Read This If Nothing Else Helps with Your Score

Question

I get many questions from users that have taken the GMAT multiple times and often their scores have struggled to increase their scores (often their scores have gone down). This post attempts to address all of them.... a lofty task. I challenge you to try these suggestions. I also task you with providing feedback and finally, I task those who have succeeded to share their tips and suggestions.

Part I: What Is a Good Score? 
   I hear a lot of requests and complaints from various folks who say that they keep scoring 550 and they need 700 and 750. To put things into perspective, 550 is the average score and 45th percentile of all GMAT test takers over the last 3 years of a total of 750K tests. 550 is not a bad score - it means you scored better than a half of all tests takers (estimated 300K people). Sure, it is not enough to get into Harvard or get a scholarship but it is a passable score in a number of business school programs.  More on scores here . Here is how I see things:

500 - 600 --> C (Top 100 schools have average of about 580)
600 - 700 --> B (Top 40 schools have average of about 650+)
700 ---------> A (Top 20 schools average is at or above 700)

A Score has little meaning in Top 10. A meaningfully lower than average score is a red flag, but a meaningfully higher score than average is nothing. The top 10 programs are looking for great candidates rather than great scores. Yes, you can get in with a sub 700 score to top 10 programs. Many have - just look through the previous years of applicant data in the School Discussions forum.

Scores are not always treated the same. If you are older, have a wild job, and a family, the adcom realizes that and understands that you at 30 probably won't score as high as a 22-year old who took the GMAT right after college. For example when a program is looking to take in some of the older applicant, you will be competing with with folks in your age pool rather than in the 24-year old category.

Part II: Why Can't I Get a 700? 
    Do you Know English?  First of all, if English is not your native language and your posts and emails are littered with grammar mistakes, spelling errors, and lack of vocabulary - that should be your primary target. You can't run before learning how to walk or even crawl. Get a handle on your English skills. Master it and don't bother with the GMAT until you are comfortable and have a good level of Reading and Writing - you will need it for business school too - trust me. YES, you must master the English Language. There are no shortcuts.

Scoring a 700 means scoring better than 90% of other test takers. Are you better than the 90% of other applicants? Have you ever been in the top 10% of anything? Sports, Academics, anything where more than 100 people competed? Personally, until I got a 99th percentile on the GMAT, I have never been in the top 1% or even a top 10% of anything. This was a huge boost to my ego but more so a big revelation - I now knew the path, effort involved, and intensity required to be in this top 1% club. If you have not achieved a victory that you had to work really hard for, the road to 700 will be more intense and demanding than anything you have done so far.

Recognize your starting point - I believe I know only one person on GMAT Club who has been able to increase their score by over 300 points. The most common improvement is around 100. It is a LOT of work to get 200 points of improvement and anything higher is REALLY a phenomenal effort. If you have studied, prepared, put effort in, finished the whole book/course/etc and on your first attempt you get a 400, then chances of getting a 700+ will be equivalent to winning a lottery. If you are scoring below 500 and looking for 700+, you have more issues to deal than what GMAT Books will cover.

Is your accuracy 90%?  What is your accuracy on the exercises and are you able to get 90% of all questions right? If not, then you don't deserve a 700-score.

Part III: Enough of This Blah Blah Blah - Just Tell Me What to Do  I hope you can see the irony in this title and that this is the wrong attitude to have.

You must really want it . Giving up cannot be an option

You must be possessed with the GMAT . You must want to learn everything about it and anything related to it - it should be this amazing thing that you extremely extremely interested it. An example what it should compare to, is imagine you had a map to a treasure with some instructions. You would probably pay a lot of attention to the instructions, the map, and everything involved. Another example would be an enemy that you would do anything to defeat and learn about their weakness. The same is here. GMAT should draw you in more than video games, opposite sex, or facebook. It should be your goal and purpose. On the other hand, if you get a sick feeling in your stomach any time you see a GMAT question or a book, then you have the wrong attitude - that's your issue. Fix it. You won't succeed otherwise. You must really want it.

Prioritize . Give GMAT your best time of the day and your biggest budget slice

Learn from the Best . Read debriefs of people who have improved quite a bit. Use tags in the  Share GMAT Experience forum  to find debriefs easily

Be Relentless with mistakes . Here is how to  analyze mistakes . You chase them, find out why you made them, and be prepared to spend 3 hours reviewing the chapter if you need to. Every mistake should be treated like a clue to a treasure map - it should saved and cherished. Do not leave any mistake unaddressed - that exact question type may show up on your GMAT.

