r/GMAT_INDIA

It would be extremely helpful if someone can advice me:-

1. I’m currently preparing for GMAT and yet to give my first attempt in August end. Since this will be very close to the ISB R1 deadlines plus everything depends on the score first so, is it better if i wait and apply in R2 or do the chances of selection reduce in R2 (including IIMs)? Even if I go for R2 - what would be your suggestion on the last month that i should target to have the GMAT final score?

2. I’m very skeptical about working with a consultant (mainly because they are expensive af) and planning to do applications on my own - for folks who didn’t go for one, can you tell me how you managed and planned everything ? Like how and by what time did you get your essays ready and when did you appear for the GMAT?

My profile:

->26F
-> 10th - 91% ; 12th - 90% ; College: 7.8 CGPA
->Cleared CA intermediate along with full time college (didn’t go further for CA finals and started working full time right after college)
-> graduated in 2021 from Gargi, DU [Bcom (Hons)]
->4.6 yrs of experience as of now (Macquarie + Blackrock)

I've recently started preparing for the GMAT, but I'm finding it difficult to stay consistent on my own. I'm looking for a study buddy who's also preparing for the GMAT so we can keep each other accountable, stay motivated, and work toward getting into a great business school together.

A little about me: I'm a 26M with 4 years of work experience, and I'm available to study every day from 8:00 PM to 12:00 AM. If you're studying during the same time slot and are looking for a serious GMAT study partner, feel free to reach out. Let's keep each other accountable, stay consistent, and achieve our goals together! 🙌

I've been browsing GMAT forums for a while, and I've started wondering if there's a bit of selection bias going on. It seems like people who have a bad test experience are naturally more motivated to post about it, seek advice, and discuss what went wrong, while those whose exams go smoothly are less likely to share.

That said, I've noticed a growing number of recent test-takers describing the Data Insights (DI) section as the biggest wildcard on the exam. Many say it felt significantly different from what they practised (lengthy, complex, and whatnot) or that it ended up being their toughest section.

For those who've taken the GMAT recently—or tutors and mentors who've worked with recent test-takers—how accurate is this perception? Is the "DI disaster" narrative being exaggerated because of reporting bias, or have you genuinely seen DI become more unpredictable or challenging on the actual exam?

I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences and insights. Thanks in advance!

NEED TTA REFERRAL.

I am planning to purchase TTA but it is quite expensive for me (899$ for the 6month course). Could anyone please share a referral? I am also open to purchasing from someone who has bought it and now wants to resell or if there is another round away.

I am 25, F, 9/9/9, 4 years consulting work ex, client facing role, postgrad econ

How do i kickstart my gmat prep? Have an extremely hectic schedule with frequent travel, what resources do you guys follow for gmat prep? Any coaching ?

I am also planning for international programs, is there any institute that you are following for your prep? How is the top one percent gmat prep stuff ? Really clueless. Have looked up reviews online and i am confused.

Would appreciate any lead please!

same as title

https://preview.redd.it/b55eau2e29ah1.jpg?width=1265&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7dda224fb78970fa5a4191ef67ded617ab6cc16c

Hi everyone,

I’ve been preparing for the GMAT myself. I was just deep in my own GMAT prep, falling down the r/GMAT and GMAT Club rabbit hole every night trying to figure out what actually moves the needle. One person credits a resource, another mentions a retake, someone else finally cracks DI timing — but it was all scattered across hundreds of posts and impossible to see as a whole.

So one weekend I built myself a quick dashboard just to keep track of it for my own prep. Nothing fancy, just something to stop me from re-reading the same threads over and over.

Then over time, I had about 300+ debriefs structured in one place, I started noticing real patterns — and honestly, it got more useful to me than I expected. So I cleaned it up a bit and figured other people studying right now might want to poke around in it too.

Here's examples of what falls out of the data:

https://preview.redd.it/b2x41un629ah1.jpg?width=1265&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d40a8633a02791c84a17b198baba8321be08e454

https://preview.redd.it/a2fgh95929ah1.jpg?width=1265&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=335ef36352b49d83f441f89fdc789ddd5af3fa1a

You can click around the site. See where it goes. The tool is 100% free to use.

To be clear about what this is: it's just an independent side project. These are patterns in what people self-reported — not proof that any one resource or tactic causes a higher score. Treat it as a starting point for your own digging, not a verdict.

If you're prepping right now, here it is: 👉 https://prepsignals.vercel.app/

PLEASE NOTE: I SAW A LOT OF YOU USING THE MOBILE WEB, SO I'M ADJUSTING THE UX/UI TO BE MORE FRIENDLY!

Still rough around the edges — would genuinely love feedback on what's missing or what you'd want to see filtered/shown differently!

Hey everyone, I’m finalizing my prep strategy for the next couple of months and I’m pretty set on getting the GMAT Club Test Series, mostly to drill the advanced Quant sections.

Before I buy, I wanted to see how others found the sectional & full length mocks. Also, if anyone else is currently planning to get it or looking into it right now, feel free to reach out, might be good to coordinate our prep schedules or figure out a way to optimize the resource together. Let me know!

