Circling back to fulfill the above commitments - here's a free GMAT® Study Plan, done the TGS way. Should help a ton, no matter what stage you're in:
0. Intro to the exam:
a. There are 4 sections and 5 scores:
i. Quant section - tests math and reasoning skills.
This is the most important score for business schools. Most admissions officers still consider the MBA a 'Quant heavy' degree.
The coursework you see at most top programs will validate this.
Quant is 31 questions in 62 minutes.
You'll see about 16 PS (problem solving) questions.
These will be familiar and are standard 5 option multiple choice questions.
You'll see about 15 DS (data sufficiency) questions.
These are new and unique to the GMAT®. They also appear on the Executive Assessment. The Executive Assessment (EA) is a shorter GMAT® for Executive MBA programs.
Score is scaled 0-51.
Forget the percentiles, which are meaningless.
A lot of people will tell you how meaningful they are. Ignore these people because they do not know what they're talking about.
You'll need a 40 or better in Quant to be considered at top 50 programs.
Below that you can still get in, but it's really hard and you'll have to make up for the deficiency in other areas. Exceptional performance at work would be an example.
Study Data Sufficiency questions a bit before your baseline practice exam.
Do a quick web search and 3 practice questions. If you do more than this, you're being emotional and not rational, which is a great way to fail at this process.
Don't worry about mastering the math fundamentals first. Many people will tell you to do that before your baseline test, making them wrong about how to do this properly.
Momentum is paramount and you can lose it in a day and never recover. This can limit your income and impact by a factor of about 3 at best, 100 at worst.
Expect your baseline test to be low - super low.
Expect to want to give up after seeing the number.
Then don’t.
We all sucked at the beginning and your buddy who studied for 2 weeks and got a 760 is irrelevant to your success. Block out the noise.
ii. Verbal section.
This is second most important. If you can't communicate, you won't get far in school or leadership.
3 question types here:
Reading Comprehension (can you read?)
Critical Reasoning (can you think logically?)
Sentence Correction (can you write in a way that is not confusing?)
Don't prepare in advance for this section. Take it completely cold or you'll have a hard time optimizing your improvement path.
iii. Integrated Reasoning (IR) section.
Can you read graphs and emails and answer questions about them? Most of you do this all day, every day at work.
Just like Verbal, don't prepare in advance for this section. Let it kick your tail or vice versa.
This is how you collect the raw data on where to focus your time. If you pad your stats from the beginning, you're only hurting yourself and your efficiency.
iv. Essay.
The only purpose of this section is to confirm that you are the person who wrote your application essays.
If you can write 3 paragraphs in English in 30 minutes, you'll be good.
Don't worry if you're terrible at this because you're still an English language learner. Everyone starts somewhere, and it doesn't matter where you start. It only matters where you finish.
1. Take a practice exam cold.
If people tell you not to do this, and that it is a waste of time, they're wrong and you should avoid them at all costs. They will add months to your study timeline. They might even keep you from reaching your goal.
They're not bad people. They're just mis-informed.
How many people have they helped get into b-school? What's their success rate? And at what speed do they get results? Check the stats before you take advice from people!
Taking advice from random people who have no track record of success is a great way to lose.
Taking advice from people who studied for 2 weeks and got a 730 is also a great way to lose. They have no idea what they’re talking about. They’re just super talented - good for them!
Take your diagnostic from mba.com - it’s free and the only accurate way to gauge where you’re beginning.
Avoid third party exams or ‘score estimators. They do not have access to the real algorithm. They also can’t afford to invest in each question the way GMAC (people who write the GMAT) can.
Avoid people who tell you to take a diagnostic other than one from MBA.com. They will destroy your chances of improving your Verbal score.
2. Analyze the results of your baseline test:
Everyone will tell you some long, drawn out way to do this, but that's all a waste of time.
Keep it simple: how far are you from where you want to be in each section?
