Hi everyone,
After my long GMAT journey, I want to share some tips that could work for some of you. I took the GMAT 4 times
so I am an experienced one
I think that my tips apply particularly to Q~44 - V~30 test takers aiming at least Q49-V35.
First, here are my scores in a chronologic order:
670 (Q50-V30) : I enjoyed preparing the maths and found it so painful and boring to prepare Verbal.
640 (Q44-V34): I made the mistake of not reviewing the maths, thinking that I am already strong enough.
580 (Q48-V23): This is the test that I have the most prepared, yes, this seem a paradox but this is the truth. I took two weeks off to concentrate 100% on the GMAT. My reading of this experience is that I was too much prepared and I tried to apply meticulously what I have read in the books. I started with Verbal, that has just killed me.
710 (Q50-V35): I applied the advices below, and by the way I got also my highest IR score ever in this test. I basically put in the trash all the books I have read about the GMAT and tried to forget little bit what I have learned in these books to let my intuition come back to the surface.
General :***Your story is unique, don't apply blindly what others tell you, take rather what sounds good for you.
***Try to sleep as long as you can the night before the test, and wake up at least 2 hours before the test start time. <= I insist on this.
***Too much preparation kills the preparation. Practicing and preparing is a must for the GMAT, but beyond a certain level that could become counter-productive (specially in Verbal)
***Give yourself slightly more time in the first 10 questions. They have the most impact on your final score.
***Accept to loose some battles if you want to win the war.
***When you keep saying during more that one minute "yes I can solve this, but I have just to read again carefully the question", this is harmful for the concentration, so take an action and go ahead.
***Don't take the CATs you find in internet as good predictors for you real score of the D-day. For example, in internet CATs I was always averaging Q44 when I was preparing the maths, but in the real test I got Q50.
***1 or 2 hours before the test, practice 1 PS question, 1 DS question, 1 CR question and 1 SC question... All medium level, this will make your brain start out.
***For me, that strategy that worked well is starting with the section I am more comfortable with.
Math :***"Mathematize" every single detail. Write down all the information you read (distinct, consecutive, non-negative, positive, prime...) The test taker knows that you can easily miss one of these details and put in the answer choices the solutions that you can reach if you don't use this kind of details.
***If you find a problem so easy, hold on a second, maybe you are falling into an obvious trap. This particularly applies to DS questions.
***If no have no clue how to start a question, make an approximation (specially in Geometry) and pick up the option that is the closest to what you find.
***If you are short of time and don't have in the answer choices what you find (well in this case be sure that your brain is making and repeating the same stupide mistake such as calculating 7*6 as 48 or 12*12 as 122...) pick up the option that is the closest to what you find and go ahead.
Verbal (I am a non-native, English is my 3rd language):
***Let you intuition guide you.
***Read as much as you can about the topics that you regularly find in the GMAT (specially for RC): dinosaur extinction (comet impact or volcanos irruption?), planets, asteroids, animal habitat, predations, US and UK history...
***Understand the meaning of the idioms... (So much X as to Y...)
I hope that some of my tips could be helpful to some of you.
Good luck!
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15 Mar 2018, 09:32
