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You want to score better on the GMAT?
Here are some common pitfalls to avoid so that you can achieve everything you’re capable of!
- Studying only weaknesses- Once you’re taken stock of where you are going into the test, a common tendency is to jump headlong into your weakest areas. While this might seem to be a wise strategy, make sure that you consider your timeframe and natural abilities. If you’re a non-native English speaker who struggles with idioms and your test is coming up relatively soon, you might be better off getting your geometry skills from good to great, or sharpening your critical reasoning abilities rather than pouring a large amount of valuable study time into something that is not a huge part of the test and will likely be quite a struggle.
- Going it alone- As a professional tutor, I see examples every week of how working with an expert with your best interests in mind can be extremely helpful. It’s something I would recommend to every student who is dedicated to reaching his or her potential. However, if you’re unable to meet with a tutor for some reason, that doesn’t mean solitude should be your next choice. Find a study partner or group. Preparing for a standardized test like the GMAT requires a large investment of time and if you don’t have someone else to share struggles and successes with, the pursuit of a great score becomes lonely and difficult to maintain.
- Aiming for a score- When I assign a practice test as homework to a student I often hear “My goal is 650 for this one.” Setting these arbitrary numbers as a goal really doesn’t do any good. If you see a difficult reading passage, are you going to approach it any differently if your goal is 600 or 650? You aren’t going to say “I’m not going to worry about understanding the author’s point in this third paragraph because my goal is only 600 today.” Rather than focusing on results that may leave you feeling satisfied on a lucky day, or frustrated with a great effort that didn’t quite meet the mark, set process goals. If your goals are centered around tackling problems in the correct way, thinking strategically and managing time well, you’re working toward getting a great number on the one score that really matters.
- Not making a study schedule- If your plan is to study when you have time, you’re hurting yourself. Making a study schedule not only makes study time more likely to happen because it’s blocked out on your calendar, but it also alleviates non-studying guilt! If it’s not listed as study time on your calendar, you don’t have to worry about studying!
- Trying to get every question right- Since the GMAT is a computer-adaptive test, the software’s goal is to find your level. In order to do that, it needs to see which questions are too easy and which questions are too difficult for you. If you focus on getting every single question correct, you’re likely going to get yourself in a lot of time trouble, which is going to do your score more harm than good! Focus on getting the ones you can get within a reasonable amount of time and taking intelligent guesses on the ones you don’t know.
If you can avoid these pitfalls you’re well on your way to a great score!
Posted in Course Features, GMAT
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Posted in Course Features, Course Features, GMAT, GRE
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It goes without saying that your ability to transform word problems into equations and expressions is incredibly valuable on the GRE and GMAT. But don’t overthink it! Many of these translations can be done almost automatically. How would you translate the following word problem into expressions and equations you can use?
Loading ...Hopefully you are familiar with the word problem translation chart:
| Words | Math |
| More/Less Than | Add To/Subtract From Next Term |
| Increased/Decreased | Add/Subtract from original |
| Of/Times | Multiply |
| Percent | /100 |
| What/A Number | Variable |
| Is/Is Equal To/Equals | = |
| Remaining/Left/Difference | Subtract from original Quantity |
| Part | Divide Part by Total |
| Total/Sum | Add |
Being able to translate words into expressions using this chart is not just necessary to get word problems right, it is also a key to doing them quickly! Using the values from this table allow you to bypass any heavy lifting for these problems and proceed directly to solving.
Posted in Barron's Courses, GMAT, GRE, Quant, Quant
Tagged GMAT Question of the Day, GRE Question of the Day, Word Problems
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No matter what your level is, you’re likely to see several problems that are fairly easy and straightforward. Make sure you get them right!
Loading ...Don’t miss easy points just because you didn’t bother to follow through on a simple question, and don’t psyche yourself out if you’re faced with something that really is simple. Thank the testmakers for a gift, and move on.
Posted in Barron's Courses, GMAT, GRE, Quant, Quant
Tagged GMAT Question of the Day, GRE Question of the Day
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Many students are guilty of ignoring the law of diminishing utility when it comes to test prep. Stated more plainly, I mean that students often operate under the assumption that “studying more is always better”. This is simply not the case.
The final week before the test is a time that students commonly misuse or, in some egregious cases, actually regress. This is because, instead of treating the GRE as a performance, which it is, students treat it simply as a test of knowledge, which it most certainly is not. The top priority of any student during the last week before taking the test should be resting well and staying healthy. Resist the urge to take a full-length practice test, as it will most likely contribute to fatigue on the actual test day, and by all means, don’t study anything on the day before the test. Just take care of yourself, relax, and mentally prepare yourself for game day.
