GMAT Strategy

I need some help with changing my mindset.

The business school I am interested in has a December priority date. The school is good with my nontraditional profile but requires a 650 to be considered. I've spent the last 2 months reviewing the MGMAT series but have not taken a CAT. I keep putting it off, because I feel I need to be more solid with all the concepts. Part of the insecurity stems from being out of college for so long. I'm afraid that I will get some unbelievably low score and realize that I don't have enough time to build to the 650. Currently, I fill my study time with conquering problems from books because then I don't have to confront my score on a computer dashboard.

I can't be the only one who struggles with perfectionism. Any suggestions on changing how I view test preparation? Please don't tell me to just take a CAT. I really need a way to increase my confidence and change how I view the GMAT.

My next 3 months are devoted solely to GMAT practice. How should I make the best use of my time?

I'll just add this to Brent's excellent bit of advice: there is a lot of research demonstrating that we learn better by attempting a task and failing than by simply practicing the task over and over in a low stakes environment. Nobody is good at anything the first time they do it. And when it comes to the GMAT, there is no upper limit on how much improvement can be expected from that first practice test to your official exam. (Well, you can't exceed 800, but you get what I mean.) So tear off the band-aid and take a test. Expect that it will be difficult. Don't worry about what the score is. Then report back here, and we can help you come up with a game plan going forward.

(And here's a little inspiration from an athlete who's had a little success here or there: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=mic ... BE58BEB9BB

One thing you can do to get yourself to take a practice test is catch yourself at a moment when you are open to it.

Don't worry too much about the time of day or anything. As long as it's not midnight after dinner and drinks or something, just go for it.

I for one put off taking tests sometimes, partly because finding a 2.5 - 4 hour block of time is not always easy. Yup, you are not the only one. Then, somehow at an unexpected time, I would feel like taking a test and just take one, and you know what? That worked out. I would take a test and see my score and learn something about taking the test and what I needed to do to hit my target, and even though I was taking the tests on the spur of the moment, my scores were pretty much in line with where I stood in terms of preparation.

Meanwhile, you want to change your attitude toward this test? See it as a video game. Kids who get the high score on video games do that how? By playing the game over and over until they become ridiculously good at it.

So find a practice test, a junky one from online somewhere, a good free sample one from one of the higher quality test prep companies, or one of the tightest ones from the GMAT Prep software, and take it.

Don't take it too seriously. Just take it and see how you do on the video game.

Even if you score 450 or below, which is unlikely, people push their scores up 200 points or more all the time.

By the way, you can score in the 500's getting only like half right. At that point, 650 is only 100 points away.

On the other hand you might be surprised to see that you are close to, at, or above your target.

Then, once you have taken the test, you will have a wealth of new information. You will know what the test looks like, how the time works, and how hard or not the questions can be, and you will have a way to assess what you need to work on to hit your score goal.

If you totally rock critical reasoning, but not reading comprehension, so you work on RC for a week. If you are great at geometry questions but are having trouble with anything remotely having to do with absolute value, then you have another area to focus on. Sweet.

That's how you get this project done!

Overall, you could just lighten up. This test, and b-school, and life, are all just a big game. Ya play it and get better at it, and often the more lighthearted you are about things, the better you do at them.

Hi carey,

Although your goals of perfection should be admired to some degree, it's also clear that you won't be sure of where you need to improve to get your target score if you haven't taken a full-length CAT. You'll learn a lot about where you currently stand - and more importantly, where your strengths and weaknesses are - based on the results of your CAT, which you should use as a baseline score and not as a complete definition of your overall candidacy for business school. Take the leap and take a full-length CAT, and once we know your results, we'll be able to suggest some things that will tackle not only your weaknesses, but will also improve your mindset about the GMAT.

Best,
Rich

Thanks for the insight and warm encouragement. I especially appreciate the rationale behind why I need to take a practice test right away. I will complete one this week.

There are so many free tests available, and I want to save the GMAT Prep tests for later. Any suggestions on which test to take first? Also, is it important to do the essay/IR with each practice test?

nicsloan wrote:There are so many free tests available, and I want to save the GMAT Prep tests for later. Any suggestions on which test to take first?

I prefer the practice tests offered by Veritas. The questions therein are close to actual GMAT questions and people using them tend to generate scores close to those they generate with the actual test.

Having said that, to date no test prep company has created practice tests exactly like the actual GMAT, and occasionally for whatever reason people using Veritas tests score significantly differently from how they do on the actual test.

Another source of good tests is Manhattan Prep. Be aware though that their quant questions tend to require slightly more work than do questions on the actual GMAT, with the result that people often score somewhat lower on Manhattan Prep practice tests than they do on the actual test.

One possible strategy is to use tests from both companies.

Anyway, even with any inaccuracy, once you take a couple of practice tests you will have a sense of what level you are currently scoring at, what the test is like, and what you need to work on.

Be sure to use GMAT Prep tests at some point, as you don't want to do what I have seen some do, which is to prepare for a certain test prep company's tests rather than prepare for the subtly different from those tests GMAT itself.

Also, is it important to do the essay/IR with each practice test?

Maybe some of the other experts here will disagree with this, but I feel that depending on what you are seeking to achieve by taking a given practice test, it may or may not make sense to do all four sections.

For instance, in my own prep, I even went so far as to take only quant sections on a few occasions as I wanted to work on timing and other things in that section. Other times I did quant and verbal only. While in doing this one does not create an experience exactly like that of taking the full test, one can take the difference into account. It's not a mystery that it will be a little easier, though for me personally it actually did not make much difference whether I took one section, two sections or all four.

At the same time, the first time you take the test and on certain other occasions, doing all four sections makes the most sense. You can judge which occasions those are. Just maybe be conservative in making the call.

By the way, I am realizing that maybe much of what underlay my getting a high score was my being basically a GMAT gamer.

I took so many practice tests, and taking a test became much less of a big deal and more like playing a long video game.

I played the 800score quant test. I played GMAT Club tests. I played some raggedy tests that few people have heard of. I did the Economist test, Veritas, Manhattan, PowerPrep, GMAT Prep...

Got so accustomed to clicking "Start Test".

Also, is it important to do the essay/IR with each practice test?

Marty makes a valid point - there can be value in taking a section or two of the test, depending on what you're trying to get out of a given study session. But if you have a four-hour block of time, I'm an advocate of doing the entire exam. One of the things the GMAT is testing is mental endurance. You'll see that the verbal is significantly more challenging if you've done the AWA and IR, simply because you're depleted. It takes time to build up that stamina. (And the last thing you want is to discover on the day of the official test that your mental stamina isn't where you need it to be.)