GMAT 730 Advice and Motivation (+Video): Don't doubt it, do it!

Hey everyone, I hope this post finds you well and I especially hope that you are making the best out of the current circumstances

This post is quite looooooong, so keep on reading only if you are up to challenging yourself, reaching your target score and improving your performance. Of course, feel also free to scroll down to the “summary”. In this post I will share my methodological approach and some tips. However, I also made a video (in front of an amazing Costa Rican waterfall) dedicated to the – often underestimated – mindset part of the GMAT that often bears great potential to increase your score, so make sure to check it out (especially to crank up your motivation!). Im am convinced that watching the video is just as valuable as reading through this post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuugriwffYw&feature=youtu.be

My name is Philipp and I took the GMAT a couple of months ago, scoring 730 (Q: 48, V: 42). I am very happy with that score, whereas I do not consider myself especially talented or smart: Everyone can score well. To give you an anchor: I would consider myself a little bit above average when it comes to Math and English; however, that is less so because it really is the case and more so because that is what I am telling myself. It´s my self-confidence speaking.
Despite manipulating my reality that way it is a very important part of the score which I will explain in more details underneath (and in the YouTube video).

One of the main reasons why I was able to reach that score and get into my target program (Financial Times #1 MA in Management in St. Gallen, Switzerland) was the amazing GMAT community support; including the GMATClub Forum community (If you are new to all this, make sure to get acquainted with all the GMATClub features such as questions banks, error log, tagging functions etc.: it will be of great help and increase your study outcome). When it comes to me, it is time to give back to the community and the main reason why I am here is to tell you something that you might not have yet internalized enough: YOU CAN DO IT. YOU CAN REACH YOUR GOAL.

I wholeheartedly believe so. I believe that you have the potential and the only question is how to free it, how to liberate that potential. How to come over that wall, which is yourself, that stands in between you and your goal. For that reason, I again recommend you highly to watch the video which I posted above.
I am truly convinced that a great (often underestimated) part of the GMAT is the mindset. More than anything else the GMAT is a brain game. If you believe that “some people got it and others don´t” or that “I have a hard time doing Quant/verbal. It’s just not my thing”, then you are manipulating yourself. You are falling into a trap that you yourself set up. And I can ensure you that it will make your score suffer. Plenty of studies and evidence confirm the importance of mindset when it comes to resilience, determination and ultimately success.

The GMAT isn´t looking for the “talented” or “gifted”, it´s not looking for rocket scientists or the next Einsteins (besides the fact that young Einstein wasn´t seen as talented or gifted either during his school years). The GMAT is looking for people that learn and grow through the setbacks they face, that make important decisions under time constraints and that are willing to creatively solve challenges ahead rather than simply solving a problem with brute force. In short: They are looking for people like you. People that try hard. People that are willing to improve. People that get back up after setbacks rather than dragging themselves down. The best of all this is that everyone can do it if he or she wants to; and I know that you want to!

Again, I talk about this perspective in more detail in the video I posted above; the best start for the GMAT is definitely being conscious about the fact that it is a privilege to take it, a luxury that most people on this planet cannot take advantage of. So make it count: Both in terms of giving your best during the exam & exam prep and especially afterwards when it comes to taking on responsibility and having a positive impact on this planet.

However, for now I want to focus on sharing my methodological approach:

I prepared for the GMAT around 3 months, full time. I set my exam date before I started my prep and moved it twice (yes, paid each time 100 dollars to reschedule). So I suggest you start preparing first to get your hands on the content and after you have a better idea of everything, set your exam date. How much time will you need? Let me tell you what you don´t wanna hear: It depends. It depends on your goal, your productivity, your adaptability, your high school teachers, your luck, etc. etc. etc. and yet again of course, on your mindset. What I can definitely suggest you is not underestimating the needed preparation. Surely there are people who study a couple of days and score a 700+. You might be one of those people. However, the probability is low and if your expectation is set that high, you might turn out very disappointed and desperate, so better assume to study hard for a couple of weeks or months. In any case, doing an “original” practice exam from the GMAC prep that you haven´t done before will give you quite an accurate estimation of how you will do on the real thing, so maybe that will help you set your expectations. Yet keep in mind the relativity: Sitting naked in your bedroom with a pot of ice cream while going through a practice exam might be a different experience when compared to the real thing and therefore affect your score.

