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When I started preparing for the GMAT some 5 months ago, I promised myself that if I achieved a decent score, I would write a proper debrief for all the folks out there. However, since IMHO there are plenty of debriefs including detailed study plans, in-depth analysis of all materials available and minute-by-minute itineraries for test day, I decided to write about something different. Blame the psychology major in me, but I will focus more on the emotional side of the GMAT, e.g. how to cope with the mental struggle the GMAT might put on you and how to remain sane in light of prep scores below your expectation.
A brief summary of my background:
28 year old male, non-English native, first time GMAT taker
Undergraduate degrees in sports management (with not too much emphasis on quant for a business program) and psychology (a little more quant heavy). I always had quite good grades in all quant subjects through high school and also university, however, I always struggled with the GMAT quant and identified it as my weak area. I was doing quite well in verbal and always liked languages.
GMAT score: 730 (Q49, V40, IR 7, AWA 6.0)
Before you read on: the following lessons presume that you have done your homework and are well-prepared for the GMAT. I define well-prepared as
a) knowing all the concepts you deal with quant and only failing questions because you either make a careless error (trust me, I am the master of careless errors) or do not manage to calculate the question all the way through
b) being familiar with all the verbal formats and knowing what the test asks (Disclaimer: despite being a non-native speaker, I always liked verbal and never had any special tactic for tackling the problems)
c) possessing the stamina to sit through the 4 hour exam without your brain feeling like the inside of an apple pie halfway through the verbal section.
So, here it goes, my Top 5 lessons learned for mastering the GMAT:
1) Get a GMAT buddy
Through the 5 months of preparing for the GMAT, I had a buddy, let's call her R. Rumor has it that R will be nominated for next year's Nobel Peace Prize for bearing with me through the preparation, since I was probably the most obnoxious, self-doubting and aggravating person you could ever imagine during preparation (more on that later). When I started preparing for the GMAT (i.e. actually opening all the materials I had bought a year earlier), I told R about my commitment and that I wanted to tackle the GMAT. She had taken the exam a year before, had scored a respectable score and got accepted at Oxford, INSEAD and to the interview stage at HBS. Therefore, R was in a prime position to hook me up with study materials, give me insights and answer some inside questions. I cannot thank her enough for all she did, however, the real reason why I will be eternally grateful to R is that she would refuse to give me up whenever I was ready to resign. R was there when I needed a sounding board, gave me encouraging when I doubted that I was good enough for a Top 10 school and above all, told me to stay calm and just keep on going. For example, in the week before taking the test, I took my final practice exam. I scored 730, 700 and 760 on the first ones, so I was hoping for something around 760 again to get ultimate confidence for G-Day. In the end, I scored 710, which is of course a great score if you look at it rationally, however, I was crushed. I credit R with helping me not to lose my nerves that day, re-focusing and eventually nailing the real GMAT. I always said that 90% of my GMAT success goes to R, since all I did was the manual labor, the studying, whereas she was the one that kept me going and made sure I never gave up. For all her commitment and advice she has given me, she refuses to this day that I even thank her. Just so you know how great R is.
Lesson learned: You don't have to take this journey alone - get a GMAT buddy!
2) About prep tests
We all love prep tests, don't we? Well, maybe love in the sense of some very weird fetish, but still, we enjoy them for they tell us where we stand in our preparation for the GMAT. I lost count of how many times I searched through the forums to answer the question of how accurately your prep test scores correlates with your real GMAT, hoping to find some enlightenment where there was none to be found. Luckily, I do not have to search any longer, since I now got my answer. My two cents on the issue: Yes, you should absolutely do practice tests. First, because they build the stamina you will need for the GMAT (and don't you dare skipping the AWA and IR - sit through the real, 4 hour experience). Second, they help you identify where you stand and which areas you still need to improve in. That being said, and without being disrespectful to any other companies out there: the only predictor for your potential GMAT score are the GMAT prep tests. Period. My GMAT score is nearly exactly the average of all my Prep Tests. All other tests will definitely help you with your stamina, however, their predictive power ranges from very little to non-existent. And while Manhattan GMAT provides, IMHO, the best study materials out there, their tests should be used with caution. Not only is their quant way harder than actual GMAT quant, but I also had the impression that they sometimes test different concepts and strategies. For instance, many quant examples will be about doing lengthy calculations, whereas the GMAT quant is usually about identifying a strategy and doing some basic math to get there. So before you go all crazy because your scored another 650 on a MGMAT prep test, stay calm. You will be doing alright!
