Posted on by Phil

How I Studied for the GMAT

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 🙂

14,712 Replies to “How I Studied for the GMAT”

  4. Excellent beat ! I wish to apprentice at the same time as you amend your website, how could i subscribe for a weblog web site?
    The account aided me a acceptable deal. I were a little bit
    familiar of this your broadcast provided vibrant
    transparent idea

  6. Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your blog and in accession capital to claim that I acquire
    in fact loved account your weblog posts.
    Any way I’ll be subscribing on your feeds or even I
    achievement you get admission to persistently rapidly.

  8. I have been exploring for a little bit for any high-quality articles or weblog posts on this sort of space
    . Exploring in Yahoo I finally stumbled upon this
    website. Reading this information So i am glad to show that I
    have an incredibly good uncanny feeling I discovered just what
    I needed. I such a lot indubitably will make sure to do
    not forget this website and provides it a glance regularly.

  11. I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was wondering what all is needed to get set up?
    I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny?
    I’m not very internet smart so I’m not 100% certain. Any recommendations or
    advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

  13. I’ve been exploring for a bit for any high-quality articles or weblog posts in this sort of house .
    Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this website.
    Reading this info So i’m satisfied to exhibit that I have a very just right uncanny feeling I came upon just what I needed.
    I so much for sure will make sure to do not forget this web site and provides it a look
    regularly.

  14. hello there and thank you for your info – I have certainly picked up something new from right here.
    I did however expertise a few technical issues using this web site, since I
    experienced to reload the web site many times previous to I
    could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK?
    Not that I am complaining, but slow loading instances times will sometimes affect your placement in google and can damage your high-quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords.
    Anyway I’m adding this RSS to my email and can look out
    for a lot more of your respective interesting content.
    Ensure that you update this again soon.

  17. Greetings from Ohio! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to browse your blog on my
    iphone during lunch break. I really like the info you provide here and can’t
    wait to take a look when I get home. I’m surprised
    at how quick your blog loaded on my phone ..
    I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, superb site!

  18. Hey! I know this is kinda off topic however , I’d figured I’d ask.

    Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing
    a blog post or vice-versa? My blog covers a lot of the same subjects as yours and I feel we
    could greatly benefit from each other. If you are interested feel free to send me an email.
    I look forward to hearing from you! Fantastic blog by the way!

  19. Hey there would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re working with?

    I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different internet browsers and I must say this
    blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you recommend a good hosting provider at
    a honest price? Many thanks, I appreciate it!

  24. Fantastic beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend
    your web site, how could i subscribe for a blog website?
    The account helped me a acceptable deal. I had been a little bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided bright clear idea

  25. Hello there! This article couldn’t be written any better!

    Looking through this article reminds me of my previous
    roommate! He constantly kept talking about this.
    I’ll forward this article to him. Fairly certain he will have a very good read.
    Thanks for sharing!

  28. I think this is among the such a lot vital info for me. And i’m
    glad studying your article. But should commentary on few basic issues,
    The website taste is perfect, the articles is in point of fact excellent : D.

    Excellent process, cheers

  29. You are so cool! I do not suppose I’ve truly read something like this before.

    So great to discover another person with unique thoughts on this subject matter.

    Seriously.. many thanks for starting this up. This website is something that is needed on the web, someone with a bit of originality!

  32. Thanks , I have recently been looking for info approximately
    this topic for ages and yours is the best I have discovered so far.

    However, what about the conclusion? Are you certain in regards to the supply?

  34. With havin so much content do you ever run into any
    issues of plagorism or copyright violation? My site has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it appears a lot
    of it is popping it up all over the internet without my agreement.
    Do you know any ways to help prevent content from being ripped off?

    I’d truly appreciate it.

  40. Howdy just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know
    a few of the images aren’t loading correctly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue.
    I’ve tried it in two different internet browsers and both show the same outcome.

  41. Hey! Someone in my Myspace group shared this website with
    us so I came to give it a look. I’m definitely loving the
    information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my
    followers! Outstanding blog and great design.

  45. I was curious if you ever considered changing the layout of your blog?
    Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.

    But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so
    people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful
    lot of text for only having 1 or 2 images. Maybe you could space it out
    better?

  47. We are a bunch of volunteers and opening a brand
    new scheme in our community. Your site provided us with valuable information to work on. You
    have performed an impressive task and our whole community shall be grateful to you.

  50. Having read this I thought it was extremely informative.

    I appreciate you taking the time and energy to put this information together.
    I once again find myself spending a significant amount of time both reading and leaving comments.

    But so what, it was still worth it!

Comments are closed.