Crack the GMAT – Sure Shot Success Tips

 

If you are an MBA applicant then you need to go through this article for sure. GMAT is quite possibly the most opted for paper as most of the places will accept the GMAT and will need the score as consideration for admission to their college or university. The GMAT paper is said to be tough but then correctly so as the paper is a standardized test, which is taken by tens of thousands of MBA aspirants.

Let’s discuss some of the important tools and preparations that you can include at the time of your routine which will make the preparation a tad bit easier and will definitely have a positive effect on your score.

Pragmatic goals

Setting goals is always the sensible way to study by. When setting goals of what you are required to achieve by the end of the month or week, you need to be realistic while keeping in mind the various factors that affect you. Do not assume within your first month of study that a 700 above score is possible. You will definitely get there but it will take time and a lot of diligence from your end. It will not only be easier on your expectations but it will also benefit your long term goal.

Also See: MBA Entrance Exams

Spend time on Preparation

Know that preparation for the GMAT will not be done through the waiving of any magic wand! No matter how good you think you are with a particular subject, don’t dream of the highest percentile without thinking of working hard on the preparation. GMAT is tough, period! I’m not saying this to get you worked up or to scare you away but because you should drop any overconfidence that you might think you have. GMAT preparation will require you to study with a lot of assiduousness. The early you begin- the better and lesser the pressure to perform at the last moment.

Be sure to know your strengths

The key of becoming good at attempting any paper is making sure that there are those couple of concepts that you’re perfect with. The theory is to know your strengths and to make sure that you make them stronger. The fact of the matter is that there will always be something that you will not know. Try and make things you know to work at your advantage and make sure that you do not lose track of such things while trying to learn you are not sure off.

Keep track of your weaknesses as well

Like I said, it is not possible for someone to know everything. So keep track of the topics that you think aren’t your strong cards.  This will only be possible if you have been studying for a long time. The thing with keeping track of your weaknesses is that you need to be able to take out time to pay special attention to them, which will only be possible if you have time on your hands.

Also when attempting the paper, do not linger on to questions you so not understand or are taking time to be solved. Know that you have less than two minutes to answer every single question and if you spend too much time on a single question or a group of them, probability is that you will miss out on questions you for sure have an answer to. So come back later.

Try your hand at everything

Although most people attempting different types of test will tell you that preparing for the toughest question is the solution to your score reaching an all time high, but that is not the case when attempting the GMAT paper. The first thing you need to know about GMAT is that it is a computer adaptive test, which means that the difficulty level of the questions will depend upon each question that you answer correctly. So make sure that you know the easier parts of the material at hand also. You will never be able to navigate through to the difficult part if you do not know the easier questions to begin with.

Study in English

Since most of the MBA test takers in this part of the world who are applying for GMAT do not have English as their first language, it becomes essential for the test takers to make sure that they are able to understand and comprehend the language well in the first place. It becomes essential for you to be able to understand the language well as there will be other hurdles for you to jump and you do not want English to become one of them and that too at a level of understanding of what is being asked of you. You will be required to improve your English language till the day of your test if you want to do well.

Get familiar with practicing on the computer

It is difficult enough to think that you would be wrecking yourself to get the right answers to your paper but adding to it the unfamiliarity with computers will be entirely your fault. Since you know the GMAT will be a four hour long computer based test, it is advisable you treat your inhibitions from the beginning and tackle them rather than going to the paper and adding to the dilemma of unknown question paper. Spend as much time as you possibly can to practice for the test on the computer, especially if you think that you are not familiar with one. The keyboard used is an American QWERTY one so make sure that you have enough time before the examination acclimatizing you to the appearance.

Choosing the right study material

No one can substitute hard work and a good material to study from when you are preparing for the GMAT. A good prep course will take you a long way and make all the difference it possibly can. The thing with making yourself equipped with the right material is that all the required test taking strategies will be made available for you to practice in the least amount of time. It is important you know the importance of have a material which will enable you to stay on top of the winning strategy and also makes sure you are maximizing your practice time along with minimizing the ‘attempt’ time.

There’s more to an MBA

Remember that while an MBA applicant needs to score well on his GMAT score, there are other things that play an important role. The well rounded CV, essay, recommendation letters and other such things might be able to beat someone with a top notch score but not these. The colleges are in need of students who are all-rounders and will easily pick someone who is one over somebody who just has the GMAT score vouching for him/ her. So when preparing for GMAT do not get so engrossed that you forget the other important things that will also matter.