Lesson learned: Do practice tests, but always interpret their results with care.
3) But there is this guy on GMAT Club, who...
There is this guy, whose brother-in-law knows a girl who went to class with a guy who heard a rumor that there is this girl out there that got a 770 GMAT after 2 weeks of studying with nothing but her elementary school math books. While this is surely an exaggeration, it is kind of a nice metaphor about the stories you can read in the different GMAT forums out there. Don't get me wrong: I definitely think you should read these stories, and some of them truly are inspirational and give you valuable insights about GMAT preparation. However, when it comes to taking the test, there is only one person you should compare yourself to...and that is you. Yes, there are people out there who do indeed score a 770 on the GMAT after 2 weeks of studying (and I salute them!). And yes, there are also people out there who after 5 months of studying and a 770 on all practice tests get a 650 on the real deal. However, you will probably never know their background, how their GMAT journey went and the myriad of reasons why they did or did not score well.
I must admit, I was sometimes driven nuts reading these posts and more than once they instilled self-doubt in me. I remember, after the 760 on my practice exam, I read about some guys who also scored very high on GMAT prep and did not do well at all at the real exam. Thinking about it now, there could be a gazillion other reasons than their 'low ability' (and in my thinking therefore MY low ability, because I scored the same on the prep test). Maybe they did not sleep at all before the exam. Maybe they had just very unfortunate questions at the GMAT. Maybe they did not stick to their routine and tried something different at the test that did not work out. The bottom line is: do not worry about other people's GMAT experience, but exclusively focus on your own.
Lesson learned: While other people's stories are a good way to learn more about the GMAT, you cannot draw any conclusion for your test day experience from them.
4) Forget about talent and intelligence – roll up your sleeves instead
Ok, I must admit: I am probably smarter than I would admit. However, when it comes to the GMAT, the question is not whether you are smart enough for the test. The question is: how dedicated are you to put in hours of studying in addition to your job and practicing elementary math problems in your scarce free time? As you can see, there is no intelligence involved in this question. I won't get into the details of psychometrics and theories about intelligence tests, so the short version: the GMAT does not measure intelligence! In my opinion, in order to tackle the GMAT, you need but one thing: hard work. I did not keep any diary about my studying efforts, however, I would say that reading the Manhattan GMAT books (personal preference…feel free to use any materials you deem fit) about all the different mathematical rules amounted to 20% of my total study time max. The other 80% was inglorious, cumbersome and tedious work. By the time I took my test yesterday, I must have easily taken 1,000 practice questions. As a result, on the GMAT itself, it usually took me less than 5 seconds to identify what was asked from me and know how to get there. Don't get me wrong - I am not saying that I am THE GMAT guru now and my Q49 very adequately reflects my abilities. All I am saying is that even though I identified quant to be my weak area, I still managed to score a respectable 49 in that section. I therefore think that you can really achieve every score you want, as long as you are willing to put in the dedication and hours of hard work to get there.
Lesson learned: The key to the GMAT is practice, practice, practice.
5) Have a plan for test day and toss it or: there is no such thing as perfect conditions
When I took my final practice exam, I tried to mimic the actual test as closely as possible. I got up in the morning and followed the same routine I wanted to follow on test day: doing the same exercises to get my circulation running, eating the same stuff for breakfast and double-checking my bag (DO I HAVE MY PASSPORT???). I even left the house to go to the train station, listening to the same motivational tunes I intended to listen to on G-Day. I then started the prep test at exactly the same time and in the breaks, ate the same brand of energy bars (Hint: they contain peanuts). Score: 710, boom. Writing these lines, I cannot stop shaking my head in embarrassment of how tight I was about the entire procedure. I thought I needed this entire hodgepodge in order to be 100% ready.