Do the math - what do you need to get into school? How far away are you from that in Quant, Verbal, Essay, and IR?
For top 5 you'll need: 45+ in Quant, 36+ in Verbal, 4+ on the Essay, 6+ on the IR - higher is better in all sections
For top 20 you'll need: 42+ in Quant, 32+ in Verbal, 4+ on the Essay, 5+ on the IR - higher is better in all sections
For top 50 you'll need: 40+ in Quant, 30+ in Verbal, 4+ on the Essay, 4+ on the IR - higher is better in all sections
Allocate your study hours according to how big of a gain you need in each section.
Let's say you're starting at a 35 in Quant.
30 in verbal.
5 on the Essay (you can post your essay on GMATClub and people will give you a realistic score. You can also buy a software from MBA.com that 'grades' your essay).
And 4 in IR.
And let's say you want to go to Harvard.
You need at least a 10 point gain in Quant, at least a 6 point gain in Verbal, and at least a 2 point gain in IR.
You'll be spending 2 hrs on Quant for every 1 hour on Verbal, and just a bit of time on IR here and there.
Realistic timelines for achieving these kinds of gains vary widely by provider. So, let's talk about that.
3. Get resources to help you improve:
a. Free = about 6 hours of study for each 1 point gain you want to make on your 200-800 scaled score. Investment = $0.
Let's say you want to go from 600 to 700 overall.
Plan for about 600 hours of studying free stuff.
If you want to go from 500 to 700, plan for about 1200 hours.
These are just averages - you might be way faster or way slower.
The efficiency loss happens because you're not an expert on where and how to get advice - that's okay! We all started somewhere, including myself.
I started with free. I wish I could time travel back in time and spend as much money as possible on moving faster - it was hell.
But, if you don't have money, this is the way. And, you can do it! Just buckle up for a long haul.
b. Books = about 5 hours of study for each 1 point gain on your 200-800 score. Investment = $0 - $250.
Some are great, some are terrible. DYOR = do your own research. I recommend the Manhattan printed materials.
Some sets of books you can get for free from a local library. I would recommend this rather than just digital resources. It will save you a lot of time searching for things.
It's still probably going to be a long haul with this route, and there's nothing wrong with that! Start where you are and use what you have.
c. Digital Self-Paced Classes = about 4 hours of study for each 1 point gain on your overall score. Investment = $300-$1000.
There are an overwhelming number of these and quality varies widely - again, DYOR = do your own research.
These will, on average, help you progress a bit faster. The technology allows some customization versus books.
Beware that if you're going this route, you're going to spend a few hours sifting through the sheer number of them.
Don't let the BS marketing fool you - they're slow. Really slow. But they're faster than books. That's definitely worth whatever low fee they're charging if you can afford it.
You'll probably also get some level of support, which is nice.
d. Live classes = about 3 hours of study for each 1 point gain on your overall score. Typical investment is $1500-$2000.
These are best for accountability on a budget. Or if you know you personally learn better in a live environment.
The efficiency gain comes from more customization and access to a dedicated human. Also, accountability for those of you who know you’ll want/need it.
Make sure your instructor has a successful track record, and isn’t just a shining personality.
This is a huge problem in the industry - it’s natural to assume that because they’re smart they can help you. Just DYOR!
I recommend
http://testcrackers.org - they’re a smaller brand and will give you 10X more support and attention for less money than the big names.
Live classes are a lot more profit per customer than other products, so many big brands go after this space. They create super crappy products with instructors who are not vetted well. Some bigger brands in this space used to be good, but aren’t anymore :/
The problem is they have HUGE marketing budgets and spam everyone. Just because you see a brand a lot doesn’t mean it’s good!
e. Private Tutors = about 2 hours of study for each 1 point gain on your overall score. Typical investment is $3,000-$30,000.
Huge, huge quality gradient here - get someone who specializes in the GMAT.
