There are 2 types of courses that we offer.
1. Regular Classroom Course (only in Bangalore)
2. A Video (live-recorded) course that is completely identical to the Classroom course ... shipped anywhere around the world. For more details about the video course, please click the link below:
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There is nothing special about me; but there is something exceptionally special about the techniques (OCTAVE, PRIMEX, ACT, ACED, and LINGO) you learn from me; you receive the same tools and strategies that helped me (Sandeep) get the perfect scores time and again. You can trust the techniques blindly.
A sample of what thousands of our students say about us:
Karthyk Aiyer: Score 770
says: "Just trust Sandeep's words like Gospel."
Read his full debrief below.
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Avik Gupta: Score 770
avikgupta23@gmail.com
said in a live GMAT workshop conducted by Ivy-GMAT: "Sandeep's strategies and materials are the very best one can get."
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Harsha K Nagaraj: Score 770
harshaknagaraj@gmail.com
says: "Thanks a lot for your help Sandeep. It couldn't have been possible without you."
Read his full debrief below.
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Raghav Goel: Score 770
raghavg.iitk@gmail.com
says: "Thanks for your help and guidance. Indebted to you!! Cherished the training at Ivy-GMAT."
Read his full debrief below.
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Rahul Gupta: Score 760
rahulrgb@gmail.com
says: "Sandeep’s material, questions and approach are brilliant and quite simply path-breaking. In spite of all that, I would still say his expectation from us was the greatest value addition. He believed that each one of us should score 760+ and I expected no less. Hence the score was a little disappointing. If it wasn’t for how much he pushed and believed in us (and we students would talk of anything lesser than 780 a disgrace), 760 would have been great. So thanks Sandeep, for taking all the fun out of the score!"
Read his full debrief below.
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Rahul Raghuwanshi: Score 760
says: "This most certainly wouldn't have been possible without you. I guess Ivy-GMAT's biggest impact is that it makes one believe that 99 %tile is definitely doable and anything less than that isn't acceptable. Thanks very much."
Read her full debrief below.
Read many many more debriefs below.
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so, as stated above, there is nothing special about me; but there is something exceptionally special about the techniques (OCTAVE, PRIMEX, ACT, ACED, and LINGO) you learn from me; you receive the same tools and strategies that helped me get the perfect scores time and again. You can trust the techniques blindly.
Thousands of our successful students have repeatedly vouched for just one thing:
these techniques are magical.
Learn all these techniques from someone for whom the GMAT has been an obsession for the last 16 years.
With a great GMAT score (99th percentile), you will be many miles closer to your top B-School dream. You will join the prestigious 99th percentile Club of GMAT takers. You will be the person thousands of GMAT aspirants will look up to for advice.
In short, a high GMAT score gives you the power to change the next 20-30 years of your life and career. Life after a top B-School is surely worth craving and the journey starts with a high GMAT score. I feel privileged to be a part of possibly the biggest career decision of your life; it is definitely not easy for a working professional to leave his/her job for one or two years; there is so much at stake. I fully understand the stakes and believe that I can make the first lap of this journey much easier (and much more enjoyable) for you.
You can knock off months of learning curve (drudgery) by learning the smartest approaches that helped me get the highest scores time and again. If you master the approaches to perfection, you will be able to mark every answer correct with absolute confidence.
With absolutely scintillating approaches, you will start LOVING your GMAT Preparation. You will hop out of the bed in the morning with a new zest for learning. You will not be able to wait to get the day started. The scintillating approaches that you will learn will immediately lift the heavy burden (of the unexciting ways of learning) off your shoulders and sweep your stress away. In short, you will LOVE the INSANELY GREAT way of learning.
Only one condition: YOU have to be sincere with the course. Ours is a challenging course, though it doesn't assume any prior preparation; all it expects is sincerity and seriousness. YOU HAVE TO WORK. I have very high expectations from you to be sincere and serious about this course.
You have to LIVE the dream of a great GMAT score in every breath and do everything as suggested by me. To sum it up:
You have to LIVE the dream of a great GMAT score in every breath and do everything as suggested by me. To sum it up:
If you can view it, you can do it!
The time to take the right decision is NOW ... the more you delay your GMAT, the more time you are wasting in a non-satisfactory career.
Take the right step NOW ...
Start your GMAT-Preps TODAY !!
To read more about me (Sandeep), read the story of my life on this blog here:
The time to take the right decision is NOW ... the more you delay your GMAT, the more time you are wasting in a non-satisfactory career.
Take the right step NOW ...
Start your GMAT-Preps TODAY !!
To read more about me (Sandeep), read the story of my life on this blog here:
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I have never scored less than 51 in Quant (the maximum score one can get in Quant) in any of my attempts.
Using the same techniques that I used to score a perfect 51 in Quant, YOU can score 51 in Quant as well.
I have never scored less than the 99th Percentile ... the highest percentile ... in Verbal.
Using the same techniques that I used to score the 99th percentile score in Verbal, YOU can score the 99th percentile as well.
I ALREADY BELONG THERE ... IN THE TOPMOST ROWS OF ALL THE THREE GRAPHS ...
... THAT'S WHY I FEEL CONFIDENT THAT WITH MY TRAINING and YOUR EFFORTS ...
... YOU TOO CAN BELONG THERE ... IN THE TOPMOST ROWS OF ALL THE THREE GRAPHS.
ONE CLARIFICATION: I don't expect you to be already prepared / started. I just expect you to be serious.
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Check our demo session - a full three hour video session - before joining us.
You will need a PDF support document for this (the support document can be downloaded from here ... http://www.mediafire.com/?lc9ao3o6bbub7yt
Click on the link below to watch the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NApwEPHyOA
MAKE SURE YOU SOLVE THE QUESTIONS IN THE VIDEO BEFORE WATCHING THE SOLUTIONS / APPROACHES BY US.
MAKE SURE YOU SOLVE THE QUESTIONS IN THE VIDEO BEFORE WATCHING THE SOLUTIONS / APPROACHES BY US.
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The focus of our course is YOUR SUCCESS.
YOU can get such scores with us provided you put in the requisite effort.
Offering: The most BLASPHEMOUS GMAT course ever …
Yes, ours is the most blasphemous course … because we say things that others would never dare utter … the reason is that no one else in India has actually gone there and got 99th percentile scores (in all the areas) even once. Even in all earnestness, they can’t have the courage to utter things that are common lingo for us. We talk 99th percentile scores in every breath as we have got scores only in that range … but more importantly, we have got such scores for thousands of our students as well.
Our GMAT blasphemies:
- We strongly believe that there are no time-sucker questions on the GMAT, only suckers who fall for them. If you have the right approach, every problem on the real-GMAT can be solved in less than 90 seconds. If you take more than 90 seconds on a particular problem, the question is not tough; your approach is definitely WRONG.
- A lot of Indian students are made to believe that studying for the GMAT means spending 90% of their preparation time on Sentence Correction … nothing could be a bigger disservice to yourself.
- The most crucial area for the GMAT is Reading Comprehension, which is given the least attention by students and faculty alike. So if your RC accuracy is not near 100% under time constraints in the 4th hour on the test (when your concentration is likely to be at its weakest), you will not cross the coveted 700 mark. RC is the most crucial test area … woefully neglected by everyone.
- If you want a high score, you have to make sure you don’t make consecutive mistakes. Again, RC becomes the most crucial; if you don’t do well on a specific passage, you are likely to get 3-4 consecutive wrong answers.
- We tell you the Test-Maker’s perspective as opposed to the Test-Taker’s perspective. Every problem on the real GMAT (at the highest level) is made in such a way that a particular wrong answer almost invariably seems more attractive than the right answer. The test-makers know exactly how an average human brain thinks and falls for traps. Training for such traps constitutes more than 50% of our training.
- We strongly believe that the GMAT is not a test of Math or English; it is a test of reading and reasoning. Quite often, people who are exceptionally good at English don’t manage a high Verbal Score and people who are exceptionally good at Math fail miserably on the Quant Section. These days 9 out of 10 IIT-ians find it hard to get 51 on the Quant Section. This goes to show that the GMAT is a test of higher reasoning skills.
- Ours is a NO-FLUFF-ALL-STUFF course. You will not find that out of the 3000 pages of material given to you, only 300 pages are worth reading. If you attend a 3-hour class, you will find value in each of the 180 minutes. You will not feel that more than 150 minutes were spent discussing something that you could have managed yourself / that you knew in advance / that didn’t add any value.
- Ours is the most demanding GMAT course on this planet.
- Don’t join if you are not committed. We don't want to hear any excuses. If you come to the classes unprepared or without finishing your homework, you will have an extremely frustrating experience. BUT if you are the serious GMAT contender, you can’t find a better course anywhere else on this planet.
