My Journey towards 730 in GMAT - Preparation Tips for GMAT

A. GMAT - The Known Facts​

The facts described below are known to everybody, but, in this section, I am trying to summarize certain relevant information pertaining to the test, which I feel would be helpful for a test-taker. After this, a good idea will be to register at mba.com to get access to all the information from the GMAC authority itself. Registering at mba.com is absolutely free. The test fee (US$ 250 currently) needs to be provided when one registers for the exam.

​A. 1. GMAT - The Test ​

GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) is a computer-adaptive entrance examination conducted by GMAC (Graduate Management Admission Council) for candidates aspiring to pursue Masters and PhD programmes on business management at Graduate schools worldwide. The total test duration is of three hours and thirty minutes (this has been changed with effect from April 16, 2018, the earlier was for 4 hours, however the pattern remains the same). The test contains four sections and specific time limit is allotted for each.

​A.2. Format of the Exam and Scoring

A.3. What is Computer-Adaptive Test?

It’s a kind of test, in which the software judges the ability of a candidate on the basis of a question answered and continues to modify the subsequent questions accordingly. Questions appear one at a time on the screen and next question comes only when one has answered the same. If the answer to the previous question is accurate, the next question will be of higher difficulty level. If the answer is incorrect, the following question will be of lower difficulty level and will get scored accordingly. Quite obviously, once answered, one may not go back and change their response. All questions are multiple choice type (except AWA). GMAT does not have any negative marking.

A.4. Registration and Retest

First, one has to register at official website mba.com, with the necessary personal details. This is absolutely free. The next step is to register for the test. Test dates are available as per location and centre chosen. For some centres, there are a lot of candidates and it is better to book the test dates well ahead the planned exam date. The test fee is US$ 250.
GMAT re-test can be opted after 16 days from the last exam.

B. My Experience and Suggestions

B.1. Strategies for Different sections of the Test

The Quantitative section evaluates the candidates' logical and rational thinking plus basic concepts of mathematics. It consists of Data Sufficiency and Problem-Solving questions. The knowledge of mathematics required to solve the questions in this section is similar to that taught in secondary level, very basic – only you need to it do it much faster here. Engineering grads may find it very easy, but it may become difficult for students of other streams who are not in touch with mathematics for a long period. My suggestion to them is to devote a month extra in brushing up the concepts of basic mathematics. I am an engineering graduate, but still I referred to my old secondary books. This will give you confidence and no problem if it is a fifteen years old book - remember that basic concepts of mathematics never change. According to the revised timings of GMAT 2018, candidates will be given 62 minutes to solve 31 questions. Earlier it was 75 minutes and 37 questions. So, it’s basically 2 minutes per question. I used to track the time like this – 10 questions in 20 minutes. Don’t look at the time clock ticking in your screen every time. It will make you nervous. After 20 minutes you check how many have you done - 8, 9, 10 or 11. If you are less than 8 then you are really running behind and need to push up.

The Verbal section consists of three sections: Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning and Sentence Correction. These sections evaluate the candidates' ability to read and comprehend a matter written in English, to evaluate arguments and to construct grammatically correct sentences. According to the revised timings of GMAT 2018, candidates will be given 65 minutes to attempt 36 questions. Earlier it was 75 minutes for 41 questions. Here you are given less than 2 minutes per question, since you do not have to calculate anything. Here you target to wrap up 20 questions is first 35 minutes to ease out the pressure. This is because as you move towards the end pressure starts building on you and you make more mistakes.

Please remember, in all the sections, it’s very important to attempt all the questions, otherwise you may end up with a low score. So, don’t get bogged down with a hard question, the next one may be very easy. In fact, it happened for me in the quantitative section. Questions 6 to 10 were very difficult and took 15 minutes. I was a bit worried, but questions 11 to 20 were very easy and these 10 questions took less than 15 minutes and put me back in track. Do not try to guess anything with the fact that you are getting easy questions – means that you have made mistakes and the software is giving you easy questions. Just be normal and keep on solving.

The other two sections Analytical Writing Assessment and Integrated Reasoning both have 30 minutes each and you can very well finish on time. Probably, you do not require any special strategy for these two sections. In the essay, a certain argument is provided and you have to justify whether the argument is well substantiated or flawed based on the facts provided in the question. In most of the cases, the argument ignores important factors and makes questionable assumptions. You have to point those out in your own words. The Integrated Reasoning has 12 questions, which are nothing but interpretation of data from the given tables, charts and graphs.

B.2. Time line for Preparation

This depends on the candidate’s level of knowledge of basic Mathematics and English and also the amount of time one is able to devote per day. I feel with 5-6 hours study per day, three-month time frame is enough to crack the exam. However, for someone, who is a working professional like me and will not be able to devote 2 hours per day, it may take longer time. I studied 1.5 to 2 hours per day for 5 days per week on an average. I used the Sundays to take the Full-Length Tests. I took 7 months in total.

B.3. Resources

Suggested Study Material

• The Official Guide for GMAT®: You can purchase online from mba.com Store.
  Just browse through the basic concepts of each section and do the practice exercises. I completed 70-80% in the first 3 months.
• A Mathematics book of X standard.
  I did browse through it for the first one month of my preparation. You may do it as per your requirement.
• IMS Study material
  

Suggested Simulated Exams

• GMAC – GMATPrep Simulated Tests, 2 Free+ 4 Purchased through mba.com. Price can be checked through mba.com after registration.
• Kaplan – GMAT Full length online tests (Simulated), 1 Free+ 4 Purchased through Kaplan Practice Pack costs around US$149.
• Manhattan - GMATPrep Simulated Tests, 1 Free+ 5 Purchased. Cost is around US$49.
  The above list is only suggestions/ what I have used for my preparation. There are plenty of other online tests/ good study materials available in the market.

B.4. My journey towards 730

Mar 2016 to May 2016: Working on Basic concepts of Mathematics and English

Jun 2016 to Aug 2016: Revision of the concepts plus Full-Length tests on Sunday

My scores in the Full-length tests are as below-

1. 5th Jun      Mba.com First Test (Free)          690
2. 12th Jun    Kaplan First Test (Free)              610
3. 19th Jun    Manhattan First Test (Free)        660
4. 3rd Jul       Kaplan Second Test                   660
5. 17th Jul     Kaplan Third Test                       720
6. 31st Jul     Mba.com Second Test (Free)     670
7. 14th Aug    Kaplan Fourth Test                    620
8. 21st Aug    Mba.com Third Test                   690
9. 28th Aug    Mba.com Fourth Test                680
10. 4th Sep     Actual GMAT                            660
11. 11th Sep    Kaplan Fifth Test                       710
12. 18th Sep    Mba.com Fifth Test                   720
13. 25th Sep    Manhattan First Test (Retest)   730
14. 2nd Oct     Mba.com First Test (Retest)      720
15. 9th Oct      Mba.com Sixth Test                   720
16. 13th Oct   Actual    GMAT                          730

I took the test on 4th Sep 2016 and I got 660. Quite obviously, I was disheartened with the score, but, within a day or two, I decided to take it again in a month or so. I registered for the test second time (one can register for retest after 16 days) and took the test on Oct 13th and got 730. In these 40 days, I continued to take the practice tests as I was doing before, but my scores got stabilized over 700. My advice to the test-takers is if you score well at the first attempt, nothing better than that. If you do not do well in the first attempt, do appear for the second time without delaying too much. Experience of the real test environment actually helps you a lot second time – you realize a number of things.

That’s all about my experience with GMAT. Best of luck to all the GMAT aspirants.