If you are planning to pursue an MBA degree from a top business school, you will need to take the GMAT exam. The GMAT is a computer-adaptive test that measures your analytical and critical thinking skills, as well as your verbal and quantitative abilities. The GMAT score is one of the most important factors in your MBA application, so you need to prepare well and aim for a high score.
But how do you start preparing for the GMAT if you are a beginner? What are the best strategies and resources to use? How do you avoid common mistakes and pitfalls? In this blog post, we will share some useful tips and tricks to help you ace the GMAT exam.
Tip #1: Understand the GMAT exam structure and scoring
The first step in your GMAT preparation is to familiarize yourself with the exam structure and scoring. The GMAT consists of four sections: Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA), Integrated Reasoning (IR), Quantitative Reasoning (QR), and Verbal section. Each section has its own format, question types, time limit, and scoring scale.
The AWA section requires you to write an essay analyzing an argument in 30 minutes. The IR section tests your ability to interpret data from various sources in 12 questions in 30 minutes. The QR section assesses your mathematical skills in 31 questions in 62 minutes. The Verbal section evaluates your verbal skills in 36 questions in 65 minutes.
The AWA section is scored on a scale of 0-6 in half-point increments. The IR section is scored on a scale of 1-8 in one-point increments. The QR and VR sections are scored on a scale of 6-51 in one-point increments. These scores are then combined to form your total score on a scale of 200-800 in 10-point increments.
You should understand how each section is scored and what skills are tested. You should also know how much time you have for each section and how to manage it effectively. You should also be aware of the adaptive nature of the test, which means that the difficulty level of each question depends on your performance on previous questions.
Tip #2: Determine your target GMAT score
Before you start studying for the GMAT, you should have a clear idea of what score you need to achieve your goals. You should research the average scores of accepted students at your target business schools and set a realistic but ambitious target score for yourself.
Your target score will help you plan your study schedule, choose your study materials, measure your progress, and adjust your strategies accordingly. You should also consider other factors such as your academic background, work experience, extracurricular activities, essays, recommendations, etc., that can affect your chances of admission.
Tip #3: Make a personalized GMAT study plan
One of the most important aspects of GMAT preparation is having a well-structured study plan that suits your needs and preferences. A good study plan will help you organize your time, prioritize your topics, focus on your strengths and weaknesses, track your improvement, and stay motivated.
There is no one-size-fits-all study plan for everyone; you should customize it according to your availability, learning style, current skill level, target score, and preferred resources.
You should also be flexible enough to modify it as you go along based on your performance, feedback, and changing circumstances.
A typical study plan for beginners would involve the following steps:
– Take a diagnostic test to assess your baseline score, your strengths and weaknesses, and your areas of improvement.
– Review the basic concepts, formulas, rules, and strategies for each section using reliable books, online courses, or tutors.
– Practice a variety of questions from different sources at different difficulty levels using official guides, practice tests, or online platforms.
– Analyze your mistakes, identify patterns, learn from explanations, and apply corrections.
– Test yourself regularly using full-length GMAT mock tests under realistic conditions.
– Review your test results, evaluate your progress and gaps in knowledge or skills using analytics tools or feedback reports and refine your study plan accordingly.
Tip #4: Use quality resources
Another key factor that can make or break your GMAT preparation is choosing quality resources that match your needs and goals.
There are many options available online or offline such as books courses tutors’ forums blogs podcasts etc but not all of them are equally effective or reliable You should do some research before investing time money or energy.