- In terms of concepts / basics, we deal with even the most basic concepts: 200-800 level. But in terms of problems, we deal with only 700-800 level. We don’t want to waste your time making you solve 500-level junk (such as the Quant part of the Official Guide and its supplement (Official Guide Quantitative Review) - absolutely useless - I repeat: absolutely useless - for a high score). Every minute spent in the class must add a lot of value.
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Learn all the techniques that helped me get 99th percentile scores time and again ... and ... YOU too can get such a score. We have bottled all our cumulative GMAT-related learnings gathered over the last 16 years ... all you have to do is to study 300-500 hours using this neatly bottled package extremely intensively ... and a 99th percentile (760 or more) is GUARANTEED.
In other words, you cannot find better GMAT Training anywhere else in the country.
Something about Ivy-GMAT (How is it different from all the other institutes?):
- Special copyrighted techniques for each of the subject areas: OCTAVE (RC), PRIMEX (SC), ACT (CR), ACED (DS), and LINGO (PS). Integrated Reasoning and AWA (Analysis of an Argument also covered in detail).
- No other institute in the world has such effective strategies to crack each of the test areas.
- The Instructor who has gone out there and done it in the middle at the highest level (99th percentile). Learn from someone who has seen it all and done it all.
- Apart from Sandeep, there is not a single GMAT instructor in India who has scored in the 99th percentile in the Verbal Section.
- This is a guarantee and an open challenge. If someone tries to convince you of this fact, you MUST INSIST upon seeing the instructor's official GMAT score report. You will realize how hollow the claims made by others actually are.
- At Ivy-GMAT, even our students get the 99th percentile score (45) in Verbal quite often.
- We will cover each of the GMAT areas - Verbal: Reading Comprehension (RC), Sentence Correction (SC), Critical Reasoning (CR); Quantitative: Data Sufficiency (DS), Problem Solving (PS); Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA - Analysis of an Argument); Integrated Reasoning (IR) - in detail.
- Every batch will be a weekend batch demanding 3-4 months of serious dedication from your side. For the first 8 weeks, you will have classes every weekend for 6 hours (3 hours on Sat and 3 hours on Sun). Each of these classes will be homework driven. We focus exclusively on top scores - the 99th percentile range (760-800 range). For this reason, our classes an demand unparalleled seriousness from your side. Our classes are very intensive and rigorous and demand an effort of at least 20 hours per week (on average, at least 3 hours per day).
- We will provide you with all the content: Basic and Advanced Concepts including concept books, classroom content - including the latest 750-800 level questions, elementary practice, advanced practice, 700-800 level question bank, and Computer based Test Series. In addition our own content, we will provide you with all the usual content: Official Guide 10, 11, 12, 13 (though absolutely useless for a 750 score), Official Guide Quantitative Review 1 and 2 (junk), Official Guide Verbal Review 1 and 2 (trash if you want a 99th percentile in Verbal) and any other content available anywhere in the world. All the content related to the GMAT around the world will be extended to you. There is not a single resource on the GMAT that you will not have access to.
- We have all kinds of personal support available: counseling, repeat classes, backup for missed classes, and video classes at the center. The validity of the classroom program is 4 months from the date of joining.
- An absolute guarantee that the GMAT will not test you on anything outside of the course content covered here. By the time you finish your training, each type of question on your test will have been covered in detail. Even at the highest level (the highest score obtained by many students taught by us has been 790 - and each of them has repeatedly vouched for this fact), not even one question will seem alien to you (if you do all the content as advised).
- Most important: the right mental training for the right execution ... the most critical part of this training.
- This is a rigorous course. This is not for the fainthearted. Also, if you expect spoon-feeding, this is not the right course for you. We firmly believe that with spoon-feeding, we can’t make someone score above 750.
- All material (Concepts, Theory, Practice, Test Series, Extra Help etc. etc.) will be provided by us. You are not supposed to refer to anything else at all.
- If you need some special material (such as help from absolute basics in Math or Grammar or some challenging practice content in any area), please ask us. We will provide you with all such content. Don’t study anything else at all.
- Please watch our demo session video on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=9NApwEPHyOA) before coming to our classes. - Duration of the classes: 48 hours … weekend batches.
- Fee: Rs. 22900 (cash only). No installments.
- Please check all the details regarding our batches here:
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You may be at any level ... even as low as 390 or 450 or 550 ... doesn't matter! With perseverance, grit, 300-400 hours of extremely dedicated effort, our guidance, and our fabulous content (all of which happens to be in the 750-800 range of difficulty and relevance) ... ... YOU can reach a level of 760 or more.
We have even had students starting with as low as a 390 on GMAT-Prep and reaching a 770 in a matter of 3-4 months .
IT CAN HAPPEN!! YOU just need to persist with the right training and content!!
THIS COURSE IS ABOUT 99th Percentile Score on the GMAT ... nothing else.
YOU can get a 99th percentile score with Ivy-GMAT.
YOUR MISSION should be to score in the topmost rows of all the three graphs shown above.
Our efforts are always the same for each student (for such a score) ... everyone sits in the same class ... a 610 student also sits in the same class in which a 780 student sits.
Now the ball is in your court. Without your hard work, the 99th percentile score will not happen.
Who is our ideal student?
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Who is not our ideal student?
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Someone who wants to get a 99th percentile (760-800 range) score, wants to work hard for it (for at least 300-500 hours), and deserves such a score by dint of sheer perseverance, grit, mental toughness, and flawless execution on the test day.
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Someone who feels that a score of 700 is his/her dream score. As per us, a score of 700-720 is not even worth mentioning.
Our median score is 750. Our Mean score is 732 (rounded off). We don’t want people who can’t think of 760 or more all the time. |
Someone who is extremely serious about the GMAT and is not deterred by learning at the highest level with ravagingly difficult content right from the very first day.
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Someone who wants spoon-feeding at each step. Such a person doesn't score in the 99th percentile, anyway.
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Someone who doesn't get flummoxed by the toughness of the content and “almost-all” inaccurate answers initially.
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Someone who gets very demotivated when s/he doesn't get things right initially.
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Someone who is self-disciplined, who is self-driven, and who doesn't need external motivation.
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Someone who is fundamentally complacent, lazy, scared, skeptical, or inefficient.
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Someone who is reasonably good at Math.
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Someone who is extremely weak at / scared of Math.
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Expectations from YOU…
- Results come only when you put in the effort. A 610 student also sits in the same class in which a 770 student sits. So the difference is not in instruction / service quality. The difference is clearly in the efforts put in by a student.
- Our training program works only if you work.
- No MAGIC MANTRAS – You have to put in a lot of hard work.
- We are committed to a 760 or more score for each one of you. ARE YOU COMMITTED ENOUGH? If your level of commitment is for a 500 score, there is going to be only frustration.
- Keep pace with the classes – there should be no backlogs.
- The course is homework-driven. Do all homework in time – there is no exception to this condition.
- In other words, if the GMAT is not an obsession for you for the next few months, this course is not for you. This course is for people who will eat, drink, sleep, and wake up only GMAT for the next few months.
- Always keep pace in mind while studying / solving questions.
- Understand the nature of the test and study accordingly, e.g., studying on the computer screen is better than studying on paper.
- Do all the material as and when suggested.
- All materials and Test Series to be provided by us. Don’t read any extra material.
This course is not for you if…
- ... the GMAT is not an obsession for you for the next few months ...This course is for people who will eat, drink, sleep, and wake up only GMAT for the next few months.
- You are not serious about your efforts OR if you look for a quick-fix.
- You are aiming at low score. Someone who wants to go to some lower rung B-schools in Australia, Canada, or the UK (and thus seeks to score only 500-550) will not find this course helpful. This course is administered only in the 700-800 range. The course is DEMANDING… it wants you to do MORE and not LESS.
- You are very weak at Math. Certain basic aptitude in Math is expected.
- You don’t want to do the homework before the classes. There is no excuse for not finishing the homework … we wouldn't want to hear any excuses: Work pressure, project, deadline, submission, release, travel, etc. etc. PLEASE DON’T JOIN if you are not ready to do the requisite homework.
- You are addicted to studying on paper. As per the exam requirement, you have to study on a computer.
To read more about me (Sandeep), read the story of my life on this blog here:
http://ivy-gmat.blogspot.com/2009/12/ivy-gmat-official-blog-starts.html)
Class: We are the best-in-class—excellence defines us! Be assured of an absolutely world-class training here. Every faculty member here (or ever joining us in future) must have scored in the topmost rows of the three graphs (as given on top of this page). NOBODY ELSE—this is a guarantee—NOBODY ELSE can satisfy this requirement anywhere else in India.
