Don’t do what I did, but perhaps listen to what helped me

My preparation for the GMAT is not a process I would recommend to anyone. However it does record how I approached the test with little time and few training materials. Studying in such a short timeframe made me think hard about how to best allocate my time. Frequent testing allows me to look back on what was most helpful for improving my score.

In this debrief I’ll introduce myself, present a few philosophies about the test, explain how I studied, and share my tips for each of the sections.

About me: I’m a pretty smart guy, if disorganised

My undergrad majors were economics and finance, after which I joined a top-tier consulting firm as a graduate. Following the analyst program I took my current role running strategy for a private equity-owned business. I’m aiming to attend one of the top 3 US business schools.

I assumed that the GMAT was more of a general intelligence test, and so thought a month or so was enough to study. I didn’t realise that the GMAT is not a general test at all, and underestimated the difficulty of getting a slot to take the test. As a result I booked my test (and started studying) on a Tuesday and sat the exam the following Thursday.

About the test: The GMAT is a law unto itself

Buy the prep books and use them. The GMAT tests a narrow set of skills. Rather than requiring a broad general knowledge, candidates with good GMAT scores demonstrate mastery of a limited set of concepts. This means that you should focus your preparation almost exclusively on GMAT-related training material. General texts are unhelpful.

Get familiar with the CAT through online tests. CAT tests require a different approach to paper tests. Unlike paper tests, you must take the GMAT questions in order. The test also adapts to challenge everyone who takes it. Therefore it’s important that you get used to the way the test works. Specifically, prepare yourself to face questions you struggle to answer, know how to make educated guesses, and whatever happens stick to your per-question time limit.

Identify the question structure before you try to answer it. GMAT questions fall into well-defined categories, each of which takes a different approach to solving it. Frameworks and systems to structure and save time exist for each question type. If you can’t quickly figure out how to come up with an answer for a particular question (or it will take too long), switch to guess mode and focus on a question you can answer.

Everything can be solved in ~2 minutes. This realisation was very helpful for me in the quant section. Often the questions can seem to require extensive calculations. There’s always another way. Take a moment to look for patterns: can you simplify fractions, factor a difference of two squares, or find a repeating digit-pattern? If not, make a guess and move on quickly.

Watch out for the traps. Unlike some other tests, the harder GMAT questions are designed to trip you up. Read the questions carefully and get used to the common traps that the GMAT uses to get you to pick the wrong answer: inserting multiple phrases between the subject and verb, offering a critical reasoning answer that is true in the real world but not explicitly stated in the text, giving you two equivalent pieces of information in data sufficiency, making one type of question look a bit like a different one.

Manage your mind. It's easy to get stressed in the test room because you believe that so much rides on this test. Relax, most of you can take it again, even if you apply a round later. Think of it as a practice. You go along, do your best, and do it again if necessary. A calm-but-focused mind will help you perform at your peak.

How to study: Make practice as real as possible

Get the recommended test books. With only 10 days to study, I was unable to get hold of any reputable test books. I did purchase a copy of GMAT for Dummies, the content of which was indeed for dummies. However others seem to find books very useful. Other discussions go into more detail about which books are best.

Use the internet. Often I wasn’t sure how to approach certain questions. There is a staggering amount of free information available on these forums and test prep companies’ websites that addresses specific approaches to questions.

Expect to put in the hours. Mastering the GMAT material takes time. Over my 10 days I estimate I still spent around 70 focused hours studying.

Understand the concepts first. My practice began with reading through GMAT for Dummies to get the structure of the questions. I purchased access to Manhattan GMAT’s online question banks and flash cards, which allowed me to test and improve my understanding of each question type.

Focus on your errors. With little time available I needed to focus in filling out holes in my knowledge. Thus I focused initially on a concept at a time (e.g. sentence correction) and worked through a range of problems, identifying which concepts I got wrong. For areas in which I was consistently weak, I searched the internet until I could understand how to approach the question and solve in quickly.

Do lots of practice with the actual test format. The format of the test is unusual and tiring. I took five different CAT tests (from ManhattanGMAT and the free GMATprep) which were great to build my stamina and teach me to manage my time. After my first reading of an introductory book I took a diagnostic test which gave me a score of 600.

