For Divyam, the frustration was palpable. Here was someone who’d consistently scored in the 99th percentile on other standardized tests, a consultant comfortable with complex data analysis, yet stuck at 695 on the GMAT. “My problem was that I had also plateaued at that scale,” he recalls, the memory of those stagnant months still fresh.
The first attempt at breaking through delivered a crushing blow – 645, significantly lower than his practice scores. It seemed impossible: how could months of preparation lead to a score 50 points below his baseline?
Yet just 15 days later, Divyam walked out of the test center with a remarkable 735, including a perfect DI89 – the 100th percentile in Data Insights. The transformation wasn’t about learning new concepts or grinding through thousands more problems. It was about something far more fundamental: discovering what was actually holding him back.
The question that would unlock everything was deceptively simple: what if he’d been solving the wrong problem all along?
✅Discover Your Optimal Path to GMAT Success!
Like Divyam, break through your GMAT plateau with precision insights. Our FREE Personalized Study Plan analyzes your starting point and creates a data-driven roadmap to your target score. Get your customized 10-minute assessment that replaces $500 worth of expert consultation.
The Strong Foundation That Wasn’t Enough
Divyam’s credentials suggested GMAT success should come naturally. With a consulting background and a track record of scoring in the 99th percentile on other standardized exams, he seemed perfectly positioned for a strong performance. His initial mocks confirmed this expectation – he quickly reached 695 in his second or third practice test.
But then came the plateau. Despite consistent effort, the score refused to budge.
“These were a mix of both strategical errors… and conceptual errors,” he explains, describing the frustrating pattern of “some weaker points that would just pop out on an unexpected mock right that I wasn’t prepared for.”
The traditional self-study approach wasn’t revealing the root causes. Friends recommended e-GMAT, and Divyam identified two critical needs: “First was just understanding where I lack right, what’s not working out” – not just in test scenarios but in practice environments where corrective action was possible. Second, he needed “better curation of just products that were available” rather than dealing with inconsistent answer keys and unbalanced topic coverage from various sources.
What he needed wasn’t more practice – it was insight into what was actually going wrong.
The Scholaranium Revelation – Discovering Hidden Weaknesses
The moment of truth came during his first analysis session.
“I remember our first call, you bring up the Scholaranium results and you shock me with saying oh why is this a particularly low score,” Divyam recalls. The data revealed something he’d never suspected: “I didn’t really understand that it was rather the RC section not the CR section that was a pain point for me.”
This discovery exemplified the power of data visibility.
“Just that data visibility and just understanding okay what’s not working out – that identification happened on Scholaranium,” he emphasizes.
The platform exposed specific weaknesses with surgical precision.
Take assumption questions in Critical Reasoning. His hard accuracy sat at 60% – placing him at the 35th percentile despite seeming respectable on the surface. Through targeted practice, this transformed to 100% accuracy in his final preparations. More impressively, his time per question “plummeted down” even as accuracy soared.
The transformation wasn’t magic – it was the result of finally seeing exactly where the problems lay and addressing them systematically rather than hoping general practice would somehow fix unknown issues.
Verbal Refinement – From V70s to V85
The Targeted Practice Revolution
While Divyam had “a basic level of aptitude” in Verbal, achieving V85 required precision refinement. His practice volume was substantial: “I gave more than 10-15 sectionals both condensed and normal.” The variety served specific purposes – condensed sectionals for “lazy days” when energy was lower, full sectionals for complete practice.
“They were I think closest to the actual GMAT,” he notes about the practice tests, emphasizing a crucial insight: “It’s also more important to be in that time bound pressure sort of zone… because it’s just a different ball game.”
The video solutions proved transformative.
“It’s one thing to do a question, get it right or wrong, but it’s another thing to understand what really went wrong and why my answer was wrong,” Divyam explains.
This deeper understanding moved him beyond surface-level practice to genuine skill development.
Custom Quiz Mastery
Divyam’s background gave him natural advantages in some areas but exposed weaknesses in others.
“A business or an economics passage came naturally to me because I have that background, but something in humanities or biosciences was just extremely difficult.”
The solution was surgical precision in practice. He could create custom quizzes “by level by topic” that enabled “very very targeted prep.” This wasn’t about doing more questions – it was about doing the right questions.
