Every 6-10 weeks someone asks me how I studied for the GMAT and any advice I have. Well, here’s my story!
Unfortunately, in college I was friends with a bunch of over achievers who thought it’d be a good idea to take the GMAT during senior year after they’d secured full time jobs. So, due to peer pressure and insecurity, I too signed up to take the test.
I took the ManhattanGMAT class which was ~7 weeks long. Each week consisted of 2 hours in a classroom, and 2 hours or so of homework. I’d say I did around 1/2 of the recommended homework each week. After taking the prep course, I immediately signed up for a date to take the actual exam which was about 2 weeks out. The date was during my finals week at NYU, but I wanted to take it before I headed out for a post-graduation trip to Asia with friends (the same ones who’d peer pressured me into taking this exam!!).
Before the prep course, I took a practice test and scored ~610 (my memory is slightly hazy, but it was in that ballpark). My goal was to get to a 700 by the time I took the test, and I was around a 680 by the time I finished the prep course.
The number one piece of advice for anyone taking this test is to create and use flashcards to internalize the information you need to answer the most difficult questions. This was a strategy I stole directly from my Dad who used it to become a doctor (much harder than getting into bschool – so it seemed battle tested).
With that in mind, I went through the 7-8 books that the test prep course had provided, and made a flashcard for any piece of info that I thought would help me answer questions. I made them for the types of triangles, grammar rules, and for the toughest types of questions (two trains going towards each other, the ones that require factorials, etc).
I had 200-300 flashcards, and would look at them when I had 5 mins on the subway, or while waiting for a friend. When I’d correctly answered a given card in three consecutive cycles (I put the card on the bottom of the deck after I’d tried to answer it), I discarded it.
The week before the test, I studied for 3-4 hours/day (mostly the flashcards plus some practice problems). The day before, I didn’t do anything but workout, eat some good food, and watch a movie. It’s important to rest your brain and de-stress! Now, I’d probably also do an extra long mediation session but I wasn’t into that back then.
I don’t remember exactly the slope of the curve, but there was a huge increase in my scores in the week before the test. I started off maybe at the 700 mark for a practice test, and then got a 720, and a 750 before my studying ended (don’t take too many practice tests. They are good to gauge where you’re at, but take a lot of time and aren’t very instructive in helping you improve). I’m pretty confident if I’d pushed the test back another week I could have continued to improve…but the commonly accepted rule says increasing your score above a 700 doesn’t help too much in getting you into school. Btw, I share these numbers only so you can see my progress from the original 610 to when I took the exam and what I did to get there – not to brag!!!
The day of the test of course I was a bit nervous. The worst part of the GMAT is that they ask you “do you want to accept this score” after you take the test. Basically, you can say “no” – and it’s like it never happened. But, if you “accept the score” it goes on your record. My advice: just accept the score unless you had a monumental meltdown for some reason. Because of the way the test works, you get harder questions if you answer questions correctly. So, if you’re getting hard questions, even if you can’t answer them, you’re doing well!
In the end, I scored a 740. I remember not being completely happy with the score when I got it, and the person working the front desk who’d given me the score basically said “I don’t get it – if I got that score, I’d be jumping up and down!”
My advice is to not put that much pressure on yourself. And, if you score above the range you need to get into your dream school, go celebrate! Luckily, I came to my senses about 10 mins after leaving the test center and couldn’t wipe the smile off my face for a few days.
Good luck, don’t stress, and look forward to two of the best years of your life 🙂
Nice post. I learn something totally new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon everyday.
It’s always interesting to read articles from other writers and practice a little something from their web sites.
If some one wishes expert view concerning blogging after that i propose
him/her to pay a quick visit this website, Keep up the fastidious work.
Wonderful work! This is the kind of information that should
be shared around the internet. Shame on Google for now not positioning this
publish higher! Come on over and talk over with my website .
Thanks =)
After I originally left a comment I seem to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments
are added- checkbox and from now on every time a comment is added I get 4
emails with the exact same comment. Is there a means you
are able to remove me from that service? Kudos!
naturally like your website but you have to check the spelling on quite a few of your posts.
A number of them are rife with spelling problems and
I find it very bothersome to tell the truth however
I will definitely come back again.
What’s up, I read your new stuff daily. Your humoristic style is witty, keep up
the good work!
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an incredibly long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up.
Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just
wanted to say great blog!
This is my first time pay a visit at here and i am actually happy to
read everthing at one place.
If you want to get a good deal from this piece of writing then you have to
apply such strategies to your won weblog.
Simply want to say your article is as astounding.
The clarity in your post is simply excellent and i
can assume you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission let me to grab your feed to keep updated with forthcoming post.
Thanks a million and please carry on the gratifying work.
Hello there! This post could not be written any better!
Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept chatting about
this. I will forward this write-up to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read.
Thanks for sharing!
We’re a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community.
Your web site offered us with valuable information to work on. You’ve done an impressive job and our
entire community will be thankful to you.
What’s up to all, how is all, I think every one is getting
more from this website, and your views are fastidious in support of new users.
I am really inspired with your writing skills as smartly
as with the layout in your blog. Is that this a paid topic
or did you modify it your self? Either way keep up
the nice high quality writing, it’s rare to look a nice blog like this one nowadays..
Hi there to every , as I am genuinely eager of reading this weblog’s post to be updated
regularly. It consists of pleasant stuff.
Howdy outstanding website! Does running a blog similar to this take a lot of work?
