Preparation for GMAT

1. Sleep the Night Before :

If you have spent any significant amount of time preparing for the exam, then you will know that your score will benefit more from some extra sleep than it will be from a few last-minute cram preparations

2. Make Sure You are Comfortable with the Computer Tutorial :

The exam will begin with a tutorial on using the computer. We do not recommend rushing through it. If you have adequately prepared yourself for the exam, you will suffer no short-term memory loss in the few minutes it takes to complete this tutorial. You do not want to find that, having rushed through this tutorial, you panic when the timed test begins and you're suddenly not sure how to scroll through the long passages in the verbal section. Finally, this tutorial provides an excellent way for most test-takers to calm their nerves before delving into the actual test questions.

3. Keep Moving :

Keep moving through the test and try to finish each section. The best strategy is to pace yourself so that you have time to consider each test question and make your best answer choice. You may not skip questions, and randomly guessing answers to questions at the end of each test section can significantly lower your scores.

4. Try to Relax :

Yes, this is easier said than done – even for admissions consultants who have already taken the exam, and even graduated from business school. Nonetheless, worrying and stressing over the exam will do nothing to boost your confidence or increase your ability to answer the questions correctly.

Keep in mind that the exam is only one component of your total application package. Admissions committees at the most selective business schools normally give your academic qualifications, including grades and other non-exam components a weighting of between 30% and 40%. That means that you may still be a very competitive applicant, even if your exam score falls somewhat below the median of those applicants historically accepted to your top-choice schools.

5. Don't Waste Time :

This advice probably seems self-evident, but we mention it because we've had clients tell us how they wasted time by revisiting the help screen or requesting extra scrap paper after they had already begun their test. These activities, if undertaken once the section has begun, will only take valuable time away from working on the questions.

6. Think Very Carefully Before Doing Any of These

Before you cancel your score or quit the exam, ask yourself whether you are sure this is what you really want to do. It has been our experience that most test takers who cancel their scores or quit the exam do so irrationally. You probably know from your previous test experiences that you often turn out to have done better on an exam than you thought you would while you were taking it.

It is human psychology to dwell more heavily on the questions you believe you answered incorrectly rather than on the (hopefully) more numerous questions you probably answered correctly. Try to keep this in mind when the GMAT/GRE CAT asks if you want to cancel your scores or see them immediately. It is our frank advice that, unless you felt deathly ill during the exam, you should not cancel your scores.

7. Become Familiar with the Testing Facility :

Find out where the nearest bathroom and water fountain are located before you begin the test. You are allotted only two 5 minute breaks during the exam, and will want to be able to locate those facilities when you need them. It is also not a bad idea to figure out ahead of time how to get to the test center and to arrive there well before your scheduled time on test day.

Expert Suggestions : Follow Strategies

• Preparing Maths
• Preparing Data Interpretation
• Preparing Analytical reasoning
• Preparing Reading comprehension
• Preparing Verbal ability
• word list
• Reading

There are two phases of preparation :

First phase(Preparation for GMAT) : In this phase you should get good grip on fundamentals and get familiar with all chapters and while preparing fundamentals. Learn with your own efficiency, without getting into fundamentals clearly speed-solving is not useful. Please manage to allocate at least one hour a day for reading newspapers, magazines. It is better to subscribe for any good magazines during the preparation. Get in touch with current affairs.

Schedule your weeks to prepare accordingly because haphazardness will waste lot of time. If you have been preparing without any study structure then whatever you may achieve would have been increased up to 50%. Try to shuffle the subjects also, so that you do not get bored with one subject. A good time table for 1 days look like below :

Day 1 :

1 hour reading

2 hours of maths

1 hour of analytical reasoning / data interpretation

1 hour of reading comprehension exercises / verbal ability

Second phase(self analyzing and improving) : By the time you finish the fundamentals which is about second week of august, you will get a fare idea on the area of your weakness and strengths. Make a tabular form of topics categorizing strengths and weakness to have a clear picture on it. Keep weak areas in mind and try to improve yourself by focusing them more.

You must start taking comprehensive tests by the beginning of September.

After you tested yourself spend time to analyze it. The key points to analyze your test:

• Speed :
See if your speed is better than previous tests, notice if you do not understand basics you cannot apply them to tougher problems. Both these attributes are a prerequisite for speed solving;
• Concentration :
Most of we do not use two hours sitting at a stretch; a high degree of concentration is also not easy for first time test takers. Comprehensive tests make us to sit for two hours at a stretch and we increase our attentive span.
• Time Management :
The most important value provided by the comprehensive test is an idea of our strengths and weakness. So you should manage time and allocate certain time to each section depending on your strength and weakness.
• Accuracy :
Accuracy is the number of correct questions out of attempted questions. if this is low you need to go and revise the chapters which are reducing your accuracy because marking wrong option will impose negative marks in GMAT.
• Finding Traps :
You should avoid false positives or false negatives i.e., you shouldn’t leave easy questions thinking they are hard and attempt hard questions thinking they are easy. analyzing your progress on the above four : compare with the previous attempted paper on above all points