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 🙂
Greetings! Very useful advice in this particular article!
It is the little changes that make the greatest changes.
Thanks a lot for sharing!
Please let me know if you’re looking for a article writer for your blog.
You have some really good articles and I feel I would be a good asset.
If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d absolutely love to
write some material for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine.
Please send me an e-mail if interested. Kudos!
Hello! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell you I really enjoy reading your
blog posts. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums
that go over the same topics? Many thanks!
When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is
added I get three emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service?
Thank you!
Hi! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if
that would be okay. I’m absolutely enjoying
your blog and look forward to new posts.
Wow, awesome blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
you made blogging look easy. The overall look of
your website is fantastic, let alone the content!
Hmm is anyone else experiencing problems with
the pictures on this blog loading? I’m trying to determine if its a problem on my end or if
it’s the blog. Any feed-back would be greatly appreciated.
Hello, i think that i saw you visited my web site so i came to return the favor?.I’m trying
to in finding issues to enhance my web site!I guess its adequate to
make use of a few of your ideas!!
Amazing! Its in fact awesome post, I have got much clear idea concerning
from this post.
Since the admin of this site is working, no doubt very shortly it will be
famous, due to its feature contents.
Oh my goodness! Awesome article dude! Thank you so much,
However I am experiencing problems with your RSS.
I don’t know why I can’t subscribe to it. Is there anyone
else getting similar RSS issues? Anyone who knows the
answer will you kindly respond? Thanx!!
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make
your point. You definitely know what youre talking about,
why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your site
when you could be giving us something informative to read?
Howdy are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get
started and set up my own. Do you require any html coding knowledge to make your own blog?
Any help would be really appreciated!
I was able to find good advice from your blog articles.
naturally like your web-site but you have to check
the spelling on several of your posts. Many of them are rife with
spelling issues and I in finding it very troublesome to tell the truth then again I’ll surely come again again.
Fantastic items from you, man. I have take note your stuff prior to and you’re just
extremely fantastic. I actually like what you have received here, really like what you’re stating
and the way wherein you assert it. You are making it enjoyable and you continue to care for to keep
it sensible. I can’t wait to read far more from you. That is actually a tremendous web site.
hi!,I like your writing so a lot! share we keep
up a correspondence more approximately your article on AOL?
I require an expert in this space to resolve
my problem. Maybe that is you! Taking a look ahead to look
you.
An impressive share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a colleague who had been conducting a little homework on this.
And he in fact bought me breakfast due to the fact that I found it for him…
lol. So let me reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!!
But yeah, thanx for spending the time to talk about this
issue here on your site.
Hello fantastic website! Does running a blog such as this require
a large amount of work? I’ve absolutely no expertise in programming however I was hoping to start my own blog soon. Anyway, if
you have any suggestions or techniques for new blog
owners please share. I understand this is off subject but I
just needed to ask. Appreciate it!
Hello very cool site!! Guy .. Excellent .. Amazing ..
I will bookmark your web site and take the feeds additionally?
I am satisfied to seek out a lot of helpful info here in the post, we need
work out extra strategies on this regard, thank you for sharing.
. . . . .
At this moment I am going to do my breakfast, later than having my breakfast coming again to read more news.
Hi to all, the contents present at this website are in fact remarkable for people knowledge,
well, keep up the good work fellows.
I am really impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your weblog.
Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself?
Either way keep up the excellent quality writing,
it is rare to see a nice blog like this one nowadays.
Ahaa, its nice discussion concerning this piece of writing here
at this weblog, I have read all that, so now me also commenting here.
Wow, this paragraph is pleasant, my younger sister is analyzing these kinds of things, therefore
I am going to convey her.
Hello, I log on to your blog regularly. Your humoristic style
is awesome, keep it up!
I have been browsing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found
any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me.
In my opinion, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you did, the web will be a lot more useful than ever before.
Thanks for every other informative website. Where else may I get that kind of
info written in such an ideal means? I have a
venture that I’m just now running on, and I’ve been on the look out
for such information.
Wow, fantastic blog layout! How long have you
been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is magnificent, as
well as the content!
If you would like to grow your knowledge only keep visiting this website and be updated with the latest information posted here.
Hi, i feel that i noticed you visited my web site thus i came to return the favor?.I am attempting to
to find things to improve my site!I suppose its ok to use a few of your ideas!!
Hello! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of
volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche.
Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You have done a
extraordinary job!
Hi there, the whole thing is going nicely here and
ofcourse every one is sharing data, that’s really excellent, keep up
writing.
Good day! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers?
I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any tips?
Hey there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any issues
with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended
up losing months of hard work due to no back up. Do you have any
methods to prevent hackers?
Great blog here! Also your website loads up very fast! What web host
are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host?
I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you make this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you?
Plz reply as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to find out
where u got this from. thank you
Amazing! Its in fact awesome piece of writing, I
have got much clear idea regarding from this post.
Hello there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site
before but after checking through some of the post I realized it’s new to me.
Nonetheless, I’m definitely delighted I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back frequently!
Everything is very open with a precise clarification of the issues.
It was definitely informative. Your website is useful.
Many thanks for sharing!
I go to see day-to-day some websites and blogs to read posts, except this website offers quality based content.
Appreciate the recommendation. Let me try it out.
Hi! Do you know if they make any plugins to safeguard
against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything
I’ve worked hard on. Any suggestions?
Undeniably believe that which you said. Your favorite reason seemed to be on the internet the simplest thing to
be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people think
about worries that they plainly do not know about.
You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined
out the whole thing without having side effect , people can take
a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about phonographic.science.
Regards
Hey there! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website?
I’m getting fed up of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking at options for another platform.
I would be awesome if you could point me in the
direction of a good platform.
Whoa! This blog looks just like my old one! It’s on a totally different subject but
it has pretty much the same layout and design. Outstanding choice of colors!
Hey there! I understand this is somewhat off-topic however I
had to ask. Does managing a well-established website such as yours take a massive amount work?
I am brand new to blogging however I do write in my journal on a daily basis.
I’d like to start a blog so I can easily share my own experience and views online.
Please let me know if you have any ideas or tips for
new aspiring blog owners. Appreciate it!
Wonderful goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous
to and you’re just too excellent. I really like what you have acquired here, certainly like what you’re saying and the way in which you say it.
You make it enjoyable and you still take care of to
keep it sensible. I can’t wait to read much more from you.
This is actually a wonderful web site.
I am sure this article has touched all the internet people, its really really pleasant piece of writing on building up new weblog.