went ahead with the e-gmat complete test preparation package, and I don’t regret this decision.
I love the way the modules are structured on the portal. Both the Verbal & the Quant sections have sufficient chapters / sub-sections built in to ensure that a student is thoroughly taught about the necessary concepts. After each section follows a practice test which further solidifies one's understanding of the concept. All these modules are visually very attractive and interactive as well - use of charts, arrows and colors really do help to clearly understand the topics being discussed, highlight errors that sample questions have, and bring it all together with suggested corrective processes.
The main highlight of the e-gmat subscription is their Scholaranium, which contains sections for both Verbal & Quant questions built by the e-gmat team, as well as a repository of Official GMAT questions available for practice. The Scholaranium gives you valuable insights about your performance - on average time taken to solve questions, sectional accuracy, topic-wise accuracy, performance graphs over a shorter period of time, etc. When you properly analyze these insights in tandem with your performance in these practice tests or performance in the sectional modules, you are able to draw very clear inferences about your weaknesses and areas requiring improvement.
SigmaX Mock tests are available on the portal, which further help the student acclimatize to the official test environment. The questions you solve in these mock tests are very closely representative of the type of questions that are thrown at you in the official GMAT test. Just like the scholaranium, the SigmaX module also provides you with sufficient insights about your performance in these tests and areas one needs to revisit or improve in.
Lastly, I would like to talk about my experience interacting with the e-gmat team. If you have any doubts arising across the length of your preparation, the e-gmat team has provided multiple points of contact across the module to reach out to them, and the response is very prompt – generally within a day. Moreover, when I reached out to the e-gmat team requesting an analysis of my official test performance, they were happy to deep-dive into the ESR, chalk out areas that I need to focus on and also build a customized study plan with targets. I worked very closely with Dhananjay from e-gmat who was very kind to make a video analysis about my 690 score on the official test. Dhananjay was the first individual who made me realize that I had a problem of “letting go” during the official test. He also laid out topics I need to revisit from the preparation modules, suggested weekly targets and also helped design the practice tests that I need to be taking, to further improve my test taking performance.
The net result is that I scored a 710 and I could not be more grateful to the entire team of e-gmat for helping me navigate through every step of the way for a 700+ score.
I hope my review helps prospective candidates in their decision-making process for GMAT Preparation. I also wish team e-gmat the very best for the road ahead!
I signed up to eGMAT in February at a point when I was feeling quite lost in terms of where to take my eGMAT preparation next. Close to a year after starting my GMAT prep my score had been stalled at 670 for several months and despite trying another online course, reading countless posts on the GMAT club forum and even a 1-1 tuition session I couldnt figure out how to make my mark budge. In particular my quant score was stuck at a very low percentile.
Coincidentally I came across the eGMAT youtube channel and after watching a few of their free webinars I was convinced this could be the missing ingredient in my preparation. After finally breaking the 700 barrier this past weekend I can confirm that that intuition was absolutely correct.
I'd like to highlight and elaborate on three key areas which were of mostly value to me in the course:
- A methodical and systematic approach to preparing for GMAT problems
- Tailored study plans further enhanced by adaptive modules that match the content to your level of skill
- Timely and personalised support from the wonderful stragey team - shout out to DJ!
Begining with the eGMAT methodology this is what really stuck out to me when I initially came across their webinars. The curriculum is thoroughly structured and well thought out, building from learning of basic concepts though to cementing of those concepts and finally test readiness. This process really forces students to learn topics in detail and really to leave no stone unturned which is essential for answering higher diffculty questions. In particular I loved the use of the process skills concept which breaks down GMAT questions into the requisite key sklls which apply across topics - this really was a game changer for me in understanding where I was going wrong on questions and allowed me to adress those specific issues, be it translating the question or drawing inferences. All in all the curriculum really changed my mindset when it came to preparing for the GMAT and made all the difference.
Secondly the curriculum was very tailored, prompting the student to input various data points prior to starting the course and also each module - this in the form of mini quizes to assess proficinecy. I loved thie way this allowed me to be efficient with my time and focus in on weaker areas. This was further supplemented by the amount of data points available from the Scholiranium platform which is eGMAT's in built question bank. Upon completion of tests I could see anything from average time to answer incorrect questions to a breakdown of accuracy by question type and module. This data made all the difference in preparation as I was able to really understand where I needed to focus my time.
Finally and most importantly was the support of DJ and the strategy team who were just an email away through the whole expereince. At multiple points in my preparation I was able to raise any doubts or concerns and was always met with friendly, personalised and insightful suggestions. Mot helpful were the personalised videos I would be sent providing analysis on my performance on quizes and instructing me on how to use the vast amount of data the eGMAT platform provides to enhance my performance.
All in all eGMAT was the game changer for me in my preparation and I could not recommend them more. My only regret is I ddin't find them sooner!