There are a lot of prep companies out there doing a great job; if you want to use one, research reviews, read into it, and don´t just decide which one is best, but also which one best suites you (both economically and personally/characteristically). I used GMATPREPNOW with Brent (Huge thanks [b]BrentGMATPrepNow) [/b]and was very happy with it. Despite the fact that the videos/website isn´t that “modern” and animated, it gets across well what you need to know and Brent will be very helpful with whatever you need. However, the Quant part is much more detailed so for a high verbal score you will need some extra resources. I used the MGMAT verbal books (SC & RC) and the Powerscore CR Bible.

Generally, don’t over-focus quant and neglect verbal. What happened to me (and I guess happens to a lot of other people) is that I practiced 90% of my time Quant and close to my exam, noticed that I was missing quite some practice in Verbal as well as that I can get some “easy” incremental there.
When it comes to drilling examples then yes, do a lot of examples. A whole lot (I came across at least 2 questions during my exam that I had seen before in a slightly different form). However, don´t simply do it for the sake of doing a big quantity; review your mistakes and question why and where you got it wrong; make use of the tagging function and error log. Don´t discard mistakes simply because “it is too hard” or because “it is my weakness”. Make an effort to understand. Go through the explanations and alternative solutions in the comments. Very important: Don´t try to look for and memorize “THE SOLUTION”. There is usually more than 1 way, so go for the one that suits you best (an adequate one of course, not one that works for you but takes 5 mins. to complete). I personally drilled 95% original GMAT questions and do highly suggest them. Yes, there are great 3rd party questions and yes, especially to understand or study a concept this will be helpful. However, GMAT questions are one of a kind and (especially verbal) difficult to imitate. The more you do of the original practice questions, the more you will develop a sixth sense for them.

QUANT specific tips:

Understand the question as well as possible. Don´t jump blindly into calculating, make it a habit to stop and think/reflect (developing habits is very important); otherwise you might miss an easy shortcut. Get used to plugging in numbers for variables and, through practice, develop a sense for when it suits you best; don´t do it simply always. The same is true for putting answers back in. When doing so, know how to (There are posts on this topic, maybe someone can share a link in the comments). Develop a sense for when to guess (know your strengths and weaknesses; guessing is important because otherwise you drain your mental energy and lose time while you have only a small chance to get it right. This is detrimental to your overall performance) and know how to guess (again, there are entire posts on this topic, hopefully someone can share a link).

VERBAL specifics:

SC is usually where you can improve most, so go for it (Use MGMAT SC!). RC: There are different strategies out there (I recommend MGMAT RC). What worked very well for me was: Skimming the passage, jotting down some notes. Then answering general questions through my memory/notes (I think even jotting down only words or symbols improved my memory) and for specific questions going back to the text (sometimes you might even be able to answer those with memory/notes, but don´t rely on it too much. Jotting down some notes will also help you remember in which part of the text to look). In my opinion the BEST and yet very simple advice for verbal: Use your fingers as ABCDE and eliminate answer options by folding your fingers down; you will get used to it very fast. However, if you after really trying it for some time feel like it distracts you etc. then don´t force you to do it. To me, it served incredibly well. CR requires practice, practice and more practice; after some time you will understand better and better how CR questions work and see the patterns/types of questions. For help, MGMAT SC or Powerscore CR can be helpful ressources.

With which section should you start the GMAT? Again, there are entire posts on this. As you approach your GMAT date read into it. I personally started with the one that I felt more comfortable with. In case you have a good run, make sure to not go into the second part with to much ease, stay serious and determined; this had happened to me and I consequently wasn´t quite as concentrated in the second part of the exam.