Candor: No false hopes—your results are commensurate with your efforts. Our efforts are the same for each student. If you don’t put in YOUR part of the effort, we cannot do anything for you.
Commitment: There is only one objective—to help you improve your score on the GMAT—we always go that extra mile. The same is expected of you—be absolutely committed—do whatever is asked of you.
Content: One of the biggest differentiators here is the CONTENT—we have handpicked all the latest, most relevant, and absolutely cutting-edge content—the most important ingredient in your success. Make sure you finish all that is asked of you.
Conviction:
We know for a fact that our methods work phenomenally well for a 99th percentile score; we are undoubtedly the best training partners for a serious student (anywhere in the world).
We know for a fact that our methods work phenomenally well for a 99th percentile score; we are undoubtedly the best training partners for a serious student (anywhere in the world).
But more importantly, we also know that we are not the right training partners for a non-serious student.
Why the name Ivy-GMAT? The following eight American Universities are collectively called the Ivy-League Universities (and hence the name Ivy-GMAT):
Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), Yale University, Dartmouth College (Tuck), Columbia University, Cornell University (Johnson), Brown University (doesn't offer MBA), and Princeton University (doesn't offer MBA).
For us, for all practical purposes, the Ivy-League means any world-class business school!
Bangalore Location: Koramangala 5th Block
Phone: 97395-61394 (Bangalore)
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Debriefs from some of the thousands of our top-scoring students:
"Raghav Goel" - raghavg.iitk@gmail.com,
770
Thanks Sandeep!
Seems like God was pleased with me today!!
I gave GMAT today and scored 770.
Thanks for your help and guidance. Indebted to you!!
As for my experience during the test today, I felt that Quant was much simpler than the class handouts and that the handouts had prepared me for the worst. Except for one problem solving question, to whose answer choices my answer didnot match, everything went well. Since I didnot want to take that problem on my ego, I left it and hence was able to finish the paper with 1 minute remaining and a score of 51. In verbal, I felt pretty much on top and sentence correction seemed straight-forward. 1 CR and 2 SC questions were repeated from the latest material and I felt that the most of the questions followed the pattern in the latest material
I blindly followed your words regarding preperation: OG12, VR2 and the latest material in Verbal. I didnot do much practice for Quant because in all mock tests I was getting a 50 or a 51.
As you had instructed, I followed a stict 3 hour/day schedule for verbal, devoting an hour to each CR, RC and SC. In addition I did lot of mock tests, most of the free ones (Kaplan, Princeton Review, GMATprep etc.) and bought the test series from Manhattan GMAT.
Thanks Sandeep for your guidance & support!
Cherished the training @ IVYGMAT!!
Thanks,
Raghav
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"Harsha Nagaraj" <harshaknagaraj@gmail.com>, 770
Hi Sandeep,
Please find my fairly long debrief below. Once again, thanks a lot for your help.
I took the test on September 13th and ended up with a 770 (51,44).
WHAT WORKED FOR ME? (Also, what I wished I had done more of early on)
- The Quant material (the zip folder Quant Latest Questions) provides a great sample of tough questions covering all bases. Doing the selected topics from this folder and the class handouts ensured I got a lot more comfortable with Quant. The only other thing I remember making a conscious effort on was during the tests - not get stuck on certain questions. Given that we can afford a few mistakes and that each test would invariably have a few tough ones, I would move on unless I was way ahead with my pacing.
- SC - I felt that my best SC preparation came right at the end - when I stopped worrying about how many questions I had completed and started worrying about what I could learn from each question - not only the ones that I got wrong, but also the ones where I wasn't sure. I wish I had gotten a lot more comfortable with some theory before diving into all those questions. But no substitute for actual questions :)
- RC – Though, I didn’t consciously apply OCTAVE to each passage/question, I felt like I learnt, with some practice, what it was about. Trying to understand the flow of the passage, paying attention to words in answer choices (mostly to eliminate), extreme language – that’s what I would focus on. Was lucky that I didn’t encounter any hard passage on the test day.
- CR – This is probably the area in which I would get the most wrong at the beginning. With lots of practice, I believe I got much better. In specific, solving a lot of questions on ‘Assumptions’, ‘Evaluate’ and ‘Boldface’ with the suggested methods made them mechanical (a little exaggeration).
- Practice Tests and Test day – the first time I wrote a full length test (with AWA) was the day before my GMAT. And personally, I felt a strain when doing the verbal and was glad that I practiced a full–length at least once. So, on the D-Day, I tried to utilize each of the 8 minute breaks to the fullest. That might sound stupid but I am pretty sure I would have been worse off without them.
I tried to restrict my debrief to what worked for me specifically. If I could be of any other help, I can be contacted on harshakagaraj@gmail.com.
Harsha
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"karthykeyan n.a <nakk_s@yahoo.com> - 770
Sandeep,
I'm relieved that my marathon preparation has come to an end. I was contend with a 770 score till i spoke to you. After you said that i should have scored 46 in verbal, i'm bit disappointed. Honestly i should have scored! I have been restless since then but it wont help me since the score is already in the 99 percentile. I will fancy my chances again when i get back to working life.
Thanks Sandeep !!
As requested please find my debrief below.
Note for aspirants:
Just trust Sandeep's word like Gospel.
The below debrief is about my experience and not necessarily an ideal one. I will request others to work on weakness and device your own study plan. Ideally take Sandeep's guidance as much as possible. All the best !!
Yup! A special thanks to all those whose debriefs Sandeep had forwarded. It helped and inspired me!
GMAT Score: 770
Score Break-up: Q: 51, V: 42
Like others who had bad experiences with other training institutes, i had a similar experience at ********. I dont want to get into details since it doesnt help anyone. But looking back i think it's for good that i joined ********. I think i would have been happy with a score of 650 or less there since i had not seen anyone score above that in months and because 730 is a ordinary score at Ivy Gmat, i pushed myself little harder.
Quants Material: Class handouts, test series, Latest DS sets, 800 Score, 700-800 questions and possibly everything that Sandeep mentioned in his emails. Quants was not a concern from the beginning but carelessness was. I have the tendency to complete the test in short time but with atleast 5 or 6 silly mistakes. This act of mine continued till the day before the D day.
I changed my pacing strategy for the exam. I consciously made an effort to slow down in Quants. After my first experience I realized that there are few simple questions after few tough ones and solving these simple questions (especially the last 5 questions) does not take more than 30 secs/quest. I realized its better to spend few extra minutes on the tough ones rather than finishing 15 mins before time.
Exam experience: There were no surprises. All questions were similar to questions in the prep materials. DS was tricky but not tough (it is must that one should be relaxed and sharp) and PS was solvable. I had questions from each topic but predominantly from numbers and inequalities. There were few edgy ones in DS but I think I got them right. There were moments when I thought of taking a guess and moving on but rather decided to spend some extra time on each of the questions. I rechecked all PS answers before moving on to next question to avoid silly mistakes. On one side I made an effort to slow down but on the other side I made sure I had 2 mins per question for remaining questions. I think slowing down worked for me since I made very few errors.
Verbal Material:
SC: Latest collection 1, 2 and 3, class handouts, Manhattan SC, and other assorted materials.
Most useful: Latest collection. Avoid 1000 SC (questions are outdated, debatable and unlike GMAT questions).
CR: Latest collection, class handouts, LSAT complete set, Knewton questions on the GmatClub.com and LR bible.
Most useful: Latest collection, LR bible and LSAT set.
RC: Latest collection, class handouts, MLIC module and LSAT complete set.
Most useful: Latest collection, MLIC module and LSAT set.
GMAT experience
SC: No surprises at all. Similar to latest collection questions.
CR: Till today Strengthen and weaken (S/W) questions are my weakness. I had atleast 6 S/W questions. There was one logical flaw question which is frequently found in LSAT set. I had few tough S/W questions in CR but this time I moved on after taking a guess on the last 2 options.
Solving LSAT set and reading LR bible made the difference. I believe solving CR becomes easy after solving LSAT set which is lot more abstract than the GMAT questions. Also reading explanations in LSAT solutions for tough questions improves the approach.
RC: I think RC was the biggest surprise of all. All the passages were easy to comprehend. Three 2 paragraphs and one 3 paragraphs passages. I found only the 1st primary purpose question difficult. I could only eliminate one option and all other options were really close. Apart from that single question I was able to quickly crack other RC questions. No out of the book question.
Solving LSAT passages helped me comprehend difficult and lengthy passages quickly. The time I saved solving RC helped me put some extra time in CR questions.
I was able to finish the test well within time.
