I took the GMAT a few months ago and I wanted to share my experiences, tips and advice with the rest of the community. Here's how I would go about it in hindsight:
1. Figure out your schools' average or median gmat score and set yourself a target score based on how you meet their other requirements and application needs
2. Figure out when you want to take the GMAT. Most people prep for about 2-3 months for it and then take it. I did a crash course on it and did the prep in 3 weeks to a month along with some other stuff.
3. Go to the GMAT's official website, download GMAT prep software and download GMAT Prep Pack 1 (completely worth it).
4. Once you have the GMAT prep software, set aside some time and dive into a practice test and do EVERY part of it and simulate test conditions (aka go to your local library or school library, put your headphones in w/o music to simulate the ear buds they'll give you on test day, take exactly or less than 8 minutes per allowable break and have no other interruptions).
5. After you take your practice test, sit down and analyze your score. Go through and review your incorrect answers and figure out the concepts you most need to work on.
Quick Tip: The GMAT is all about percentiles. I'd focus on verbal section first since your verbal score percentile most closely reflects your GMAT total score percentile. You can get a 46Q (66th percentile) and a 40V (90th percentile) and end up with a 700 (89th percentile)
6. Go to beatthegmat.com and go to their resources section and download those flashcards. They will be immensely helpful for when you're short on time but still want to get some prep in. Scour the site for other resources as well. Find "chineseburned" 's AWA prep template. It's the best and most concise. You can also find study guides on here and some possible free prep trials. I'd use the Economist's free trial (they don't ask for any billing information and it's 7 days free trial so I'd use it when you have the most free time so you can make full use of all the resources they give you). Also, you don't really need a prep course (but go for it as I don't see how they can hurt your learning) but I would get the OG to the verbal and quant sections and those will suffice as good resources to do your initial learning or refreshing of concepts.
7. Within the verbal section, knock out the SC and CR sections first. Both of these have rules you can follow and once you master these, you should get most of the questions right. Then attack the RC which will come from practice.
8. For the Quant section, refresh your memory if you need it over the basic formulas, know your number properties cold and I'd start by attacking the DS questions. These are new to most test takers and you should spend time studying these questions.
9. For the DS, know the answer options cold. You don't want to waste any time on test day rereading answer choices.
10. Then attack the Problem Solving questions and look at some strategies involved and when to use them (Backsolving, picking numbers, ballparking etc)
11. After these core refreshers, I would practice 5-10 problems of Verbal and Quant using the GMAT Prep Pack 1 every day and analyze your errors after each set. This will help you recognize patterns and the Prep Pack contains retired official GMAT questions and despite what anyone else tells you, this is your best resource for practice.
12. Take another practice test or two midway through your preparation from one of those free practice tests offered by various prep course sites (Veritas' tests come fairly close to predicting an accurate score). While these may not be wholly accurate, they might identify more problem spots for you to work on.
13. Do the IR questions that come with the GMAT Prep software and the GMAT Prep Pack 1 and get used to the types of questions involved and look over "chineseburned" AWA template and write an essay or two so that you are familiar with it and won't waste time on test day. You want your AWA and IR scores to be good but at the same time, automatic enough that you waste little mental and physical energy going through these sections before you get to the parts that actually count towards your 200-800 score.
14. Continue with the GMAT Prep Pack 1 questions and analysis and finally, the week before your test day, take your final GMAT Prep Practice Test. After that, wind down your prep and don't do any prep the day before the test barring maybe looking at the AWA templates again for about 10-15 minutes.
Quick tip: Throughout the 2-3 month prep cycle, make sure you get plenty of exercise and have good nutrition. Studies have shown this to really help you learn and stimulate your mind. Plus being healthy can never really be a bad thing.
15. On test day, arrive 30-45 minutes earlier (I'd scout out the location of your test center before the test day itself so there are no surprises) with your appropriate ID, snacks and water. Once the test begins, just focus on the task at hand and trust your prep. Realize that the test is just a part of your application and keep everything in perspective and just treat it as another challenge.