I am a bad student at Quants, particularly, and as GMAT is an international exam, I was going through all the prep material that GMAT has. I found out that maybe the international level of Quants is not my sort of a thing, so I just wanted to try out something new. I saw GMAT wallah foundation batch free YouTube videos, and I sort of started to understand each and every concept there.

I was thinking if GMAT wallah, just for specifically Quants, is good for me or not, because I feel Quants is my least strong subject. For Verbal, I am decent at it. I might not be actually using Physicswala's Verbal, but I am looking to try it out. Anyone has tried GMAT Physicswala? I'll be happy to ask a few questions. Particularly, I want GMAT Physicswala for Quants, Verbal, and RC. I might be able to handle DI through other resources that I have. Give me your honest reviews here.

I am a 29M working in Delhi. Goal is to clear GMAT and get into ISB or a tier 1 institute in Europe next year.

I am looking for someone with whom I can prepare, preferably self preparation and not from coaching centre. I'd like to visit a library or some other public place where we could sit and prepare together 1-2 times a week.

From 675 to elite scoring — what actually moved the needle for me

For a long time I kept asking myself the same thing. I come from an engineering background, so the math was never really the problem. Why couldn't I break into the higher bands? Turned out it had nothing to do with what I knew and everything to do with how I was executing under pressure. That shift is what eventually got me to a 675 (V82, Q88, DI81).

The gap was process, not knowledge

My biggest leak was missing small details — the question asks for the factor that doesn't match and I'd answer for the one that does. Classic rushing. I was so fixated on staying under two minutes that I'd skip the read and pay for it later. What fixed it was almost embarrassingly simple: I started giving each question 15-20 seconds just to read it, jot down what's actually being asked, and plan before solving anything.

Coming from engineering, I also had to unlearn something. The exam doesn't care how you get there — it only wants the right answer. There are a dozen ways to solve any question; the only one that matters is the fastest one for you. Letting go of the "proper" long method was harder than it sounds.

Studying less, but smarter

The thing that saved me the most time was being honest about where I was already strong and just... not restudying it. I stopped grinding through material I'd already mastered and put that time into the question types that were genuinely costing me points. You're not studying more hours, you're studying the right ones. That's the whole trick to a fast turnaround.

Having a rough roadmap from day one helped too — knowing my baseline, my target, and roughly how long the gap would realistically take to close. It replaced vague hope with an actual plan.

Data Insights — I treated it like a video game

DI is where I had the most fun, honestly. I started thinking about it like game levels: the early ones teach you the rules, and by the final level you just play. Before touching the questions I'd build a mental map of the data — how set A feeds into B, how B affects C — so by the time I read the actual prompt, the answer was almost obvious.

Two-part analysis questions I used to burn five minutes over-solving became reliable points. My read-and-plan time settled into that 15-20 second window, and my accuracy on the harder bands climbed instead of stalling. It wasn't just a number moving — I could feel that I was handling the data differently.

The last mile and honest self-diagnosis

The hardest shift in DI was acceptance. I decided I'd confidently solve 16-17 questions, mark the ones I was unsure about, and guess the rest rather than panic my way through all of them. That's a behavioural gap, not a skill gap — and behavioural gaps are nearly impossible to spot in yourself. Skill gaps show up in your data; the mental ones hide. Having someone outside flag the patterns I couldn't see kept me honest.

Final thoughts

Build your own process, refine it through sectional mocks, and once it clicks the whole thing flows like water. And genuinely — have some fun with it. Treat it like a game. That mindset did more for my score than any single piece of content.

Hi everyone,
I’m planning to prepare for the GMAT with the goal of applying to top B-schools. Looking for a serious and consistent study partner who’s also starting their prep (or is in the early stages).

Hello all, I have 9 yrs of experience in amazon and currently at IC role with around 15 lpa in analytics field. I am planning to give gmat and attend an executive mba of 1 year. For round 2 applications, I have around 3 months or so to give test. It has been a while since I have done anything related to quant. Doing mba in 2026 would be a good decision? Considering I will also lose my 1 year cost. Does most of the students get placed in iim's, spjain, xlri, mdi etc? Also I saw one two year weekend programs of iim K which equates to a full time mba degree. Does that also have good importance? Need insights on these fronts.

Last 3 mock scores

21st June Official mock 4 - 595 (V81, Q79 and DI 79)

10th June official mock 3 - 645 (Q83, V81 and DI 82)

3rd June Official mock 2- 605 (Q80, DI79 and V81)

I am using EGmat and TTP as my resources. Mainly TTP for concept building and targeted practise.
Have my exam on 2nd July. Have been maintaining detailed error logs as well. But at this stage i am not sure what will be the best strategy to enhance my chances of a 655 plus score. Feeling confused and all over the place given a lower score recently.

I took the GMAT Focus about a year ago and scored 655 (Q84, V79, DI85). I'm planning a retake for the upcoming admissions cycle and aiming for 685–705+.

