Infographic - The 2-month Misconception

Question

It takes 2 months to clear the GMAT.

Where this misconception originated from, how this perpetuates, and what its implications are - I explore in the attached infographic.

Attachment:

2 Month Misconception - GMAT with CJ.png [ 279.96 KiB | Viewed 1197 times ]

What do you think about this?

- CJ

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

That's so interesting to see CJ.

I feel as if even I have fallen for all that to a degree.

bb · Answer

Looks like we all missed this 😂

Maybe… I am aware only of a single two month course…. 😬🤷‍♂️

At the same time, I have seen a number of questions from users, stating that they need to take the GMAT in the next two months. I’m not sure if that is the result of the round two deadlines being two months away or some misconception. I personally spent Over three months preparing for the GMAT closer to about 3 1/2 or four, details are a bit hazy at the moment, but it would be really challenging to pack it into two months … in part, single practice test will take you three hours to take and another two hours to analyze and quite a bit more to sort of resolve all of your issues. If an average person ends up taking probably about 10 practice tests, that means you take more than one test per week, and that means a pretty significant portion of your prep time is used on just test taking. Instead of learning….

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ChiranjeevSingh · Answer

Marty - Thank you! That's humble of you!

bb - I have seen some of my students take more than 1 year (some taking 18 months to 2 years) to ace the GMAT. These students were not targeting 760-kind of scores; they targeted and got in the early 700s. Many of them started between 550 and 600, and some started below 500. The prevailing perception that it takes 2-3 months to ace the GMAT takes a big toll on such students' mental health and motivation. So, I thought, let me address that

bb · Answer

Thank you. Traditionally, I remember most courses when they were in person, were 10 to 12 weeks. So clearly it started out as a three month adventure plus a few more weeks after. Now, I am not sure what changed? 🤷‍♂️

We have a number of folks and GMAT Club, who have been studying for a long time and I feel that’s a draining experience. You just cannot maintain top performance for an extended period of time. You also have to be really good about review and refresh and plenty things out quite a bit far in advance. Most of the people I know who, prepared for a year, usually took the GMAT multiple times, and had to go over the same material multiple times, making it the fairly inefficient process. And of course, if someone has to study vocabulary or grammar, first, and then move onto GMAT, that’s a bit different, but studying for the GMAT for a year is also demotivating…. Especially in today’s world when things are instant and on demand.

Posted from my mobile device

ChiranjeevSingh · Answer

What has changed is perhaps that people like instant and on demand things

I agree that many people take a long time because they don't prepare the right way the first time or the second time! However, I also know people who, given their starting skill level, need 12 months or more to get 700+ on the GMAT. I agree that, in a way, they are not preparing for the GMAT for 12 months; they are building comprehension and reasoning skills that GMAT takes for granted.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Preparing for the GMAT for a year can be a tough slog, but in some cases, it's just going to take a year, or more, for a person to get to his or her score goal. Some people just didn't develop strong skills in some areas before getting to the GMAT, and so their GMAT prep involves their finally developing those skills, which can take a lot of work. So, if someone has a particular goal in mind, it's going to take a year or more to get that goal, and that goal is important to the person, then I'd encourage that person to make his or her dream happen.

I can say that I prepared for about a year, not always consistently, but over the course of a year, and I kind of enjoyed the game. It was pretty fun to learn one thing after another and drive my score higher each time I mastered another aspect of the GMAT.

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Infographic - The 2-month Misconception

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