Students also ignore the law of diminishing utility during normal study hours. The number of hours that you can be actively engaged in absorbing and executing new information is limited; just because you put in the extra hours does not mean that your score will continue to improve. In order to perform optimally on the test, you should view taking care of yourself as an equally important part of your study as pouring vocabulary words into your brain.
How long can you productively study in each day? The answer is not infinite; during your studies try to take note of how productive your study is. If you are wasting time, or not making effective progress, or not feeling well, then STOP! Watching Dumb and Dumber, believe it or not, may be a more valuable use of your time. And it won’t make you as dumb as you think.
Developing a proper study/life balance is a vital part of your prep and should not be ignored. In addition to the number of hours that you can spend during each session, there is a limited amount of study time that you can put your body through each week. Ensuring that you are taking adequate time to exercise, eat well, and sleep sufficiently is an often undervalued but highly sensitive aspect of your test prep so take your mother’s advice and take care of yourself, darnit!
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The GRE and GMAT always present you with enough information to solve a question. But frequently, you will need to alter, simplify, or modify expressions a good bit before proceeding. In fact, some problems (like the following) depend upon your ability to do so. How might you simplify the expressions in the following problem before proceeding to a solution?
Loading ...Both inequalities presented at the outset of the problem must be simplified before a solution can be easily found. Be aware that often times the test will not simply offer information that can be directly solved; it is far more common to be given information which requires some significant changes before it is useful for solving.
Posted in Barron's Courses, GMAT, GRE, Quant, Quant
Tagged GMAT Question of the Day, GRE Question of the Day, Inequalities, Probability
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Traditionally, math students are taught to completely solve any equation or problem that they face. But due to the limited nature of GRE and GMAT problems, there are some problem-solving methods that are superior because of their speed.
Testing the Answer Choices is occasionally one of these options. Although it is highly dependent on the problem itself, there are some times where using this technique can be faster than solving the problem in a traditional way. Can you solve this problem by Testing the Answer Choices?
Loading ...However, using advanced problem-solving techniques is not always faster. In fact, it can be slower in many cases. But the execution of each problem solving method is quite subjective; the only way to find out whether one method will be better or worse for you is to practice thoroughly and get to know your own skill set well!
Posted in Barron's Courses, GMAT, GRE, Quant, Quant
Tagged GMAT Question of the Day, GRE Question of the Day, Testing the Answer Choices
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I have faced a lot of tests in my life, and not many of them have made sense. I’ve taken closed-book statistics tests that have asked me to memorize formulas that even statisticians don’t memorize. I’ve taken aptitude tests that have told me what career path I’m suited for based on my preference for cold beverages over hot ones and road trips over air travel. I’ve faced test questions in interviews purporting to figure out how suited I’d be for a professional job by finding out what things I would take with me to a desert island. I’ve even been tested in ways I didn’t even know were possible. When a college girlfriend told me to pick whatever movie I’d like, I didn’t realize that was a test until I discovered that “The Matrix” was definitely not the right answer.
The GMAT is a test that has stood the test of time much better than my relationship with that girlfriend did. The reason for that is pretty simple. The GMAT makes sense. Critics are quick to point out that the business world is not full of quadratics to factor or verb tenses to modify. But, those critics make the same mistake that I made at the movie theater: they interpret the test too narrowly.
When the GMAT asks for the angle measure of x in a complex geometric figure, it’s asking for more than just a recitation of high school math concepts. The test is asking how well you can use multiple pieces of information to come up with a solution. It’s asking whether you can take several sequential steps without making any careless errors. The test is also asking whether you can do all of those things under time pressure.
So why does the GMAT make sense, you ask. It’s asking for more than it seems, just like the movie question. What’s the difference? Well, the difference is quite simply in repetition. The GMAT has been asking test-takers to demonstrate the same skills, in the same ways, by asking the same kinds of problems year after year, test after test. And the reasoning makes sense! We want our future business leaders to be able to think strategically and to move carefully through multi-step procedures, often under time pressure. I’m not sure the connection is quite as obvious between my cinematic taste and my level of romantic affection.
Whether you are just starting this road to the GMAT or are a battle-tested veteran giving data sufficiency one more shot, see the test for what it is. It isn’t meant to make your life unpleasant. It isn’t meant to assess how well you remember high school concepts. The GMAT is meant to use common concepts that we’ve all come across in the past to assess how well you’ve developed the disciplined strategic critical thinking skills that will make you successful in business school.
Doesn’t that make sense?
