GMAT with CJ

Today, I'm excited to publicly unveil my approach to Gap Analysis for the first time! I consider this a unique and fundamental tool for building the critical thinking abilities essential for GMAT CR. This method has consistently helped GMAT aspirants understand the anatomy of arguments – what holds them together and where they fall apart. It's about developing a systematic way to spot hidden assumptions and logical leaps. In my new article, I explain how to use Gap Analysis as a powerful practice technique to truly get a hang of CR, a skill applicable to dissecting arguments in all aspects of life. I hope this provides a new level of clarity for you! Read more: https://gmatwithcj.com/critical-reasoning/gap-analysis-the-master-key-to-unlock-gmat-critical-reasoning/ #CriticalReasoning #GMATTips #ArgumentAnalysis #SkillBuilding https://gmatwithcj.com/critical-reasoning/gap-analysis-the-master-key-to-unlock-gmat-critical-reasoning/

A student improved from taking 40 minutes per CR question to just 2 minutes. That kind of leap makes people curious about the method he used. Let me tell you. A part of the reason for his improvement lies in the fact that he was taking 40 minutes per question to begin with. I see a lot of people who struggle with comprehension and reasoning, but are unwilling to give more than 10–15 minutes to a CR question. Not because more time wouldn’t help — it would. But because they are too focused on eventually being able to do it in 2 minutes. So they don’t give themselves the time now. But this guy did. He was spending 40 minutes per question. That tells me two things: 1. His initial skill level was very low — that’s why it was taking him so long. 2. He was seriously trying to apply the method I was teaching. He was trying to understand every statement, dissect the logic fully before moving on. He was trying to learn, not just “solve somehow." Many approach me for guidance. But not everyone improves like this. This guy went from bottom 10th percentile to scoring in the 90th percentile on GMAT Verbal. It took him over 15 months. And for most of it, he was preparing full-time. It wasn’t a shortcut. It was a sincere commitment to skill-building. But think about it — he built skills that will stay with him for the rest of his life. Skills he didn’t have just 15 months ago. What better return on investment? Unfortunately, many people approach test prep as something to “get over with.” That may work if you already have the skills. But if you don’t — and you still rush through it — you’ll keep struggling. For years, in some cases. And then eventually settle for a subpar score or give up. Preparing for a well-designed test like GMAT offers an excellent opportunity to improve your skills. Use it.

I recently solved around 50 easy quant questions on GMAT Club. While people took, on average, about 1 minute per question (according to the stats), I averaged just 15 seconds — one-fourth the time. Now, someone might look at this and think: “Ah, he must know a lot of tricks.” But that’s not the case. And this brings me to a distinction that I think is crucial: The difference between using a trick and applying a concept. If you use a method without understanding why it works, you're using a trick. It may help in specific situations, but it’s rigid — it breaks down when the problem changes. However, every trick that works is rooted in some deeper principle. If you understand that principle — if you see where the trick comes from — it’s no longer just a trick for you. It becomes a flexible tool you can adapt. Take the divisibility rule for 3: “Add the digits. If the sum is divisible by 3, the number is too.” Used mechanically, it’s just a memorized trick. But pause and ask: Why does that work?

In my sessions, I often talk about the 'threshold of understanding' — the internal benchmark at which someone feels, "I have understood." Two people might both say they have understood something, yet their depths of understanding could be very different. For one, recognizing the words might be enough. For another, true understanding might require deeply internalizing the ideas. I often share a story to illustrate this. The five Pandavas were once told by their Guru, "Do not be angry." When asked if they understood, the younger four immediately said yes. But Yudhishthir, the eldest, kept saying, "I have not understood." Days later, after the Guru slapped him and Yudhishthir still did not feel anger, he said, "Now I have understood." When the Guru asked him how, Yudhishthir explained, "You slapped me, but I did not feel angry. That’s how I know I have truly understood your teaching." The point is: while the four brothers thought they had understood just by hearing the words, Yudhishthir needed to live t

Really pleased to share this positive feedback from a GMAT student (shared with permission). She recently scored a 635 on the GMAT, with a notable improvement in Verbal from the 35th to the 90th percentile! It's always rewarding to hear how students benefit from focusing on their approach and mindset. For those preparing for the GMAT, I share daily content, including pieces on the emotional and psychological journey of test prep, in my newsletter here: https://gmatwithcj.com/subscribe-to-cjs-daily-newsletter/ Congratulations to the student on their achievement!

