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Recently, a Beat The GMAT member asked me to write an article addressing what it takes to score in the 99^th percentile. I have some reservations about writing such an article, but I agreed to write it.

First, I’m going to tell you why I have reservations about writing this article. A lot of people may read this article and think: “Great! I can just do this and score in the 99^th percentile!” In order to have this conversation in the first place, however, we have to assume that the tester is already scoring at least 700, if not higher.

In other words, you cannot start with the information in this article (unless you’re already at 700+!). In addition, I can’t write an article that tells anyone, at any current level, how to get to 760. What I can do is write an article detailing the differences between a 700-level scorer and a 760-level scorer. What you can do, if you really want a 760, is first get yourself to a very solid 700-level – using other articles and resources, not this one. (A “very solid 700-level” refers to someone who can consistently score 700 under full, official test conditions; it does not refer to someone who got 700 once after skipping the essays.)

I also have to discuss something about the designations I’ve chosen here, 700 versus 760. The quant and verbal subscores combine to give us our three digit scores, and we can earn quite different subscores to get a 700 (or any score). This article will assume that the subscores are roughly similar (that is, the person does not have a big disparity between the two subscores). If someone does have such a disparity – for example, a 70^th percentile quant score and a 95^th percentile verbal score – then that person may score a 700, but will not have mastered everything listed under the “700-level” section below for the quant portion. At the same time, that person will likely have mastered many, if not most, things listed under the “760-level” section below for the verbal portion.

This is important enough that I will repeat it: This article will assume that the subscores are roughly similar (that is, the person does not have a big disparity between the two subscores).

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, let’s start with:

The Obvious

Obviously, a 760-level scorer has mastered all of the common and the vast majority of the less common facts and information tested on the exam, as well as all of the common and less common question sub-types. The 760-level scorer has also mastered multiple techniques for tackling any one particular type of question. A 700-level scorer has mastered all of the common items and many of the less common items; this tester has also mastered at least two approaches for tackling any one particular type of question. Finally, 700+ testers have mastered the per-question and per-section timing (though a lower-700s tester may still have some minor per-question timing problems).

Beyond that, what are the significant differences between these two groups?

A 700-level scorer has mastered:

• How to recognize (see below) what to do for approximately 40+ percent of the questions that student sees on the official test
• Effective educated guessing for the 5 question type categories, as well as the major sub-types within each category
• How to minimize careless mistakes (this tester makes perhaps three to four careless mistakes per section)
• The stamina to perform consistently for 3.5 hours

Recognizing what to do

This skill – how to recognize what to do – is the single biggest difference seen in a higher-level scorer vs. lower-level scorers. “Recognizing what to do” means that, when you see a new question, you quickly (within about 20 to 30 seconds) make a connection to some problem you’ve done in the past; there’s some similarity between the two problems and you recognize that similarity. As a result of that recognition, you now know what to do in order to solve this problem, because you can use the same (or a very similar) solution method that you used on the past, similar problem. You will also be aware of the common mistakes you might make or traps you might fall into on a question like this one. This ability to recognize gives you two advantages: you save time and you’re more likely to answer the problem correctly. By contrast, if you don’t recognize what to do, you have to figure out what to do “from scratch” (from the beginning); that slows you down and doesn’t give you any advantage in terms of accuracy.

A 760-level scorer has mastered everything from the 700 list plus:

• How to recognize what to do, within 20 seconds or so, for 80+ percent of the questions that student sees on the official test; (that is, to determine very quickly and accurately the best approach for the problem)
• The ability to determine (again, quickly and accurately) when to “let go” of a problem (yes, even 760+ scorers have to make this call sometimes)
• An effective educated guessing process, specifically tailored to any particular sub-type of problem
• The ability to avoid making careless mistakes (this tester makes perhaps one careless mistake per section)
• The stamina to perform at peak levels for 3.5 hours

Wildcards

There are a couple of wildcards to take into account. First, serendipity plays a part in our performance on the GMAT, and the higher we go, the more of an impact serendipity can have. (Serendipity is just a prettier word for luck, basically.) A few additional questions in an area of strength vs. an area of weakness can make a 20 or 30 point difference in your score, especially at higher levels.

Second, the mastery described above relies heavily upon an ability to create and recall memories. Those with a greater capacity to remember and recall a large volume of information will find it easier to reach higher levels on the test. The mastery described above also relies heavily upon an ability to recognize patterns. Again, those with a greater capacity to study patterns and to recognize similar patterns in new information will also find it easier to reach higher levels on the test.

Take-aways

If you’re going to score 700+ on the GMAT, you have to develop the ability to recognize what to do on at least some of the problems that you see on the official test (problems that, by definition, you’ll never have seen before). Then, you need to get better at this skill; the single biggest difference between a 760-level tester and a 700-level tester is the ability to recognize a larger percentage of the problems you see. (Remember, however, that even a 700-level tester does recognize a decent percentage of the problems. This is part of why I said, at the beginning of this article, that you can’t start with this article. Most of the difference between a 760-level tester and a 700-level tester has to do with expert-level mastery of the same set of skills.)

How to do that? Start with this article that BTG published in the past:

• How To Analyze a Practice Problem

Then, move on to these articles that demonstrate how to conduct the above analysis on specific problems:

• How To Analyze an SC Problem
• How To Analyze a CR Problem
• How to Analyze an RC Problem
• How To Analyze a PS Problem
• How To Analyze a DS Problem

Use these analyses to help give you an idea of what questions to ask and what to analyze when studying a problem. (I can spend 10 or 15 minutes studying a single problem, after I’ve tried doing it.) Every time you finish a problem, ask yourself: “When I see a problem of this same type in the future, or testing this same fact or concept, how will I recognize that it’s really the same thing as this problem, so that I can use the same technique to solve?” Then test yourself to see whether you really are starting to recognize what to do (quickly!) when starting a new problem.