Good luck to everyone taking the GMAT in the future! Let me know if you have any questions. I'll try my best to answer them given that I am no expert on this subject matter.
Took it awhile ago, buy the manhattan books, and make max 2 page cheat sheets when going through each book.
do end of chapter questions, and official GMAT study guide questions. take official GMAT online practice tests x2
make an error log, writing down every problem you got wrong. Each of those should be repeated till you can do them cold with no help.
Excellent points. I didn't have the time to make an error log but it's definitely worth it for someone who has the time before the test. IMO once you do enough practice problems, you start understanding your mistakes and find patterns in them. Then you can always go back and rectify those
good overview
Thanks!
good stuff, thanks
Anytime. Glad to be of help in some way
Beautiful.
Haha thanks! I appreciate it
Awesome advice. Only change I would make is #2. Instead of deciding when to take the test, I would take your target score from #1, study until you are confident you'll get it, and THEN decide when to take the test.
That makes sense. I had to do it decide when to take the test because deadlines were fast approaching and I sort of stumbled into the GMAT.
Do you have any advice as to how to speed up on the quant section? I tend to have difficulty finishing all the problems within the time limit on the practice tests...
Honestly, it comes down to time management. Research shows that once you hit the 3 minute mark on a question, any more time you spend on that gives you diminishing returns. In order to combat that, I studied flashcards of concepts and knew certain things cold (fractions, decimals, odd/even properties, prime numbers, basic operations and types of probability) and when I did practice problems, I started guessing after the 3 minute mark. Unless you're absolutely certain you can solve the problem past the 3 minute mark, I'd guess and move on. Remember, the GMAT has a significant penalty for not finishing a section.
Also, go to beatthegmat.com, join the forum and download the flashcards available there. I'd memorize and understand those. They also have tips for guessing based on the past tests and some logic. It'll help you speed up the quant section for sure
This is not the recommended method according to most GMAT prep guides, but it worked for me. When I took the test, I spent the last week just speeding through all 6 MGMAT practice exams. I knew I had the material down because I was getting nearly all practice questions correct, but would always get stuck on one or two questions during practice exams and bring the score down.
To remedy this, I would start solving a question and make an educated guess the second I felt that I wasn't going to solve the problem directly. I'd finish Quant with about 5 minutes to spare each time and Verbal with about 10 minutes. Given that MGMAT Quant is harder than the actual exam, I felt very comfortable with timing during the test. Oh, I also didn't study Sentence Correction in detail because I knew I wouldn't learn enough to make it worthwhile (just looked at a couple basic rules), I instead focused on getting CR and RC perfect. Spent 1 minute or less on each SC question.
This is definitely a good alternative strategy. Going after tougher questions always helps you with timing on the actual test. I'd just advise people to really know their basic concepts well so that they don't miss the easy questions on the GMAT because those will hurt you more
I had Quant timing problems as well. Most useful thing I did was get the Manhattan Foundations book and work through the drills. Its really basic material, more of a math textbook than a GMAT book, but it helped me to focus on speed alone rather than speed and concepts.
Actually studying now for it. I have the MGMAT set and plan on going through each book page by page. Then just cramming 3 practice tests. Then finally reviewing things I've gotten wrong and completing the last 3 practice tests.
We'll see how long it takes but I'm shooting for a book a week. Should I be going faster? In addition, is an error log really that important? Lastly, do I need to do OG Guide work if I plan on doing every page of the MGMAT set?
I did a diagnostic and scored about a 640, should I skip over anything especially in the verbal section books?
An error log is as important as you make it out to be. I didn't use one because I was able to isolate areas for improvement after my practice test. Did you take the diagnostic test on GMAT prep or some other site? I'd take it on the GMAT prep software since that's the most accurate. Contrary to widespread belief, I'd knock out and perfect the verbal portion first. It's usually just a bunch of rules and your overall gmat score reflects your verbal score more closely.