Effort counts . A 700 score requires a lot of effort. Some have put it in earlier by getting good at math and english. Others will have to do it now. Either way, you are required to learn and retain a lot of information. If you have holes and gaps in your past (math or english) - those will become apparent and will have to be addressed first. Do not take shortcuts and do not bury anything under a rug. Effort counts and it will show itself.

Keep a journal . Write down your results and what you did that day (what material covered and what you learned). Be brief. Just a sentence or a few bullet points. It won't hurt to repeat the whole thing in your mind but for the journal you want to focus on your results mostly. Write how many questions you attempted or tests. Write all of your stats down in a consistent manner. This will help motivate you in a month or two when it will seem you have had no progress and still have a long way to climb. Go back to the first few weeks of your prep and compare your current results with your past ones. Have a smile at how terrible you used to be and immediately feel better about your progress. If you have worked out and kept a record or saved your retirement account statements - this is the same idea - at the moment it seems you have not had much progress but if you pull up your records, the difference is substantial.

Start and End your day with these 3 questions  - Have I done EVERYTHING in my power to get a better GMAT score? Is there anything else I can do? Am I putting the best effort I can imagine? Often there are small things we can improve or do but unwilling for some reason (we don't feel it is worth the effort... well, at this high level - those are the difference makers). Think about what can make you learn better and make fewer mistakes. Maybe it is review past materials every day, make notes about every chapter, study more vocab words, read gmat fiction, memorize grammar rules - if you are not pursuing these and not doing them, then you are not a ten percenter. You are not a 700-material.

These questions are very important and will have very long term consequences because if you score 650 after 2 months of amazing effort and short fall of your target, you can rest easy. You do not have to torture yourself or doubt your preparation. You have done everything you could in those 2 months - nothing else could have been done with your resources (time, brain, and money) and feel at peace with that score - that is simply the best score you can get to. There is nothing to regret. You can stand proud and tall - you have given it your best and you should be proud of your result. But if you have cut corners along the way, you will have a feeling of remorse that will keep you up at night. Don't do this to yourself. Be proud of your work and make others proud of it too.

Well... this is it for now. It is a late evening here and I need to finish up. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please let me know and I will add them to this post. 
Good luck to all of you.

ankitaprsd · Answer

A brilliant post !

anaccident · Answer

Great post as always BB

Psychologically, declare war on GMAT. Give it your all to destroy it. "Give it your all" : Don't look back after the test and look at your exam with regret. Prepare as much as possible so that the hindsight thoughts of "If only I studied more..." don't haunt you. "Be possessed by the GMAT" : Self explanatory. It's your #1 enemy. "Be relentless with your mistakes" : Adapt! Learn from your mistakes! Seriously you're wasting your time if you don't learn from mistakes.

bb · Answer

Thanks! I just added one more bullet about keeping a journal to motivate you. I did not do this in my prep but I find it helpful with long-term projects. I used to be depressed about my retirement and savings accounts because it seemed I am able to save/contribute so little every month and I will need so much when I retire.... then someone suggested pulling statements from two years ago. I was very surprised - I was able to double my retirement account balance (it was not that much to start with but still doubling is a good feeling). It is all about the perspective and if you can help yourself see progress, improvement, and that you are getting closer to your goal - you will be more motivated and focused.

Sky78 · Answer

Amazing post!! You said it right... "You can't run before learning how to walk or even crawl."... I should have realized this earlier.

I think this post will be eye opener for many candidates!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and valuable suggestions!

mshrek · Answer

Straight from the heart- The bitter truth about GMAT. I hope I can work on those 3 questions and achieve my target score.

saifa08 · Answer

Fantastic post BB.

Just one thing I feel that I suffer in my 7th GMAT test: Exam anxiety .

How someone can be fully prepared if he/she covered all the above but still feel anxious during the exam? 
Also what can be done if someone is not good with standard exams? Is there anything else can be done apart from taking mocks over and over again?

Thanks

bb · Answer

Everyone has exam anxiety. Nobody walks into the test center relaxed. Some are able to control it better and perform better under pressure by focusing on the task and shutting off the fear side of the brain. My suggestion would be trace your anxiety - find why you have it and how you could diminish it. is it the same as the public speaking anxiety? It can be addressed and overcome - I may be taking practice tests but I doubt that a practice test is the same as the real test unless you create some really BIG punishment/reward for yourself. Create that reward/punishment and make it stick and count (e.g. you will buy your enemy an expensive gift... if you don't have an enemy, get one). Or if you fail, you will donate $500 to the cause you hate or you shave your head or wear a pink/transparent shirt to work - lots of ways to create anxiety :-)

chetan86 · Answer

Hi bb,

Your article is quite motivating. Thanks a lot for transferring positive energy, your article will definitely help me to charge up myself.

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