My original plan was to schedule the test for Monday morning at around 10AM. I thus would have had the entire weekend to prepare and relax and then write the test at a time I knew I was usually quite awake. Eventually, my test date was on a Friday at 8:15 am - after a full week of work with getting out of bed at 5:30AM get to the test center on time.
And guess what: in the end, all this did not matter at all, because I took a step back and treated the test like any other test I have written in my life. I got up, had some breakfast, went to the test center listening to the music I felt like listening to (blink-182 if you must know) and just did my thing. I did not matter that it was Friday or that I am not a morning person. As soon as I set down at the PC, I was switched on and ready to go, because I knew that I had done enough. I even did not lose my calm when I dropped my earphones and switched my screen to black in an effort to retrieve them, losing some 15 seconds on the quant section. It just did not matter, because I knew I was ready to also tackle this section in 74:45. One of the smartest quotes I have ever heard was by a local mountaineer. He told me: "I have climbed hundreds of mountains in my life, some of which were very dangerous. I was never worried though, because my credo for preparation has always been: Prepare in such a way that you never have to rely on luck.”
Lesson learned: Don't strive for perfect test conditions, but strive for being prepared for anything that might hit you.
And that's it. I still cannot believe that the GMAT journey is over and it ended with my target score. Knowing the five points outlined above beforehand would definitely have saved me a lot of worry, but well...you live, you learn. Next step will be the applications, and while my confidence was definitely boosted by my good GMAT score, I know that this race is only about to begin.
In any case, if you are preparing for the GMAT and you are struggling: Just don't give up. You can do it!
All the best
A brief summary of my background:
28 year old male, non-English native, first time GMAT taker
Undergraduate degrees in sports management (with not too much emphasis on quant for a business program) and psychology (a little more quant heavy). I always had quite good grades in all quant subjects through high school and also university, however, I always struggled with the GMAT quant and identified it as my weak area. I was doing quite well in verbal and always liked languages.
GMAT score: 730 (Q49, V40, IR 7, AWA 6.0)
Before you read on: the following lessons presume that you have done your homework and are well-prepared for the GMAT. I define well-prepared as
a) knowing all the concepts you deal with quant and only failing questions because you either make a careless error (trust me, I am the master of careless errors) or do not manage to calculate the question all the way through
b) being familiar with all the verbal formats and knowing what the test asks (Disclaimer: despite being a non-native speaker, I always liked verbal and never had any special tactic for tackling the problems)
c) possessing the stamina to sit through the 4 hour exam without your brain feeling like the inside of an apple pie halfway through the verbal section.
So, here it goes, my Top 5 lessons learned for mastering the GMAT:
1) Get a GMAT buddy
Through the 5 months of preparing for the GMAT, I had a buddy, let's call her R. Rumor has it that R will be nominated for next year's Nobel Peace Prize for bearing with me through the preparation, since I was probably the most obnoxious, self-doubting and aggravating person you could ever imagine during preparation (more on that later). When I started preparing for the GMAT (i.e. actually opening all the materials I had bought a year earlier), I told R about my commitment and that I wanted to tackle the GMAT. She had taken the exam a year before, had scored a respectable score and got accepted at Oxford, INSEAD and to the interview stage at HBS. Therefore, R was in a prime position to hook me up with study materials, give me insights and answer some inside questions. I cannot thank her enough for all she did, however, the real reason why I will be eternally grateful to R is that she would refuse to give me up whenever I was ready to resign. R was there when I needed a sounding board, gave me encouraging when I doubted that I was good enough for a Top 10 school and above all, told me to stay calm and just keep on going. For example, in the week before taking the test, I took my final practice exam. I scored 730, 700 and 760 on the first ones, so I was hoping for something around 760 again to get ultimate confidence for G-Day. In the end, I scored 710, which is of course a great score if you look at it rationally, however, I was crushed. I credit R with helping me not to lose my nerves that day, re-focusing and eventually nailing the real GMAT. I always said that 90% of my GMAT success goes to R, since all I did was the manual labor, the studying, whereas she was the one that kept me going and made sure I never gave up. For all her commitment and advice she has given me, she refuses to this day that I even thank her. Just so you know how great R is.
