So I'm finally done with my GMAT Focus edition exam. Got a 695 overall with scaled score of 90Q/82V/82DI. Will post a detailed prep strategy with mock scores tomorrow.
BTW AMA!
I have updated my GMAT FE debrief with the official scores and ESR
which can be found in a doc format here GMAT Focus Edition DebriefI took the GMAT Focus edition exam on the 1st day the exam became available – 7th November 2023. I scored 695 marks with Q90/V82/DI82. I have been told that this is equivalent to a 750 score in the classic GMAT exam. I am writing this post to share with everyone my experience of preparing for GMAT FE, why I chose to take the GMAT FE over Classic GMAT, my opinion on how I perceive they are fundamentally different in terms of scoring and algorithm, and some strategies which helped me and may help you.
My ESR for the official GMAT FE exam
GMAT FE or classic GMAT Exam?Initially, I just wanted to take the GMAT as I want to pursue a master’s in finance from a reputed university. However, I was surprised that now there are two GMATs. However, I had my doubts regarding the FE over the classic, as I thought that the admissions office at the universities would prefer the tried and tested classic GMAT and may have an inherent bias against the FE scores. So, I applied for the classic GMAT exam. I had two weeks for my G-Day. I assumed, incorrectly, that the GMAT is just an aptitude test and one can hardly improve their aptitude in 2 weeks. Furthermore, I scored 660 in my first mock – a freely available Princeton mock. This woke me up from my slumber that I was terrible at Sentence Correction (SC). I seriously tried reading different resources for SC, but there was no improvement. In both of my GMAC mocks I scored 710 but my SC scores were all over the place. I just wanted a 700 in GMAT, as my dream schools have average GMAT class scores in around the 690-710 range. And that’s all prep I did for my GMAT exam. Predictably, I scored quite low. Too low, in fact. Managed to get just a 650 with Q47 and V32. I had prepared no strategy for attempting the test and I got stuck in a quant question which ate up all my time and this affected my verbal score as well. Clearly, I underestimated the GMAT exam. On the same day, almost impulsively, I decided to fill up the GMAT FE exam at the earliest available date. So, my prime motivation for opting for the GMAT FE exam was my lack of confidence in the SC section. Moreover, I thought that I could handle the DI section as I do a lot of data analysis on Python in my job. Quant has always been my strongest suit.
An overall strategy for GMAT FETo start with, I seriously did not know how to prepare for the exam. Moreover, there was a dearth of resources and hardly any reliable sources for DI questions. My GMAT FE exam was just 3 weeks away. I decided to take the first GMAT FE mock to understand where I stand currently. I scored a 625 with Q85/V81/DI77. On analyzing my mocks, I understood that I was taking the Quant section too lightly and hence was committing many unforced errors or silly mistakes. In verbal and DI, I found it hard to finish the exam on time. Did I commit a blunder by choosing GMAT FE and ditching the classic GMAT? I decided to solve questions from the
Verbal OG to get a hang of the CR questions. For DI, I decided to purchase the DI question bank from MBA.com. I was getting many sitter questions in DI wrong because of oversight in reading the questions.
After a bit of practice in Verbal my scores improved in my 2nd GMAT mock exam. I scored a 745 with a Q84/V82/DI79. However, I was committing the same mistakes again. So, I decided to purchase the 4
OG mocks for FE to gain more exam practice. Moreover, I started maintaining my scores in an Excel sheet as below.
Quant strategyI realized that all the questions I was doing wrong were because of not being serious enough in some sections of the exam. I revised my IITJEE exam days books (Arihant Algebra for IITJEE Mathematics) on PnC, probability, set theory, Venn diagram, etc, and solved a lot of previous year’s IITJEE exam questions on these topics to gain confidence.
I was sure that if I was alert for those 45 minutes, I could do no question wrong in the exam as the questions were based on elementary arithmetic. I scored Q90 in 2 of my mocks which gave me confidence that I can replicate the same on my G-day. A day before my FE exam I solved all the medium and hard-level questions in a timed environment from the
OG book to gain the problem-solving momentum.
Official ESR for Quant
Data Insights strategyThe DI section of FE turned out to be tougher than I had earlier imagined. The two-part analysis questions are deceptively tough, the MSR is not too tough a section, but it takes a lot more time to do it right, the DS, as we all know, can fool any good quant person based on the quality of deception of hidden information within options and I used to commit many silly mistakes. I purchased the DI 200 practice questions from MBA.com which helped a lot in mastering the DI questions. I used to practice strictly under timed conditions. I analysed the mistakes that I made and slowly I started getting the hang of the questions and the questions didn’t seem to be unfamiliar anymore. Watch the DI series videos on GMAT Ninja’s YouTube channel.
