The Perfect 805: Inside the Journey to GMAT’s Rarest Achievement (805 GMAT, V90, Q90, DI90)

A 10 min read

Shrutav stared at his GMAT score in complete disbelief. The number on the screen seemed impossible: 805.

“I had to look at it for a couple of times to make sure that it was actually what I was seeing,” he recalls, describing a moment that would mark one of the rarest achievements in GMAT history – perfect scores across all sections: V90, Q90, and DI90.

This perfect trifecta places Shrutav in an extraordinarily exclusive club. What makes this achievement even more remarkable is that just 20-25 days earlier, he had scored 695 on his first attempt. The transformation seems almost impossible – how does someone go from a strong-but-not-exceptional score to absolute perfection in less than a month?

As a young engineer with just 1.5 years of work experience, Shrutav represents the aspirations of countless professionals seeking to crack the GMAT code while managing demanding careers. His journey from that December day when he started his preparation to achieving perfection in just 3-4 months offers insights that challenge conventional wisdom about GMAT preparation.

Shrutav’s moment of achieving the perfect 805 GMAT score:

The question isn’t just how he achieved this score – it’s how he engineered a systematic approach that made perfection possible. As we delve deeper into Shrutav’s remarkable journey, we’ll explore the strategic foundations, targeted improvements, and mental preparations that transformed a working professional into a GMAT perfectionist.

The Challenges Faced by Shrutav

“I am an engineer, right? I’ve been working for about a year and a half now,” Shrutav explains, setting the context for his GMAT journey.

Like many professionals with MBA aspirations, he knew the GMAT was necessary for his goals, but the path ahead presented unique challenges. The biggest obstacle wasn’t what most would expect. For Shrutav, it was “getting into that rhythm, sitting for like one or two hours at a stretch.” After a long disconnect from active studying, the challenge of sustained focus proved daunting.

“It was really tough in the beginning,” he admits, acknowledging a struggle that resonates with countless working professionals attempting to balance career and test preparation.

When asked if he ever imagined achieving a perfect 805 when he started his journey in December, Shrutav’s response is refreshingly honest: “No I don’t think any anytime throughout the journey I would have thought that.” This admission makes his eventual achievement all the more remarkable – it wasn’t the result of unrealistic expectations but rather systematic preparation meeting opportunity.

His timeline tells a story of focused intensity: starting in December and achieving the perfect score in just 3-4 months. But what transformed this disconnected student struggling to sit for study sessions into someone who would achieve GMAT perfection?

The Strategic Foundation – Personalized Study Plan

The turning point came with structure. After taking his initial diagnostic mock with e-GMAT, Shrutav received something that would prove invaluable: a personalized study plan that addressed his specific challenge of reconnecting with academic study.

“The personalised study plan really mapped out everything that I had to do from the day I took the mock until the day I would give the actual exam,” Shrutav explains.

This wasn’t just a generic schedule – it was a strategic roadmap that considered his unique profile and constraints as a working professional. The plan provided clarity on daily and weekly time commitments, making it feasible to assess whether he could realistically dedicate the required effort alongside his job responsibilities.

Perhaps most crucially, the plan identified his weak areas with surgical precision. Despite starting at an already impressive 80-82 level in Verbal, the diagnostic revealed this as his relative weakness – an insight that might have been missed without systematic assessment.

“It also highlighted what are the weak parts or the parts which I need to focus on so that I wouldn’t waste time on something which would be a strength for me,” he notes.

This efficiency-focused approach proved essential for someone with limited study time. Rather than spreading efforts thin across all areas, Shrutav could concentrate his energy where it would yield maximum returns. The foundation was set for a targeted assault on GMAT excellence, starting with his identified weakness: Verbal.

Conquering Verbal – From Confusion to V90

The path to V90 required overcoming fundamental challenges in how Shrutav approached verbal reasoning. His journey demonstrates that achieving perfection isn’t just about learning concepts – it’s about rewiring thought processes entirely.

The Initial Struggle

Shrutav’s first encounter with GMAT Verbal was jarring.

“I gave the mock blindly right so I didn’t know anything,” he recalls.

The experience of facing GMAT arguments and reading comprehensions for the first time left him confused about what was actually being asked. “The options are all very very close and I think that threw me off the first time,” he admits, describing a challenge familiar to many GMAT test-takers.

The intuitive approach that had served him well in engineering clearly wasn’t sufficient for GMAT Verbal. He needed a systematic methodology to navigate the subtle distinctions between answer choices.

The Pre-thinking Revolution (CR)

The transformation began with Critical Reasoning and a technique that would prove game-changing: pre-thinking.

“Initially the way I was doing it is I was just going through the arguments and then looking at the options and that would confuse me a lot of times,” Shrutav explains.

The solution was adding an intermediate step between reading the argument and evaluating options. “This in between step, pre-thinking, really helped me understand… think about why they’ve mentioned each and every word, each and every sentence and come to some conclusions on my own,” he describes.

