Taking admission in a reputed MBA program or to opt from the list of your favourite business schools is a dream of every MBA aspirants. Every year thousands of students plan to study abroad and start preparing for tests & exams to qualify for an MBA.
GMAT is one such exam which tests your wits. When we speak about GMAT one thing you must keep in your mind is that it is not a pass/fail test. It is a score that will represent you in front of the admission committees of different business schools and MBA programs.
Each business school has a different policy regarding a GMAT score and you will be assessed differently in each one of them.
Schools that do not require GMAT score generally have basic admission standards and/or are located outside North America.
The GMAT is often referred to as the GMAT CAT, where the acronym CAT stands for Computer Adaptive Test. Whereas, only two of the exam’s four sections (Quantitative and Verbal) are computer-adaptive, meaning that during those sections only the test adapts to your ability level as you go.
After the initial screening of applicants — business schools do consider subjective factors such as work, past experiences, letters of recommendations and analysis of personal interviewers. In finalising between two or more similarly qualified candidates.
There are a certain number of things that you must keep in mind while preparing and appearing for GMAT-
1. Solve Question – 2.5 Minutes Max
You have to practice really hard to get this in your problem-solving skills, GMAT has four sections and there will be a constraint of time, so make sure that you follow this rule and do not spend more than 2.5 minutes for a single problem.
I would suggest you start with the easy ones so that it will take less time to solve will build confidence in you, with this, you’ll be able to keep a track of time and you can surely come back for the difficult problems later.
2 minutes and 30 seconds is the maximum time you should give to a question. Period. With the help of GMAT coaching institutes, you can regularly practice solving questions in the required time.
2. Begin Early
It really becomes hard for students to maintain a balance between the preparation of GMAT and other academic or social activities. So it is best that you must start early preparations as early as 6 to 7 months before.
Create a schedule and remember your weak sections, do not get disappointed if you score less in practice. It will surely take time to improve but you have to see and observe at which point are you failing at.
3. Interpret Accurately
Before you start preparing for your GMAT, you must know that there will questions in the exam which will test your skills of data interpretation. Also, always try to manage your stress while preparing for GMAT.
In many of the questions, the information will be given to you unnecessarily, don’t fall for it, you must read the answer properly as to what exactly the questions demand.
Your job is to interpret the question in the right way and take in only the values that are important to solve the problem. read the question, not just once but twice and necessary thrice.
It is okay to take your time here and get clarity about the question instead of start solving it without paying attention.
4. Learn From Mistakes
2 sections of GMAT will be adaptive to process, which means that with each correct answer the difficulty level of the test will increase. The test will perpetually become difficult with each correct answer.
This happens most of the time that students get frustrated after a time as the test becomes more & more difficult and they start losing their focus and capability to solve.
The best way to deal with this is to practice and practice until you make sure that you have reached a level of accuracy & finesse with the answer.
How do you speak has its own importance. It is imperative to improve your verbal score
Read blogs & articles on how can you improve your verbal score in GMAT, take advice from ex GMAT appeared students and try to figure out what mistakes they made and learn from it, you clearly don’t have to commit a mistake to learn from it.
5. Use Your Visual Memories
GMAT is majorly filled with graphs, pie charts, diagrams & pictures. It is advised to make good use of visual literacy to help you out in these problems.
You must develop a keen sense of understanding of pie charts, graphs, diagrams & figures.
The answers are mainly hidden in the diagrams & graphics only but what most students lack is the eye for detail. You must know the values and unit conversions by heart. Also when you are practising keep your calculator aside and try not to resist the urge to use it.
This way you will start solving problems in your head and it will hone your problem-solving skills.
6. Valid For 5 Years
You will get your official scores within three weeks from the exam date, the scores will be valid for the next 5 years now it is imperative to be aware of this because your whole planning of taking admission in a good MBA program will rely on this.
Either you have already made your decision as to where you would like to take admission or you are still hassling over it, In both the cases you’ll need to schedule your test in accordance with that particular business school’s admission deadlines.
About two-thirds of the 1,900+ graduate business schools around the world require GMAT scores for admission,
So you may know how important this exam is from the point of view of a student who wants to earn a good MBA program across the globe.
To fulfil your dream of studying in a good business school GMAT score helps you make a difference.