AWA: Learn the rules and move on

Learn the rules and play the game. The internet abounds with recommendations for how to approach the AWA, most of which are pretty similar. Aim to stick to the proscribed format rather than writing your magnum opus. The computer essay scorer gives you kudos for judicious use of transition words rather than beautiful metaphors. Schools generally place less emphasis on the AWA score, anyway.

Practice the timing. It can take a few attempts to get the timing right. Once you’ve nailed it, feel free to figure out your essay outline and move on in practice tests. Make sure you do a few full practices, however, to build the stamina necessary for the test.

Quant: learn to recognise the patterns

Bone up on number theory. A disproportionate number of questions ask about whether the result of a particular equation will be odd, even, a prime number, or divisible by 3. Learn these rules, it’s unlikely you will remember them from math class.

Know the frameworks for word questions. Test prep companies have developed great frameworks for approaching rate/time/work, combinations & probability, set, and mixture questions. Get to know these.

Learn to recognise patterns. Harder GMAT questions are just easier questions wrapped up together. Common patterns are the difference of two squares and manipulating roots.

Look for hints in the answers. Often there will be hints in the answers: if the question asks you to find x+y, you can suspect that there will be a difference of two squares. Alternatively if the question features SQRT(x) but all the answers have integer multiples of x, you know can square everything or cancel two similar terms.

The verbal section: Learn to speak GMAT English

Get familiar with GMAT grammar. The GMAT tests a small subset of English grammar rules, focusing on parallelism, pronouns and modifiers, idioms and subject-verb agreement. Find a list of the idiomatic rules according to the GMAT and learn them. This is the only section where I found broader understanding of grammar (knowing about subjects and objects, (in)dependent clauses, prepositions, adjectival phrases) useful to help me break down what are often very complex sentences.

Know the types of arguments presented in critical reasoning. GMAT arguments seem to fall into three categories: cause and effect, analogies, and statistical inferences:

Cause and effect arguments suggest that because A and B happened, A caused B. (For example, my brother ate a crayon, and then he fell ill. Therefore crayons are toxic). To strengthen a cause and effect argument, provide additional proof that A did indeed cause B (My sister also ate a crayon and also fell ill) or discount alternative explanations (Both of them tested negative for other diseases).Do the opposite to weaken the argument.

Analogy arguments suggest that if B is like A, and A is C, then B is also C. (For example, New York reduced crime with a zero-tolerance policy. Chicago is also a large US city. Therefore if Chicago implements a zero-tolerance policy, crime will fall). To strengthen an analogy argument, show that A really is similar to B (Chicago’s crime profile is similar to New York before it implemented zero tolerance). To weaken the argument, attack the similarity (Chicago’s crime rate is already lower than New York’s).

Statistical arguments use a sample to infer something about a population. (For example, a survey of female students showed 80% like Sex in the City, therefore most women like Sex in the City). To strengthen statistics, show that the sample really is representative of the population (Students are known to have tv preferences similar to that of the general population). To attack statistical arguments, show that the sample is not representative of the population (students watch most of their tv during the day, while the majority of viewers watch it at night). Note also that citing exceptions is not particularly damaging to statistical arguments (some students don’t like Sex in the City).

Excellent debrief! Good luck with your applications!

Great score !!

Verbal experts are all shooting 730+. Good luck with your application. Keep us updated.
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Welcome to the gmatclub rwallan!

740 is a great score! Thanks for the excellent debrief! Good luck with your applications and keep all of us updated..
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wow great score dude!!congrats!!nice debrief!!

Thanks for the approach. Very enlightening. Good luck!
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Excellent debrief! welcome to the club

Fantastic Debrief. Could you please list the study materials that you made use of.

Wow, really practical tips here.

Many difficult CR questions stump me, but you've laid your strategy out pretty straightforward. I do fairly well on CR, but sometimes I still have to pick between two things that "indirectly" support the argument.

Also, on RC sometimes the "identify the purpose" stumps me. I've gotten better, but I still run into vague answer choices.

Care to elaborate on what you would do in these situations?

Great score and excellent debrief.

Congrats. Excellent balanced score Good luck ahead.

Congratulations !

great job!

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great score. thanks for the excellent tips.

Rwallan!740 is a great score! Thanks for the excellent debrief! Good luck with your applications and keep all of us updated..

A "Wow" debrief...Congrats on ur score..

Super great score within a short span of time..

awesome

congrats bro !! good score .. superb debrief.. good luck with ur apps...

Thanks Man