GMAT 680 and CAT 98th Percentile: Hemant Prashar's Dual Success Story

Preparing for the GMAT and CAT together creates a difficult question: how do you build skills for both exams without splitting your attention too thin? Reading, reasoning and mathematics overlap, but each exam asks you to apply those skills differently.

Hemant Prashar achieved a GMAT score of 680 and the 98th percentile in CAT. His success story at VerbalHub, with Hasan Raja Sir as his primary verbal mentor, offers a useful starting point for aspirants pursuing both exams.

The preparation themes are practical: master concepts, read for structure, eliminate options with evidence and learn from mock tests. Below, we organise those themes into a four-phase framework that readers can apply to their own preparation.

Hemant's Success Story at a Glance

Explore the accompanying video: Crush the GMAT and CAT: Proven Tips and Strategies for Exam Success.

Score context: Hemant's reported GMAT 680 belongs to the earlier GMAT scoring scale. Readers preparing for the current exam should compare results using the relevant scoring scale rather than treating the numbers as directly interchangeable.

The Challenge of GMAT and CAT Preparation Together

Dual preparation works best when you recognise two things: which skills transfer, and which decisions require separate practice.

Understanding percentages helps across exams. So does identifying an author's main argument. But knowing a concept is different from applying it under the conditions of a particular test.

Build shared skills, then practise exam-specific decisions

For GMAT verbal preparation, close reasoning matters. You need to distinguish what a passage supports from what merely sounds reasonable. Critical Reasoning also requires careful attention to conclusions, evidence and assumptions.

CAT VARC demands accurate reading alongside effective question selection and time management. Quantitative preparation needs both conceptual understanding and the ability to choose a workable method. DILR requires its own practice in organising information and assessing sets.

The goal is to connect useful skills while preserving dedicated practice for each exam.

For example, you can use a passage to practise identifying paragraph roles. You should then apply that reading method to questions written for the exam you plan to take.

Avoid the common dual-preparation pitfalls

Students often lose time through habits that appear productive:

• Switching exams without a weekly plan. Study sessions become reactive, leaving some areas untouched.
• Counting questions instead of checking learning. Completing 50 questions helps little if the same mistake appears repeatedly.
• Using one timing approach everywhere. Different tasks require different decisions about persistence and selection.
• Reviewing only incorrect answers. A lucky guess or a slow correct answer can reveal an unresolved weakness.
• Changing resources too frequently. Each new source interrupts the cycle of learning, practice and review.

A structured course can help organise that cycle. VerbalHub's GMAT Online Coaching describes personalised tutoring and targeted practice, while its CAT Online Coaching outlines phased learning and full-test discussion.

A Four-Phase Framework for Dual-Exam Preparation

Hemant's reported results give this story its destination. The preparation themes supplied for his journey provide the basis for the framework below. These phases are a practical guide, rather than a claim about the exact order or duration of his study schedule.

Phase 1: Diagnose and Map Your Baseline

Before building a timetable, find out what is causing your errors.

Take an exam-appropriate diagnostic for each test. Then review performance by skill, rather than looking only at the overall score.

For Verbal and VARC, ask:

• Do I misunderstand the passage or the question?
• Can I identify the main point?
• Do I confuse an inference with an unsupported possibility?
• Can I explain why the closest wrong option fails?
• Does accuracy fall when I introduce a timer?

For Quant, separate concept gaps from execution mistakes. Not knowing how ratios work requires teaching. Setting up the correct ratio and copying a number incorrectly requires a different repair.

Make each diagnosis specific.

"RC is weak" gives you little direction. "I choose answers that extend beyond the passage" tells you what to practise.

Choose two or three priorities for the next week. Trying to repair everything at once makes progress difficult to measure.

Phase 2: Learn the Core Method

A dependable method should explain both how to reach an answer and how to reject a tempting alternative.

The verbal preparation themes associated with Hemant's story — structural reading, Critical Reasoning logic and systematic elimination — offer a useful foundation for work with Hasan Raja Sir.

Structural reading means noticing what each paragraph does.

A paragraph may introduce a problem, present an explanation, challenge a claim or describe a finding. Short notes such as "problem → old explanation → objection → new evidence" can help you follow the passage without copying it.

Consider this example:

A passage introduces a theory, describes evidence against it and proposes an alternative. An answer that presents the original theory as the author's final position misses the structure, even if it repeats words from the passage.

For Critical Reasoning, begin with three questions:

1. What is the conclusion?
2. What evidence supports it?
3. What connection does the argument assume?

Suppose a business claims that a new advertisement caused sales to rise. The increase alone does not establish that cause. A price reduction or seasonal demand might also explain it.

