Am I too stupid for the GMAT?

GMAT has nothing to do with how smart you are. High IQ test-takers regularly bomb GMAT and get all ruffled up, confused why they have not done well on this test while they did great on IQ tests. The reason is that GMAT is a test of high school Math and English grammar with some logic and reading. That's it. If you have been out of high school for a while or rely on your mind to carry you through, you will only get so far. You have to be systematic, disciplined, and good about going back and reviewing material from years ago.

P.S. Official Guide is a question collection - it won't teach how to solve those questions, it just serves them, think of them as a food delivery guy on a moped - they won't have any cooking tips

Hi Nicki,

Many GMATers are a little 'rusty' when it comes to the math skills that they will need for the Quant section, so you are not alone. For free math practice and help, I recommend that you set up an account at Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org). The site is completely free and makes the learning a bit more fun and 'game-like' (as opposed to the dry academic approach taken by most books). While the site is vast, you should limit your studies to basic Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry. After spending a little time re-building those skills, you will likely find your GMAT studies to be a bit easier.

Since it sounds like you're just beginning your studies, then it would also be a good idea to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test; you can take 2 for free at www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). If you want to do a little studying first, so that you can familiarize yourself with the basic content and question types, then that's okay - but you shouldn't wait too long to take that initial CAT. That score will give us a good sense of your natural strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. A FULL CAT takes about 3.5 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have those scores, you should report back here and we can come up with a study plan.

I'd like to know a bit more about your timeline and goals:
1) What is your goal score?
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hallo nicki86 Herzlich willkommen zum GMATclub Du bist nicht der einzige in solcher Situation Ich glaube an dich dass du mehr als 700 Punkten erreichen kannst



The GMAT exam measures higher-order reasoning skills. You’ll need basic English-language and math skills. However, the test measures your ability to reason with these skills. All sections of the test, including the AWA and Integrated Reasoning sections, involve reasoning. “Higher-order” reasoning skills involve complex judgments and include critical thinking, analysis, and problem-solving.

Source: https://www.mba.com/frequently-asked-qu ... -gmat-exam

I think sometimes people forget that the GMAT tests a very small number of things, and your potential as an MBA candidate is not limited by your actual or potential GMAT score.

I think people sometimes forget that one should not put any score limits on oneself as long as one has fun on the way to its GMAT goal

AjiteshArun I have SC question

you wrote: I think sometimes people forget" does it mean that you think sometimes or does it mean that people sometimes forget"

wouldn't it be better to write like this I think people sometimes ?

pls advise

thank you

I sometimes think that the GMAT creates little SC monsters and lets them loose on the rest of the world

To the OP: apologies for going off-topic.

Hi nicki86,

First of all, YOU ARE NOT too stupid for the GMAT, OK?

Believe it or not, you are in the same shoes as many other GMAT test-takers starting their prep from scratch. The good news is that if you can follow a sound and thorough GMAT quant study plan, you can improve your quant skills and one day dominate GMAT quant!

As has been mentioned already, start by taking an official GMAT practice exam. Your experience taking that test will give you a good idea of what to expect on the GMAT, and the results will serve as a baseline GMAT score. Once you see how far you are from your score goal, you can more easily predict how long you may need to study. Also, I wrote a detailed article about how long to study for the GMAT, which you may find helpful.

After completing your initial practice test, you will need to devise a solid preparation plan. Since you’re starting from scratch, you should follow a study plan that allows you to learn linearly, such that you can slowly build mastery of one GMAT topic prior to moving on to the next. Within each topic, begin with the foundations and progress toward more advanced concepts. Following such a plan will allow you to methodically build your GMAT quant and verbal skills and ensure that no stone is left unturned. For example, say you’re learning about Number Properties. First, you should develop as much conceptual knowledge about Number Properties as possible. In other words, your goal will be to completely understand properties of factorials, perfect squares, quadratic patterns, LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, and remainders, to name a few concepts. After carefully reviewing the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions, practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties. When you do dozens of questions of the same type one after the other, you learn just what it takes to get questions of that type correct consistently. If you aren't getting close to 90 percent of questions of a certain type correct, go back and seek to better understand how that type of question works, and then do more questions of that type until you get to around at least 90 percent accuracy in your training. If you get 100 percent of some sets correct, even better. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant and verbal topics.

When you are working on learning to answer questions of a particular type, start off taking your time, and then seek to speed up as you get more comfortable answering questions of that type. As you do such practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, for instance, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question? By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT skills.

So, work on accuracy and generally finding correct answers, work on specific weaker areas one by one to make them strong areas, and when you take a practice GMAT or the real thing, take all the time per question available to do your absolute best to get right answers consistently. The GMAT is essentially a game of seeing how many right answers you can get in the time allotted. Approach the test with that conception in mind, and focus intently on the question in front of you with one goal in mind: getting a CORRECT answer.

In order to follow the path above, you may consider using a quant self-study course such as Target Test Prep (as adkikani mentioned).

You also may find it helpful to read this article about how to increase your GMAT quant score.

If you have any questions, feel to reach back out.

Good luck!

I have the same question, but in my case I'm struggling with Verbal. I took the diagnosis test, it seems that GMAT math is way too easy but I don't get any (not even one!!) in 5 Verbal questions of the diagnosis test. I mean 0 out of 5, that looks pretty bad!!???
I then started with SC like 2 weeks ago, I read the Manhattan GMAT SC, I've done loads of SC problem since then and now I kinda understand how to analyse, eliminate wrong answers but when there are only 2 answers left on the table, I still get the wrong one. I mean the probability is only 50%, how can you get the wrong answer allllllll the time???!!! I just did 10 SC problems that are presumably 700+ lvl and I only get 2/10. It's kinda frustrated, am I too dumb for GMAT or so?????

Hi Clairemonerie,

To start, you would likely receive more of a response if you start your own post-thread (instead of piggy-backing on this one). If you re-enter the General Strategies Forum and click the orange "New Topic" button, then you can post a bit more about your studies and goals.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/general-gmat ... ategies-1/

Beyond that, it's not clear why you would be focusing on "700-level" SC prompts - since there are so many other question types and categories that are worth far more points. Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your goal score?
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Ill just advice you to first have an optimistic approach and believe in yourself!

Secondly, I hope that the questions you are practicing are official and the ones you have answered incorrectly, sit onto them for as long as you want and understand why you are making a mistake and how can you avoid it the next time.

This way you shall become conceptually sound, gradually improving your accuracy.

All the best, You can do it

Hi Claireemonerie,

Although you may be frustrated with your progress thus far, if you can follow a structured and thorough study plan, you can improve your verbal skills and thus your GMAT score. That said, I’m happy to provide some further advice but first would like to learn more about your situation with the GMAT. Once you respond to the questions already asked, I can provide some detailed advice on how to move forward with your prep.