GMAT Strategy
GMAT- Firstly you don’t know where to start the GMAT preparation, then you don’t know whether you are reading the right stuff and preparing well and finally you are not sure whether you have done enough practice to appear for the GMAT.
Start at the very top level. Are you taking GMAT and planning to apply within a couple of months or you are taking GMAT now to get a score so that you can apply whether the circumstances are right in future. This will decide your top level GMAT strategy, the amount of time per week you need to spend on preparation and the kind of resources you need to look for.
Though there is no set strategy which will work for every GMAT taker but we suggest the following strategy.
1) Decide on the time you have at hand: GMAT preparation generally doesn’t require more than 3 months of full time preparation or more than 6 months of part time preparation. Don’t think that preparation of a year is required to get a decent score on GMAT
2) Diagnose yourself well before making a plan for yourself: Take a couple of free GMAT tests to discover you weak areas and to familiarize yourself with GMAT. Then make a plan.
3) Take regular tests to analyze progress: Don’t just keep on reading preparation material. Take practice tests periodically to check progress, develop focus and endurance levels and to find further improvement areas. Tests are the only want to do that.
4) Be dynamic in your strategy: Don’t just try to span many books blindly. If some GMAT prep strategy is not working well and is not giving results, try something different.
5) Practice online: Many people fail in GMAT because they always read form GMAT Preparation books and practice on paper. The actual GMAT is not paper pencil test. Its a online computer adaptive test. So it’s very important to develop habit or reading questions online and taking tests under a timed environment
6) For GMAT re-takers: Sit and analyze what went wrong during the test. Was it time pressure, lack of practice or something else? Then formulate a strategy.
If you just keep the above mentioned things in mind, then your GMAT preparation will be much smoother and you can get a much better GMAT score.
How much time is sufficient for GMAT? |
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Most GMAT takers devote anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months for GMAT preparation. Assuming that time at hand is not a constraint for a particular test takers ( if that is the case then obviously the time you should spend on GMAT preparation is already decided), analyze yourself well. If you have already given exams like GMAT e.g. GRE, CAT etc, it means that you are pretty comfortable with MCQ's, reading online and giving exams under high pressure conditions. Therefore you can go for:
1) Either, part time 3-4 months of GMAT preparation, or
2) Full time 2 months of GMAT preparation.
If you are from fields like Medicine, LAW and you might have not appeared from Quant and Verbal MCQ type of tests before and you also don't have habit of reading a lot of stuff online then you need some more time. You can go for:
1) Either, part time 5-6 months of GMAT preparation, or
2) Full time 3 months of GMAT preparation.
Within these time durations also the split is largely decided by your inherent comfort level with quant or verbal. Most engineers or analyst are very comfortable with Mathematics so quant is a cake walk for them. On the other hand people from literature, language etc kind of background are more comfortable with Verbal section.
So, keep these in mind while deciding your GMAT timelines.
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AWA Scoring
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An AWA argument or issue is rated by a human evaluator as well as by a computer with software called E-rater.
The human and the E-rater rate both the essays on a scale of 0-6. If there is a difference of more than on score point than another human evaluator evaluates the essay. Finally, the human and the E-rater scores are averaged and the analysis and issue scores are in-turn averaged and rounded off to nearest half point to arrive at the final AWA score.
Here is a sample of how AWA is calculated:
Analysis of argument : Human evaluator score : 5 , E rater score: 4 , Avg. Score : 4.5
Analysis of issue : Human evaluator score : 5 , E rater score: 5 , Avg. Score : 5
Overall avg. = avg ( 4.5 ,5) = 4.75 , So AWA score = 5 ( after rounding off to nearest half point)
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GMAT Test Experience
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(What happens on the GMAT day)
The GMAT lasts about 4 hour (though the test is for 3.5 hours)
On GMAT day, you will go through something like this:
1) Arriving and checking in at the Pearson Test center: The administrator at the test center checks your ID proof, takes signature and takes a photograph. You will be given a locker room to put in your stuff as nothing is allowed inside the test room. The center provides you with a marker and an erasable sheet to use as rough sheet.
2) Analytical Writing Assessment Section: there are 2 essays: Analysis or an argument and analysis of an issue. Each lasts for 10 min.
3) 5 min Break: You are given a break of 5 min and that's it. Return to you seat within 5 min as the test will automatically start.
4) Math Section: the section has 37 questions and you are given 75 min to attempt these.
5) 5 min Break: You are given another break of 5 min.
6) Verbal section: the section has 37 questions and you are given 75 min to attempt these.
7) Scores: At the end of the test the 3 digit GMAT score is delivered. But before the scores are delivered you are asked whether you want to accept or cancel the scores. If you cancel you can't see your scores. If you accept, you will see a score out of 800. The AWA and official scores arrive after 14 days.
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GMAT
retake strategy
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You
feel your GMAT score is awful.
You deserve much more and you
committed a blunder on the day
of the GMAT.
Determined
to re take the GMAT here is
what you should do.
1) Analyze
what went wrong:
Here are some
of the possible reasons
- You reached the test center
in hurry and hence were nervous
- You were not able to focus
and were distracted by other
test takers
- You didn't had a proper meal
before coming to test center
and had a headache
- You were not able to focus
during the test
- You did badly on time management
so left some questions unanswered
or just marked anything
- You didn't had anything during
the breaks
- You made many silly mistakes
in calculations etc
- You had never practiced the
full length test, so four hours
was a bit of too much for you.
- Many others…
2) See
the time you have at hand:
Unless and until you feel that
you lacked preparation don't
delay retaking the GMAT by more
than 45 days. This is because
otherwise your preparation levels
will come down. Also, a lot
of practice (say for 3 months
again) will make you loose interest
in GMAT.
Also keep
in mind the B school deadlines
that might be approaching.
3) Develop
a strategy: Now, since you
have taken the GMAT once, you
know what went wrong and what
you need to improve, focus on
your weaknesses. Here are some
pointers:
If you
couldn't stand 4 hrs then
practice
more full length tests.
Take one every week and maybe
two in the last week. Get into
a room and come out after 4
hours after completing the fill
test only.
If you
feel that prep levels were not
up to the mark then revise
the fundamental quickly and
move to tougher questions and
deeper things like (word pairs
in verbal sentence correction,
redundant words which never
come together or more Prime
number questions in Data sufficiency
or a different strategy for
RC)
If you
made silly mistakes in calculations
or somewhere else, make sure
that you
do these questions with a better
focus by taking 30 min sectional
tests on these kind of questions
only.
If you
did badly on time, full
length tests again are the
right thing for you. Also try
different strategies like in
Verbal section sparing a fixed
25 min for first 12 questions,
20 for next 10, and 25 for the
remaining 19 questions and see
if that works for you. We hope
that you are aware that GMAT
penalizes you more for unanswered
questions than wring questions.
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