Personalised GMAT Study Plan by Shubham Joshi: How to Score 690 in GMAT with a Job

Meet Shubham Joshi, who scored 690 on the GMAT Exam. Shubham is selected for the Post-Graduate Programme in Management for Executives (PGPX) at IIM Ahmedabad. Coming from a Mechanical Engineering background, Shubham has around 11 years of industry experience and is currently working with Bajaj Auto.

Graduate Management Admission Test or GMAT is a widely popular exam for b-school aspirants in 110 countries. GMAT Score is accepted for 7,700 programs including MBA and master degree programs at 2,400 universities in the world.

In conversation with Careers360, Shubham shared how he managed GMAT preparation along with a full-time job. Read the exclusive interview of Shubham Joshi with Careers360, wherein he shares how he got his target score on the GMAT exam, his journey so far, and useful insights for the GMAT aspirants.

GMAT Success Story

Careers360: First tell us about yourself, and your academic and professional background.

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Shubham: My name is Shubham Joshi. I am from Khargaon, near Indore. I did my graduation in mechanical engineering, from SGSITS, Indore. Post that I worked in the automobile industry for about a decade, for almost 11 years. I am in Bajaj right now, from where I will head to my MBA.

And I did my schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya. On the professional front, I am in Bajaj Auto in the electrical department. I look after instrument cluster design and development for the last seven and a half years.

Before that, I was in Whirlpool and then prior to that, I was in Minda, where I started my career.

Careers360: You scored 690 on the GMAT. How many attempts did it take to get your targeted score?

Shubham: This was my fourth attempt. So in all my four attempts, 690 was my best GMAT score. In my third attempt, I scored 680. Earlier to that point, it was 650 and in my first attempt, it was 630. So, I just progressed to 10 -20 scores in each attempt.

Careers360: Which college did you choose and for which course you are going for?

Shubham: I chose IIM Ahmedabad, PGPX. This a one-year residential program, MBA for executives, as you know. Usually, the average GMAT score is around 700. I applied to IIM Ahmedabad only because that's the college that is in line with my experience. So far I applied to one college in India and that is IIM Ahmedabad and fortunately, I converted that.

Careers360: So when did you start preparing for the GMAT exam? Have you prepared through any coaching or just self-study?

Shubham: I started my coaching in 2019. So that was the time when I started, my target college was IIM Ahmedabad, ISB and IIM Bangalore. Then Covid hit so I just left the preparation in between.

I joined Jamboore for coaching. I took the offline classes over there for two months. Post 2019 I did the self-preparation, so in the first two attempts where I scored 630 was through Jamboore.

Post that I did the self-preparation from my side and then in 20221-22, I appeared in the GMAT again, for three times before scoring the target one.

Careers360: As you mentioned you are working with Bajaj, so how do you manage your time along with the job?

Shubham: The last attempt, where I got the target score was a tedious one. It is not easy to score well along with a full time job. That's for sure.

So my typical day was like waking up at around 3:30 - 4 AM and then studying for three hours straight, then heading to the office at somewhere around 8:30 am, coming back to 7:30 PM, and then analysing and doing the preparation.

So I have dedicated approximately four to five hours for GMAT plus the workload going in the office. So as soon as I get the time, I usually go for some preparation on GMAT club. So it was a tedious one. I can assure you that if you're working and preparing for GMAT, it's a tough job. It is a shared dedication, the motivation to come out of the industry and then go for the MBA.

So that was the motivation for me. And that is what like putting myself in the shoes where I can do everything systematically and with discipline.

Careers360: How was your experience of taking the first GMAT test?

Shubham: It was a little bit surprising because I was scoring decent scores in mock tests. Usually, I was scoring 700+, but when I applied for the exam, I was so surprised that it was less than 70 of what I used to score. That’s when I realised that on the GMAT mock tests, we just need to negate 50 or 60 marks. That is how the score will be. For my last attempt, I was consistently scoring 740-750, and then you can see that I got minus 50 from the last one.

Overall, It was a great experience, I learnt a lot. GMAT is a very logical exam, it does not require a rigorous understanding of concepts just like the CAT. But you do require a logical approach in quant and verbal reasoning. My first attempt was like dopamine for me, so I applied again and again for four times, until I got the desired score.

Now they have changed the GMAT exam pattern, and unfortunately, I have not seen the new format. Now it is more of a logical side and less of a time-consuming exam. In the current GMAT version, the exam duration is around three and a half hours, but they now reduced it to 2 hour 15 minutes. GMAC also removed some sections.

The GMAT Focus edition is a shorter exam, but I believe it is more of a tougher one because now you have less number of questions to score more. The percentile system they use globally may be on the tougher side. So it is now tougher to score 700 plus in GMAT now, compared to what it used to be.

Careers360: As per your experience, which section is the toughest in the GMAT exam, and how you prepare for it?

Shubham: If I take the top percentile of students in India, I think quant is no problem for anyone. If you are from an engineering background, or if you have a maths background in schooling, I don’t think quant is a problem for you.

But mostly, it will be the vocab section. For me, it was the sentence correction. It was a hit or miss, either you know or you don’t know. I prepared for sentence correction a lot. If I quantify the number of questions I attempted before the exam, it was close to a thousand. I did a lot of practice for the sentence correction. I created some of my tricks and fortunately, I got the score.

Careers360: Please share some useful resources for future GMAT aspirants, that helped you throughout your preparation.

Shubham: So this is what worked for me till the interview level.

First, the GMAT club is the best resource for GMAT exam. You have a lot of things over there, their customised test series, number of questions, and they also share analysis of other aspirants. It is an open community platform. If you can use it properly, then this is the best resource you can get.

Another important resource is the official GMAC bundles, their 1 to 6 mock tests and preparation for the vocab and quant. This is more than sufficient, but if you want to go the extra mile then, Expert Global is another good resource. I did their mock, and it somehow resembles the actual GMAT. Jamboree also has the best test series in terms of section as well as full test. I also attempted Manhattan, Kaplan and some others. I almost attempted all the famous mock tests, but the best one was the GMAT Club.

Careers360: As a working professional, how much time do you think is sufficient for the GMAT preparation?

Shubham: If you are preparing from the conceptual level, then initially you require 3 to 4 hours.

Once you understand how the GMAT works, how the exam is, and the adaptiveness of GMAT, then you can slowly reduce the effect on learning, and start putting the effort on mocks and the test series. For me 3 hours of mock test and an additional two to three hours for analysis purposes.

Analysis of the exam is really important, as if you do it properly then it reduces your efforts in future. I started with two and a half hours of analysis and worked on my weak areas. So eventually at the end of the preparation, I was just doing the test, and then one hour of analysis just to see where I was making mistakes.

Careers360: One piece of advice for future GMAT aspirants.

Shubham: Do not lose hope. When I came out of the interview for PGPX, I thought it would never convert, I was hopeless, but then it got converted. So just give your best, GMAT will make you feel like you don’t know at all. After your first or second attempt, you may feel like what you did, how is this possible?

Try to connect to people who have already done it, to understand how to prepare, and what they were able to achieve in this short time. If you have work experience, so must have a lot of responsibility on work front. So you need to prepare it after the work time. Try to set the target, don’t think that I need to score 750 or 760, that is unrealistic for someone who is already working.

Another important thing is, try to have the target score for the school you are applying for. If you are looking to study abroad, then GMAT participating universities usually have a median GMAT score. Try to score above that, because GMAT is only one part of your application, post that it’s all your interview and professional journey.