My Best GMAT Study Tip: Start a Blog
Beat The GMAT is a pretty complex GMAT/MBA portal today, but this site does have very humble beginnings. Originally, I started this website as my simple day-to-day study blog, where I only had the intention of sharing my study strategy so that others could copy it and benefit from it as well. (You can actually see this original GMAT blog here: http://beatthegmat.blogspot.com)
Though soon after launching Beat The GMAT, I quickly realized how important blogging can be to all GMAT test takers, if done correctly. I believe that all GMAT test takers should maintain a blog throughout their studies, for three reasons:
1. Blogs keep you accountable to your studies
As you write your blog and attract visitors, your readers will start to expect (in some cases demand) regular posting. If you are blogging about your GMAT studies, you will be compelled to keep studying every day in order to report progress in your studies.
I cant emphasize how important that daily GMAT blogging is. I strongly believe that one of the best ways to get a great GMAT score is to study consistently, ideally a few hours every day. If you get into the habit of making a regular blog post, then youll start to feel guilty when you skip a day.
Learn to love this feeling of guilt! It will hopefully give you some motivation to crack a GMAT book each day.
Conversely, learn to love the feeling of community support! As you make progress in your GMAT prep, youll get positive comments from readers who support you. This kind of community reinforcement does a lot to boost morale and confidence.
2. Blogs are a great way to solicit help
Once youve built some traffic on your blog, youll usually find that most of your readers are also people who are studying for the GMAT themselves. As people start to comment on your posts, youll see more and more like-minded people providing advice on topics you are struggling with.
Blogs are a great way to create a virtual study group for yourself. Be honest about the things you are struggling with when you write posts, and explicitly ask for help if youre stuck on a concept or question (alternatively, visit the Beat The GMAT forums for help!). You might be surprised by whos reading and who will come to your rescue by contributing some help.
When I was blogging my own GMAT prep, I was amazed by how much solid advice I got from my readers. This later inspired me to turn Beat The GMAT into a forum, then a learning portal.
3. Blogs are a great way to give back to the community
Hopefully after blogging about your entire GMAT experience youll end up with an awesome GMAT score. But almost as importantly, when youve finished your GMAT you will have contributed back something amazing to society: a detailed record of how you successfully studied for and beat the GMAT, from start to finish.
You really should be proud of this accomplishment. Your hard work in recording your experiences will probably help generations of future GMAT test takers (remember, blogs dont go away!).
So how do you start your GMAT study blog?
Fortunately, starting a GMAT study blog (or any blog) is easy, as well as completely free. The first thing you need to do is pick a solid blogging service. The two blog services I recommend are:
- Blogger http://www.blogger.com
- Wordpress http://www.wordpress.com
After picking a blog platform and going through the regular setup process, be sure to tell a few of your friends about your site to seed some traffic. A caveatI would be careful about telling too many people about your site. It may be a bit awkward if your boss knows you are studying for the GMAT in order to get an MBA to escape your terrible job!
As you begin to write content for your site, I recommend that you figure out some sort of template/structure to your posts to maintain across every day of your GMAT prep. Just as an example, I think that every good GMAT study blog post should include:
- An overview about what you studied
- Analysis of your current strengths and weaknesses
- Mention of books, resources you used that day
- Page numbers and problem numbers you reviewed
The more specific and detailed your blog posts, the better. Believe me, people love details.
Finally, once youve gotten into a good rhythm with your blog and would like to attract more traffic, I highly recommend that you add your blog into the Beat The GMAT Blog Network. (https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/blogs/network).
This is the largest GMAT/MBA blog network in the world. Once your site is included into our network, then Beat The GMAT will start syndicating your blog posts throughout beatthegmat.com, exposing your site to hundreds of thousands of people each month!
Blogging shouldnt stop with the GMAT either
Once youve conquered your GMAT and have fully documented your studies on your blog, I encourage you to keep on blogging. Start writing about your MBA application process, and then once youre in your MBA program, write about your experiences as a business school student.
As mentioned above, I believe that maintaining a high quality GMAT/MBA blog is an expression of community service. People will read your blog posts. You will help and inspire many people in their quest for an MBA.