GMAT Strategy

I see a lot of posts on here about how to get started or what are the best courses, etc, so I wanted to write about what I think the best way to get started is. I think the first step to GMAT studying, even before you start looking at course and tutoring options, is assessing your needs. Only after understanding what you need from a course, should you start looking at your study plan options.

So, how do you assess your needs? First, you need to find out what your goal score is. You can do this by looking at the average scores of your target schools.

Once you have figured out your target score, you need to figure out how close you are to that target score. You may be closer than you think, especially if you have a strong math or grammar background or great critical thinking skills. You can do this by taking a full length practice test. GMAC provides 2 free practice tests with their GMAT Prep software.

Once you have taken the test, you can see how far you are from your goal score and where you need help. You may not need a whole course, just part of one. For example, you may already be reaching your goal for quant and just need help with verbal (or vice versa). If that is the case, a lot of online on demand courses let you purchase just the quant or just the verbal section, or you may want to get a tutor.