I have very little understanding of programming however
I was hoping to start my own blog soon. Anyways, if you have any
recommendations or tips for new blog owners please share.
I understand this is off subject however I simply needed to
ask. Thanks a lot!
Your style is unique in comparison to other people I have
read stuff from. Thanks for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess
I will just book mark this web site.
I wanted to thank you for this good read!!
I definitely loved every bit of it. I have you bookmarked to
look at new things you post…
It’s hard to come by knowledgeable people in this particular topic,
but you sound like you know what you’re talking about!
Thanks
I don’t know if it’s just me or if everybody else encountering
issues with your website. It seems like some of the text within your content
are running off the screen. Can somebody else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening
to them as well? This could be a issue with my browser because I’ve had this happen before.
Many thanks
excellent issues altogether, you just gained a new reader.
What may you suggest about your post that you simply made some days ago?
Any sure?
I believe this is one of the most vital information for me.
And i am glad reading your article. However want to commentary
on some basic issues, The site taste is great, the articles is
in reality nice : D. Good process, cheers
Hello there, I found your blog by way of Google at the same time as looking
for a related matter, your web site got here up, it appears good.
I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hello there, simply become alert to your blog via Google, and located that
it’s really informative. I am gonna watch out for
brussels. I will be grateful should you continue
this in future. Lots of people can be benefited from your writing.
Cheers!
I absolutely love your blog.. Excellent colors & theme. Did you make this site yourself?
Please reply back as I’m attempting to create my own website and would love to know where you
got this from or just what the theme is named. Many thanks!
Paragraph writing is also a fun, if you be acquainted with then you can write if not it is
complicated to write.
Heya i am for the first time here. I came across this board and
I find It truly useful & it helped me out
much. I hope to give something back and aid others like
you helped me.
Hello there! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from an established blog.
Is it difficult to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure
things out pretty fast. I’m thinking about creating my own but I’m
not sure where to begin. Do you have any tips or suggestions?
Appreciate it
Your style is very unique in comparison to other people I’ve read stuff from.
Thank you for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I’ll just book mark this web site.
Whats up are using WordPress for your blog platform?
I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create my own. Do you require any html coding expertise to make your own blog?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Nice post. I was checking continuously this weblog and I’m impressed!
Extremely helpful information specially the last section 🙂 I maintain such info a lot.
I used to be looking for this certain information for a long time.
Thank you and good luck.
Sweet blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News.
Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News?
I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there!
Appreciate it
I am actually grateful to the holder of this site who has shared this
enormous post at at this time.
You made some decent points there. I looked on the web for more information about
the issue and found most people will go along with
your views on this web site.
Hi there colleagues, how is all, and what you would like to say
on the topic of this post, in my view its actually amazing designed
for me.
Hello I am so excited I found your web site, I really found you by mistake, while I was browsing
on Bing for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say thanks a lot for a incredible post and a
all round entertaining blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the moment but
I have bookmarked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to
read much more, Please do keep up the fantastic work.
Hi! I could have sworn I’ve visited this site before
but after going through many of the posts I realized it’s new to
me. Nonetheless, I’m certainly delighted I stumbled upon it and
I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back frequently!
Informative article, just what I needed.
Thanks for the marvelous posting! I definitely enjoyed
reading it, you will be a great author. I will ensure
that I bookmark your blog and will often come back in the foreseeable future.
I want to encourage continue your great job, have
a nice holiday weekend!
Everyone loves it when folks get together and share views.
Great website, stick with it!
Hi would you mind stating which blog platform you’re using?
I’m looking to start my own blog soon but I’m having a hard
time deciding between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
The reason I ask is because your design and
style seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something
completely unique. P.S Apologies for getting off-topic but I had to
ask!
Incredible! This blog looks exactly like my old one!
It’s on a completely different subject but it has pretty much the same
layout and design. Outstanding choice of colors!
I’ve been exploring for a bit for any high quality articles or blog posts in this kind of
space . Exploring in Yahoo I ultimately stumbled upon this website.
Studying this information So i’m satisfied to exhibit
that I’ve a very good uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed.
I so much indubitably will make certain to do not overlook this site and give it a look regularly.
Does your blog have a contact page? I’m having trouble locating it but, I’d like to
shoot you an email. I’ve got some recommendations for
your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great blog and I look forward to
seeing it improve over time.
Hey would you mind letting me know which hosting company
you’re utilizing? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different web browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker
then most. Can you suggest a good internet
hosting provider at a reasonable price? Thanks a lot,
I appreciate it!
For latest information you have to pay a visit world wide web and
on world-wide-web I found this web page as a most excellent web page
for latest updates.
If you wish for to improve your experience just keep visiting this site and be
updated with the latest news update posted here.
Hi friends, pleasant post and pleasant urging commented at
this place, I am in fact enjoying by these.
It’s amazing designed for me to have a web page, which is
useful designed for my knowledge. thanks admin
I believe what you said made a great deal of sense. But, think about this, what if you typed a
catchier title? I ain’t saying your information is not good.,
but what if you added a post title that grabbed folk’s attention? I mean How I Studied for the
GMAT – Phil Strazzulla's Blog is a little boring.
You ought to peek at Yahoo’s home page and watch how they create news headlines to get viewers to open the links.
You might add a video or a related pic or two to get readers interested about everything’ve got to
say. Just my opinion, it might make your website
a little bit more interesting.
Thanks for every other fantastic post. The place else may just anyone get that type of information in such a perfect
means of writing? I have a presentation subsequent week, and I am on the look for such information.