Avoid people who tutor for 38 different tests. They’ll teach you how to be great at those instead of how to be great at the GMAT, and then blame you for the lack of results. You’ve been warned!
This is faster than the others, again, because of customization. This is about as customized as it gets, and if you get someone who’s good, it’s an amazing investment. Where else can you get this return on capital? Do the math!
But, many will still be too afraid to drop this kind of cash, or simply not have access to the funds. And if that’s you, don’t stress. You don’t need a tutor to make this happen. Unless you’ve been struggling for a long time with the above resources and are losing hope - then you need one.
If you can afford it from the start, find the best tutor you can and do everything they say exactly the way they say it.
If you’ve tried any or all the above and haven’t seen results, please reach out to us! We specialize in turning things around if you haven’t had success despite putting in the time.
If you want to go faster than any of the above, please reach out to us! We also specialize in speed and efficiency from day 1 (or day 100 if you’re fed up already
4. Test and refine:
Here’s where some third party tests (not from MBA.com) can help you out. They often have slick data features that can help you pinpoint weaknesses.
I recommend the Manhattan tests, but many third party tests will help you in this phase.
Avoid taking a bunch of tests from MBA.com in this phase of your prep - they have no analysis features.
Pinpoint 3 weaknesses from each practice exam. Go ALL IN on improving those 3 things before the next practice test.
Your biggest asset at this point is FOCUS. If you spread yourself too thin, you’ll burn a ton of hours and watch your score go down. Not fun!
Use the Official Guide for GMAT® review for your deep dives on specific topics in this phase. No other resource will help you as much during this time.
BLOCK OUT THE NOISE - there's too much data about the exam online. Focus on your 3 areas.
Also, get rid of the self doubt - it’s weighing you down and is worse than useless.
You can do this - it might be harder than you want, like most awesome things. Take the pain so you can have the power.
5. Finishing touches:
Once you’re seeing scores within 30 points of your goal, switch to the MBA.com exams.
If you’ve seen 2 scores within 30 points of your goal, you should be ready to make this transition.
If you hit a score on the MBA.com exam within 30 points of your goal, schedule a test date within the next 6 weeks.
Take 2-3 more practice exams, and focus on your 3 areas between each test.
6. TEST DAY:
Expect 1-3 things to go wrong.
Probably nothing will go wrong, but if you expect a few bad things, it’ll make you more resilient.
Make sure you’ve rehearsed your night before / day of routine on your 3 most recent exams, and refined that too.
Setting yourself up for success is half the battle on test day!
Take the test in person, not online, if you can.
The online exam is great in a pinch, but there’s a huge likelihood of a tech issue that will ruin your day or your score. Not worth it!
7. Retake if needed
Most people will retake, even if it’s just to play the odds.
The way the algorithm works makes luck a much bigger factor in the GMAT than other exams.
Check out the video on our website (
http://thegmatstrategy.com ) if you’re not sure how the algorithm works exactly.
Don’t stress if you need to take the exam 2-3 times. Plan for it. If you knock it out on the first try, great! Celebrate early.
If you end up having a bad day, that’s fine - don’t lose hope!
This process is SUPPOSED to be hard - that’s how you know you’re going to school with a bunch of people who deserve to be there.
And, as harsh as this may sound, that’s what you want.
You don’t want to go to school with a bunch of people who are not talented and have no work ethic. We’re all massively affected by the people we surround ourselves with.
Become the person who deserves this, even if you’re not that person yet.
The best part about being human is being adaptable. Put some pressure on yourself and learn how to rise to the occasion, even if you fail a few times along the way.
I failed a lot when I was studying for the exam - it sucked! But now I live the dream every day and it is beyond worth it. You can do it too. We’re here if you need more help - reach out any time.
PS - our podcast is lit. People love it! If you want to level up on your commute, run, bike ride, etc…let us help you out
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Updated on: 08 Feb 2020, 15:11 
