Acing the GMAT in the first attempt is a dream come true, but it cannot be achieved without the right kind of resources. Nithya, who scored a 760 on the GMAT, spent a reasonable amount of time before she decided to buy the e-GMAT course. She took quite a few free webinars of e-GMAT on various topics in Quant and verbal and attended free sessions offered by 2-3 other platforms to compare their learning approach. What tipped the scale in e-GMAT’s favor?
“I found that while the other options that I explored were more focussed on providing shortcuts and so-called smart tricks to ace the GMAT, E-GMAT focussed on mastering concepts and process, an approach that appealed to me.”
– Nithya Debbadi, in her review of e-GMAT’s courses
This article talks about how Nithya could score a Q51 and a V40 in her first attempt.
You can also watch the video debrief below:
- 00:00 GMAT 760 in First Attempt
- 01:19 Key to Acing the GMAT in the first attempt
- 03:54 Do Tips and tricks work to crack the GMAT?
- 05:17 From 590 in Mock test to 760 on the GMAT
- 06:11 How to ace GMAT Quant?
- 07:10 Accuracy vs. Ability – What is more important?
- 08:17 Building Concepts + Process to achieve GMAT 760
- 09:00 e-GMAT course Structure
- 09:50 How Cementing the concepts helped Nithya?
- 11:27 How Scholaranium helped to prepare for GMAT?
- 13:54 GMAT Sentence correction Strategies
- 15:00 GMAT Reading Comprehension Strategies
- 16:36 GMAT Critical Reasoning Strategies
- 17:50 Mentoring by DJ
- 22:56 Feedback on mock tests through comprehensive Video analysis
- 24:33 Plans after scoring a GMAT 760
Key to Acing the GMAT in First Attempt
Nithya: The first thing that you need to understand is what GMAT tests you on. For Instance, a lot of people think that they are well versed in English, and it would be easy to crack the verbal section. However, the kind of requirement that GMAT has is different. It is not just about focusing on grammatical rules but understanding the meaning.
Also, having a structured plan helps a lot. I have seen many prep companies suggesting shortcuts that won’t work while taking the GMAT Exam. For example, I attended a webinar of a GMAT prep company that said for the Reading Comprehension section, you need to read the first and last paragraph to answer the question. I would not have achieved a 760 if I had followed this approach.
So, my advice is to follow a structured approach and learn how to tackle individual questions.
Here is a step-by-step process that you can follow to achieve your targeted score on the first attempt:
- Access your Ability – Know where you stand, what are your weaknesses
- Have a structured study plan
- Have a right studying ideology – Focus on learning concepts and not fall for shortcuts
- Analyze your performance by taking mock tests and feedback points
GMAT Journey – From 590 to 760 in 3 Months
Nithya scored a 590 on her first mock test, after which it took her three months to complete e-GMAT’s online prep course. Below are the strategies she used to crack the Quant and verbal section.
Nithya: I started my GMAT Prep with the Verbal section. It was interesting to see how all e-GMAT’s concept file begins with a pre and post-assessment to know where you stand. Once you are done with your concepts, there is Scholaranium that you can use to make custom quizzes and analyze your weaknesses through the data provided.
How to ace GMAT Verbal Section?
Here is how the e-GMAT verbal course stands out as compared to others, according to Nithya. You can read her GMATClub review debrief here.
Nithya: The Verbal course is excellent. It starts with Master Comprehension, which makes life easier to understand (solving) all the verbal sections.
SC course builds concepts right from the basics and covers each area tested by GMAT comprehensively. The meaning-based approach emphasized by E-GMAT is the best to solve challenging questions, which can never be answered by just knowing the grammatical rules.
Although CR does not have many concepts to master, breaking down the argument into premises and conclusion and understanding the author’s reasoning behind the conclusion helps eliminate even the options that would otherwise seem strong contenders.
Pre-thinking the assumption would involve some conscious effort since instinct would be to jump right to the options. Learn how to pre-think assumptions in the GMAT CR section.
However, it is worth putting in that effort because pre-thinking improves accuracy and reduces the takt time. Learn how to calculate and reduce your takt time.
Reading strategies taught right from the start of the verbal course helps gain an excellent understanding of the RC passages and the key to answering the RC questions.
Check out how you can achieve a V40+.
How to ace the GMAT Quant section?
Nithya: Having an engineering background made me a bit confident about my Quant section. I was familiar with most of the concepts.
However, concepts can only get you to a certain point, and to solve a given question within 2 minutes, you must build the process of solving or approaching a problem.
For Instance, for the questions relating to Geometry, you must visualize the data fast. Thus, to quickly get into solving problems, you need to practice and give yourself a decent amount of time to get accuracy right. Learn about six process skills to master the GMAT Quant section.
How the e-GMAT course helped?
Nithya: Quant course gives all the concepts required for the test and trains you on the process, making it easier to solve difficult questions in less than two minutes. E-GMAT’s quant question bank is very comprehensive, and the difficulty level of the questions is higher than that of the official guide or GMAT prep. Once I got used to solving more challenging problems, Quant in the actual test turned out to be much more comfortable.
To crack the GMAT Quant, you must learn the concepts and process the data accurately and on time.
Leveraging data points from Scholaranium – e-GMAT’s Quizzing platform
Nithya: Scholaranium played a massive part in my GMAT preparation by:
- Providing a comprehensive question bank
- Explaining each question
For Instance, while preparing for the Verbal section through e-GMAT, you come across an explanation for each answer choice. It helps to know why an answer choice is correct or incorrect. Such type of insight I did not find in any other platform.
How to leverage GMAT Mock Tests?
Nithya: I took Sigma-X mocks and tests offered by GMAT Prep and by third parties. While GMAT Prep mocks give an excellent idea about what you can expect from the actual exam, difficulty level, etc., you cannot analyze your performance and how you can improve.
Sigma-X mocks by E-GMAT are top-notch in this regard. You can have a complete debrief of the mock; I did not find such data in the mocks offered by other third parties.
Free Sigma-X Mock Test
” If you are looking for mocks that are a perfect replica of actual GMAT and can tell you your areas of improvement and provide the best possible solutions to all the questions, Sigma-X mock is your answer” – Nithya
e-GMAT Strategy Team Support and Feedback
Nithya: the kind of support you get during the entire duration of the course is worth mentioning. Many doubts get clarified just by going through the existing threads and getting prompt replies from the support team for all the new queries.
Moreover, the team supports you in the last few days/ weeks leading up to the test. I reached out to the support team after my first mock. Dhananjay helped me out by:
- Analyzing my critical areas for improvement
- Suggesting the kind of customized tests I need to take to overcome them
- Sharing video analyses of my mock test performance.
He pointed out that time management was the main thing I need to address; I followed the schedule suggested by him, and in my actual GMAT, I finished the verbal section on time and had ample time to spare after my quant section.
Accuracy vs. Ability – What is more important to ace the GMAT?
Nithya: I think it is essential to adapt to the test. Your Ability is an accurate measurement of your performance. However, you need to remind yourself that if you waste time on medium-hard questions, there is no way you can solve hard problems in less time. Thus, it’s ok to let go of one or two hard questions and still manage a Q51.
Thus, it would be best if you didn’t get hung up on a particular question.
Look at this video to understand more about Accuracy vs. Ability:
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