If you're wanting to get into a top school, you're probably asking yourself "How can I get a 700+ on the GMAT?". Taking a group class can be an awesome way to prepare for the GMAT. I offer a couple of options for very reasonable prices that you can consider if you think you would benefit from a group of supportive peers.
In general, the main thing you need is an individual strategy. This will be unique to you but there are some general tactics to get you started. Here are the steps you can follow to prepare for a 700+ score on the GMAT:
Familiarize yourself with the format and content of the test: The GMAT consists of four sections: Verbal, Quantitative, Integrated Reasoning, and Analytical Writing Assessment. Familiarize yourself with the format and content of each section and understand what skills are tested in each.
Make yourself a "cheat sheet" for grammar, and a formula sheet for math. Write down strategies that help you get the correct answers when you approach different types of problems
Create a study schedule: Set aside sufficient time to prepare for the GMAT, and stick to a study schedule. Dedicate more time to the areas where you need more improvement and make sure to practice regularly. This should be realistic. If you know you won't stick to an hour a day, don't set yourself up for failure. Try to make a goal that you think you can beat. This will help you "spiral up" toward your goal.
Get access to a lot of study materials and use them. GMAT Club is a great online resource with a large question bank and lots of multiple-choice questions. All of my students also get access to a drive with a large number of references to choose from. Do try to use official resources though. The Official GMAT Study Guide and Official GMAT Verbal Review and Official GMAT Quantitative Review are great resources for preparing for the test. I strongly recommend you purchase the bank of questions from the GMAT practice at https://www.mba.com/exam-prep/gmat-official-practice-questions.
Take practice tests: Take practice tests regularly to simulate the test day experience and evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. The GMAT is an adaptive test, so it's important you take practice tests of this type to really get an idea of where you are. Try to take at least 4-5 full-length practice tests. Two of these are free on mba.com. Kaplan has another one for free. Consider resetting them if it's been a few months and retake them. Don't forget to take a screenshot of your data from the previous time.
Analyze your mistakes: After each practice test, review your answers and understand why you made the mistakes. This will help you identify your weak areas and work on them. I like for my students to classify their answers as missed due to time, an avoidable mistake, misunderstanding the question, or not having the background information to solve it. This will pinpoint where your weaknesses are.
Speaking of time, try timing individual questions as you practice and see if you can beat a per-question time goal. Practicing this way is better than training to beat the clock for the whole section. Many students waste time in the beginning.
Focus on your weaknesses: Identify your weaker areas in each section and focus on improving them. Spend more time practicing the questions you struggle with, and consider hiring a tutor to work on them with you.
9. Use GMAT-specific strategy: There are specific strategies you can use to tackle
GMAT questions. For example, in the Verbal section, learn how to eliminate
options quickly, and in the Quantitative section, use back-solving to check
your answers. I recommend having some "go-to" numbers you use to plug in for
questions about the behavior of a function or DSQs where you might want to test
if something is sufficient. You should include zero, positive and negative integers, and
also non-integer numbers (I like 0, 1,-1, 2, -2, 1/2, and -1/2).
10. Stay relaxed and confident on test day: Get a good night's sleep before the
test day(see next note), eat a nutritious breakfast, and arrive at the test
center relaxed and confident. Try getting a mixture of carbs and protein to get you
through the day. Consider treating yourself to sugary drinks to sip on during breaks
or a little candy to keep your dopamine levels high. Another good idea is
doing some brisk activity in the morning before your test.
Getting good sleep:
Try taking a warm shower before you go to bed. The change in temperature can signal to your brain that it's time for sleep.
Make a worry journal: write down everything you're worried you'll forget or your to-do's for test day
Keep the room cool and dark
Turn off your devices/don't stare at screens at least an hour before you try to sleep.
Go to bed with enough time to get a full 8 hours of sleep before test day
Some links that can be helpful to get you started or just review:
Verbal-
Most students struggle a lot with sentence completion. Here are some links that I've found to be really helpful:
Consider reviewing modifiers/appositives and their placement, parallel structure, and verb agreement. My sentence completion tutorial blog will be out soon as well.
For the reading section, you really want to focus on the fact that this is a standardized test, so they can only test you on what is written on the page. Try to pick an answer that rephrases something in the passage without changing the meaning. Here are some links for strategies and a great practice bank:
Quantitiative-
I recommend making a list of topics that are tested on the GMAT so you don't end up reviewing topics that you won't need but in general, the GMAT tests high school math so you can use a variety of resources for a full review.
Here is a great link for a full review of some essential high school math: https://precalculusworkshop.uwinnipeg.ca/index.html
There are several worksheets on commonly tested problems like exponents in the above link.
If you are wanting a review of geometry questions with step-by-step explanations, this resource for SAT students is also really good: https://www.khanacademy.org/mission/sat/practice/math
I particularly like the Manhattan Guide's GMAT quantitative review book because it has drills for every major topic you will be tested on.
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