Based on my Enhanced Score Report, Verbal was clearly the weakest section, particularly Critical Reasoning. Quant and DI felt much more natural, and I believe I can get back to my current levels there without too much trouble.

I have roughly 11 weeks to prepare and can dedicate 4–5 hours daily.

Current plan:

• GMAT Ninja for Verbal fundamentals
• Practise RC/CR questions from GMATclub
• TTP for Quant refresh and DI practice

A few questions for those who have successfully improved Verbal:

1. Does this overall approach make sense for an 11-week timeline?
2. Given that I can study 4–5 hours daily, how would you split time between CR, RC, Quant, and DI?
3. For RC, how many passages should I be doing per day/week?
4. What accuracy level should I target before considering myself "test-ready" for both RC and CR?
5. If you improved from a similar Verbal score (V79-ish), what made the biggest difference?
6. Are there any resources you'd prioritize over GMAT Ninja + Official Questions?

One additional factor is superscoring. My assumption is that multiple attempts increase the likelihood of ending up with a stronger superscore, but I'm not sure how schools will weigh a superscore versus the highest overall GMAT score.

Target schools: ISB, IIM Ahmedabad PGPX, Duke Fuqua, and INSEAD.

Would appreciate any advice from people who have gone from the mid-600s to the high-600s/700+ range, especially through Verbal improvement or a smart superscore strategy.

https://preview.redd.it/ucp1kohkd89h1.png?width=1067&format=png&auto=webp&s=20048282f4642aa3fcbbbd983b2bf82f0ace6091

Verbal Attempt:

https://preview.redd.it/v2j9cohkd89h1.png?width=597&format=png&auto=webp&s=e9aa871329a16ad8b73385ef45f1123fb07f5901

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some realistic advice regarding my MBA plans.

A bit about my profile:

• Graduated in 2022.
• By the time applications are submitted this year, I'll have around 2.5 years of work experience.
• I've worked as a Researcher in executive search firms, primarily focused on talent mapping and candidate research.
• Earlier this year, I left my job to focus on GMAT preparation.
• My original plan was to take the GMAT in May, but preparation has taken longer than expected, and I'm now targeting August.
• I haven't taken an official mock yet (first mock scheduled for June 27th), which should give me a realistic indication of whether an August test date is achievable.

My concern is that I want to get the GMAT done, return to work as soon as possible, and then work on applications/essays while employed. Since I'm targeting 2027 intake, I'll be applying this year with what is essentially only ~2.5 years of experience.

My questions:

1. If I manage to get a strong GMAT score (say 715-755 FE equivalent), would I still be competitive for top programs despite having only ~2.5 years of work experience?
2. How much does relatively limited work experience hurt candidates at schools like Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, Booth, Columbia, MIT Sloan, LBS, INSEAD, etc.?
3. Are there examples of candidates with executive search/recruitment backgrounds successfully getting into these schools?
4. Is it worth applying in R1/R2 this year, or would I be significantly better off waiting another year and applying with closer to 4 years of experience?

I'm looking for realistic feedback rather than encouragement. If you were on an admissions committee, would this profile be considered too early for top programs, or could a strong GMAT and good storytelling make it viable?

Thanks in advance.

Can I go for GMAT or not?

Hi, I am 30F, working as an associate(clerical job) in State Bank of India for 5 years now, joined in january 2025. I want a career switch. I haven't done much in my life in career terms .I am planning to prepare for GMAT to get into any top B School for MBA. Is it possible if I score good in GMAT? Can anyone guide?

Qualification Year Score 10th (ICSE) 2010 ~68% 12th (ISC) 2012 ~72% B.Sc. (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics) 2015 1069/1800 = 59.4% M.A. Political Science 2017 CGPA 6.92/10

To those who have taken the GMAT and scored over 675.
For all sections - Q, CR, DS/DI - how many questions are medium and hard in each?

How are you guys managing it?

I am feeling so lost! :)

I’m feeling anxious about Monday starting and how I’m going to manage work and get things done. I don’t know how things are going to go.

I’m fresh out of college. I worked at one company for a couple of months and left because I thought I would pursue an MBA. My exam didn’t go well, and after that I picked up another job. Now this job is quite hectic and I’m learning a completely new domain.

The thing is, I don’t think I want to pursue finance in the long run. Whenever I think about my future, I feel like I want to do something in marketing because it seems more creative. But at the same time, I don’t feel like I have the skills for it right now.

I’m also preparing for the GMAT, and sometimes I feel confused about how I’m supposed to manage everything together—work, GMAT prep, learning new skills, and figuring out my career.

What makes it harder is that in my previous job, I kept thinking about leaving. Now I’m having similar thoughts again. I keep wondering whether I should leave this job too or whether I should just continue and focus on my preparation alongside work.

I’m still in my probation period, which makes me question things even more.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? How did you manage your preparation while working?

Did you continue with the job even when you weren’t sure about the long-term career path, or did you decide to leave and focus completely on your goals?