In February of 2021 I had given my first attempt of GMAT whilst preparing for the exam myself and on the D-day after the I completed the fourth section of the exam the computer displayed a message:
“You’ve have scored 660 (Q48 V32), do you accept the score?”
Even before going to the exam, I had decided that anything less than 700 and I will cancel my score, no second thoughts required. After returning home, I was thinking how to go ahead for the second attempt. Now that scored a 720, I would like to give my review of the E-GMAT.
Why I chose E-GMAT?
During the preparation for my 1st attempt, I had attended Webinars from a couple of test-prep companies, amongst which, E-GMAT webinar hosted by Rajat S. showcased their approach towards solving the verbal problems using pre-thinking, meaning based approach, etc. This approach was what I was looking for if I had to confidently improve on the existing scores especially in Verbal. In the webinar he demoed a few questions and applied the above processes, thus instilling confidence in them.
So, I reached out to them over email and shared with them my ESR for the 1st attempt to know how deep in the water I was. Based on it, Dhananjay - the mentor – and I reached on the plan of action to follow for the next 8 weeks.
My Journey with E-GMAT in three parts 1. Course 2. Mentorship 3. Testing platform
1. Course
Verbal course is one of the best out there, if not the best. In the learning phase it doesn’t put pressure on for the timing. Its priority is set i.e., accuracy first, speed second. And slowly and steadily my timings improved naturally as part of applying the process so many times.
Master Comprehension is an under-rated part of the course, it is first module that you go through, but in my Opinion is the most crucial one for it builds the base onto which other concepts would eventually function.
Meaning based approach (SC) and Pre-thinking method (CR) are no B.S. methods in that they don’t let you waste time on answer choice which are grammatically and logically correct but are not in line with the question (helps you in hard questions).
Though I did not spend enough time on RC (since improvement wasn’t required in this section), I had completed the core concepts of Reading strategies and these are perfect for any one who is struggling with the long complex passages.
Quant course has recently been revamped based on many user reviews and bringing it to the same high level of Verbal Course. The course itself is skill adaptive, once you take the diagnostic test for each module, you are given next course of action based on your accuracy, thus saving you valuable time so that you can focus on the areas which need your attention.
One of the greatest strengths of E-GMAT, in my opinion, is their forums, build over last 10 years; any questions you have would most likely have already been asked and answered, in rare cases where they aren’t, you post it there and get the answer usually within 24 hours. Whilst making the post you are asked to put forth your analysis so that they can understand if there is any flaw in your thinking.
2. Mentorship
During the course, the mentor assigned to me was Dhananjay Lowe. Since the very first call, Dhananjay knew what plan would be most effective and doing so what would be the next steps. As an example, I was worried what my timings would be in the exam as I was taking a long time in the process application initially, but he reassured me that I don’t need to worry about it, but still, that didn’t stop me from doing so. In hindsight though, his advice was correct as I had improved my timings in Test Readiness stage (more on that below).
After each of my exam or steps of the process I used to get back to him over email/ Zoom and discuss the way forward. These steps were based on various datapoints and analytics of the tests you give and are then zeroed in on. You can ask even a silly question (I don’t recommend you do that often ) and get a reply.
In the last 10 days before exam, I got a high specialised plan day wise on what I needed to do and also got insights on those steps as well.
3. Testing Platform
E-GMAT uses two platforms Scholaranium and Sigma-X, both serve their individual purposes in your preparation.
Scholaranium is the platform where you go to do your test readiness, cementing and ability quizzes done and get insights on your performance and take corrective action. Cementing really nails the head when it comes to the learning concepts outlined in the courses. Every question has the forum discussion below it, so you can go through it once you are done reviewing your responses. The way the learning is split in to ability, cementing and test readiness allowed me to master the concepts in a structured manner.
Sigma-X is E-GMAT’s mock testing platform, which is very close to the actual GMAT in my opinion and much closer than other platforms that I have used (I’ve used Expert Global and TIME CAT). It uses block-wise difficulty to adapt to the test takers’ ability. It will give you all the analytics and datapoints for each test. You can choose the section format and exam format (test centre vs Online) prior to the start of the exam. (My last three scores were 730, 690, 750).
The explanations of the answer choices are well elaborated along with the video explanations, in every explanation you get a proper reason that make a choice incorrect.
Overall, combined with the insights given by the Mentor and the data form the various test you would give while preparing is what enabled me to improve the score from 660 to 720.
Where can E-GMAT improve on:
1. May be increase the number of Sigma-X Mocks available (as of this review it is 5)
2. Have module for the AWA in the course.
3. The User Interface of the Sigma-X, if it is like the actual GMAT, then it would be better as you would get accustomed to the UX from the get go. Though, the current UX doesn’t hinder your test taking ability.