Lesson learned: You don't have to take this journey alone - get a GMAT buddy!
2) About prep tests
We all love prep tests, don't we? Well, maybe love in the sense of some very weird fetish, but still, we enjoy them for they tell us where we stand in our preparation for the GMAT. I lost count of how many times I searched through the forums to answer the question of how accurately your prep test scores correlates with your real GMAT, hoping to find some enlightenment where there was none to be found. Luckily, I do not have to search any longer, since I now got my answer. My two cents on the issue: Yes, you should absolutely do practice tests. First, because they build the stamina you will need for the GMAT (and don't you dare skipping the AWA and IR - sit through the real, 4 hour experience). Second, they help you identify where you stand and which areas you still need to improve in. That being said, and without being disrespectful to any other companies out there: the only predictor for your potential GMAT score are the GMAT prep tests. Period. My GMAT score is nearly exactly the average of all my Prep Tests. All other tests will definitely help you with your stamina, however, their predictive power ranges from very little to non-existent. And while Manhattan GMAT provides, IMHO, the best study materials out there, their tests should be used with caution. Not only is their quant way harder than actual GMAT quant, but I also had the impression that they sometimes test different concepts and strategies. For instance, many quant examples will be about doing lengthy calculations, whereas the GMAT quant is usually about identifying a strategy and doing some basic math to get there. So before you go all crazy because your scored another 650 on a MGMAT prep test, stay calm. You will be doing alright!
Lesson learned: Do practice tests, but always interpret their results with care.
3) But there is this guy on GMAT Club, who...
There is this guy, whose brother-in-law knows a girl who went to class with a guy who heard a rumor that there is this girl out there that got a 770 GMAT after 2 weeks of studying with nothing but her elementary school math books. While this is surely an exaggeration, it is kind of a nice metaphor about the stories you can read in the different GMAT forums out there. Don't get me wrong: I definitely think you should read these stories, and some of them truly are inspirational and give you valuable insights about GMAT preparation. However, when it comes to taking the test, there is only one person you should compare yourself to...and that is you. Yes, there are people out there who do indeed score a 770 on the GMAT after 2 weeks of studying (and I salute them!). And yes, there are also people out there who after 5 months of studying and a 770 on all practice tests get a 650 on the real deal. However, you will probably never know their background, how their GMAT journey went and the myriad of reasons why they did or did not score well.
I must admit, I was sometimes driven nuts reading these posts and more than once they instilled self-doubt in me. I remember, after the 760 on my practice exam, I read about some guys who also scored very high on GMAT prep and did not do well at all at the real exam. Thinking about it now, there could be a gazillion other reasons than their 'low ability' (and in my thinking therefore MY low ability, because I scored the same on the prep test). Maybe they did not sleep at all before the exam. Maybe they had just very unfortunate questions at the GMAT. Maybe they did not stick to their routine and tried something different at the test that did not work out. The bottom line is: do not worry about other people's GMAT experience, but exclusively focus on your own.
Lesson learned: While other people's stories are a good way to learn more about the GMAT, you cannot draw any conclusion for your test day experience from them.