Karthyk
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"Rahul Raghuwanshi" <raghu.iitkgp@gmail.com> - 760
Dear Sandeep,
Finally, after much activity in last 2 days, I sit down to write my debrief. I wrote the exam on 24th Sep and got a score of 760 (Q51,V41). Overall the GMAT didn't throw any surprises and the exam went smoothly. What worked for me was an effective study plan and a solid preparation. To start with, I chose a set of material from all the material provided by you and stuck with it. I made sure that I understand every single question in detail and internalize the concepts. For me quality was always important that the quantity. My study set was RC primary purpose, RC Latest, CR Latest, CR 700-800, SC Latest, SC Advanced and Quant handouts from the class. This may surprise a few, but I feel, in Math terms, number of questions done is never directly proportional to GMAT score. It is the quality you put in your preparation that matters. Along with this, I did 4 practice tests( 2 from GMAT prep , a Kaplan free practice test and 1 one platinumgmat). In my opinion, practice tests are also an important part of GMAT preparation as time management is a key factor on the test day. I used to take a test every weekend for 4 weekends before the exam.
On the test day, I was surprisingly calm, something that allowed my to execute my plans effectively. As you have always mentioned in the class, GMAT is 50% test of the nerve and 50% test of knowledge. To be honest, there were times during the test, when I felt that the questions I am getting were relatively easy, specially in Quant. This poped up a doubt in my mind, that maybe I committed some mistakes in the previous questions, because of which the test is throwing easier questions. But then, I backed my ability and thinking that it's just my good preparation, which is making look test easy, shrugged the feeling off. So it is very important to stay calm before and during the length of the exam.
Some other tips that I can offer to the readers are :-
- Never think too far ahead of the test. When you have a good preparation, it gives you goosebumps and you start thinking about Harvards and Sloans. But, this can put unnecessary pressure. So just focus on the preparation of exam and everything will be fine.
- Blindly follow whatever methodology Sandeep offers in the class.
- Panic is the single most biggest killer of your GMAT score. Do whatever you can to stay calm before the exam. It can very easily bring a 750 aspirant to 650.( Unfortunately which happened to one of my friend who wrote the test on the same day I did)
- Always back your ability. Believe me, the kind of preparation that we do at IVY is much more than sufficient to ensure a 99th percentile score.
Finally, I thank you Sandeep for making me believe that I can achieve such a score. To be honest, before I joined IVY, I used to think 700 is a good enough score. But at IVY, you have set so high standards that even a 740 score looks modest. There is no other place in the world where people don't celebrate a 740 score. This makes us set high standards for ourselves and achieve what others only can dream of.
I will always remember the time I spent at IVY and I thank you again for helping me accomplish my "Mission GMAT".
Rahul Raghuwanshi
raghu.iitkgp@gmail.com
**********
Manoj Bableshwar <manoj.bableshwar@gmail.com> - 760
IF IT BLEEDS, IT CAN BE KILLED!
With respect to my math and verbal skills, I had a perfect fit with the ‘average Joe’ description. Sandeep had infused the number 750+ in my brain and i felt like a loser with anything less than 750. Due to travel loaded-hectic job schedule i kept studying sporadically and put in my serious efforts during the 15 days of leave, which i had preserved all thru the year for GMAT, just before the exam. During each of these 15 days i was either studying (12 - 15 hours per day) or sleeping - nothing else - even kept my phone off mainly to avoid interruptions from office and friends. (I may sound humorous, but i used to read sample AWA answers while dining or sacking). I took a practice test every morning and solved practice questions during evenings and nights. I spent lot of time to review my test results, solving every wrong or unanswered question, especially for quant questions. My strategy was simple: i knew i was not among the wickedly smart pool - so i had no choice but to apply brute force to cross the 95th percentile. My top 3 suggestions about GMAT:
1. Escape velocity: the minimum amount or time you need to study everyday for the study to be effective and to improve your speed. Anyone can solve a quant question in 5 min or answer RC passage in 20 min. Tuning your brain to consistently generate GMATically correct answers under time pressure cannot happen if you take a break of more than a week from study or study very less each day for any number of days or months. You will surely lose ‘lot of progress’ if lengthy breaks (more than 1 week) occur between study. Some workaround is must for people with demanding job routines.
2. Practice log: Use a spreadsheet to keep track of every question you solve and special comments if any associated with that question. A week or two before your exam, revisit your entire practice log, solving every question you answered wrong or had marked special. Its damn important to ensure that you dont repeat a mistake. At least 95% of questions are GMAT will have some strong similarity to your practice questions, and if you have perfected your mistakes then you will need less time and be more accurate. If you have time, you can do two to three iterations of your mistakes, refining the mistake list with each iteration. This has been my best asset for GMAT, specially for SC and quant. (attached is my practice spreadsheet). Preventing repetition of mistakes is more important than absolute number of questions solved.
3. My SC approach: SC strategy is simple: there are around 50 - 100 rules (number depends on your classification) that you must master thoroughly. Note that every rule has to be very clear to you, no scope for doubts. Eg, action nouns versus gerunds funda in parallelism. When you see a SC question you must quickly apply relevant rules and start PoE. You get a SC question wrong when you have a split and you dont know the rule to kill wrong side of the split. So if your brain fails to lookup relevant rules for a SC (in less than 10 sec) then your are in danger zone. Every time you get a SC wrong, take some time out and consciously master the rule your brain failed to look up. Finally, never trust your ear. Ear is your last resort, rules take the priority.
Enough of gyan, now coming to my experience:
I took my GMAT today and scored a 760 - 49Q 45V. Insanely happy. Had scheduled the test appointment at 8.45 am. With the intention to get abundant sleep, i dived into bed early (around 10.30pm) yesterday, but the nervousness was high enough to keep me awake till 3am. (So FYI folks, if such thing happens, let it happen - you cannot do anything about it). Reached the center an hour early and started the test around 8.15am.
AWA: AWA went smooth as planned. Both argument and issue were pretty simple.
Quant: I know it is strange for an Indian from engineering background, but Quant was my Achilles heel. I had issues with timing. So i had planned in advance to sacrifice questions along the way as per my ‘question:time’ checkpoints rather than sacrifice a bunch of them in the end. I had practiced this strategy well on the 6 Manhattan CATs. The quant section started with a toughie. Tried equation solving first and failed, then tried number plugging and solved it, but took 4 min. From then on the quant section went pretty smooth till the 25th question. I had the gut feeling that i was doing good, cracking tough questions which used to pop up occasionally. I also adhered to my ‘question:time’ checkpoints without sacrificing any questions. But the nasty party of quant section was from 26 to 37. All problems were real hard, with functions, graphs, non standard word questions, etc, needing 3-5 min to solve. I had to make couple of educated guesses using the PoE and DS tricks, but i ensured that i made no two consecutive guesses. At the end of the quant section i was in mixed moods. I was satisfied that i had left no unmakred questions but at the same time was disappointed because of the rush at the end.
Verbal: Today was one of my best verbal days. (as per my practice tests: less than 40 = bad, 40-43 good, 44+ best). The verbal section was a smooth sail. I had the strong feeling that i was ‘nailing’ the questions, especially SC. I never lagged at any part of the section and always stuck with my ‘question:time’ checkpoints, finishing the test with 30 sec to spare. SC questions were hard, testing multiple concepts at the same time. There was a strong bias toward meaning clarity. There were few (2 or 3) long or convoluted SC questions and majority were medium or short sentences, but i felt shorter ones were more tricky. CR questions were standard. On many CR questions, i was stuck with 2 choices with very narrow difference or scope shifts, after PoEing 3 choices - needing bit extra time and attention. RC was casual. No particularly painful passages. One very important thing about the the verbal section. I did not get a boldface question at all. This sent shivers down my spine when i was about to click the report scores button. So note that boldface question not showing up has no co-relation with the magical 700 level.
This is how i ended up with a 760: a shaky quant section and a confident verbal section.
BTW, i ate glucose powder during each break and drank some water.
Material studied:
SC:
> GMAT Intro Session Handout Solutions.pdf (50 + 38 questions) + SC advanced (100 questions): best material to get you basics right. it covers all relevant grammar rules required for SC. The hundreds of practice questions make you crystal clear with SC gramatical concepts.
Manhattan SC book - my Bible for SC. i have read this book countless times. even browsed it completely just 3 days before exam. The funda is, many times we tend to forget the intricate and subtle SC rules. There around 50 - 100 rules in SC that need to be scanned automatically by your brain when you see a SC question. This book is the best to load your brain with those rules. Last 3 chapters (advanced section) are priceless.