For option elimination, name the flaw. An answer may reverse the relationship, change the scope, introduce an unsupported claim or answer a different question.

This makes elimination easier to review with a mentor. "It felt wrong" is difficult to improve. "It changes 'some customers' to 'all customers'" is a clear reasoning decision.

Phase 3: Practise with a Defined Purpose

Once you understand the method, practise applying it consistently.

Begin with untimed sets when the skill is unfamiliar. Explain your reasoning before checking the solution. Then move to timed sets once your decisions become reliable.

A useful progression is:

• Learn the concept or method.
• Complete a small focused set.
• Review every uncertain answer.
• Attempt a fresh timed set.
• Check whether the same error returns.

Keep an error log that is short enough to maintain.

For each important mistake, record the question type, the cause and one corrective action.

For example:

Error: Selected an inference that went beyond the passage.

Cause: Treated a plausible explanation as established evidence.

Repair: Identify the supporting sentence before accepting the answer.

Avoid filling your log with copied solutions. The purpose is to change your next decision.

Accuracy before speed does not mean remaining untimed indefinitely. It means establishing a workable method before asking yourself to execute it faster.

Phase 4: Analyse Mocks and Rehearse Exam Decisions

A mock test gives you a result. Analysis tells you what to change.

Review four groups of questions:

• Incorrect answers.
• Correct answers reached through guessing.
• Correct answers that consumed excessive time.
• Questions skipped or rushed because of earlier decisions.

Ask what caused the outcome. Was the method weak? Did you misread a condition? Did you continue working after progress had stopped?

For CAT preparation, examine whether your question and set selection helped you use the section time well. For GMAT preparation, examine whether difficult questions disrupted your pace and reduced attention on later tasks.

Choose one or two adjustments for the next mock. Changing your reading style, timing rules and attempt strategy simultaneously makes it hard to identify what worked.

Readiness comes from repeating useful decisions under test conditions.

The Role of Hasan Raja Sir and VerbalHub Mentorship

As Hemant's primary verbal mentor, Hasan Raja Sir, Lead Verbal Faculty at VerbalHub, is central to the story's emphasis on guided preparation.

For aspirants considering similar support, the value of one-on-one coaching lies in making feedback specific. A tutor can examine how you reached an answer, identify a repeated reasoning error and assign practice that addresses that error.

VerbalHub's GMAT tutoring page describes assessment of individual strengths and weaknesses, customised preparation and targeted questions.

A productive mentoring routine can include:

• Individual performance tracking: Compare accuracy, timing and recurring errors by topic.
• Error-log reviews: Turn repeated mistakes into focused practice tasks.
• Live reasoning discussion: Explain your answer before the tutor explains the solution.
• Confidence building: Use evidence of better decisions to assess progress.

This approach also helps students avoid treating every disappointing mock as a complete failure. A lower score deserves investigation. It does not automatically mean every part of the preparation plan is ineffective.

Five Practical Takeaways for GMAT and CAT Aspirants

Hemant's GMAT 680 and CAT 98th-percentile milestones provide encouragement. The preparation themes give readers concrete actions.

1. Start with separate diagnostics. Identify what transfers between exams and what needs dedicated practice.
2. Read for structure. After each passage, explain the main point and the role of each paragraph.
3. Justify elimination. Name the exact reason an option fails instead of relying on familiarity or instinct.
4. Review uncertain correct answers. A correct selection does not always mean the reasoning was sound.
5. Retest your repairs. Apply each lesson to fresh questions before deciding that the weakness is resolved.

For more explanations and practice guidance, explore the VerbalHub Learning Blog. Select articles that address your current weakness, then apply the method in your next study session.

Turn Your Next Study Session into a Clear Step Forward

Hemant Prashar's dual achievement — GMAT 680 and CAT 98th percentile — gives aspirants a strong reason to take structured preparation seriously.

The useful lesson is actionable: identify the weakness, learn a clear method, practise deliberately and use mock analysis to refine your decisions. Personalised mentorship can help keep those steps connected.

Start with a diagnostic test and write down your three largest preparation gaps. If you want help interpreting them, contact VerbalHub to request a free one-on-one strategy session with Hasan Raja Sir.

Bring your recent scores, study schedule and a few questions you struggled with. Those details create a better starting point for discussing your GMAT or CAT preparation plan.

Individual results may vary depending on the starting level, preparation time, consistency and test-day performance.