In other words, improving verbal is the quickest way to get to 700. Once you perfect verbal, go on to quant and keep doing a couple practice verbal questions. You don't need the OG guide but I'd definitely recommend the GMAT prep pack because it has retired, official questions and gives you as close a feeling to the test as you can get
Verbal takes awhile to bring up. Quant can be done in memorizing fashion last minute. Start reading high quality material and getting comprehension up. grammar verbal can be memorized. Essay you can also start early to practice
i studied for 6 days 8 hours a day and got in the 700s though not great. Spend more time improving verbal long term and you'll be good.
Good post!
For those of you that have taken the GMAT.. how much of it is memorizing concepts/strategies that you can immediataly recall during test day? Lets say I begin prepping now, but wont take the GMAT for another two years or so.. will the prep done now be hard to recall when I take the exam ? Will I essentially have to study all over again a few months away from test time?
Don't study so far ahead of time. As I mentioned, studying for even a month or two ahead of time is more than enough. Anything longer and it'll be counter productive
I'm sure that the method outlined by the OP is highly effective. I would like to pose one alternative for those of us who tend to act at the last minute. My experience with the GMAT was apparently quite different than most. I decided right before the end of testing season that I would like to take the test. While my experience was due to a time crunch, the "crammers" among us could also use this method with success.
Books needed: Kaplan Premier, Kaplan Advanced 800 Days needed: 3 FULL days (12+ hours for the first two days)
A lot of these books are practice questions, so there's some dead space in there that you don't necessarily have to read. My recommendation would be to read entire Kaplan Premier book 4 days before your test, on Day 1. Read each of the practice questions, but do not worry about doing all of them. I did about half of them and just read the answers for the remainder. On Day 2, do the same thing with the Kaplan 800 book. On Day 3, take the practice test. You should have a very good idea of your score at this point, but I scored 40 points higher on the actual than the practice (probably because I took the difficult questions more seriously). For the rest of the day, REST YOUR BRAIN. You need it at this point. Watch some mindless TV or get out of the house for a bit. Get some sleep and you'll be in solid shape for the test.
Haha I love it. Great comment. I'm sure tons of people will follow this. I'd like to add that it's possible to do either of our methods in 2 weeks as well. That's how I did it.
If anyone else has questions or things they don't want to post here, feel free to PM me.
Appreciate the info. What did you end up getting on the GMAT?
I only ended up getting a 700. I was happy with the score due to my limited prep (~ 2 weeks) and it got me into WUSTL's MSF program so I can't complain. I will probably retake it in a few years when I decide to get my MBA though.
I think the best advice someone has given me regarding the GMAT was "You don't need to score 800. Study just enough to get 730. It's a means to an end."
Definitely. Ultimately, it's one part of your application. The key is to be efficient and just execute well enough to help your chances
great info.
Thanks!
As a 700+ ' ER. I'll add my $.02. Don't rush it. Period. Take your time and review the foundations of Quant. After you have a good command of the material start taking practice tests.
It is simple --- when your practice scores start hitting or exceeding you target --- you take the test. This is not only practical but also helps as far as psychology goes. While my advice might seem quite obvious...I have seen many very intelligent people set a test date a few months out...burn the candle at both ends...and fucking bomb it.
Great advice. I took a lot of different practice tests to ensure I was in the scoring range I wanted to be in before I took the test. The last thing you want to do is bomb the actual test after months of prep. Plus I think doing tons of practice tests helps you get familiar with the material and there are fewer surprises on test day. I know that helped me tons
I mean take your time and study as long as you need to --- until your practice scores are top notch. Don't set a 3-month window or whatever. Many test prep companies suggest scheduling your exam before you even start studying, so you have a goal to work towards. Many people feel rushed, miss the finer details details and bomb it. I've sen it happen so many times.
This is GOLD. Thank you for your time.
Haha anytime. Just trying to help out.
If anyone has used certain prep courses or finds some resources particularly handy, feel free to let us know so it can benefit everyone on here
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