GMAT Preparation

Have you wondered why you love watching athletes? The action, rules, and scores are just a few aspects of the sport that attracts us to these world-class athletes. What truly makes them worth watching is their competing spirit. Behind that intense focus, there were months of preparation - the kind of sacrifice that a normal person would never do to achieve their goals. While you prepare 3-4 months for the GMAT, remember what these top five Athletes have to say about preparation, obstacles, and focus:

1) Michael Jordan (MJ)

Michael Jordan is regarded as the greatest NBA player of all time, not just in terms of records but also in promoting the NBA worldwide.

This is what MJ had to say about Roadblocks

“If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it”

GMAT Preparation is similar to a close basketball match. The only difference is that you have to fight your demons instead of an equally good opponent. It requires...

Starting your GMAT test with Integrating Reasoning section can affect your stamina. For the first year, Business Schools like Stanford has revealed that they will not give high priority to IR section, instead evaluate Verbal, Quant, and AWA along with the total score.

“For this application year, we will see your IR score if you have taken the new GMAT, but will focus on the verbal, quantitative, AWA, and total scores.”

This is because there are no substantial data on the IR score distribution and the correlation between IR and Total score.

Where would Integrated Reasoning Come into Play?

1) Low Quant Score

If you have evaluated the GMAT IR Questions types, you will realize that tackling this question type require analyzing data from various sources and finding data that would help you...

The ideal time quoted by most GMAT Prep Companies and experts is 3 Months. More importantly it is not the time but the plan that you have during the 3-Month that will help you reach the 700+ target.
Let us look at the most recommended approach:

1st Month

Take the GMAT diagnostic test in the Official GMAT Prep Software, and note the weak topics. But don’t straightaway start attempting problems in your weak areas. Do as many practice problems from Official GMAT Guide and from other resources and monitor the performance in each section – Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, Sentence Correction, Problem Solving and Data Sufficiency. 

Find out your weakest section. For most GMAT test takers, it would be Sentence Correction and Critical Reasoning. For students weak in Math, Problem solving is often cited as a weak area. 

Just understanding the weak areas is not enough. Go through the answers and explanations and find out why you are missing...

GMAT Preparation can last anywhere between 3 and 5 months (GMAT Retake) and your attitude during the preparation can influence the results. We have heard first-hand account of GMAT Prep going completely wrong.

Case 1: Bombing on GMAT Day

This is an all-common phenomenon seen among GMAT test takers, even among the best-prepared students. It can be nerves, overconfidence, poor time management, someone near your desk annoyingly typing during the AWA section (this is actually an account that we heard recently) or several other factors.

You should read GMAT Test Day Tips to learn how to handle the test day.

Case 2: Too Many Study Materials

When you start your GMAT Prep, you are tempted to cover every possible GMAT study material available on the net: the retired question, forum questions, official GMAT questions, and Questions from Kaplan, Manhattan or...

On 12th May 2012, Louis Dudley scored a 750 on his GMAT (Quant: 48, Verbal: 44, AWA: 6.0). He shares his secrets, strategies and detailed preparation plan with F1GMAT’s readers. Get maximum value from this GMAT debrief by following the best practices and processes followed by Louis. 



GMAT Materials Used

1) Manhattan GMAT Complete Strategy Guide Set (except the CR guide)
2) The PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible
3) The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition
4) The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review, 2nd Edition
5) The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition
6)...

I originally purchased the study materials for the GMAT nearly a year ago. Since they were changing the test, I decided that I needed to take it before the changes to make use of my materials. I started studying about 7 weeks before my test. I spent 6 of the 7 weekends studying for the exam (some more productive than others), 16 days after work studying for several hours, 12 days during lunch studying for an hour, and took 5 days off from work prior to the test just to review.

Study Materials
I went through each of the Manhattan guides and The PowerScore Critical Reasoning Bible once and at the end of each guide answered the questions in the OG that were recommended. I did not do the questions in the OG Verbal/Quant guides that were recommended because I wanted to identify my weaknesses and then come back to them later.

After completing the guides, it was clear that my weaknesses were Sentence Correction and Data Sufficiency in general. Sentence Correction was by far my biggest weakness so I went back through the entire Manhattan guide again. This is when I worked on questions in the OG Verbal guide, but I only did Sentence Correction questions. I used the GMAT Club iPad app throughout and it really helped to keep track of my progress.

Official GMAT Guide - Understand the Material...

1) DO NOT go by how much time you spent studying.  The way to judge if you are ready or not is by how much you understand the subjects. This is very important!

2) DO NOT rush or worry about time so much when you first begin.  I focused too much on pace at the beginning and wasted a lot of time having to go back to grasp the subjects. You will need to get this down, but at first it is not the most important thing.

3) DO NOT just look at the correct answer when you get a question wrong.  Make sure you understand why your answer was wrong and why the correct answer is correct. I spent more time reviewing then practice tests than I did taking them.  (And yes they are long).

4) DO NOT let the Kaplan CAT score scare you. I got a little down, but do not.