Others: SC PPT by Sandeep, OG12, VR 2, Topicwise SC (great for concept building), 1000SC (around 500), SC test 1-3, SC latest questions. The best: SC Latest
CR: CR PPT, LR Bible (again, read several times), Manhattan CR book, OG12, 700-800 CR, latest CR set, 1000 CR (few hundred). One strategy i used for my CR questions was to actively identify flaws in as you are reading the argument. So by the end of the argument you have dissected the argument and already have list of flaws. For ‘must be true’ question PoE is the best tool. Never actively pick an answer for ‘must be true’ questions because there are many traps. The best: CR latest
RC: OCTAVE (the best learning in life ... WOW ... no words to describe its effectiveness), OG, RC latest, RC 700-800. A technique i used for RC is to pause for a few seconds at end every paragraph and summarize in brain what i found in that paragraph and whats the relation of that paragraph to the passage as a whole. This helped me quickly answer main point questions. Also my brain felt somewhat less tired because of the ‘rest’ it got between paras :-) :-) The best: RC Latest
Quant:
Manhattan quant: all books
quant 700-800 (partial - while preparing for 1st attempt)
quant latest (most relevant and comprehensive)
If you are weak in quant, then manhattan CATs are the best tools. If you can learn to manage time on quant sections of manhattan then you should be ok on the GMAT. worked for me! I was averaging 47 or 48 on manhattan quants.
Tests:
800 Score - 5 tests
Manhattan - 6 tests
Kaplan - 3 tests
Knewton free test
Veritas free test
Average was 720-730 on my practice tests, and had scored 750 on last 3 practice tests (2 manhattan, 1 kaplan) i took. My confidence was pumped up and so i did not take any tests 2 days prior to the exam. I kept my cool. I used to just revise my mistakes from practice log or read theory books such as Manhattn SC or Manhattan math books, LR Bible, GMAT quant theory pdf (by Sandeep). I did not touch any fresh content on the last 2 days.
@Sandeep,
It is only because of you ... ONLY BECAUSE OF YOU!!
Enough of gyan, now coming to my experience:
I took my GMAT today and scored a 760 - 49Q 45V. Insanely happy. Had scheduled the test appointment at 8.45 am. With the intention to get abundant sleep, i dived into bed early (around 10.30pm) yesterday, but the nervousness was high enough to keep me awake till 3am. (So FYI folks, if such thing happens, let it happen - you cannot do anything about it). Reached the center an hour early and started the test around 8.15am.
AWA: AWA went smooth as planned. Both argument and issue were pretty simple.
Quant: I know it is strange for an Indian from engineering background, but Quant was my Achilles heel. I had issues with timing. So i had planned in advance to sacrifice questions along the way as per my ‘question:time’ checkpoints rather than sacrifice a bunch of them in the end. I had practiced this strategy well on the 6 Manhattan CATs. The quant section started with a toughie. Tried equation solving first and failed, then tried number plugging and solved it, but took 4 min. From then on the quant section went pretty smooth till the 25th question. I had the gut feeling that i was doing good, cracking tough questions which used to pop up occasionally. I also adhered to my ‘question:time’ checkpoints without sacrificing any questions. But the nasty party of quant section was from 26 to 37. All problems were real hard, with functions, graphs, non standard word questions, etc, needing 3-5 min to solve. I had to make couple of educated guesses using the PoE and DS tricks, but i ensured that i made no two consecutive guesses. At the end of the quant section i was in mixed moods. I was satisfied that i had left no unmakred questions but at the same time was disappointed because of the rush at the end.
Verbal: Today was one of my best verbal days. (as per my practice tests: less than 40 = bad, 40-43 good, 44+ best). The verbal section was a smooth sail. I had the strong feeling that i was ‘nailing’ the questions, especially SC. I never lagged at any part of the section and always stuck with my ‘question:time’ checkpoints, finishing the test with 30 sec to spare. SC questions were hard, testing multiple concepts at the same time. There was a strong bias toward meaning clarity. There were few (2 or 3) long or convoluted SC questions and majority were medium or short sentences, but i felt shorter ones were more tricky. CR questions were standard. On many CR questions, i was stuck with 2 choices with very narrow difference or scope shifts, after PoEing 3 choices - needing bit extra time and attention. RC was casual. No particularly painful passages. One very important thing about the the verbal section. I did not get a boldface question at all. This sent shivers down my spine when i was about to click the report scores button. So note that boldface question not showing up has no co-relation with the magical 700 level.
This is how i ended up with a 760: a shaky quant section and a confident verbal section.
BTW, i ate glucose powder during each break and drank some water.
Material studied:
SC:
> GMAT Intro Session Handout Solutions.pdf (50 + 38 questions) + SC advanced (100 questions): best material to get you basics right. it covers all relevant grammar rules required for SC. The hundreds of practice questions make you crystal clear with SC gramatical concepts.
Manhattan SC book - my Bible for SC. i have read this book countless times. even browsed it completely just 3 days before exam. The funda is, many times we tend to forget the intricate and subtle SC rules. There around 50 - 100 rules in SC that need to be scanned automatically by your brain when you see a SC question. This book is the best to load your brain with those rules. Last 3 chapters (advanced section) are priceless.
Others: SC PPT by Sandeep, OG12, VR 2, Topicwise SC (great for concept building), 1000SC (around 500), SC test 1-3, SC latest questions. The best: SC Latest
CR: CR PPT, LR Bible (again, read several times), Manhattan CR book, OG12, 700-800 CR, latest CR set, 1000 CR (few hundred). One strategy i used for my CR questions was to actively identify flaws in as you are reading the argument. So by the end of the argument you have dissected the argument and already have list of flaws. For ‘must be true’ question PoE is the best tool. Never actively pick an answer for ‘must be true’ questions because there are many traps. The best: CR latest
RC: OCTAVE (the best learning in life ... WOW ... no words to describe its effectiveness), OG, RC latest, RC 700-800. A technique i used for RC is to pause for a few seconds at end every paragraph and summarize in brain what i found in that paragraph and whats the relation of that paragraph to the passage as a whole. This helped me quickly answer main point questions. Also my brain felt somewhat less tired because of the ‘rest’ it got between paras :-) :-) The best: RC Latest
Quant:
Manhattan quant: all books
quant 700-800 (partial - while preparing for 1st attempt)
quant latest (most relevant and comprehensive)
If you are weak in quant, then manhattan CATs are the best tools. If you can learn to manage time on quant sections of manhattan then you should be ok on the GMAT. worked for me! I was averaging 47 or 48 on manhattan quants.
Tests:
800 Score - 5 tests
Manhattan - 6 tests
Kaplan - 3 tests
Knewton free test
Veritas free test
Average was 720-730 on my practice tests, and had scored 750 on last 3 practice tests (2 manhattan, 1 kaplan) i took. My confidence was pumped up and so i did not take any tests 2 days prior to the exam. I kept my cool. I used to just revise my mistakes from practice log or read theory books such as Manhattn SC or Manhattan math books, LR Bible, GMAT quant theory pdf (by Sandeep). I did not touch any fresh content on the last 2 days.
@Sandeep,
It is only because of you ... ONLY BECAUSE OF YOU!!
A BIG THANK YOU for the excellent coaching and materials. More importantly, you infuse the fighting spirit and emphasize that mediocrity is unacceptable. You are are a great motivator and your achievements are equally motivating. Your institute symbolizes excellence.
Here is a quote that summarizes my GMAT prep:
The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights. - Muhammad Ali
Manoj Bableshwar
The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights. - Muhammad Ali
Manoj Bableshwar
************
Nithya Sundaram - nithya.kamakshi@gmail.com - 760
Dear Sandeep,
I gave my GMAT today and I scored 760 - Q50, V42. This most certainly wouldn't have been possible without you. I guess Ivy-GMAT's biggest impact is that it makes one believe that 99 %tile is definitely doable and anything less than that isn't acceptable. Thanks very much.
Regards,
Nithya
*********
Please find my debrief written below.
Cheers!
Thanks and Regards,
Rahul Gupta
Received my GMAT score of 760 (Q50, 42) couple of days back. Had mixed feelings of relief and disappointment on seeing the score. So much so that I wanted to give the exam again as soon I stepped out (was more disappointed in Quant). I would like to discuss in detail my learning from the entire GMAT test, my preparation and the lead up to the test. Hopefully this will help fellow aspirants in their quest.
IVY GMAT
IVY GMAT
Sandeep’s material, questions and approach are brilliant and quite simply path breaking. Inspite of all that, I would still say his expectation from us was the greatest value addition. He believed that each one of us should score 760+ and I expected no less. Hence the score was a little disappointing. If it wasn’t for how much he pushed and believed in us (and we students would talk of anything lesser than 780 a disgrace), 760 would have been great.
So thanks Sandeep, for taking all the fun out of the score!
Jokes apart, I had a lot of fun learning from Sandeep. It is definitely an attitude to want to be the best, try your heart out and then humbly accept the result. Sandeep definitely brings that to the table!