Many GMAT aspirants get frustrated when their scores don’t improve, even after putting in a lot of effort. One big reason? They confuse the measurement with the mechanism. Let’s break it down: 🔹 "Metrics" are indicators — your GMAT score, your accuracy percentage, your time per question. They tell you "what happened". 🔹 "Drivers" are causes — your conceptual clarity, your process efficiency, your comfort level with different question types, your strategic judgment. They determine "why it happened". Now, caring about your GMAT score (the metric) is completely natural. But you can’t improve it just by wishing harder or practicing mindlessly. You improve your score by working on the drivers underneath. It’s a bit like farming. If you want a good harvest (your GMAT score), you can’t just stare at the field and demand more fruits. You have to take care of the soil, the water, the sunlight, and the seeds (your understanding, your process, your comfort). If you just keep tugging at the plants — hopin

You spend 60 minutes on a question and still don’t arrive at the answer. Was that a waste of time? Many would think so. No result, no value — what’s the point? But I think this is how I’ve truly learnt. I’ve spent hours — days, even — on questions without arriving at answers. But in trying, exploring, failing, and circling around ideas, something deeper was building within me. Now people say, “Wow, you reach answers so quickly, your clarity is amazing.” But this clarity was forged in the jungle of confusion. I got here because I allowed myself to get stuck, to be wrong, to follow ideas that led nowhere — and then look back and ask why. I stayed with that unsettled feeling instead of rushing to “knowing.” That “I know” state that feels so satisfying — it’s often just a mask. A shallow certainty that keeps us from going deeper. If you admire someone’s clarity, chances are, they’ve spent a long time in a space of not being clear. But they stayed there. They worked through it. And no — it doesn’t have to be

The Same Summit, Different Paths: Why Your GMAT Journey Is Uniquely Yours Three climbers. Same mountain. Same summit. Different challenges. One had the wrong clothes — tight jeans, a heavy jacket. Once he changed into the right gear, his pace transformed. He reached the summit quickly. And people clapped: “100-point improvement in 15 days!” Another wore the right clothes but didn’t know how to climb. He spent time learning techniques — rope work, foot placement, pacing. It took longer, but once things clicked, he moved consistently. 150 points in 3 months. Still impressive. And then, there’s the third one. He had the right gear. He even understood some of the technique. But he was out of shape. Lacked stamina. And more than that — he doubted himself. Every mistake hit him harder. Every slip made him wonder if he even belonged on the mountain. He didn’t talk to anyone — who would understand? He kept looking at others and thinking, "If they did it in 2 months, and I’ve been

Why am I not improving? Why do I keep making such silly mistakes? Why can't I get this question right? I’ve already gone through all the concepts. Why is it taking me so long to reach my target? Many students say these things. But they’re not really asking questions—they’re venting. These are statements of frustration, not inquiries born out of curiosity. And that’s perfectly understandable. We all want our efforts to pay off. When they don’t, frustration is natural. But what we do with that frustration makes a difference. In my sessions, I help students turn these emotional outbursts into real questions—ones that we can actually explore. Take this example: “I’ve already gone through this topic so many times—why am I still getting it wrong?” It sounds like a question, but it’s being used more as a complaint than a genuine attempt to understand. But if we shift the mindset just a little, it could become: “What exactly about this topic do I think I’ve understood but haven’t? Where does my understanding break down?” Now we have something to work with. If something isn’t working, there’s a reason. We can search for it with patience and sincerity—or we can repeat our frustration in different words, hoping that will be enough. One of those approaches moves us forward. The other keeps us stuck. Here’s a simple process I recommend to move from frustration to clarity: 1. Acknowledge the emotion: Recognize the frustration that is driving your thoughts or statements. 2. Identify the unmet need: Every negative emotion is a consequence of an unmet need. Ask yourself: what specific expectation or desire isn't being fulfilled? For example, in the case of "Why can't I get this question right? I’ve already gone through all the concepts." the unmet need is to see rewards for my efforts. 3. Extend self-compassion: Offer yourself compassion just as you would to someone who is sad because their needs are not being met. 4. Reframe as inquiry: Transform your venting statement into a specific, curious question about the root cause. For example, ask yourself: "What exactly about this topic do I think I’ve understood but haven’t? Where does my understanding break down?" 5. Accept not knowing and consequent helplessness: Recognize that you may not immediately know the answers to the questions posed in step 4. It may trigger a sense of helplessness. Accept it. Be patient with yourself and move to step 6. 6. Believe in the process and yourself: Believe that solutions emerge when we pursue them enough. Even though you may not have the answers to your questions, you can get those answers with patience and diligence.

