GMAT preparation where to start confuses a lot of people who are interested in taking the GMAT.
And I understand why. Preparing for the GMAT is a complex process. You need to set the correct study plan, use the best resources, and learn the best strategies.
I’ve seen a lot of people having trouble with this. So, I decided to write this article. In this article, I’ll share my top 10 tips for helping you get started.
Before we begin, I should make one thing clear. This article is not a comprehensive plan from start to finish. If you’re looking for a complete plan, I suggest you read my article on how to prepare for GMAT.
But if you’re looking for some tips on just getting started, then read on.
GMAT Preparation Where to Start – 10 Tips
These tips come from my experience getting a 700+ two times and from tutoring others. You’ll get a lot of actionable advice on starting your GMAT preparation the right way – the way to a 700+ score.
Here are 10 tips on where to start your GMAT preparation:
Set a Target GMAT Score the Right Way
Although I recommend aiming for a 700+ score, not everyone needs one. Your GMAT score is a part of your application package.
In addition to using your GMAT score, business school also consider the following:
- Application Essays
- Academic Background
- Work Experience
- Resume
- Letters of Recommendation
If you are strong in the above areas, you can get an admit into a b-school even if your GMAT score is below the average GMAT score for that business school.
Your target GMAT score also depends on where your b-school stands in the rankings. Generally, the average GMAT score is above 700 for the top 30 business school.
I’ve covered the topic of setting your GMAT score the right way in my article on how to start GMAT preparation from scratch. You can check that article for more information about picking a target score that is right for your need.
Block Your Time and Your Calendar
I recently wrote an article on GMAT preparation time for beginners. In that article, I calculated it would take 250 hours for a beginner to score a 700 on GMAT. If you study for 2 hours a day, you’d need about 4 months to finish your preparation. However, 250 hours is the upper limit.
I came across a survey on how long you should study for the GMAT. In this survey, GMAC, the company that owns and administers GMAT, found that people who scored above 700 reported a median study time of 90 hours. But I think 90 hours is a little too less.
In my experience, the actual number of hours is somewhere between 150 and 200 hours. That’s why you should identify a part of the year where your can devote 2 hours a day for your GMAT preparation. You may find this hard to do if you’re working or have other priorities affecting your GMAT preparation. So, I wrote an article in which I share some great tips on how to prepare for GMAT while working. Check it out.
I recommend you start your preparation in January or February. This way, you can finish your preparation in 3-4 months and even have some room for a re-take.
The deadline for the first round of application for most business schools is in September. Thus, you’ll have enough time to work on your application after getting your GMAT score.
Once you can block 3-4 months on your calendar, you should identify 2 hours a day for your GMAT preparation. It doesn’t have to be a continuous block. But each block must be at least 30 minutes long to be effective.
The next strategy will help you create these blocks.
Build Habits Around Existing Routines
During your GMAT preparation, you’ll spend your time doing four core activities:
- Learning
- Reviewing
- Practicing
- Testing
Except for sectional tests and full-length tests, you can fit all the above core activities in 30-minute blocks.
To meet your share of 2 hours a day, you’ll need four such blocks. And if you center these four blocks around existing routines, you can build a strong habit.
Some of the existing routines you can use are:
- After waking up
- Before going to sleep
- Before or After your main meals
In the beginning, you’ll find it difficult to create a habit. To make the process easier, I suggest reading James Clear’s work on Atomic Habits.
Take a Sectional Practice Test at the Start
Most of the articles I read about starting GMAT preparation recommends taking the Official GMAT Practice Exam. I would agree with them except for one problem. A full-length practice test takes 3.5 hours to complete.
Most people I’ve worked with are not used to remaining focused for that long. Also, they have other priorities in their lives because of which they can’t set aside 3.5 hours. I understand that.
So, I recommend taking a sectional test. A full-length test requires you to attempt all the four sections of GMAT. A sectional test, however, requires you to attempt only section at a time.
If you can’t take a full-length test, take one quantitative reasoning sectional test and one verbal reasoning sectional test. After that, you can use a GMAT score calculator to estimate your total score.
Each sectional test takes a little over an hour to complete. And I’m sure finding an hour would be a lot easier than fitting in a 3.5-hour long test.
Do 20 from Each Question Format in Official Guide
You can spread your GMAT preparation across three phases – learning, practicing, and testing. Here are my estimates for how long each phase lasts:
- Learning: 50 hours
- Practicing: 120 hours
- Testing: 80 hours
- Total: 250 hours
As I have said before, these are the upper limits. Realistically, you’ll need about 2/3rd of the time. The time you need to complete your preparation depends on your starting point.
If you start with an advantage, you can jump an entire phase. For example, when I took the GMAT for the first time, I didn’t do much GMAT-specific preparation.
I was preparing for another test called CAT. CAT has the same sections as the GMAT does. So, I thought I could ace the GMAT with the preparation I did for CAT.
But GMAT’s adaptive format did a number on me and I got a 650. The score wasn’t good enough for the schools I was targeting. So, I decided to re-take the GMAT.
For my second attempt, I went straight to the testing phase because I had advantages:
- My preparation for CAT
- My experience of taking the GMAT once
So, how do you know if you have an advantage? Well, I recommend you do the first 20 questions of each question format from the GMAT Official Guide.