GMAT Preparation
The Ivy-GMAT course covers all concepts extremely well and makes you really explore your pre-conceived notions. I would suggest everyone stick to this course structure. But I also feel every student responds very differently (based on his/her strengths and weaknesses) to all the topics.
The Ivy-GMAT course covers all concepts extremely well and makes you really explore your pre-conceived notions. I would suggest everyone stick to this course structure. But I also feel every student responds very differently (based on his/her strengths and weaknesses) to all the topics.
Do not touch anything else than Sandeep’s advised material. It is a waste of time. I focused on handouts, latest content and then towards the end on OG. I got tangled in mocks and expanding on other questions towards the end thereby wasting a lot of time. Hope you guys manage to sidestep this landmine!
Lead up to the test
Finished off my material. Was quietly confident but wanted some kind of confirmation through scores in mocks. Took up a few paid ones from some sources (got them for free) and practiced a fair bit. While, mocks are useful in helping you pace, they are more detrimental than useful. There is so much of bad/wrong content in the GMAT universe, that no student can differentiate the relevant from the irrelevant. I got a string of bad scores with my confidence shot down. Towards the end, I think I could blank out non GMAT questions but the entire process was a huge waste of time.
Finished off my material. Was quietly confident but wanted some kind of confirmation through scores in mocks. Took up a few paid ones from some sources (got them for free) and practiced a fair bit. While, mocks are useful in helping you pace, they are more detrimental than useful. There is so much of bad/wrong content in the GMAT universe, that no student can differentiate the relevant from the irrelevant. I got a string of bad scores with my confidence shot down. Towards the end, I think I could blank out non GMAT questions but the entire process was a huge waste of time.
Do's
- Follow Sandeep's material: It is the most real simulation of questions in GMAT that is possible.
- Yuvraj Singh credited his great knocks while chasing targets to a piece of advice from Sachin Tendulkar: "You always have more time to start hitting than you actually think you do; So relax and play naturally". True words indeed - be confident in your preparation and realize that if you are comfortable with Sandeep's material, the test will be much easier than what you have done before.
- Create your own "Cheat Sheet" – I had more than 57 pages of material for SC and 15 odd pages for quant, undecipherable to most others but it had all my learning of key concepts in a single document. Would revise this almost every day. And yeah, you need to create this on your own, it has to be a personal reflection not someone else’s, not even Sandeep’s.
Don'ts
- Don’t rely on mock tests – I received low 700s (some 770s) in most of my mock tests and a 680 score 4-5 days before my exam and it completely screwed up my worldview of my preparation for GMAT. While reviewing my mistakes, I found a few answers wrong from their side. Nothing can mess up with a student’s mind more than this with just a few days left for the exam. A student really relies on a mock test to tell him where he stands - BUT MOCKS are a waste of time.
- Don’t fret – On my last day I was fairly relaxed and content. Anxious a bit, but was happy about the entire journey.
- Leave your ego out of the test – The first time I attempted a GMAT diagnostic (without knowing what GMAT is), I got 48 in Quant. Anything lesser than 51 was out of the picture for me. In the actual test (Q50) I ended up spending more than 7 minutes on a quant question I should have left and moved on.
I had a great time learning for GMAT and it has been a great journey. Hope to still remain active in GMAT and application preparation. The gap between the aspirant and the experienced is quite immense with too many misconceptions in young minds. I would like to thank the best coach in this space – Sandeep Gupta for his great help and am sure more and more students will continue to benefit from his guidance.
Cheers!
Thanks and Regards,
Rahul Gupta
***
Got a 760 in GMAT today and it still feels so surreal and gratifying!!! Thank you so much. I am so sure that it would not have been possible without your guidance !!!! SO SURE !!!
For my fellow GMAT hopefuls
----------------------------------
Brief Background (Just to give a perspective): My name is Abhilash. I am from a small town called Erode in Tamilnadu. My parents are ordinary people. Never got a chance to speak to anyone in English till I got out of 12th standard. In 12th standard, I was labeled one of the eight weakest students in Mathematics in school who were destined to fail and was given special ALL-NIGHT tuitions before the board exams. I managed 96%, though. (BUT all along, I knew that I would do OK in life.)
My GMAT experience:
760 (50q 44v) - BINGO !!!!
LEARNINGS:
1. A 99th percentile score is not a hard thing, after all - if enough hard work is put in, that is.
2. Confidence and state-of-mind on the exam day has got to do a lot with the end result. FOR THE RECORD, I got stuck in the first question(quant). But kept my cool and worked my way out (It was an easy geometry question, BTW).
3. As Eminem says, "You can do anything that you set your mind to, man!". The bottom line is - all along, I NEVER GAVE UP.
WHAT TO DO?
2. I learnt it the hard way. Listen to people who have 'Been there, Seen that, Done that' - Sandeep is the best person !
3. Practice Practice Practice - This is the only way to boost your confidence.
4. Practice Critically - Do not go on solving question after question. Identify your weak areas and make sure that you are improving in those.
5. Be very calm and easy on exam day - THIS HELPS ( nothing special... just be how you will be on a free sunday)
6. Have ample time(at least 15 minutes) to finish to finish the last five questions.
7. I did not spend too much time on any one question. I was prepared to move on(an did so on at least four questions when I was stuck) if I was not sure about the answer. - THIS PROVIDED ME AMPLE TIME TOWARDS THE END.
This is subjective - I used the ear plugs in my latest exam. It worked ! It really helped me concentrate( I did practice with ear plugs before the exam, as well)
WHAT NOT TO DO:
1. Learn only half the material(especially math) and leave the rest to luck(probability, p&c etc).
2. Get too conscious about having a relaxed day before exam day. - Try to have a normal day. Just another day in the park. For the record, I did not try to be over relaxed. I studied for three hours before the exam day. I played a game of snooker. I had two pints of beer. I took it like any other day.
3. PANIC - This, I believe, is the biggest enemy for many of us. Do not panic.
4. NEVER EVER LOSE FOCUS DURING THE EXAM.
HOPE YOU ALL GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME. GOOD LUCK !
Warm Regards
|
Abhilash Joseph
I always wanted to write this mail, here it goes...
My score: 760 (50Q, 44V) and AWA 5.5
I have to attribute my success to Sandeep's classes, study material and rigourous preparation timelines that Sandeep sets both during the classes and post-classes preparation. I distinctly remember a moment 3 weeks after I joined classes when 20 SC questions handout shattered my confidence. I had only 40% accuracy with that set. But 3 weeks later I scored a 770 in mock test. Sandeep's strategy of challenging students with 750 level questions straightaway and making them prepare hard for the test worked with me :)
First of all, let me mention some details of my real test. I compiled this based on some of the questions my batchmates asked me after the test. Hope this info is relevant.
Quant:
- No major surprises. More DS questions than I had expected. Had to re-check almost all my DS answers. Also DS was bit more time consuming than the ones I had experienced in practice tests. 4 out of last 5 questions were DS and I really had run out of time. I had to randomly guess about 3 questions towards the end to avoid penalty for not completing the section. I had spent 7 minutes in one of the PS questions because I misread that question. Moral of the story: Dare to skip/guess a question if it takes too long for you. It shouldn't affect the score severely but will definitely save precious precious time.
- Only one probability question and a couple of permutation/combination questions.
- Only 3 geometry questions. One of them was difficult but was solvable.
Verbal-SC:
- Was easy. Only one "which" question (such questions trouble me, hence special mention :)). Very similar patterns and same difficulty level as found in SC Latest Part 1, 2 and 3 pdfs. I was surprised that I was comfortable with SC questions on real test. SC latest pdfs did wonders for me.
Verbal-CR:
- No surprises. Almost all CR types appreared: assumptions, strengthen, weakening, evaluate, bold face etc. I could very quickly shortlist to 2 of the answer choices as most of the answer choices were out of scope. CR was actually easier than CR latest pdf ! Only 2 questions required some thought.
Verbal-RC:
- Pleasant surprise. Very easy compared to the RCs that Sandeep does in class. But were very similar in difficulty level and length of the passage to the ones in RC latest pdf. I got 4 passages: 2 short ones and 2 long ones. Short ones had 2 paragraphs and 3 questions each. Long ones had 3 paragraphs and 4 questions each. Sentence structure and vocabulary was not complex. Questions were typical.
- One interesting question appeared "Following demonstrates one of the characteristics of the passage:". Options seemed like it was a primary purpose question but it wasn't because the next question was about the primary purpose of the passage :) Might have to look out of innovations in RC questions.
Following was my preparation material:
- Sandeep's class handouts
- All ppts (quant, sc, cr, rc and AWA concepts)
- OG
- VR 2
- 700-800 pdfs
- RC primary purpose pdfs. The 37 questions actually aligned me towards RC very well.