"Do you like doing these questions?" I asked a student during our session. She smiled and said, "I love these questions… but they don't love me back." I paused for a moment and said, "Perhaps they do love you. That's why they push you—to grow, to become more than you were yesterday." Later, I found myself wondering: Perhaps what I said about GMAT questions is also true of life.

I don’t judge my students based on how they perform in sessions. Why? Because it simply doesn’t make sense. Why doesn’t it make sense? 1. They’re far more than their GMAT performance. Many of my students are incredibly skilled in other areas of life — areas where I might not even come close to their level of competence. They’re just struggling with one exam, and that’s exactly why they’ve come to me. How does it make sense for me to define them by the one thing they’re struggling with, when they may far surpass me in many other aspects of life? 2. Their current performance is temporary. What I’m seeing today is just a phase — not the final picture. With consistent effort, they will improve. In fact, helping them improve is my job. So why would I make a definitive judgment based on where they are now, instead of where they are capable of going? 3. Even if they never improve — they’re still worthy. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that they’re not better than me in any other area of life, and that their GMAT performance doesn’t improve. Even then — who am I to decide someone’s worth? Why should a person’s worth be measured by how much they’ve achieved? You are worthy simply because you exist. If I believe that a person’s worth depends on achievement, then my own worth will always be under threat — at the mercy of what I achieve. That’s a fearful way to live. Why would I choose it for myself?

It's common for students to feel tense after making mistakes in our sessions, worried that I might be judging them, especially for what they consider 'blunders' or 'very basic' errors. Recently, when I felt that tension in a student, I told her, Don't expect me to judge you. A judgment is a fixed label – it suggests 'this is who you are.' But that's not how I see you. You're here to learn and grow; your understanding will naturally change and expand. That's precisely why you've come to me. So, it would be foolish to judge you, i.e., to expect you to stay where you are. Don't expect me to do the foolish thing. The reason you expect me to judge you is that you are judging yourself. You call your doubts ‘stupid’ or unworthy of being asked. I don’t hold any such judgments. A doubt is never stupid or invalid. Its very existence gives it validity. If a doubt exists, it is valid. So I’d suggest: stop judging yourself—or your doubts—and just get on with learning. I am on your side. I may assess you to help you, but I will not judge you. Why? Because my goal is to support your learning journey, not to prematurely label it.

A student was extremely serious about his GMAT prep. So serious that he was all tensed up. This tension showed up in unexpected mistakes—errors I knew he was capable of avoiding. I told him, “I want you to be committed, not serious. If the GMAT truly matters to you, you need to let go of this seriousness. It’s getting in the way of your preparation.” If the outcome is important to you, stay committed. No need to be serious. Relax. That’s how you’ll do your best.

If you're too outcome-oriented, you'll fail. But the problem isn't outcome orientation itself. The problem is what this orientation does to many people — it traps them in constant worry about the outcome. Why? Because for most people, being outcome-oriented means constantly thinking about the outcome. But you can't directly get the outcome. And since you want it badly but can't get it directly, your mind ends up looping in anxiety. A more sensible way to be outcome-oriented is this: once you’ve laid out a clear path to the outcome, forget the outcome. Focus entirely on walking the path. You don’t reach the outcome by obsessing over it. You reach it by walking — steadily, consistently — in the direction that leads there. In that sense, true outcome orientation requires you to focus almost entirely on the process. Because it's the process that gets you outcome.

Join me for a 3-hour, 𝗶𝗻-𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 workshop where we’ll dissect one or two CR questions thoroughly, discovering a variety of comprehension, reasoning, and mindset hurdles that prevent people from mastering CR. • Date & Time Sunday, 25 May 2025 | 10 AM – 1 PM • Venue Tilak Nagar, Delhi • Investment ₹4000 (early-bird ₹3000 till 21 May) What you’ll take away – A step-by-step method to read CR passages with complete clarity – An awareness of the underlying problems – Ways to address the problems Seats are limited. Register here → https://bit.ly/cj25may Questions? Email me CJ@GMATwithCJ.com About me: I’m Chiranjeev Singh (CJ). Since 2012, I’ve helped more than a thousand GMAT aspirants sharpen their thinking. I have a 780 on the old GMAT and three 735s (100th percentile) on the current format of the GMAT. My teaching centers on asking questions—because once you do, deep understanding follows. What past attendees say: “Frankly speaking, this was one of the best sessions I have ever attended.” — Nishant Sharma “The in-person format challenged my thought process far more than any digital course.” — Nitin Singh If you’re ready to learn CR deeply, reserve your seat today. See you on Sunday! https://bit.ly/cj25may

