What’s the best way to study for the GMAT?
The best way to study for the GMAT is to start with a clear diagnosis of your strengths and weaknesses, and then use a detailed gmat study plan that consistently attacks your weaknesses and doubles down on your strengths. Gmatbuddy’s plan to study for the gmat is so helpful because it breaks down your gmat score goal into sprints that develop the skills you’re missing in a structured manner. This is extremely valuable because sprints allow for regular feedback cycles to assess progress and change study methods when necessary.
Any effective method to study for the gmat requires the following:
- Understanding exactly what the GMAT test is measuring, why, and how.
- Having a specific gmat score goal within a clear deadline.
- Assessment: thorough diagnosis of your strengths and weaknesses.
- Breaking down your goal into and planning skill-based study sprints with clear objectives.
- Crafting a detailed gmat study plan with focused on developing the GMAT skills using drill routines.
- Using error logs to keep track of weaknesses and progress as you study for the gmat.
- Frequent review: for every 10 hours of study time, 2 or 3 must be dedicated to review.
- Regular assessments and checkpoints: practice tests or real tests to assess progress.
- Evaluation: have the goals been achieved? and if not, determine why. A gmat tutor can help here.
What the GMAT assesses and How
The GMAT is a test required for admission into business school, and is designed to assess high order reasoning – the ability to process information and make logical inferences.
There are three sections in the GMAT, each assessing a specific set of skills as outlined below.
| SECTION | What it measures |
| Quantitive Reasoning | Using basic math literacy to define models and solve problems. |
| Verbal Reasoning | Understanding the structure of large texts and understanding how best to evaluate arguments and plans of action. |
| Data Insights | Synthesizing data from diverse sources of information to make informed decisions. |
Two things must be clear to effectively study for the GMAT
When you sit down to study for the GMAT, what is it that you actually have to do, and how does it fit into your overall strategy and vision? The first is a question of tactics and the second is of strategy and vision. In this guide I will answer both very clearly.
1. What is the GMAT score you want to achieve? [STRATEGY AND VISION]
2. What do I have to do in the actual study session and why? [Tactics]
Let’s start with first question.
Defining your target GMAT score
Create a list of the schools you are aiming for and note down the average GMAT score of admitted students and the range of scores accepted. Aim for hitting the upper side of that bracket.
If your goal is to gain admission to a prestigious business school, you will most likely need a great GMAT score. The general benchmark is a 645+ (in the old gmat, that score was 700). If you have a compelling profile with demonstrated career progression and proof of great leadership, you can be admitted to great schools without a great gmat score. Otherwise, a score of 645+ will be required.
How difficult it will be to hit that score depends largely on your educational activities during adolescence and your university education. The farther away you are from your objective, the longer it will take to prepare. If you have a reasonable estimate to when you can hit your target score, you can plan your MBA application essays a lot better and with less stress.
How long will take to achieve your target GMAT score?
To answer this question, you must take a gmat practice test.
Don’t delay this step for too long. Familiarize yourself with the structure of the test but don’t prepare for too long.
Here’s a 1-minute quiz that helps estimate how long it will take to achieve your target score:
The GMAT is very much like a triathlon. To train well for a triathlon and do your best, you must create a clear training plan and routine based on your current strengths and weaknesses. Preparing for the GMAT is the same.
Step 1 –> an official gmat practice test
What your current score means about how to study for the GMAT
The actions you need to take as you study for the gmat depend on your current gmat score or mock test score. The reasoning behind that is the following:
The tenets required for a great performance and gmat score complement each other. Some tenets or skills are foundational – you need to build them before advancing onto other topics. For example, you cannot be good at probability if you struggle with fractions or decimals. The chart below describes the types of exercises and material you need to focus on based on your current score. It also serves as a good estimator for time require to study for the gmat. These are benchmarks, and study time can be more or less.
Use the following chart to determine what resources you need to focus on in your study sprint. The time in months shown in read estimate the amount of time you need to put in to achieve a 655+ based on the current score you’re achieving.
Remember this:
As the preparation time required to hit the score for your dream score increases, the odds to achieving it drop. The reasons can be fatigue, burnout, interruptions that break momentum, etc. Progress is often not linear.
So you have to be smart: Break down your gmat study plan into sprints and focus on one theme more than the others during any one sprint.
Question 2 How to study for the GMAT: What do you do in a study session?
There are really four domains of prep. It’s going to be either foundation, the concepts, reasoning, or efficiency and form under time conditions. For each of the four types, you need to define what resource to use and why.
Now, when you sit down and you think, okay, I’m going to do foundations or concepts, what is it that you do? What is the resource that you use and under what conditions and for how long? So are you going to use math basic problems to improve your understanding of how to solve a linear equation? Are you going to solve it under time conditions? and how long are you going to do it for? Are you gonna do it for an hour? 30 minutes, 20 minutes? And how often are you going to use this and do this throughout your preparation?
The following table defines what should be your primary focus in each theme. This serves as a guideline when you’re constructing a GMAT study plan.
| SPRINT FOCUS | WHAT RESOURCE | WHY | HOW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation | Basic math drills | Building blocks without which there’s no progress | short bursts – 10 or 20 minute quizzes. |
| Concepts | GMAT course | Youtube | Understand the framework used to create GMAT questions | In short bursts with exercises to apply. Requires frequent revisiting |
| Reasoning | GMAT questions | GMAT courses | Learn reasoning behind GMAT questions and to improve big picture thinking | Learn from others. Hard to figure out on your own |
| Efficiency and Form | GMAT solutions | Better time management, fewer careless errors | Learn from others. Hard to figure out on your own |
Now, what is the balance of the attention that you spend in every one of those four areas? Do I focus more on foundations, concepts, reasoning, efficiency, and form? Where do I have to pay my attention to right now at this particular moment?
Well, to answer that question, that is one of strategy and vision that we discussed earlier. To know which one to focus on as you study for the gmat, you need to be very clear about the score that you’re trying to achieve and how far away are you from that score.
If you’re very far away from your score, you need to break down your preparation into sprints because you cannot be really good at reasoning or efficiency and form if your foundations are bad.
And to improve your foundations requires some time. To improve your understanding of the concepts requires some time. And so that is why you have to break down your preparation into sprints. And in every one of those sprints you need to focus on one area more than the other. And then spend some time on the others to see how there’s that ripple effect into the areas that are more advanced concepts, reasoning, and efficiency and form.