- manhattan forums for SC doubts. Sandeep pointed me to this resource and it is wonderful resource to learn from.
- Latest pdfs. I did only latest pdfs in last month of my preparation and they are good, particularly SC, CR and RC latest pdfs. I could clearly see improvement in my mock test scores (mock test scores listed at the end of this mail) and in the comfort level I felt during the tests. Let me list the timing and accuracy level I could reach at the end of the latest documents:
SC - 70-80 secs, 90%
CR - 90-100 secs, 95%
RC - 110-130 secs, 85%
My practice mock tests results below (in chronological order):
------------------------------
MGMAT# Test 1
MGMAT# Test 2 720 (48Q, 40V) (Time paused for last 4 questions in quant and verbal)
MGMAT# Test 3
MGMAT# Test 4
GMAT Prep# Test 1 770 (50Q, 44V)
GMAT Prep# Test 2 730 (
knewton.com
GMAT Prep# Test 1 (retake) 770 (51Q, 42V)
GMAT Prep# Test 2 (retake) 760 (51Q, 41V)
MGMAT # Test 5 750
MGMAT # Test 6 760
Princetonreview.com
Ivy mock - 2
Ivy mock tests are really really tough. You don't have to crack them to be able to crack real gmat. (Pardon me Sandeep, but it is a fact :))
I started mock tests even before I was done with all the preparation material. It helped me in identifying my weaker areas and focus on them during preparation. If you have time, I recommend you to use mocks as benchmarks for your preparation attempting 1-2 per week for about 5 weeks and not as practice tests a week before the real GMAT.
PS: Ignore any SC errors in my debrief :)
regards,
Ranjith
*****
First of all apologies for this delayed mail.
As discussed with you I took the test last month, and got a score of 750 and 6 in AWA. While this may not be a great score as per Ivy's standards, I am happy that I atleast hit the 98 %ile mark :).
You have been a great influence on me.
My story so far:
I started browsing about different coaching institutes in Bangalore for my GMAT. And to my good luck, my quest led me to your blog, where I got to know about you and your pilosophy. That changed everything for me, your articles really impressed me.
First meeting with you....
Then in September, I remember I scheduled an appointment with you . Unike others, you helped me identify my problems. You didnot persuade me to join your institute. Instead you forced me to do self analysis on what went wrong in my first attempt. I think that was it. After meeting you, within one week I had listed down all the areas that I needed to concentrate on.
Joined Ivy....
After joining the institute I realized, how different it was from others. You show mastery over the subjects. Your strategies really work.
I would recommend the following for anyone aspiring to get a good score in GMAT:
SC:
1. Wren and Martin ( For people who are not good with fundamentals) : Parts of speech and composition : This really helped me, I was never good in english and had hardly read any grammar book in my high school. WIth this book, what I learnt is how to analyze sentences, break them into clauses and phrases etc. (Edit: I am not so sure of this myself: Sandeep)
2. Sandeep's ppt- This is the ultimate source.
3. Manhattan SC - after reading wren and martin Manhattan's SC made more sense to me as I was not forced to learn rules, instead understood the reasoning behind those.
Questions:
1. OG
2. Verbal Review
3. Latest SC: the best collection, I would recommend one should take each question seriously and analyze diff patterns. in the end one would have most of the patterns that are tested in GMAT. Manhattan SC forums really helped (specially Ron's explanations ).
CR:
1. Powerscore GMAT Bible - CR, initial 5 chapters, no need to learn the rules by heart , one needs to take the gist of it.
2. Sandeep's PPT - best source
3. CR handuts on Inference - it not only helped me in CR but also in RC. To be frank it has helped me negotiate better in my daily work :).
Questions:
1. OG
2. Verbal Review
3. Latets materials : again no need to do anything else..
RC:
OCTAVE rule - no need for anything else : thanks Sandeep sir for this , this really works.
Questions:
1. OG
2. Verbal Review
3. Latets materials : again the best source for official questions.
Quants:
1. Sandeeps Quants theory
Questions:
1. the five questions sets
2. The 2 sets on DS ( 218 qs each )
I didnt do OG for quants.
AWA:
Not many people pay much attention to this section, as getting a decent score (5) is realtively easy. However people who want to get a perfect score - donot follow any pattern or templates, write in your natural style, and cite at least 3 examples. Content is what matters. Although I did not get time to proof read few paragraphs and could not finish my last sentence in Issue, I could still get 6. The reason for this, I think, is the content.
Practice test:
GMAT Prep: 1 and 2, twice each.
Apart from the study materials, I would recommend the following:
1 Timing different problems: SC - 1 min, CR - 1.5 min, RC - 2 mins ( as recomended by you) . It comes to around 61 minutes, you should discount 14 minutes as you will be under exam pressure.
Quants - 2 mins per qs.
2. Students who are not good in verbal should pay attention to quants during preparation. Quants should be a pass through section and should not exhaust the test taker. This is only possible if one has prepared well for the section. A 51 in quants not only helps you boost your score by 20-30 points, but also takes you through the verbal section with confidence ( a much needed ingredient for a good score ).
Questions in GMAT are relatively easy to solve if solved alone, however the whole process of the examination is what makes it difficult. One should have stamina to perform at peak level for 4 hours.
In the end, Sandeep Sir, no words can explain how much grateful I am to you. Today I feel its not only GMAT, you have taught much more to me.
Yours truly,
Sanja
"ruchika narang" - ruchika.nrng@gmail.com - 740
Hi Sandeep,
I wrote the GMAT earlier today. I scored a 740. My break up was:
Quant-50
Verbal-40
I'm quite pleased with the result, but I definitely feel I could have done better. The problem I faced was time management in the Quant section. In 2 questions I ended up spending a lot of time calculating which is where I feel I lost a good 7-8 minutes. Towards the end of the section I had about a minute left for 3 questions, did one and just guessed the other two to avoid any penalty for leaving the questions blank.
Verbal was alright as well. I was quite confident with my Sentence Correction and CR, may have lost out on RC though.
I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for your guidance and excellent strategies you taught us in class. Not to forget the extensive compilation of all the material especially the 'Latest Questions' and 700-800 level questions really help to get familiar with the kind of questions asked on the real GMAT. A big thank you for your support!
I have applied to the following schools:
ISB
NUS
Nanyang, Singapore
London Business School
INSEAD
I would love to get your opinion on some of these and if you feel I may be better suited to some other schools. Please do let me know when I could come and visit you. Would also like thank you in person :)
Regards,
Ruchika Narang
***************
Hi Sandeep,
I wrote the GMAT on October 13th and scored a 740 (49/44). I was initially dissappointed as my mock test scores over the last week were 770, 780, 780 and these scores got my hopes up. But I gather that my score coupled with a good application should suffice. So I will not dwell on what could have gone better.
What went right for me - My preparation. I plan to apply only next year so I took my time studying. Your classes were really helpful. I noticed a big improvement before and after your course. The LATEST CONTENT is a gold mine for all categories and I would recommend it to anyone writing the exam. I also did several practise tests - 2 GMAT Preps, 1 Knewton and 6 Manhattans. Initially my scores were around 730, 740, 750 but after doing the latest content I started performing better.
What went wrong for me - Test day. I was in a state of panic from the start (in the Quants section) and made several careless mistakes. I found myself having to read every question twice or thrice because nothing registered. I was aware I was doing this, but that awareness only caused greater annoyance. So to your other students my advice would be that if you find yourself doing this, calm urself down, make yourself read the question slowly, dont lose composure if you feel you got a few questions wrong. Go in to the test knowing that you are allowed a few mistakes.
I feel that if I had gone into the test aiming for a 740 I might have done better. I went in with 780 my head, and this put a lot of pressure on me while taking the test. Every second wasted was causing me annoyance as I felt that for a 780 I needed the test to progress nearly flawlessly. This could vary based on the individual. Others might thrive on that pressure.
Hope this helps. Will be getting in touch with you when I am ready to apply.
Regards,
Karun Kurien
Karun Kurien
***************
Sandeep Sir,
I gave my GMAT test today and scored 740 (Q 50, V 39), I know it is on the boundary of what you expect students to get and may not be very happy about it but I feel this is the limit for me. I believe that there is a upper limit for everyone to do something and I think this is it for me. It is definitely not because of your lack of the teaching style or material but because of my limitation of Verbal section. Apologies if I disappointed you, I am sorry for that. But please continue to guide me, I am looking for you continued help and guidance to get a admit in a good college. My journey of GMAT started with one of your special lecture in Jyothi Nivas College and I will need your continued guidance to make sure my journey reaches to its destination of admit in Top 10 college. Please let me know when can I call you to discuss how to go further. I will be working on preparing my resume from tomorrow onwards.