For how to approach the day before the exam and exam day, again there are entire posts. Eating well, drinking enough, getting sleep etc. are obviously all important things. Minimizing stress by knowing how to get to the place and allotting enough time to get there (but don´t be too early either). Some special tip: The days before the exam, sit down, close your eyes and imagine stressful situations that might come up (running late, not having known an answer, noticing that you run behind etc.) and visualize how you breathe through, calm down and go on to do great. This way, you start creating a response that you can use readily in case such a situation really comes up and thus prevent stress, altered heartbeat, lack of concentration etc.

Do you need to practice with a GMAT like pen and paper? Well, I did buy a GMAT like pen and made my own GMAT like paper to practice with; however, I don´t feel like it made a huge difference. Yet I have to say that I don’t know how it would have been without doing so. Generally, I would say don´t stress out because of it.

IMPORTANT: As you are about to start the real exam, try out the pen you took/got. I gladly did so and it literally didn’t work. That way I could exchange it right beforehand and save time (and possibly a stress response).

During the exam, don´t look back. Focus on the task at hand. It doesn´t matter whether you got the question before right or wrong, all that matters is that the task you are working on receives your best try and most effort. See anything before like Schroedinger´s cat: The questions are both right and wrong at the same time, so don´t stress out

PRACTICE EXAMS:

As mentioned, the GMAC Prep exam will give you the most accurate prediction. However, other prep exams are still very useful to get used to the interface, time constraint, practice decision making and guessing, generally note your strengths and weaknesses etc. Again, there are specific posts in this. For my part, I used these ones:

E-GMAT
Expert´s global
GMAT CLUB FORUM (Quant top, Verbal more or less)
VERITAS
Manhattan GMAT: I only did one „real“ Manhattan exam, the one that is for free. However, I did go through the rest of the exam questions which I found in a post. The level is very high, they are very challenging, but for people who want to score high in Quant they will definitely provide good learning potential. (https://gmatclub.com/forum/collections- ... l#p1224642)

As a last advice for your prep, keep it colorful: use different means and channels to study and practice, from YouTube to practice exams or maybe even sessions with friends or follow GMAT Club fellows.

SUMMARY of my prep

Resources:

BrentGMATPrepNow (Again, Huge thanks for your support Brent!)
GMAT official guide/official guide online question bank GMATClubforum
MGMAT SC, MGMAT RC, PowerScore CR
YouTube Videos: various from GMATNinja (great thanks GMAT Ninja!), I watched various that I simply came across and one that I found very nice (though challenging). Note: the sound quality is not so good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGyBUlZz3A8
Another note: Carefully select Videos, not every video you come upon will be great or even useful.

Plan your preparation and be realistic: Better assume some days more than less. Drill a whole lot of practice examples (ideally real GMAT ones; old questions are reappearing on the GMAT), but don’t forget quality, reflection and reviewing and learn and grow. Don´t neglect Verbal (especially SC bears a lot of potential). Do practice exams from third parties but don´t focus on the scoring: Nothing is like the real GMAT. Yet, take advantage of the opportunity to practice guessing, working under time constraint, working various hours, understand your strengths & weaknesses etc.

For quant, as you see and go through a question, stop & think before jumping to calculations, practice how and when to guess, practice different solution ways and focus on the one that suits you best. For Verbal, SC is the “easiest” to improve. RC: Skimming and taking notes increased my accuracy a lot, mega verbal tip: use your fingers as ABCDE options and eliminate answer choices by folding down the respective finger (f.e. thumb for A, pinkie for E). For guessing strategies, with which section to start, what to do/eat the day before the exam and on exam day I suggest you read into detailed posts/research independently on that matter. The moment you get your pen in the exam room, check if it works! During the exam, don´t you ever look back and wonder about right or wrong, focus only on the present.

Prep Exams as listed a couple of lines above. Use them for practice but not for score estimation.

Last but not least and yet most importantly: SET YOUR MIND STRAIGHT. If you handle yourself well, and this is shown by various studies, your performance will improve and you will reach your target. So make sure to check out the video to get some motivation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuugriwffYw&feature=youtu.be

That being said, make the best of your GMAT experience and never forget: DON'T DOUBT IT, DO IT!

Philipp

PS: Add any feedback regarding this post or simply your personal experience through the comment section, looking forward to it!