Bit of a background of my GMAT attempts-
Attempt 1: Jul 2018- 680 (Q49, V33)
Attempt 2: Jun 2020- 680 (Q49, V32)
Attempt 3: Jul 2020- 740 (Q49, V42)
Yes, I did score the same even after 2 years. More of it in the sections below

For my second (and third) attempt I started my GMAT prep in Feb’20 and I was sold on to go with e-GMAT on the basis of sheer number of positive reviews that it has from non-native English speakers. I referred to only e-GMAT material and Official Guides for my preparation.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that e-GMAT provides a custom generated study plan for you. This became the corner stone of my preparation. In absence of a proper plan, I would end up spending hours without realising if I am going in the right direction. Although this worked for me for almost a month, I slipped on the preparation due to an official commitment which lasted for more than 2 weeks. I had lost my steam and was finding it difficult to focus my energy on GMAT prep.

Right when I needed it the most, in Apr’20 week 1, I was sent an exclusive invite to the e-GMAT Mentorship Program. It was a pilot that e-GMAT was doing with select students, based on its interactions with them on various query forums. It happened to be free for us. Only thing asked of us was honest feedback for the program, and we were offered- 1:1 Consultations with a dedicated mentor, custom milestone-driven study schedule, weekly feedbacks and course correction, strategy sessions, and admission consultation. Although I have not experienced admission consulting part fully, I can surely say that this program is all one needs to prepare for GMAT. This program hits the sweet spot between online preparation and 1:1 teaching, and delivers way beyond what one would expect.

I will cover my experience with e-GMAT Mentorship Program as a lot of reviews have already covered the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of e-GMAT curriculum, and I completely agree with them. Some details on the various offerings of the Mentorship Program -
1. 1:1 Consultations with a dedicated mentor- The program starts with a kick-off discussion with assigned mentor to understand the student's background, needs and aspirations. E-GMAT or Official Mock Test are recommended to understand areas requiring focus.
For me, Dhananjay (DJ) was my mentor, and I would say that I was lucky to have him as my mentor. He could really understand my issues well and guide me each and every time.

2. Weekly Study Plans- While an algorithm-generated study plan is a basic feature of e-GMAT, the Weekly Study Plans are actually made by an experienced mentor to suit your requirements. These have details of what you need to do on each day of the week. The plan would include minutest of details such as doing specific sections of the e-GMAT curriculum, taking mocks, debriefing mocks or even reading articles from specific sources.

3. Weekly feedback and course correction: Mentor takes weekly calls with the student to understand the progress made during the week, personally guide on any issues that the student faced during the week, identify any red flags in the preparation, and plan the further course of action.
While it may seem as a very basic exercise from what I have explained, believe me, the mentor goes extra mile to make sure that you are on track and motivated all along the journey. In my case, DJ reviewed my progress, at times more than once a week, and provide very detailed feedback that I would have never been able to make out on my own. He reviewed my performance on mocks, conducted detailed debriefs to understand the exact problem areas, and even guided me in understanding newspaper articles to strengthen my RC ability.

4. Strategy Sessions- As a part of the e-GMAT Mentorship Program, you are part of a 10-15 student cohort under a dedicated mentor. Topics like time management, success stories of ex-students, stress management, online GMAT features, etc. are covered by the mentor in the Strategy Sessions. These sessions are undertaken at a frequency of 1-2 per month.

5. Admissions Consultation- I had limited experience on this front as I chose to get done with my GMAT prep first. Basically, e-GMAT connects you to a pool of select consultants to kick-start your discussions on applications.

Coming to my performance on D-day(s) -

A week before my GMAT exam in June, I was consistently scoring 720-740 on all mocks- OG, e-GMAT and GC. However, I got a shocker when I scored 680 after 4 months of preparation and after getting all the personal guidance. I was in a kind of an emotional shock and lost hope on taking GMAT again.

It was this moment when I realised how much a mentor can help you get back and prepare to face the exam again. DJ was instrumental in pushing me to retake the GMAT within 15 days and in guiding me even more aggressively, almost on a daily basis. He analysed my ESR and identified clear areas of concern and how to address each one of them. The kind of feedback I got within 6 hours of receiving my ESR was phenomenal. We identified that I had spent disproportionate amount of time on first 15 questions in Verbal and that I needed to strengthen my CR ability. I guess, I would have been lost if I were left on my own after scoring a 680.

In my next attempt in July’20, I was more confident and had a clear strategy defined on how to approach the test. I could clearly see the difference this mentorship program made and helped me achieve 740 on GMAT.

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