5) DO take breaks.  Stay on track, but give your mind periods of rest.

6) DO track your progress and timing.   I used the GMAT Club iPad app because it was easy to...

This is a question that goes in the mind of every test taker. When should I really start preparing? Well the answer depends on when do you want to attend the business school. GMAT scores are valid for a couple of years (5) and thus if you are not planning as soon as you give the GMAT then this is not a concern for you. This post is intended more for people who want to finish the process- from GMAT to attending a B school- in a single shot- meaning take the GMAT and then apply for the schools right away.

That needs some planning and you need to understand the application process of the B schools. Let me cover a little bit about the application process. Most of the schools have a couple of rounds in the application process- early bird, round 1, round 2, round 3 etc. Although there are many rounds, typically it is round 1 and round 2. You have to plan your applications around the round 1 and round 2 deadlines. I have visited many schools and talked with the Adcom of schools and typically there is much difference between your acceptance rate between round 1 and round 2. Round 3 become more competitive and you might want to avoid that. Now Round 1 deadlines for most of the schools are in the first week of October and Round 2 deadlines are in the first week of Jan. In order to come up with good applications and plan the schools visits and talking to professors, you will require about 3 months...

Some of you have left Math behind, never to touch it again and all of a sudden GMAT comes along :-) . You know that you were good in Math but now that since there has been a lag; there is always a fear to catch up on the fundamentals. The lines, polygons, integers, triangles and the worst of all-permutation and probability start to bother you. You know you knew this stuff- Infact you were always a grade A student and know to have to get back on it.

What’s the best way to get at it? Well there are different strategies and people figure out what works for them and what does not. But always remember this- If you were good in Math at one point of time, you are still good in Math. You have not lost your Quant and so do not loose faith…. Have confidence. It’s just a matter of days before you can catch on to it and then GMAT Quant is fun and you will enjoy it. The best way to work the Quant preparation is to get to the Official Guide notes and go through them. Try to not only read them but also try to derive, think and work out similar formulas. This will brush up some of the formulas and the topics. Also, this is what you can do if you want fast results. Read a topic from the Official Guide, and immediately get to the Grockit site and play a game on those topics preferably in groups. That would bring out a lot of questions and while discussion you will tend to get the old Math concepts from...

Everyone learns in different ways and at a different pace. But when it comes to preparing for the GMAT and gaining a score reasonably reflective of your abilities – there are some general rules of thumb that can help you get the score you want.

RSM's  MBA Marketing & Admissions Director Maryke Luijendijk-Steenkamp has been helping prospective students through the MBA application process for years. Here she shares her observations on preparing for the GMAT in a way that can help ensure a successful application to an RSM MBA programme.

First up – make sure you DO prepare

It's not uncommon for people to go into the GMAT blindly and then have an unpleasant surprise when they achieve a score different to what they expected. Even people who are very confident in their cognitive abilities need to prepare. We have seen financial consultants and accountants with scores of 10%.  Doing well in the GMAT is not just dependant on ability, but being familiar with the sorts of questions that are asked, how they are phrased and so on. Everyone needs to prepare.

Familiarise yourself with the language and test environment

In the GMAT, being familiar with...

You might have started preparing for the GMAT. Before you start, identify your personality type. What happens during the GMAT prep process is that many test takers blindly follow a few top contributors in GMAT forums. This can be detrimental in reaching your goal – “Getting into top Business School”

Here are four GMAT Test taking personality types. Which one are you?

Lone Wolf

This test taker will not be visible in Forums, comment in blogs or interact through social media. They are independent, driven and would rather talk to Business School representatives directly than through an intermediary.

They are introverts but independent. They do the initial research on their own, collects study material (GMAT Official Guides) and GMAT Test Prep Software. Once they have all the necessary tools, they dive right into prep mode. No distraction - Just focussed on scoring the GMAT score that would make them competitive. You would hardly see them in GMAT test prep classes

Test Fanatic

If you see ‘GMAT Expert’, ‘GMAT Ninja’, ‘Top Contributor’, ‘Legend’or any other similar attributes in the user profile, you have been...

Advise me to jump my GMAT Score 670 to 750.Hi guys last 6 months I am regularly preparing for GMAT. But I am not able to improve my GMAT score. I did MBA Prep test where I scored 670 in both the tests.

I took Manhattan in that I Scored 640,650,710,630 and 670. Kaplan I took in that I got only 620. Last night I took Princeton in that I Scored 670 again. I do most of time very common errors in quant. Last night. I was expecting full marks in math but I couldn’t. One question was very simple and my answer was one and in the option one was third option was but marked option 1. And I know the answers of all of them but regularly doing very silly errors. I finished quant 7 min before. Is this the reason to score lower how we can manage the time to reach exact? 

What I am finding that how can I improve on time management?

In verbal SC Is my strongest part and most of the time I can easily find out the wrong choices easily but CR is difficult for me and not able to eliminate the wrong choices. RC is troubling me a lot always can advise which one is the good book in RC and what the technique...