GMAT Strategy

Hi jayesh.jaiveer,

You're ultimately asking Admissions questions, so you would likely find it useful to ask the Admissions Experts for their advice. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/ask-an-mba-a ... t-f40.html

When you say that you won't get into a college of your choosing, what School are you referring to? And do you know WHY you won't get in (is it your GRE score or is it something else?)?

Since it sounds like you're thinking about beginning your GMAT studies, then it would be a good idea to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test; you can download 2 for free from www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). If you want to do a little studying first, so that you can familiarize yourself with the basic content and question types, then that's okay - but you shouldn't wait too long to take that initial CAT. That score will give us a good sense of your natural strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. A FULL CAT takes about 4 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have those scores, you should report back here and we can come up with a study plan.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hi jayesh.jaiveer,

Many highly-competitive Business Schools tend to place an emphasis on the Quant Scaled Score, so regardless of whether you retake the GRE or take the GMAT, you will need to put some extra work into bringing up that score. In addition, you have to make sure that you have a strong OVERALL profile AND that you properly 'market yourself' to each individual School that you apply to.

1) What is your goal score?
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hi jayesh.jaiveer,

A 750 is right around the 99th percentile, which means that 99% of Test Takers will never score that high (regardless of how many times they take the GMAT). Thankfully, no School requires a Score that high. This is meant to say that the score that you 'want' and the score that you 'need' are likely not the same thing. With Schools such as Wharton, the level of competition is exceptionally high, so you will want as a high a GMAT score as you can reasonably earn by the time you apply. Using your GRE score as a gauge, you will have to make some significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. You've given yourself plenty of time to study though, which is good - and given your application timeline, you could study even longer if needed (which is also good).

In a prior post, I suggested that you start off by taking a FULL-LENGTH CAT (with the Essay and IR sections) so that we can get a sense of your current skills. Once you have that score, you should post back here and we can discuss how best to proceed with your studies.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

I agree with everything Rich has said.

One thing to watch out for since you're not a native American English speaker, is that this might prove to be more challenging and not as straightforward as you'd imagine.

Once you take that CAT exam from GMAC, use this as a template to understand your performance, and go through your answers, Put them in a chart of sorts, and first

IDentify the question type.
Identify how you answered, ie. Quan question #,- Geometry - Data Sufficency - Right Triangles. etc. Do this for all sections and types, especially for the questions you answered incorrectly.

THEN see if you can analyze your performance by including these indentifiers:

• 1) knew how to do - got it right
  2) knew how to do - got it wrong (careless mistake or something serious missing/though you knew but you didn't)
  
  3) kinda knew but guessed - got it right
  4) kinda knew but guessed - got it wrong
  
  5) WTF - guessed - got it right
  6) WTF - guessed - got it wrong
  
  7) took too long
  8) went too fast
  9) went just right
  
  10) Was nervous/triggered by question (and how)

There are a lot of resources available and you want to embody a streamlined effective program because as an applicant, your GMAT will make sure you don't get flagged, but it won't likely gain you admittance everywhere/anywhere. It's how you SHINE as an applicant!

For GMAT study, you need to understand what you know/don't know, then address highest yield topics then work through to the less important ones. Based on WHAT you're getting incorrect, and how, would drive how to start studying. Hands down, studying concepts comes first, then practice, then quizzing, then diagnostic exams. Lather, Rinse, Repeat....

Do NOT go directly to practice questions...you need to create a kind of muscle memory before you play the game. It's the same reason people learn and master scales and chords before learning to play and read complicated music.

Keep us posted, and feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions.

It's actually a common misconception that business schools prefer the GMAT over the GRE. Almost all top business schools now accept the GRE as well as the GMAT, and they wouldn't do so if they were going to penalize the students who took the GRE. This is from Jeremy Shinewald of mbaMission:

I have spoken personally with many of the admissions directors at the top 15 MBA programs on this issue, and the song remains the same. Yale School of Management Assistant Dean for Admissions Bruce DelMonico told us, "We wouldn't accept the test [the GRE] if it were going to disadvantage people to take it. We give it the same weight as the GMAT." And long-time admissions professional Dee Leopold, who served as Harvard Business School's admissions director until very recently, explained the program's stance on the exams by saying, "We view these tests equally and have no preference. Can't think of a snappier way to say this."

I have taught both the GMAT and the GRE for years, and this is a conversation I've had with hundreds of students.

If you have reason to believe that you would do better on the GMAT than on the GRE (if it plays to more of your strengths), then you should switch tests. However, most students do not see any improvement by switching from one test to another. Almost all of my students who have switched have gotten comparable scores on both tests (adjusting for differences in scoring).

You would probably be better served to stick with the test that you're already familiar with, unless you have strong reason to believe that the GMAT will be better for you. Either way, it will require a good deal of preparation.

Good luck!