4) Forget about talent and intelligence – roll up your sleeves instead
Ok, I must admit: I am probably smarter than I would admit. However, when it comes to the GMAT, the question is not whether you are smart enough for the test. The question is: how dedicated are you to put in hours of studying in addition to your job and practicing elementary math problems in your scarce free time? As you can see, there is no intelligence involved in this question. I won't get into the details of psychometrics and theories about intelligence tests, so the short version: the GMAT does not measure intelligence! In my opinion, in order to tackle the GMAT, you need but one thing: hard work. I did not keep any diary about my studying efforts, however, I would say that reading the Manhattan GMAT books (personal preference…feel free to use any materials you deem fit) about all the different mathematical rules amounted to 20% of my total study time max. The other 80% was inglorious, cumbersome and tedious work. By the time I took my test yesterday, I must have easily taken 1,000 practice questions. As a result, on the GMAT itself, it usually took me less than 5 seconds to identify what was asked from me and know how to get there. Don't get me wrong - I am not saying that I am THE GMAT guru now and my Q49 very adequately reflects my abilities. All I am saying is that even though I identified quant to be my weak area, I still managed to score a respectable 49 in that section. I therefore think that you can really achieve every score you want, as long as you are willing to put in the dedication and hours of hard work to get there.
Lesson learned: The key to the GMAT is practice, practice, practice.
5) Have a plan for test day and toss it or: there is no such thing as perfect conditions
When I took my final practice exam, I tried to mimic the actual test as closely as possible. I got up in the morning and followed the same routine I wanted to follow on test day: doing the same exercises to get my circulation running, eating the same stuff for breakfast and double-checking my bag (DO I HAVE MY PASSPORT???). I even left the house to go to the train station, listening to the same motivational tunes I intended to listen to on G-Day. I then started the prep test at exactly the same time and in the breaks, ate the same brand of energy bars (Hint: they contain peanuts). Score: 710, boom. Writing these lines, I cannot stop shaking my head in embarrassment of how tight I was about the entire procedure. I thought I needed this entire hodgepodge in order to be 100% ready.
My original plan was to schedule the test for Monday morning at around 10AM. I thus would have had the entire weekend to prepare and relax and then write the test at a time I knew I was usually quite awake. Eventually, my test date was on a Friday at 8:15 am - after a full week of work with getting out of bed at 5:30AM get to the test center on time.
And guess what: in the end, all this did not matter at all, because I took a step back and treated the test like any other test I have written in my life. I got up, had some breakfast, went to the test center listening to the music I felt like listening to (blink-182 if you must know) and just did my thing. I did not matter that it was Friday or that I am not a morning person. As soon as I set down at the PC, I was switched on and ready to go, because I knew that I had done enough. I even did not lose my calm when I dropped my earphones and switched my screen to black in an effort to retrieve them, losing some 15 seconds on the quant section. It just did not matter, because I knew I was ready to also tackle this section in 74:45. One of the smartest quotes I have ever heard was by a local mountaineer. He told me: "I have climbed hundreds of mountains in my life, some of which were very dangerous. I was never worried though, because my credo for preparation has always been: Prepare in such a way that you never have to rely on luck.”
Lesson learned: Don't strive for perfect test conditions, but strive for being prepared for anything that might hit you.
And that's it. I still cannot believe that the GMAT journey is over and it ended with my target score. Knowing the five points outlined above beforehand would definitely have saved me a lot of worry, but well...you live, you learn. Next step will be the applications, and while my confidence was definitely boosted by my good GMAT score, I know that this race is only about to begin.
In any case, if you are preparing for the GMAT and you are struggling: Just don't give up. You can do it!
All the best
14 Aug 2015, 07:06
Kudos
Bookmarks
Your post is really inspiring and each and every word is true to its level.
Can u reveal some tips to score 40 in verbal. I never crossed 30 in my actual gmat.
Can u reveal some tips to score 40 in verbal. I never crossed 30 in my actual gmat.
14 Aug 2015, 10:05
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Mechmeera,
thanks for your kind words. Like I wrote, I am in the lucky position that verbal comes rather easy and intuitive to me. However, the following provided useful for me:
Reading Comprehension: This was the only section on the entire section I did not consult any study materials on. I tried a summarising approach, using shorthand to write down the most important parts of the text. However, this distracted me way too much and I did not feel comfortable at all, so I abandoned this approach rather quickly. I hence prepared for RC by doing lots of practice examples/test. Also, reading demanding texts from various sources (Economist, FT, online science blogs) helped me to build my stamina and not get 'lost' in long texts about the mating behavior of penguins.