Some tips for DI questions –- DS – follow the Manhattan prep strategy of AD/BCE. Go step by step in eliminating the options. The most common mistake aspirants make is to use both statements at once. See Statement A and only then Statement B, both individually. That’s the only golden rule in DS. Pro tip – try to solve most of the DS without picking up any pen as most of the DS questions (even quant-based) can be solved without any calculations. They just evoke the notion of being calculative. Try using common sense and eliminate options.
- MSR – Unlike what most people tell you, don’t read the entire 3 tabs first. Just look at what the 1st question wants and where you can get that info while solving the 1st question, look at the different tabs, and not before it. Questions of MSR are mostly neither verbal nor quant based they are just situation-based, hence they are easy. Save yourself a world of time by being selective about what you read before solving the 1st question.
- TPA – Almost as tricky as DS. I found myself to be good at quant-based TPA but my accuracy used to drop with a verbal-based TPA. So one strategy that I employed was, that if I found the verbal TPA easy to comprehend, then I would attempt it straight away. However, if I found the language to be convoluted then I would mark it and leave that question and come back to it after the end of the exam. This also made sure that I had time to attempt the easy questions at the back.
- Table analysis – The sorting feature is great, use it. Read the statement of the question very carefully. Sometimes what they expect from the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ columns are not that straightforward. I found some very good questions on it from the DI question set that I bought. Mostly easy, hence vulnerable to unforced errors.
- Graph-based – My strongest suite. I found that I was seldom required to read the stem of the question. I just saw the graph and seem to get what story it is telling. Probably it’s years of data analysis at my job. But if you are good at graphs, it’s still very important to make sure you look at all the options before selecting the right one. I made some painfully silly mistakes in my mocks which made me realize that it’s not worth saving a few extra seconds in this section at the cost of accuracy.
All in all, even though this section has the least number of questions, it still can run you out of time. So know exactly which questions are taking more of your time and in which questions your accuracy tanks. I observed that even though I was getting most of the MSR sets correctly, it ate up a lot of my time. Practice as much as you can. And more importantly, analyse your mistakes after practice questions and mocks.
My official ESR for DI 
Verbal strategyVerbal was my weakest link in the exam. Removal of the SC questions means the time will always be a factor in this section now. I come from a non-English speaking country and even though I consider myself decently well versed in English, I still think doing well in GMAT verbal is a matter of a lot of practice and having the right approach. I found that I am better at RC than at CR.
- RC – It’s a cliché that one must do active reading while reading the passage. But cliches are there for a reason. What I will add to this cliché is to visualize the passage. While reading the passage, make a movie out of it as if the scenes are being picturized in front of you. Investing 3-4 minutes while reading the passage is the best investment you can have in your verbal score. I am speaking after analyzing reams of data from my mocks that the average time spent per question decreases substantially when I invested 4 minutes in reading the full RC and grasping its meaning in one go. However, I understand that some parts of some later RCs (in an adaptive testing environment) are deliberately made to confuse the reader. What could have been said in plain English is deliberately convoluted to eat up time. My advice for such portions of RC is to just try to have a bird’s eye view of that portion of RC to get the gist of its broadest possible meaning in the context of the rest of the passage. If a question comes directly from that portion, then read that portion again, after attempting the rest of the questions of the RC. Other general rules like eliminating the extreme options, eliminating options that are only partially correct (they are there in every question to mess up your judgment), and trying to look out for the least incorrect answer instead of the most correct one.
- CR – My bete noire. I was not very good at CRs at the beginning of my prep and through practice I became less bad at it. One thing that helped me immensely was the self-realization that I casually drifted into the 2nd order of thinking while evaluating the options. The correct answer is the most obvious one but as Einstein said common sense is the most uncommon. Some general tips for identifying the right answer –
- See the gist of the passage, what are the unimportant parts of it? This part is usually not in the right Answer Choice (AC). What are the operating parts of the passage? They will find their way into 1-2 most likely options, including the correct one.
- Practice on different types of questions. One can be acing the assumptions, strengthening and weakening questions, and still be terrible at ‘evaluate the argument’ and boldface type of questions. So try to have practice on each type of question and have a feel of each question type. I could not do it for the paucity of time. Had I given myself 1 more month of prep, I would have definitely invested it almost entirely on RC. But thank god I didn’t!
Official ESR for Verbal
Time managementA general strategy is to have 2 columns – ‘ques solved’ and ‘time remaining’ written in front of you even before you attempt a particular section. E.g., for DI I made a column from 1 to 20 denoting questions and another with 45, 36, 27, 18, and 9 written in front of every 4th question and would glance at the timer and this sheet during my exam to get a hang of the pace of my exam. Similarly make a similar one for quant and Verbal. For quant, if you are stuck on a question, leave it. Trust me it will save your attempt. Grab the facility of changing any 3 of your answers with both hands. I used it for all 3 of my sections. The golden rule for time management is not to fall in love with any question or more precisely, not to make it a matter of your ego.