The transformation in assumption questions showcased this approach perfectly. Starting at 60% accuracy in hard questions, he methodically worked through targeted sets until achieving 100% accuracy. Simultaneously, his solving time decreased dramatically, proving that true mastery brings both accuracy and efficiency.
Data Insights Transformation – The DI89 Achievement
Breaking Mental Barriers
The irony wasn’t lost on Divyam.
“I had prep given some of these exams earlier, gotten 99 percentiles… given I’ve been in consulting, data is something that we use every day.” Yet DI remained his nemesis. The issue wasn’t capability but predictability: “There’s no one rule book or there’s no one formula that you can extend.”
Mental barriers compounded the technical challenges. “MSR I don’t think I can ever do so can I just skip it,” he’d asked his mentor. The response was firm: “That’s just not how you should approach the exam – give it a fair shot.”
This mindset shift was crucial. Instead of accepting weakness, he learned to challenge his assumptions about what was possible.
The Progressive Climb
The improvement trajectory tells a story of persistent, incremental progress.
“It wasn’t like a one-stop change overnight,” Divyam emphasizes. “I started off at 79-80s, got to 83-84, then somehow got to 86-88 in mocks, and I think on the final day then that culminated into an 89.”
A critical realization accelerated this progress: “Verbal reasoning is a big part of DI that I never cared enough for.” Many prep sources treated this as minor, but Divyam discovered “that’s a chunky meat that I’ve always been getting wrong.”
The key was exposure to variety. “Getting familiar with all the curve balls that this section would throw at you” meant that when test day arrived, nothing felt completely foreign. Each incremental improvement built confidence, creating a positive feedback loop that culminated in that perfect DI89.
The Mock Reality Check – Sigma-X vs Official
Experience had taught Divyam the limitations of standard practice tests. “I’ve done all the official mocks… I’ve given a couple of the GMAT Club ones as well.” The problem was consistency – or rather, the lack of it. “All of these mocks are not consistent,” he explains. Some were too easy, creating false confidence; others created false negatives with inexplicable score drops.
The first Sigma-X mock delivered a reality check:
“I got a 40 point reduction from what I had gotten on the GMAT official.” This shock prompted crucial self-reflection: “What went very wrong… this clearly tells me I’m not” at the level he thought.
But beyond the humbling score, Sigma-X provided something more valuable – granular analytics. “Instead of just figuring out okay what’s the right answer to this question, you also understand okay what time did I need to solve this, what was median time here.”
This revealed surprising insights: “Am I taking too much time? In some cases, I was taking too less time… was also problematic.” The platform provided “a clearer image that resonates with how the actual GMAT works” – preparation that aligned with reality rather than creating false impressions.
✅Track Your Progress Like Divyam: 695 Plateau → 735
Our SigmaX Mocks don’t just test you—they diagnose your weaknesses with ESR-level analytics. See your subsectional abilities and get AI-powered insights on your next improvement areas.
✅ Fully Adaptive with Detailed Analytics
First Attempt Disaster – The 645 Wake-Up Call
Despite months of preparation, Divyam’s first attempt crashed to 645. “I was well prepared even by then,” he insists, and the data supported this assessment. The problem lay elsewhere.
“What didn’t work for me was mostly on just the mental state I was giving the test in and also strategically how I was approaching sections,” he reflects. While he’d mastered concepts and materials, “I hadn’t maybe worked on the test taking strategies.”
The blow was crushing. “Of course it was demotivating… this was lower than what I was expecting and honestly what I was prepared for as well.” But his mentor’s reassurance proved pivotal: “The Scholaranium tells us you are there at that level.”
With this vote of confidence, Divyam made a crucial decision: “The day of the exam itself, in the evening I just booked for the first possible date” – just 16 days away. This wasn’t blind optimism but calculated confidence that the ability was there; only the execution needed adjustment.
The 15-Day Transformation Strategy
The shift began with mental approach.
“Instead of hyperventilating and focusing on okay what if I make that one mistake… I just had a much clearer view that it’s just one question at a time.”
Section management transformed completely. Previously, he’d carry “backlog from the last sections” – if Verbal disappointed, that anxiety would contaminate Quant and DI. This time was different. The evidence was clear: while his first two sections “weren’t the exceptional sections,” the third one was brilliant, proving he’d learned to compartmentalize.