Critical Reasoning: I found CR the toughest section for me. I don't know why, but I found this one a tough cookie. I tend to think of myself as rather smart, however, I guess my reasoning skills defy my ego.
For the CR, I adhered to the MGMT "Critical Reasoning" book. I must say that I did all my studying with MGMAT, so I guess I am quite biased here. I heard that other people rely on the Critical Reasoning Bible and the like. I guess ultimately, you have to see which one works best for you.
My piece of advice on CR would be to really make sure to understand what the Assumption is. In the past, I would get quite a few CRs wrong because I picked answers that definitely made logical sense, however, they simply were not the answer to the assumption. For instance, if the assumption of an argument is that "by increasing police spending by 33%, we can cut down crime by 50%", your assumption is "more money = less crime". Any answer not addressing this money-crime connection can therefore never be right, even if it seems to make logical sense. On the whole, I would try to forget everything you know about the case presented and purely go by the information that is provided.
Sentence Correction: Here, I would recommend to read a resource you enjoy - be it MGMAT Sentence Correction or any other material out there. The most important thing IMHO is to understand some of the must common errors the test makers include in the sentences.
Than, it is again practice, practice, practice. Also, make sure that you carefully read the answer explanation of ALL questions, especially the ones you got right. Sometimes I would get a question right because 'it sounded right', but did not know the exact grammar rule. I thus made sure to know why I was right and see that I would correctly apply the rule also in the future.
One last word on answer explanations: While GMAT Club is an amazing resource, I found that sometimes it was less helpful on SC answer explanations. On several occassions, I would find people confidently explaining why a certain answer choice was right, even though it was actually the wrong answer. Therefore, stick to official answer explanations from trusted sources to avoid confusion.
thanks for your kind words. Like I wrote, I am in the lucky position that verbal comes rather easy and intuitive to me. However, the following provided useful for me:
Reading Comprehension: This was the only section on the entire section I did not consult any study materials on. I tried a summarising approach, using shorthand to write down the most important parts of the text. However, this distracted me way too much and I did not feel comfortable at all, so I abandoned this approach rather quickly. I hence prepared for RC by doing lots of practice examples/test. Also, reading demanding texts from various sources (Economist, FT, online science blogs) helped me to build my stamina and not get 'lost' in long texts about the mating behavior of penguins.
Critical Reasoning: I found CR the toughest section for me. I don't know why, but I found this one a tough cookie. I tend to think of myself as rather smart, however, I guess my reasoning skills defy my ego.
For the CR, I adhered to the MGMT "Critical Reasoning" book. I must say that I did all my studying with MGMAT, so I guess I am quite biased here. I heard that other people rely on the Critical Reasoning Bible and the like. I guess ultimately, you have to see which one works best for you.
My piece of advice on CR would be to really make sure to understand what the Assumption is. In the past, I would get quite a few CRs wrong because I picked answers that definitely made logical sense, however, they simply were not the answer to the assumption. For instance, if the assumption of an argument is that "by increasing police spending by 33%, we can cut down crime by 50%", your assumption is "more money = less crime". Any answer not addressing this money-crime connection can therefore never be right, even if it seems to make logical sense. On the whole, I would try to forget everything you know about the case presented and purely go by the information that is provided.
Sentence Correction: Here, I would recommend to read a resource you enjoy - be it MGMAT Sentence Correction or any other material out there. The most important thing IMHO is to understand some of the must common errors the test makers include in the sentences.
Than, it is again practice, practice, practice. Also, make sure that you carefully read the answer explanation of ALL questions, especially the ones you got right. Sometimes I would get a question right because 'it sounded right', but did not know the exact grammar rule. I thus made sure to know why I was right and see that I would correctly apply the rule also in the future.
One last word on answer explanations: While GMAT Club is an amazing resource, I found that sometimes it was less helpful on SC answer explanations. On several occassions, I would find people confidently explaining why a certain answer choice was right, even though it was actually the wrong answer. Therefore, stick to official answer explanations from trusted sources to avoid confusion.
