GMAT Strategy

I recently realized that since I'm getting older (recently turned 29), this is probably my last chance to go get an MBA before my wife and I start a family. Signing up for a GMAT prep class and the exam is my way of forcing me to make a decision about it once and for all. Having not taken an admission exam since the SAT's in high school (which I aced), this has been a humbling and nerve wrecking experience. I have taken many CATs for professional certification purposes over the last few years so I do understand the demoralizing nature of those exams. With that said, here's what my prep has looked like so far over the last 7 weeks or so.

I signed up for the Princeton Review prep course because it's offered through my employer in mid-March. Since then, I've used exclusively the Princeton Review: Cracking the GMAT manual, OG 12, Princeton review's online resources, and GMATPrep/PowerPrep. I only did the AWAs for the Princeton Review CATs since they're graded. I'm definitely not worried about those since I have a strong writing background.

3/15 PR CAT #1: 640 (V39/Q39) AWA 4/4

4/3 PR CAT #2: 610 (V33/Q42) AWA 5/6 - This one was particularly demoralizing since I thought I had learned a lot from the two weeks of class.

4/11 PR CAT #3: 690 (V41/Q44) AWA 5/3

4/17 GMATPrep CAT #1: 710 (V39/Q48)

4/26 PR CAT #4: 670 (V40/Q43) AWA 5/6

5/1 GMATPrep CAT #2: 720 (V40/Q48)

5/2 PowerPrep CAT #1: 710 (V41/Q47)

5/8 PR CAT #5: 640 (V39/Q39) AWA 6/6 - While this score was pretty low, it actually gave me some good confidence. I took this at the library with tons of distractions (kids playing video games next to me, people giggling while watching videos, no bathroom breaks, and a buggy wifi connection). I was literally shaking with frustration while trying to plug my ears with my hands. I figure my worst case scenario will give me this level of scoring.

5/9 PowerPrep CAT #2: 730 (I think V39/Q50) - This one was a piece of cake. While my wife distracted me on the verbal section forcing me to guess on the last 10 or so due to time constraints, the quant portion was really confidence inspiring and I knocked it out with tons of time to spare.

I typically run out of time on Quant and have tons left on the Verbal portion so in my last few tests, I was focusing on speeding up the pace on Quant and not letting myself get stuck on a problem that I couldn't answer in a reasonable amount of time. Verbal, just taking more time is really helping my CR and RC.

Since my test is on Friday, I'm going to spend the rest of the week relaxing and going through a number of OG problems each night. My focus on Quant this week is Exponents/Factorials/Probability/Combinations/Permutations and my focus on Verbal this week is strictly Sentence Correction. I have a really poor grammar foundation and while I'm an avid writer, I'm more of a creative writer so I have never developed a strong grammatical foundation. I have a good ear for language but that only gets me about 60% there for sentence correction. While I'm a native English speaker, idioms tend to trip me up big time. I don't think I have enough time to learn the grammer rules exactly but I want to get better at taking a methodical approach to breaking apart sentences. I have the Manhattan Sentence Correction guide that a friend gave me so I think I'll try to flip through that this week as well.

I'm also trying to get mentally ready to be relaxed (as much as possible) for the day of the exam. When should I time my caffeine intake? My exam is at 11:30 am. I'm a daily caffeine user so I think cycling off it at this point would do more harm than good. Any test day or last minute prep tips you guys have would be awesome as well!

Oh and I also recently found the BeattheGMAT flash cards which are fantastic. Hopefully I can go through those a few times before Friday as well.

all the best....

beatthegmat wrote:Sounds like you've been quite diligent in your practice. May I ask what your target GMAT score is?

Since this is your final week, my advice for you would be to begin winding down your prep. Do less work each subsequent day, and on your day before--don't do any work at all. At this point you've done all the prep you could do, so cramming is not going to help. However, having a rested body and mind will help.

To answer your question about the caffeine, I would take your coffee at your regular time in the morning. I imagine that you'll be pumping a lot of adrenaline during the test, so your energy will likely stay up throughout the 3.5 hours. However, one thing to consider is going to the bathroom. I tried to avoid caffeine myself during my GMAT simply because I didn't want to think about going to the bathroom in the middle of a section--but then again, I wasn't a regular coffee drinker, so maybe your system is better adjusted than mine was.

Please let us know how your test goes! And do not hesitate to ask us questions in your final days leading up to your big day. We're here for you!

Thanks for the insights! I have the world's smallest bladder so bathroom breaks are definitely a valid concern. I'll definitely try to wind down and resist the urge to keep cramming.

My target score is 700. I'm hoping to attend a top 5 MBA program and that seems to be the average score that I'll need keep my application competitive. If I get a mid 600 score, I'd probably retake it but a high 600 score... that would be a tough call. Hopefully I won't have to make that decision. I'll be sure to post my score and experience following the test.

BEST OF LUCK!

For SC, read the explanations for all the answers in the SC section of the OG. You're getting the rules explained to you by the writers of the exam.

Also, if you have time, flip through Sahlil's and/or Spidey's notes. Both can be found in the resources section of this website.

But most importantly, be relaxed the day(s) leading up to the exam. Remember, (1) it's just an exam, and (2) you can always take it again. Take the pressure of yourself. You're going to do well!

Best of luck!

Thanks everyone for the good advice. I'm scanning through Sahil and Spidey's notes now as well as skimming the MGMAT Sentence Correction book. With two days to go, I'm trying to ramp things down. For the last two nights, I've been working strictly out of the OG focusing exclusively on trying to do as many problem solving and sentence correction questions as I can. I've done most of the hard questions over these last seven weeks so the ones I'm doing now are fairly easy and I get 90-95% of these right.

I did go over some advanced combination/permutation problems today and even though I know the general strategies and rules, I'm still only like 50-60% on them. I'm not going to worry about them. If they come up a few times during the test, I'll have a 50/50 shot at getting them right but I'm not going to let them mess up my mindset or my timing. Speed is key for me on Quant. If I can get ahead of the standard 2 min/question pace by 5-10 minutes halfway through the exam, that really goes a long way toward relaxing in handling the tougher questions.
Since I'm not going to learn anything dramatically new in these next two days, I'm trying to wind down my studies and get into a good place mentally. There's a fine line between confidence and over-confidence and similarly between self-doubt and cautious optimism. I just have to find that precise mental edge where I can perform at the best of my abilities without being careless.

I think my biggest problem at the moment is that I have given the GMAT too much power. My undergraduate performance, my successful career to date, my extracurricular leadership activities, and my ability to communicate my passions will all go a long way toward determining if I get into a school such as Harvard or Stanford yet unfortunately I've approached the GMAT as all or nothing. I think I'm also scared of letting down my friends and family whose expectations of me are far greater than my own.

I think rather than treating the GMAT as an adversary that I need to defeat (sorry Beat The GMAT!) or dismissing it as insignificant (which it definitely is not), I need to love it. I need to consider the GMAT a friend which will open doors for me and help me learn about myself. Looking back at my SAT's over ten years ago, I definitely loved that exam and it opened all sorts of doors for me.

Can I learn to love the GMAT in two days?...