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Key GMAT Preparation Strategies
QS topgradschool.com looks at the GMAT preparation you should do as you plan your application to a top grad school.
High quality preparation is essential to achieving your best score on the GMAT. It means becoming intimately acquainted with the test structure, format, and the types of questions that are being asked. It means improving upon your weak areas through practice and repetition. It means developing your ability to answer the tougher questions correctly. It also means becoming aware of the types of answers that tend to be the correct ones.
Preparing on your own can save you some financial resources, but may not be as effective as learning from instructors who dissect each answer and impart knowledge and advice from their own GMAT-taking experiences.
Are there any advantages of taking a top-quality GMAT preparation course versus studying alone with the books and CDs available on the market?
It really depends on your academic background, study habits, availability and, ultimately, your desired test score. Preparing on your own can save you some financial resources, but may not be as effective as learning from instructors who dissect each answer and impart knowledge and advice from their own GMAT-taking experiences. Studies show that visualization and discussion in a seminar environment will enable you to recognize complex structures better than learning the same material in a non-interactive way.
During your GMAT preparation, be sure to incorporate the following approaches:
• Ascertain your preferred and most effective learning style (accelerated timeline vs. steady progress; controlled vs. self-paced study environment; studying in groups vs. individually; classroom learning vs. one-on-one private tutoring)
• Manage your test anxiety: minimize your worries and pay attention to good nutrition and adequate exercise. Maintain adequate sleep with a consistent schedule leading up to your test.
• Make a special effort to improve your weaknesses along with strengthening your expertise during practice.
During the weeks and days before the GMAT:
• Take a few days off work just before the test. Depending on your own test-taking and learning style, either relax completely or do one practice test at your scheduled test time each day. Then review the result and relax for the remainder of the day. You may want to take the day before the test off entirely so that your brain can relax more right before test day. Be sure not to over-study the day before the test.
• Memorize the most typical problems and answer types.
• Review all prior mistakes along with explanations.
• Make a list of those typical errors you tend to make and consciously remind yourself of them and refrain from making the same mistakes.
• Save a GMATPrep test for right before the actual test and practice the tests in a mock test setting of your choice so that your memory of the actual question types and difficulty levels which have appeared in prior GMAT tests stays fresh.
When you are ready to take the practice computer adaptive tests (CATs), we recommend you:
• Create a study environment that is as similar as possible to the actual test setting, which typically includes a quiet space, possibly a computer room or office environment so that you can exclusively focus on taking the mock tests.
• Use a systematic approach to your test. Take all questions seriously and answer them. Skipping questions is not helpful on the GMAT CAT.
• Do not take prolonged breaks during a practice test. In the actual test center, you will not be allowed coffee breaks during sections. There is only one 5-minute break after the 60-minute AWA section and another 5-minute break after the 75-minute Quantitative section.
• Eliminate distractions and be conscious of time. Especially when you take practice tests, be as aware of the clock as you will need to be on the actual exam.
• After completing a practice test, be sure to go over the questions you answered incorrectly. This is the only way to improve. You must understand your mistakes so that you will not make them on the test.
