My success formula for cracking the GMAT

Now first things first... here's my success formula for those who dream for an 800 in GMAT... (I came pretty close myself... 770/800, 6.0 )... if it helps you, feel free to drop me a Thankyou Note! :)

1. Buy yourself the latest edition of the Official Guide, the Princeton review, Kaplan's and the NOVA's GMAT prep course (or any other good GMAT prep guide). DO NOT BORROW from someone else... buy your own copy... if you cannot commit yourself to spend a few bucks in buying yourself the guides to success in GMAT.. forget about it.


2. Sign up for the GMAT exam. Book your exam date no later than 2 months from now. If it feels a little too soon... you need to take some time off to rethink your career goals. And pick a Sunday to give the exam (whether you pick the early morning slot, afternoon or evening slot would depend on what you feel most comfortable with and when you believe you are at your peak during a regular day).


3. Get yourself access to a computer hooked up to the net from now till your exam date. Use a Windows PC (dont be a MAC snob) as that's what you are going to use on your exam day.


4. Forget about everything else... think only GMAT.... now is not the time to dream about the graduation ceremony at Harvard or the girl next door... for the next 2 months, GMAT should be the only thing on your mind.


5. Keep yourself busy with something besides GMAT for the most part of the day... I know.... I seem to be contradicting myself... but understand that you need to take out only 4 hours a day for GMAT prep... no less and no more... if you are in a job... continue with the job... don't take a leave to prepare for GMAT.... an idle mind is difficult to focus. Just take a couple of days before and a day after the exam off.


6. Read up about the GMAT in all its detail and fineprints, the what's, how's, the do's and don't etc... from the people who give the exam... check out http://www.mba.com/


7. Give a brief reading to the Princeton Review... cover all the theoretical aspects of the exam content... Verbal, Quantitative and Analytical Writing.


8. Take your first real (simulated) GMAT test at home. This is an evaluation test just to test the waters. Download the free GMAT Test prep software from the GMAT site and take the first full-length Computer Adaptive Practice Test from this software. Block a full 4 hours of time window in the afternoon and lock yourself in a room for the period of the exam. Give the exam following all the rules and regulations... honestly. Record your scores for each section and sub-section. Note: You should skip the Analytical Writing part (the essays) for your first evaluation test. Believe me.. it won't help when you've just started.


9. Now frankly, if your total score is below 550, you need some serious help... the self-study strategy may not be the best option for you.


10. Now compile a list of all the SIM CATs (Simulated Computer Adaptive Tests.... basically the full length computer based practice tests) that you have available on your computer. You should have about a couple from mba.com, 4-5 each from the CDs that ship with the Princeton's, Kaplan's, NOVA's and any other standard prep guides that you've bought. You can also purchase the 5 practice tests packet from http://www.800score.com/. All in all you should have atleast 22 + full length practice tests available offline (so far, you've only used up 1)


11. Now in the first month of prep (of the 2 months before the exam day), you need to review the theoretical aspects of each section one by one, cover the Quantitative sections first followed by Verbal. Princeton's guide is the best in my opinion for this purpose, although you can use one more source if you wish (I would advise Kaplan's). Do not read too many books...


12. After understanding the semantics, tips and tricks for each section, take some short but timed practice tests for that specific section. Like pick a batch of 30 questions for that section from the Official Guide, time it for 30 mins or so. After each test, take the time to read through the answer explanations provided in the book for each every question.. not just the ones you answered incorrectly... all of them. Note that the Official Guide is the only source of real GMAT questions available to test aspirants... every other book can only get so close. With each attempt, you should expect to increase the number of correct answers and the reduce the time taken to finish the test.


13. For the second and the final month of your preparation before the exam, you should prepare a calendar from day 1 till the exam day, and line up all the SIM CATs... about 22-25 of them evenly spread out over the 30 odd days. Now some finer details here....


• Do not take the tests from one single source (like Princeton or Kaplan) on consecutive days. Mix up all the SIM CATs such that you take one from Princeton on one day, followed by one from Kaplan, then one from Princeton again, followed by one from Nova's, then Kaplan then Nova.... and so on... Understand that none of these simulated test is exactly the same as the real GMAT, each is just an approximation... while some are on the easier side, some (especially Kaplan's) can be lot more tougher than the real one... and believe me... you don't want to give a Kaplan's practice test for two consecutive days or just before the final exam day :)


• You should still have one full length practice test left from the free prep software you downloaded from mba.com in step 8. Schedule this exam just before the final exam date. This software consists of the most real-like practice tests available that give you the most accurate picture of where you are going to land up on the real GMAT.