When a GMAT Coach Walks Past a Billboard… Walking through Connaught Place, a storefront sign caught my eye: "MORE EXCITING OF FERS IN - STORE" And just like that, my mind kicked into thinking mode: "Exciting of what? Fers? What is that? Oh wait… it's meant to be OFFERS! More exciting offers..." But I couldn't stop there. More exciting than what? More exciting than last time? More exciting than offers at other stores? Or is it trying to say there are 'more' offers of the exciting kind? Here's something to think about—what's the difference between these two sentences? 1. "People are more excited" 2. "People are more than excited" Are both correct? Do they mean the same thing? The first one is incomplete without context—more excited than whom? Than before? Than expected? Yet, when the statement is made in a context that makes the second part of the comparison clear, the first sentence can work. The second sentence, though, suggests something beyond excitement—perhaps they're ecstatic,

Impatience gets you fast… to nowhere. May and June often bring a wave of restlessness for GMAT aspirants. With B-school deadlines looming, many feel the urge to "wrap it up fast"—regardless of where they are in their prep. But impatience leads to shortcuts. Skipping deep error analysis. Taking mocks too frequently. Rushing through topics. Ironically, these habits only slow down progress. There’s a quote I love: *“Infinite patience produces immediate results.”* It may sound paradoxical, but here's the insight: when you're truly patient, your focus shifts from *the result* to *the process.* You engage more deeply, learn more effectively—and often, reach your goal faster. So if you're feeling anxious, take a breath. Hold your nerve. Stay with the process. Give your best. Let the score take care of itself.

Once, a girl called me, all tensed. She had a 635 on the GMAT but wanted to get 685+ since she and her husband were planning to apply to the top US b-schools. Her husband already had a 695. She had been studying for a few months but hadn’t gotten near her target score. And she was at a stage where she used to have panic attacks out of guilt — that because of her, her husband couldn’t move ahead in his career. After hearing her out, I replied: Are you sure that doing an MBA is the right thing for you and your husband? Right now, you’re having panic attacks because your husband is not going for his MBA because of you. But what if you get a 695? And you both go to a top b-school and get your MBAs? Is it a guarantee that you both will get jobs? Don’t you know of people who go to top b-schools but still have to return to their country for various reasons? With an education loan of more than Rs 2 cr and no job — would that situation be better for you than this current one? The point is — we don’t really know what’s best for us. But we often get so fixated on achieving a specific outcome, as if we did. And we can end up killing ourselves inside for not reaching that outcome. What if we could accept our ignorance — that we don’t know what’s truly best for us? Maybe then, we could still give our best... and then let it rest.

"Just practice" for GMAT aspirants is the equivalent of "Take God's name" for religious people. One cure for all suffering → Take God's name. One solution for all GMAT-related problems → Just practice. Many a time, I ask a series of questions to arrive at the root cause of a person's problem. Then, I ask them, "How would you resolve this?" Almost always the answer is, "Sir, I'll practice." Then I ask, "But how will practice solve this particular problem?" Silence. If practice alone could solve problems, nobody would have problems—because everyone can practice. For practice to be helpful, it has to be driven by a clear objective. You need to know what you’re trying to get out of it. Your process has to be aligned with that objective. Only then does practice actually help. Otherwise, it’s just a form of mental reassurance.

How does untimed practice make sense if I’m preparing for a timed test? Right. It doesn’t. In fact, I believe your practice should also be adaptive since the test is adaptive. Each session must include exactly 21 Quant, 23 Verbal, and 20 DI questions. And of course, you should finish the entire set in exactly 150 minutes. Preferably in the presence of a proctor. (If you are still taking what I wrote above seriously, take a couple of deeeeeep breaths.) --- If you’re learning to drive, dance, play a sport, or an instrument—do you start at the same speed you eventually aim to perform at? If you want to dance to a particular song and don’t know the choreography yet, do you start by dancing at full speed? No. You’d trip, stumble, and possibly make a fool of yourself. That sounds obviously absurd, right? Just that… somehow we don’t see that absurdity in the GMAT context. Probably, you can see it now. In short, it makes a lot of sense to practice untimed for a timed test—because performing under time pressure depends on the depth and clarity of the skill you’ve built. And skill-building takes time.