In Other News: All things GMAT
An explainer on the what and how of GMAT exam prep
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Hi there! Top of the morning to you. It’s that time of the week again. In today’s edition, we talk about all-things-GMAT. Without further ado, let’s dive into it.
📨 A little context
Taking the GMAT test has become a coveted bucket-list checkbox for many MBA aspirants in India. In fact, Indians represent 94% of GMAT tests taken by Central and South Asian citizens and 15% of global testing overall. Hence, it only makes sense to deep dive on this crucial aspect of B-school applications.
🔍 The focus
In today’s post we’ll be covering 3 buckets related to the GMAT - About the GMAT, Prep Strategy and Resources.
#1 About the GMAT
GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) is a standardized test conducted by GMAC, a US-based organization which has been conducting the exam since 1954. More than 7,700 MBA programmes worldwide require the GMAT as part of their MBA applications. So if you are someone who is interested in applying for an MBA abroad (and even in some Indian B-school), the odds of the GMAT exam being part of the application are sky-high.
Some quick housekeeping items about the GMAT:
Test-takers are scored out of 800 with 200 being the lowest you can score and 800 being the highest. The score increases in 10-point increments.
Once attempted, your score is valid for a period of 5 years, unless you choose to cancel your score.
It is a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT). This means that each successive question is based on your accuracy and speed in the previous question attempted. Hence, you cannot go back to questions already answered and have to attempt questions in one-go with no back and forth.
As of 2023, the exam follows a 4-section format - Verbal, Quant, Integrated Reasoning (IR) and Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA).
The Verbal and Quant Section directly influence your total GMAT score out of 800. These sections also have separate scores out of 51 (More on this in point 5.).
The IR section is graded out of 8 points and the AWA section is graded out of 6 points. These two sections have no bearing on your total GMAT score but are nonetheless part of your Official GMAT Score report.
Disclaimer: GMAC is currently revamping the test format and will be releasing a new format called GMAT Focus as early as August 2023. So do keep an eye out for the official notification in case you are planning to start your prep soon. Mba.com is the best and only official GMAT platform that you should rely on for accurate information.
A typical GMAT score looks like this - 720 (Q49, V39). Here, ‘720’ is your total GMAT score, Q49 is your Quant score out of 51, and V39 is your Verbal score out of 51.
Section-wise deep-dive:
Quant: This section covers a variety of topics ranging from Numbers, Fractions and Geometry to Probability, Permutations and Combinations. This is a timed section with 31 questions to be solved in 60 mins.
Verbal: This section covers 3 question types- Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning and Sentence Correction. This is a timed section with 31 questions to be attempted in 65 mins.
Integrated Reasoning: This is a 30-minute section with 12 questions. The questions are based on quantitative and verbal reasoning and have a data interpretation format. The questions are of 4 types- Multi-Source Reasoning, Table Analysis, Graphics Interpretation, and Two-Part Analysis.
Analytical Writing Assessment:- This is a 30-minute writing task where you have to analyse and augment and choose to defend or refute it. (Spoiler: you always have to refute it).
Test-takers have an option to choose the order of sections.
Test-takers have the option to take the GMAT at home or at a registered GMAT center. The set-up you choose has no bearing on your score, hence, you should choose the format which suits you the best.
#2 Prep Strategy
Based on our experience with the exam and after talking to people who have given the exam in the past it is best to have a deadline before which you need a final text score. This deadline can be a few weeks before your MBA application deadline or even a year in advance. Different test-prep agencies and admissions consultants suggest different self-appointed deadlines. As test-takers ourselves, we would suggest having a sufficient buffer period so that in case you are not happy with your score, you can give a second attempt at least a month or two before your B-School deadline.
For example (based on a real life GMAT attempt journey)-
Context- Admissions deadline = January 5 2023. Thi test-taker gave their first GMAT attempt in August 2022. Since they were not too happy with their score they decided to give a second attempt in November 2022. After getting a score they were satisfied with in the second attempt, they started working on other aspects of their application and had sufficient time (2 months) to review and revise their application components before the January deadline. This was only possible because they gave their first attempt while keeping a sufficient buffer period for a potential second attempt.
A self-prep strategy checklist/rundown:
Polish your basics. The devil is in the details with respect to the GMAT. Hence, even if you are a current student and are familiar with basic quant concepts, it is best if you quickly go through math and arithmetic topics. Ideal time duration: 1-2 weeks
Start with the Official Guide (OG) questions. Here, YouTube would be your best friend. (More about this is the Resource section). For attempting verbal questions in the OG start by understanding the proper approach to different types of questions and only then start attempting.
Initially, you can assign different days for quant and different days for verbal during a week. But as you near the completion of the OG, you can start doing questions from both these sections simultaneously.
A lot of people take an official GMAT mock available on mba.com before starting their prep journey, but we recommend taking one after completing the OG. The reason for this is simple - since there are only 2 free mocks available and unless you are planning to buy more, you need to use these resources mindfully because they are the most accurate score predictor out there. Additionally, taking the first mock after prepping will give you a better idea about the quality of your prep rather than taking it at level 0.
After taking the mock test, revisiting your Error Log should be the next step. You can also utilize the next few weeks to improve your accuracy in areas you weren’t able to score well in the mock test. This is also a good time to book your exam.
After booking the exam, you can take the second mock test and then start revising concepts. It is generally advisable to not take a mock close to your test date because pre-exam jitters can sometimes lead to poor performance. Hence, for at least 2 weeks before your test date, do not give another full-length mock.
The period after booking the mock is also the best time to start building an AWA template and to start working on the IR section.
Some GMAT do’s and don'ts:
Do not get tempted by free tests available on websites of test prep agencies. These free tests are marketing gimmicks and hence, are designed to give you a bad score so that you buy the prep-programmes of these agencies.
Maintain an Error log from the get-go.
Don’t think about the question difficulty while giving the exam. Focus only on attempting the question with maximum accuracy.
#3 Resources
MBA.com: The official site provides sample questions as well as two full-length practice tests completely free of cost- a good way to familiarize yourself with the test and potential question types. .
Official Guides (or OGs as they’re commonly called): The official GMAT prep book bundle — which consists of a general examination guide along with guides for the Verbal and Quant sections of the exam are a great resource to practice questions and understand the rationale behind the answers.
GMAT Club: GMAT Club is essentially a one-stop forum for GMAT study material, mock tests, and a community of test takers who could help answer doubts. There’s also a comprehensive YouTube channel that covers various GMAT topics at length and provides practice quizzes.
Manhattan Prep E-Books: While physical copies have to be paid for, the coveted Manhattan Prep E-books can be downloaded online to get a clear understanding of the concepts.
Wizako: Wizako conducts extensive online GMAT classes on YouTube. It can be a great resource for understanding the fundamentals of different topics. They also feature must-solve questions, which could be a useful question bank for practice. While they have a paid GMAT prep course too, we recommend watching the publicly available videos before committing to a paid-course. We also don’t endorse a specific test prep agency or tutor, hence, this post covers only free-resources.
This is all about the GMAT exam and we hope that you found this post useful. If you have any specific questions about the GMAT exam, do comment them down below and we’ll do our best to answer them. If you would like to see more Test-specific posts about other exams, do let us know in comments as well.
👋🏻 Bye-bye
………Aaand that’s a wrap. See you Monday :) Of course, we can correspond earlier if you liked the ‘did you know’ format and have a couple other topics you’d like for us to cover in the coming weeks. Feel free to use the comment section or write to us at witmeup.in@gmail.com. Alternatively, you can anonymously provide your valuable feedback here. Thanks, and toodles!