In the GMAT Official Guide the questions are arranged in the increasing order of difficulty. Therefore, the first 20 questions are easy questions.
Then, you can measure your accuracy for these 20 questions. If your accuracy is 90-100%, you can skip the first phase. But if your accuracy is less than 50%, you should go through the first phase.
However, I don’t recommend skipping straight to the testing phase until you solve all the problems in the Official Guide.
Learn from the GMAT-Specific Study Guides
One lesson I learned from assuming that my preparation for CAT would be enough for GMAT is this:
GMAT is not like any other standardized test. GMAT is an adaptive test that decides the difficulty of your next question on the fly.
GMAT algorithm’s goal is to find the difficulty at which you can maintain an accuracy of 60-70%. So, the test strategies that work for other standardized tests don’t apply to GMAT.
In conventional tests, your goal is to score the maximum points. In GMAT, you goal is to show the algorithm that you can maintain high accuracy when answering difficult questions.
Therefore, the strategies you need for GMAT are specific to GMAT.
Also, GMAT has been around since 1957. Over the years, GMAT has developed patterns. You can use these patterns to align yourself with GMAT’s way of thinking. Doing this will help you do well on GMAT, especially the verbal reasoning section.
For these two reasons, I suggest you use GMAT-specific study guides for your preparation. These study guides will help you learn strategies to deal with GMAT’s adaptive algorithm. They will also provide insights on patterns GMAT follows.
To know the best GMAT-specific resources, you can read my article on the best GMAT resources.
Use Flashcards for Memorizing Information
During my preparation, I used 3 x 5 index cards to create hundreds of flashcards. The flashcards helped me memorize the information I required to get a 700+ score. You can create a flashcard to memorize terms, formulas, rules, or principles.
However, creating and managing physical flashcards can be troublesome. Fortunately, you can use an app called Anki to make digital flashcards.
I’ve explained the full process of creating flashcards on Anki in my article on GMAT preparation self study techniques.
But what makes flashcards an efficient tool for memorizing information?
Flashcards help you leverage two powerful learning techniques – active recall and spaced repetition. You can learn more about these two techniques from Ali Abdaal’s videos on the subject. Here they are:
Start with the Verbal Reasoning Section
The mean score for the verbal reasoning section of the GMAT is around 30. This score corresponds to a percentile score of 58 percentile points. This means that 58% of the people scored less than the average score.
For the quantitative reasoning section, the mean score is around 40. This score corresponds to a percentile score of 36 percentile points. Therefore, 36% of the people scored less than the average score.
From the two data points, we can learn the following:
42% of the people score above the average score in the verbal reasoning section. But for the quantitative reasoning section, 64% of the people score above the average score.
Therefore, we can arrive a general conclusion that the quant section is easier than the verbal section. So, I suggest you start your preparation with the verbal section.
Also, getting a high percentile score in the verbal reasoning section generally leads to a high total score. You can read my in-depth analysis about the importance of the verbal section in my article on GMAT verbal or quant more important.
Join and Engage with the GMAT Community
While preparing for the GMAT, I was an active member of the GMAT Club. Engaging with the community kept me motivated and allowed me to seek and give assistance.
I started a thread in the community to share my GMAT journey. In this thread, I shared my goals, my strategy, and my plan. Other members of the community helped me fine tune my plans and also provided a lot of encouragement.
In addition to this, I also shared my tasks for the upcoming week and my report on what I did in the previous week. I sought help whenever I felt stuck. And I shared insights that could help others.
As my GMAT test date approached, I had a band of people cheering for me.
The GMAT Club also allows you to post questions. If you find the answer explanations or your own approach inadequate, you can ask experts on the forum to help you create a shortcut.
You can also take the help of the community to understand concepts that the study guides didn’t explain adequately.
Another awesome part of the GMAT Club is that if you share information that others find helpful, you earn Kudos points. And you can redeem the Kudos points to access the GMAT Club Tests.
Practice Techniques for Calmness and Concentration
Think about this:
You’re struggling with a question in the exam hall. You’re pretty sure you know the answer, but you’re not able to remember it. It feels as if the answer is at the tip of your tongue. But you can’t quite get it out. And as soon as you leave the exam hall, the answer comes to you.
I bet you’ve had this experience at least once.
Well, how come you remembered the answer after the exam was over? What was the difference? The difference is stress.
Keeping your stress levels in check for 3.5 hours requires considerable effort, practice, and training. Therefore, I suggest you start learning techniques to lower stress and increase concentration.
I used to meditate for 30 minutes a day throughout my GMAT preparation. And I took 6-7 full-length practice tests. From this, I was able to maintain my focus on the GMAT with ease.
In fact, I didn’t even realize the passage of time. To me it felt like I went in and I came out. I just took it one question at a time. I didn’t get riled up over any questions. My training kicked in and I was confident.
So, I highly recommend you work on your physical, emotional, and mental well-being as you prepare for the GMAT. Having a clear and focused mind during the exam can add 20-30 points just on its own.
What Next?
Now that you know a few things you can do to start your GMAT preparation the right way, I recommend you read my article on how to prepare for the GMAT. This article gives you a complete plan for a 700+ score.
You’ll find the link to the article at end of this one.
Image Credits
Featured Image – People vector created by pch.vector – www.freepik.com