This wasn’t just about understanding the argument – it was about actively predicting what the answer might look like before being influenced by the choices.

The results were dramatic. “Once I had those conclusions in mind going through the options was a lot easier and I felt that I could eliminate a lot of them and maybe get down to just one or two,” Shrutav reports.

The RC Breakthrough

Reading Comprehension presented its own unique challenge, particularly when Shrutav encountered his first test disaster.

“I got three RCs and all three were humanities and historical passages and then I just completely messed them up,” he admits candidly.

This failure in his first attempt became a crucial learning opportunity. The problem wasn’t capability – it was approach. “I wasn’t following the pattern which I was supposed to follow,” Shrutav acknowledges.

The Master Comprehension course provided the structure he needed, teaching him to analyze each paragraph’s purpose systematically. “Going through every paragraph and thinking about each of them, thinking why they’re there… during the exam that just came to me naturally.”

This methodical approach to reading – focusing on structure rather than getting lost in content – proved transformative. The confidence difference between his first and second attempts was palpable: “First of all I had a lot more confidence right. So that helped me a lot… I knew that I had the method down.”

Quant Mastery – The Q90 Engineering Advantage

As an engineer, Shrutav started with natural strength in Quant, beginning at an impressive Q85-86 level. “Naturally because I’m an engineer I had experience and confidence in Quant,” he acknowledges. However, the path to Q90 revealed that even strong foundations need refinement.

“There was still some gaps and weaknesses,” Shrutav notes, and identifying these required more than intuition.

The solution came through data analytics and targeted analysis. “Going through the detailed analysis and reports that really helped me pinpoint which concepts were lacking,” he explains.

Interestingly, the breakthrough wasn’t primarily about learning new concepts. The data revealed a different issue: “I was not reading the questions clearly or carefully.” This process weakness – the tendency to assume what a question was asking rather than carefully parsing every word – was costing valuable points.

“Sometimes it just slips your mind what they’re actually asking for,” he admits.

The PACE system proved particularly valuable for efficiency. When encountering topics like estimation and rounding where he already demonstrated strength, PACE recommended skipping foundational content and moving directly to skill files. This strategic approach saved Shrutav 40 hours – time that a working professional could hardly afford to waste.

“Anytime you can save is really significant,” he emphasizes.

Data Insights Excellence – The DI90 Achievement

Data Insights presented an unexpected challenge.

“Looking at it there were only 20 questions. I thought this would be the section where I wouldn’t have any issues with time, but turns out that was the section which gave me the most issues,” Shrutav reveals.

His first mock attempt ended with him unable to complete the section, forced to guess on the final questions. The primary culprit was Multi-Source Reasoning questions. “I was taking north of 4 minutes” for MSR questions, he recalls. This time sink threatened to derail his entire section performance.

The solution required both strategic thinking and tactical execution. Shrutav developed a targeted approach: “I had to make the decision of okay can I skip this question, put some more time on the other questions and then come back.” He identified Data Sufficiency as his strength, resolving to “solve this as fast as I can” to bank time for more challenging questions.

Beyond strategy, success in DI required extensive practice with varied question types. “There’s not a lot of high quality questions out there,” Shrutav notes about DI preparation materials. The e-GMAT platform filled this gap with “vast variety of questions” covering “all the different kinds of data sets.”

This variety proved prescient on test day. “Almost all the graphs or plots I got were completely different from what I’ve solved before,” Shrutav reports. Yet the extensive practice with diverse question types meant he was ready: “Having that variety in practice really helped me be ready for anything basically that would come up in the exam.”

The Power of Sectional Mocks

Traditional GMAT preparation often emphasizes full-length mock exams, but Shrutav discovered a more efficient approach through sectional mocks.

“Traditionally the way we would do it is go through all of it one section at a time,” he explains.

The problem with full mocks was multifaceted: they required “two and a half hours, 3 hours,” led to fatigue, and often resulted in poor analysis due to exhaustion.

Sectional mocks offered an elegant solution. “Once I’ve studied for Quant I would like to just test my Quant skills,” Shrutav notes. These targeted assessments took just 45 minutes, allowing for immediate analysis and even multiple attempts in a single study session.

“I could just get it done within 45 minutes, maybe give another sectional mock, try to improve,” he explains.

The Sigma-X mocks provided another crucial advantage: difficulty calibration. “The mocks are on an average at a pretty high level, higher than what the official mocks were,” Shrutav observed. This elevated difficulty proved invaluable for test readiness.

“Once I face a tough question in the actual exam I wouldn’t stumble or I wouldn’t waste any time there,” he explains.

The combination of targeted practice through sectional mocks and exposure to challenging questions through Sigma-X mocks created optimal preparation conditions – efficient use of limited study time while building resilience for test-day challenges.

Analytics-Driven Improvement

One of Shrutav’s most powerful insights challenges the conventional “practice makes perfect” approach.

