What High GMAT Scorers Have in Common

Guest post: Chris Lele

Those who receive an almost perfect GMAT score are spoken about in the same reverential tone reserved for Nobel Peace Prize winners and visiting heads of state. These high scorers are perceived to inhabit a rarefied realm, where complex math calculations are tossed off with aplomb and dense passages read like a Sunday morning comic strip.

While that may apply to a very select few, in reality many high scorers got there not because of some innate genius, but because of an ability to learn from their mistakes and knowledge of how the test is constructed. In other words, they possess skills that are, to a large extent, learnable.

Learning from mistakes

High GMAT scorers tend to treat an incorrect answer as a crime scene. They are the detectives and they must analyze every clue, from exactly what thoughts were going through their heads the moment they missed the question to the way in which the GMAT has created the answer choice – both the correct option and the incorrect ones.

For these types, reviewing a test is not a quick process in which they slap their foreheads, thinking, “I shouldn’t have missed that one.” Rather, they analyze in detail why they made a careless mistake. They even look at questions they correctly answered, if they weren’t 100% sure.

From this process, high scorers internalize lessons so that they will not make similar mistakes in the future. They also learn to think the way that GMAT “thinks”. That is, they look for patterns to correct answers and notice patterns to incorrect answer choices. That way, when it comes down to two very similar answer choices, they don’t just trust their gut – or outright panic. They arrive at an answer based on logic, and familiarity with the test.

Using the best resources (and using them wisely)

High scorers are also savvy to the best GMAT preparation material out there. They don’t think that enlightenment will come from the explanations at the back of the Official Guide. There are far better sources – from forums to supplementary explanations – that will bring epiphanies. Most importantly, they know that it is in dissecting what went wrong – looking for each clue at the crime scene – that they will truly understand the material.

In addition to the Official Guide (again, for the questions), top scorers seek out the best online GMAT preparation resources, particularly focusing on any areas in which they need a tune-up. By understanding the structure of the test, they will also be less trusting of sources with questionable content.

Final takeaway tips:

Getting a high GMAT score – or even improving your performance significantly – is based on many skills that are actually learnable. Yet, many make the mistake of believing that GMAT prowess is a question of genetics. Such a mindset prevents them from learning skills that can actually help them significantly improve on the GMAT.

So, to transform yourself into a high GMAT scorer, you first need to believe you can do this. Then, dedicate yourself to truly understanding the test, practice, learn from your mistakes, and draw on a range of GMAT preparation resources to sustain your progress.

This post was written by Chris Lele, resident GMAT and GRE expert at Magoosh, a leader in GMAT preparation. For more advice on taking the GMAT, check out Magoosh’s GMAT blog.