• Do not take the same test more than once.


• After each test make it a habit to spend a couple of hours just to go through the answer explanations and the analysis of your results.


• Remember not to take a leave from work for preparation... one SIM CAT a day should not take more than 4 hours of your time.


• After every 2-3 practice tests, spend some time refreshing the theoretical aspects of the subject areas where you are struggling the most and take some timed practice tests specifically for those sections (from the Official Guide question bank)


• Remember your scores will vary in practice tests depending on the source. In my experience Princeton's is the closest to the real GMAT, while Kaplan's projection of your actual score can fall short by about 50-80 points.


• Do not take the analytical writing (essays) part of the exam in your first 10-12 SIM CATs. Save them for later...


• With each attempt, your timings for the test should improve (i.e. you should be able to finish it easily within the given time) and the accuracy of your answers should improve.


14. The key to a good score in Analytical and Verbal sections is to understand the scoring logic of the computer based test. I won't delve into the details here, which are easily available on the internet and in every prep guide/book/software available. But in short, you must get the initial questions right... and the last few questions matter the least and are good to be quessed.... as a thumb rule, if you have 30 mins for 30 questions, give 1.5 mins each for the first 15 questions and 0.5 mins each to the last 15 questions... its ok to spend two or even three minutes on the first five questions if you think you can get it right... however the last 3-4 questions don't matter so much and since you MUST finish all the questions in the given time, take quick 5 second guesses on the last 5 if you don't have the time.


15. Keep the last two weeks before the exam day for your prep for the Analytical Writing section (essay writing). Unless you are the literary kind... you are going to find it miserably boring and demoralizing to practice writing essays (even more so, because after writing a real good one, you won't have an objective means of evaluating yourself)... and if you start your prep too early, there's a good chance you'll lose your momentum soon and its really critical to peak at the right time in your GMAT prep cycle... just on the actual exam day.


16. The best guide in my opinion to prep for essay writing would be Princeton's and NOVA's. The key to success in essay writing is to realize that your goal is not to become a Shakespeare or a News Paper Journalist through GMAT... and you can't become one in 2 weeks anyway... so you just need to understand what does it take to write an essay that gets you a good score... and the key is to follow the standard structure and format, be conventional instead of experimenting. A catching introductory statement, a good thematic statement as the last line of your first paragraph, use of appropriate transitional phrases, having a balanced argument in the body paragraphs, and finally a good closing paragraph with a summary of your argument would definitely not let you down below a 4.5 in 6.0 (in my case, it got me a 6.0 in both GMAT and TOEFL)


17. The day just before the actual exam day, do not give a SIM CAT. Take this day to just relax, feel positive and confident.. however this would be a really good time to practice generally... just pick up the Official Guide, and go ticking through the questions one by one for each section. Don't time it... don't spend too much time thinking... just spend 30 seconds on each question and pick your answer.... Finish atleast 30 questions in each section, and remember to read the answer explanations. Note that you should not evaluate yourself during this exercise... as you will unneccesarily shake your confidence... this is just the time to exercise your brain.


18. Please refrain from drinking alcohol, tea or coffee for atleast 3-4 days before the exam day. Have regular exercise, eat proper meals at the right time, give proper nutrition to your body and your brain, go to bed on time and wake up in the morning on time. Feel positive and confident. The day before the exam, get a good night's sleep (take an over-the-counter sleeping pill if you feel the need for it)


19. Leave for the exam center well in advance... you shouldn't be hurrying to the exam center... It makes a world of difference if you are in a calm state of mind before the exam and for god's sake... take all the neccesary stuff with you that you'll need to carry to the exam center. Have a light meal about 2-2.5 hours before the exam start time.


20. Take an hour before leaving for the exam center to kick-start your brain by going through some test questions in the Official Guide.


21. The last 3-4 SIM CATs should give you the indications of your best attempt probable score in GMAT... a 730 on Princeton would mean your best attempt score should be in the range of 710 - 770. The same can be derived from a 680 in Kaplan's. Evaluate yourself 10 days before the actual exam date, and if you feel you need more time to prepare... do not hesitate to postpone your exam date by another week or two (not more than two weeks).


22. Finally.. the crux of the entire lesson is that your learning curve for the GMAT is going to look like a bell curve, and you need to peak at the right time... around the time of the actual exam date. If you make a marathon out of it, you'd lose steam by the time the exam date arrives... you need to Sprint to peak at the right time and peak High!!.

Have fun writing your GMAT and All the Best !!.