General test-taking strategyA huge difference between classic and FE is its adaptiveness and scoring algorithm. I think this is the biggest advantage of selecting GMAT FE. It never made any sense to me why the first half of the paper should be more important than the second half. Thankfully this extra weightage to the first and second quarter of any section is truly done away with in GMAT FE, coming at the cost of the steepness of the adaptive curve during the exam. Don’t get me wrong, the exam still does feel adaptive while you attempt a particular section. But you will never be thrown off your chair by its adaptiveness. On analyzing my mocks, I observed that it didn’t matter which questions I was getting wrong. As far as I am minimizing my overall errors, I am increasing my score. But there is an added pressure of doing as well at the start of the exam as at the end of it, which adds weight to the dimension of time in the exam. Now you truly can’t afford to guess the last 3-4 questions like before.
The second truly appreciative fact about GMAT FE is the equal weightage given to the three sections. Look at the graph below, it does not matter in what permutations you are getting 243 or 254.
Had my score been Q82/V90/DI82 I still would have scored 695. This is technically not the best way to score a standardized test. Your percentiles should ideally be mapped to your overall percentiles. But we have to play with the rules. I therefore personally feel that the weightage of Verbal section has reduced as getting a single question wrong in Verbal drops your Verbal percentile drastically but doesn’t effect your overall score as badly. So, your goal should be to increase your score in the sections where you are most likely to increase it and manage to suck less at your weakest sections if you are truly hard-pressed for time like I was. I was getting Q83-85 in my mocks with a combined V+DI score of around 160. I pushed my Quant scores to the extreme without really bending over backward to improve my English and DI scores. And that worked for me. Something similar to this can work for you too.
Some comments on GMAT FE vs classic GMAT
QuantI have plotted a scatter plot of the classic vs GMAT FE. The scatter plot for the Quant section of the Old GMAT and the GMAT FE does reveal some noteworthy differences that can provide insights into the “toughness” level of the tests and how they distinguish between test-takers. Here are some key points to consider:
Scoring Mechanics and Distinguishing Toppers:Old GMAT: The percentile jumps significantly within a narrow score range (especially around scores 48-51). This implies that the Old GMAT Quant section may not effectively distinguish between toppers, as many end up clustered around the same percentile. It might also suggest that scoring incrementally higher becomes increasingly challenging.
GMAT FE: The percentile appears to increase more linearly with the Quant score, which suggests a more uniform distribution of test-takers across percentiles. This makes it easier to differentiate between high scorers, as the percentile more accurately reflects the score.
Insights into Toughness:Uniformity in GMAT FE: The more linear and uniform percentile distribution in the GMAT FE suggests that the test might be designed to be more balanced across its scoring range. This could mean that it’s less “tough” to move from a low percentile to a moderately high percentile.
High-Scoring Zone: Given that the Old GMAT had a clustering effect at the top percentiles, it might have been more difficult to break into the very top percentiles due to the finer granularity of scores within that range. On the other hand, the GMAT FE, with its more linear percentile distribution, may offer a clearer path to achieving a high percentile, provided one can secure the corresponding high score.
Ceiling Effect: The Old GMAT exhibits a strong ceiling effect, where a slight increase in score could result in a large percentile jump. This could make it “tougher” to score high as you would need to clear a higher bar to distinguish yourself. The GMAT FE seems to mitigate this issue to some extent.
Differential Scoring Impact: In the Old GMAT, given the tight clustering of top percentiles, even a one-point increase could have a disproportionately high impact. In the GMAT FE, a more balanced scoring system might mean that each point increase has a more uniform impact on your percentile ranking.
Final Thoughts:The GMAT FE seems to provide a more balanced and differentiated scoring system, potentially making it “easier” to distinguish yourself if you are a high scorer. However, the term “toughness” could be relative; the GMAT FE might be less forgiving of mistakes for those aiming for the very top percentiles, given the more linear percentile-to-score relationship.
VerbalOld GMAT:Concentration at the Top: In the Old GMAT, Verbal scores ranging from 45 to 51 are all in the 99th percentile. This concentration makes it challenging to distinguish among top performers who are all grouped into the same percentile. This lack of differentiation makes it less rewarding for incremental improvements at the high end.
GMAT FE:Expanded High-Scoring Range: In the GMAT FE, the 99th percentile starts at a Verbal score of 87 and extends to 90 for the 100th percentile. This expanded range allows for finer granularity among top scorers.
Clearer Incremental Progression: For instance, a one-point improvement from 86 (which is in the 98th percentile) to 87 moves the test-taker to the 99th percentile. This more clearly rewards incremental improvements.
07 Nov 2023, 09:24