Strategic adjustments made the difference:
- Reviewing during questions rather than saving time for later review
- RC: Taking adequate time on the passage upfront
- Strategic break placement: Taking the break before DI for better rest
- DS verification: Adding 20-30 seconds for double-checking on his weaker question type
“I was just a lot more aware of what’s happening,” Divyam reflects. He was “better prepared in my head how I want to tackle the exam” – not just knowing the content but having a clear execution strategy.
Last Mile Push Program – The Game Changer
The Last Mile Push program began with urgency. Divyam was “forced” to start “in two hours” and spent “the next three four hours” in immediate consultation. This wasn’t leisurely prep but intensive, focused intervention.
Weekly touchpoints provided consistent guidance: “We’d connect every week… every single mock that I’d given.” But this wasn’t just review – it was strategic recalibration. “Your instinctive answer is okay just put in more effort… do more questions,” he explains. The program challenged this assumption, focusing instead on strategic thinking.
Specific discoveries emerged from these sessions: recognizing when he was “rushing through content,” optimizing break timing for mental freshness, identifying which question types needed extra verification time. The analysis went deep: “You’ll give me a list of exhaustive things that I need to come up with.”
Most importantly, the program provided confidence through expertise.
“If someone who’s been in the industry for so long is comfortable and is confident in my abilities… I might as well take another shot.” This wasn’t generic advice but “customized guidance” addressing his specific challenges.
“I think this is just an incredible feature and I think this is one thing that every aspirant is just lacking – reliable guidance,” Divyam emphasizes. The difference between general prep books and personalized strategic guidance proved transformative.
Key Strategic Takeaways
Mental Game:
- One question at a time: Don’t let one difficult question derail your entire section
- Section independence: “Don’t carry backlog from the last sections”
- Remove preconceptions: Stop assuming which sections will be strong or weak
Timing Strategy:
- Review in real-time: Check your work during the question, not in a rushed review at the end
- Strategic breaks: Place your break before your most challenging section
- Verification time: Add 20-30 seconds on weaker question types for double-checking
Data-Driven Decisions:
- Deep analysis: Go beyond just checking answer keys
- Time tracking: Monitor both too-fast and too-slow patterns
- Median comparisons: Understand where you deviate from optimal timing
Section Respect:
- “Every section deserves its own importance and respect”
- Don’t pre-decide section performance: “Remove yourself of these shackles and barriers”
Closing – Wisdom for Plateau Breakers
Divyam’s final insights cut to the heart of GMAT psychology. “I used to mess up more on medium questions than the hard questions,” he admits, revealing how preconceptions sabotage performance. His mental barriers were self-imposed: assuming “Quant is definitely going to be my best score… and DI is supposed to be the lowest.”
The breakthrough came from letting go of these assumptions.
“Once you remove yourself of these shackles and barriers in your own head… just free flowing, trying to ace each section with its own merits, I think that really changes the narrative.”
His strategic wisdom is powerful: “If all three are strong, you’ll still sail” – building strength across all sections rather than hoping one will save you. The unpredictability of test day means you can’t “hack the system” by focusing on just two sections.
The most crucial element? Data-backed decisions. “While every aspirant does work extremely hard, what’s lacking is just data-backed judgments.” Without visibility into actual performance patterns, hard work becomes directionless effort.
His final message resonates with clarity: “There’s no shock at the end of the exam because you’re prepared, you’re aware.” This awareness doesn’t come from doing more questions but from understanding exactly where you stand and what needs improvement.
For anyone stuck at a plateau, Divyam’s journey from 695 to 735 in effectively 15 days of strategic adjustment proves a powerful point: sometimes the barrier isn’t knowledge or ability, but the lack of insight into what’s actually holding you back. Stop guessing at your weaknesses – measure them, address them strategically, and watch your score transform.
Are you planning to pursue MBA at top business schools? Let us help you conquer the first step of the process i.e., taking the GMAT. Take a free mock test to understand your baseline score and start your GMAT prep with our free trial. We are the most reviewed online GMAT Prep company with 2000+ five star reviews on GMATClub.