Debrief of my experience:
My journey of GMAT started with insistence of my wife and further kick started with Sandeep Sir's Jyothi Nivas special one day session. I never attended any previous GMAT classes/courses/sessions. However in the first one itself I knew I need to come to Ivy-GMAT. In that class, Sandeep Sir told "Do not join if you are not serious". "Do not come and report scores less than 740". I was convinced that this is the place I belong to. It must take a strong belief in self to claim these lines in presence of approximately 500 students. I joined 9th July batch and today I gave my test to score 740 in first attempt, may be not a great score as Ivy-GMAT standards but for someone who was always afraid of verbal and never even attempted to write GMAT/CAT ONLY because of Verbal scoring 740 is satisfactory. Sorry sir if it looks like I am contended with less. Few things I did while my preparation:
1. Sandeep sir always told to do homework before the class. I did not do homework in one of the RC class and filled with the guilt, never missed any homework inspite of my office travel out of station almost 3-4 weeks continuously.
2. I believed in Sandeep Sir - I really mean it. I believed in him more than in myself. I knew, if he is there I can do, otherwise not.
3. I gave following tests:
GMAT prep (first test ever) - 750
Manhattan, Knewton,Kaplan - 720 ( in all), I know it is strange to score same in 3 consecutive test in 3 weeks
GMAT Prep final - 750
4. I always knew that I can manage Maths but not Verbal and as Sandeep Sir says spend most time on your weakness. I spent approximately 80% of my time on Verbal section.
5. There were not more than 3 or 4 days when I did not study from July 9th till 12th Oct for GMAT for less than 2 hours. I feel spending time daily on your weak points is the key.
My GMAT Test experience:
1. I learnt from my simulation test that I cannot perform well if I am under time pressure and tend to goof up questions. So I was sure not to be in that position at any cost, if it means guessing on any question (any means - questions of any level even if it is easy one) and move on. One question cannot screw my 5-6 questions or my test.
2. I finished my Maths 5 mins before and verbal 3 mins before.
3. I feel Maths was tougher than GMAT prep questions and Verbal was almost on par.
4. I was actually expecting to score 51 in Maths but I found few questions to be tougher than I anticipated. But I still feel that latest content prepares you for Maths section to the best. In fact I realized questions were actually not tough but tricky and since I did not expect them I would have made some silly mistakes.
5. SC - I think my most weakest area- I could never get much hold of it although I understood the questions well and did Latest content as well. I think it is because of my general weakness in Grammar and nothing to do with material or teaching style.
6. CR - I prepared from LSAT, but honestly, it was most surprising on the test. It was tougher than even LSAT, atleast I felt so. Many questions were too narrow to answer even after 2-3 readings. In LSAT answers can be easily eliminated but I could not do so easily on GMAT.
7. RC - It was manageable to a large extent. I think here one can improve with OCTAVE and understanding.
I gave my GMAT test today and scored 740 (Q 50, V 39), I know it is on the boundary of what you expect students to get and may not be very happy about it but I feel this is the limit for me. I believe that there is a upper limit for everyone to do something and I think this is it for me. It is definitely not because of your lack of the teaching style or material but because of my limitation of Verbal section. Apologies if I disappointed you, I am sorry for that. But please continue to guide me, I am looking for you continued help and guidance to get a admit in a good college. My journey of GMAT started with one of your special lecture in Jyothi Nivas College and I will need your continued guidance to make sure my journey reaches to its destination of admit in Top 10 college. Please let me know when can I call you to discuss how to go further. I will be working on preparing my resume from tomorrow onwards.
Debrief of my experience:
My journey of GMAT started with insistence of my wife and further kick started with Sandeep Sir's Jyothi Nivas special one day session. I never attended any previous GMAT classes/courses/sessions. However in the first one itself I knew I need to come to Ivy-GMAT. In that class, Sandeep Sir told "Do not join if you are not serious". "Do not come and report scores less than 740". I was convinced that this is the place I belong to. It must take a strong belief in self to claim these lines in presence of approximately 500 students. I joined 9th July batch and today I gave my test to score 740 in first attempt, may be not a great score as Ivy-GMAT standards but for someone who was always afraid of verbal and never even attempted to write GMAT/CAT ONLY because of Verbal scoring 740 is satisfactory. Sorry sir if it looks like I am contended with less. Few things I did while my preparation:
1. Sandeep sir always told to do homework before the class. I did not do homework in one of the RC class and filled with the guilt, never missed any homework inspite of my office travel out of station almost 3-4 weeks continuously.
2. I believed in Sandeep Sir - I really mean it. I believed in him more than in myself. I knew, if he is there I can do, otherwise not.
3. I gave following tests:
GMAT prep (first test ever) - 750
Manhattan, Knewton,Kaplan - 720 ( in all), I know it is strange to score same in 3 consecutive test in 3 weeks
GMAT Prep final - 750
4. I always knew that I can manage Maths but not Verbal and as Sandeep Sir says spend most time on your weakness. I spent approximately 80% of my time on Verbal section.
5. There were not more than 3 or 4 days when I did not study from July 9th till 12th Oct for GMAT for less than 2 hours. I feel spending time daily on your weak points is the key.
My GMAT Test experience:
1. I learnt from my simulation test that I cannot perform well if I am under time pressure and tend to goof up questions. So I was sure not to be in that position at any cost, if it means guessing on any question (any means - questions of any level even if it is easy one) and move on. One question cannot screw my 5-6 questions or my test.
2. I finished my Maths 5 mins before and verbal 3 mins before.
3. I feel Maths was tougher than GMAT prep questions and Verbal was almost on par.
4. I was actually expecting to score 51 in Maths but I found few questions to be tougher than I anticipated. But I still feel that latest content prepares you for Maths section to the best. In fact I realized questions were actually not tough but tricky and since I did not expect them I would have made some silly mistakes.
5. SC - I think my most weakest area- I could never get much hold of it although I understood the questions well and did Latest content as well. I think it is because of my general weakness in Grammar and nothing to do with material or teaching style.
6. CR - I prepared from LSAT, but honestly, it was most surprising on the test. It was tougher than even LSAT, atleast I felt so. Many questions were too narrow to answer even after 2-3 readings. In LSAT answers can be easily eliminated but I could not do so easily on GMAT.
7. RC - It was manageable to a large extent. I think here one can improve with OCTAVE and understanding.
8. I was confident of scoring atleast 720 on a bad day and 740-750 on a good day and decided to take out the pressure. I thought if I do not score today, November 1st is the next day and no need to panic.
9. While preparing for GMAT I always thought it is make or break situation in my life and prepared like there is no other day left. But while giving exam I told myself that it is just one exam which will not make much of difference in my life so take it easy. Believe me it works and you can fool the heart the way you want. I was not under pressure under exam.
10. I did long sitting - sometimes upto 5-5:30 hours till the point I feel like vomiting. I was fresh till the end in exam but had started feeling hungry in the end. I think sitting continuous is one of the key.
All this only my belief which may be wrong but I just shared as I feel. If anyone has any questions please ask, I will be happy to answer.
Ravi Mittal,
9. While preparing for GMAT I always thought it is make or break situation in my life and prepared like there is no other day left. But while giving exam I told myself that it is just one exam which will not make much of difference in my life so take it easy. Believe me it works and you can fool the heart the way you want. I was not under pressure under exam.
10. I did long sitting - sometimes upto 5-5:30 hours till the point I feel like vomiting. I was fresh till the end in exam but had started feeling hungry in the end. I think sitting continuous is one of the key.
All this only my belief which may be wrong but I just shared as I feel. If anyone has any questions please ask, I will be happy to answer.
Ravi Mittal,
***********************
Alpa Dedhia - alpa.jdedhia@gmail.
Hi Sandeep
Happy New Year 2013 :)
I should have written this mail a while ago.
I scored 740. I will be taking GMAT again in June. Since I want to apply for next year I think I can take one more attempt.
Although accuracy was not a problem for me,pace was a very big challenge.
If I could have done better with pace,I would have got a better score.
I simply followed your study plan. I think that is enough to get anyone through. Though I managed to complete only about 80% of what you had asked to practice.
Thanks for all the help Sandeep
Alpa
****************
I took the exam today and scored 740 (Q50 / V40).
Appreciate your help for me to reach this score.
Before joining your classes, I thought 700 should be my target.
But you changed my perception totally and made me believe that I can score 750. A BIG thanks for that.
for the moment I am enjoying my score, but I am planning to retake GMAT in near future.
Not getting 51 in Quant has bothered me more than not reaching 750 mark.
Hope I will be able achieve both in my next attempt.
Once again Thanks a lot for all your support.
Thanks, Vidya