“Just blindly solving questions does not really help you as much,” he states definitively.

His experience confirmed that “if I just go on solving 20-30 questions it doesn’t make a huge impact.”

The game-changer was systematic analysis.

“After solving those questions actually analyzing where you went wrong, what kind of mistakes you did, how to avoid making those mistakes in the future – that analysis is really important,” Shrutav emphasizes.

The e-GMAT platform’s data analytics transformed this potentially time-consuming process into an efficient system. “The data analysis which e-GMAT provides really simplifies that process,” he notes. “I wouldn’t have to do any of that, you would do that for me.” This automation freed him to focus on the most valuable activity: “learning how to avoid those mistakes in the future.”

This approach directly addresses a common frustration Shrutav observed in online forums. Referencing Reddit discussions, he notes how test-takers often report extensive practice without improvement. The difference, he discovered, was not in the quantity of questions solved but in the quality of analysis applied to each mistake.

The Last Mile Push – Mentorship Impact

“First of all thank you for the Last Mile Push program,” Shrutav begins, acknowledging the crucial role of personalized mentorship in his journey.

The value extended far beyond simple instruction. “It’s one thing doing all of this on your own but then having a mentor or someone who’s been through this process multiple times… someone who would know how to go forward, that’s really really helpful.”

While Shrutav was diligently giving mocks and sectional tests, the mentorship provided crucial strategic guidance.

“How to analyze them, how to plan my path forward, that’s where I think you really helped me,” he explains. The mentor helped him “analyze my weaknesses there, how to address those weaknesses and then how to maximize my score in the future.”

Perhaps most significantly, the mentorship provided the push needed to attempt the test again after his 695 score. “I was not really sure if I would, you know, maybe want to do it again,” Shrutav admits. The mentor’s encouragement to retake proved transformative: “Thanks for pushing me. That was a great decision.”

The 20-Day Transformation – 695 to 805

The story of Shrutav’s transformation from 695 to 805 in just 20-25 days challenges everything we think we know about GMAT improvement. His first attempt seemed well-prepared – his stats indicated strong potential, his mock scores were solid. Yet on test day, disaster struck.

Three history passages in RC, time management collapse, and having to guess the last 3-4 questions in Data Insights led to a disappointing 695.

“Conceptually I think in both of the attempts I was pretty much there,” Shrutav reveals, offering a crucial insight. “It’s not like I learned a whole deal of new stuff in those 20 days between the exams.”

The transformation wasn’t about knowledge acquisition – it was about something deeper.

“Strategically and mentally I think in the second exam I was at a much better place,” he explains.

The first attempt lacked crucial contingency planning: “If I encounter something tough or something throws me off, how should I handle that?” The history passages and time-consuming MSRs exposed this strategic gap brutally.

The 20-day interval focused on strategic refinement rather than content review.

“It was just sticking to the strategy, giving mocks, getting into that mindset that okay when I give a mock I want to do the best I can,” Shrutav describes.

Perhaps most importantly, he revolutionized his test-day approach. First attempt: “I was studying the entire day before… going through my error log… just a couple of hours before the exam as well.” Second attempt: “Before the exam I took a nice nap, I had a nice chat with my parents, everything apart from GMAT.”

The result was transformative:

“When I sat down for the exam I could actually feel that I’m about to do better. I’m really fresh, I can put all my energy into this exam now.”

The Perfect Score Formula – Key Takeaways

Reflecting on his journey to 805, Shrutav distills his success into fundamental principles that transcend specific test strategies.

Conceptual Mastery:

“On the test day it shouldn’t happen that you come across a question and you have no idea how to solve it,” Shrutav emphasizes.

Complete conceptual coverage ensures that every question is approachable, even if time constraints force strategic choices.

Strategic Planning:

“Having laying down a good strategy of how to approach these questions especially if something is going to throw you off, how do you deal with that,” he advises. “It should all be laid down… saves a lot of time.”

Pre-planned responses to challenges eliminate decision fatigue during the test.

Mental Preparation:

“Getting into the mindset of the test day in practice,” Shrutav stresses.

The goal is to make test day feel like “just another mock” rather than a high-stakes event. This mental preparation proved crucial when his first attempt scores didn’t match his practice performance.

Time Management:

“Time is of the essence in the GMAT,” Shrutav notes simply.

Every strategic decision, from pre-thinking in CR to quickly solving Data Sufficiency questions, centered on optimizing time usage.

These principles, combined with consistent execution and data-driven refinement, created the conditions for perfection. Shrutav’s journey proves that with the right approach, systematic preparation, and strategic thinking, even the rarest GMAT achievement is within reach – all while maintaining a demanding career.

His story isn’t just about achieving a perfect score – it’s a blueprint for working professionals showing how methodical preparation, strategic adaptation, and mental resilience can lead to GMAT perfection. Shrutav’s transformation from struggling with study rhythm to achieving the perfect 805 demonstrates that excellence is achievable through systematic effort and the right guidance.