GMAT Preparation Tips 2018

GMAT Preparation tips for aspirants who want to pursue their career in Management by cracking GMAT. GMAT or Graduate Management Aptitude Test is a computer adaptive test for students to clear the path to take admission to various Management colleges/ Institutions across the world. Before we give you tips on cracking the GMAT, there are few things that you must know about GMAT 2018 -19. 

GMAT is conducted by GMAC or Graduate Management Admission Council which is a global non-profit organisation comprised of leading graduate business schools around the world. GMAT can be taken by an aspirant up to 5 times in a year with a gap of 16 days from the previous exam. Even though GMAT can be taken 5 times but it is not an easy nut to crack. GMAT preparation needs a lot of hard work and smart thinking by the aspirants who want to crack it. Before focusing on its preparation let us know what the GMAT exam is all about: 

About GMAT Exam: The GMAT exam is a computer adaptive test. The candidate taking the exam can see only one question at a time. The difficulty level of the next question will be based on the accuracy of the candidate' previous answer. 

• mini-GMAT for Executive MBA: GMAT has recently introduced 'Executive Assessment exam' also known as mini-GMAT. This test is specially designed for candidates who want to pursue EMBA (Executive MBA). The mini-GMAT exam tests the applicants’ analytical and logical thinking only and is of shorter duration.
  

GMAT 2018- 19

GMAT Preparation - Ways of cracking GMAT

All the aspirants must start with a GMAT preparation plan at first because planning is the first step to climbing any hazardous stairs. After planning for the exam tips and plan they need to execute the plans to achieve success. GMAT may seem very menacing at its initial stage but aspirants can easily crack GMAT by following some smart and quick steps. Following are the few preparation steps for all the GMAT aspirants to crack the exam:

• Download GMAT Preparation Software: All the aspirants must download GMAT preparation software before starting the GMAT preparation. GMAT preparation Software is a free tool for the GMAT registered Candidates. The GMAT preparation software helps the aspirants to focus on their significant areas and improve their skills to appear for the GMAT exam. The GMAT preparation software helps to enhance the skills and improve the weak areas of the aspirants.
• Smart Study for Best Goals: The candidates must not expect any tricks or magic formulas to work. It is just the way to act smartly and prepare to the best that one by prepared by the knowledge around them. The aspirants must know their skills and their level of ability and the areas that need improvement. They must create some specific strategies
• Collect information about the targeted programs: One of the most significant aspects that also comes under the preparation is that the aspirants must also smartly and carefully search the programs which they want to study and which Business schools across the world. There are around 6000 programs in all the colleges that accept GMAT scores. Because without having sufficient information about the programs and the course the aspirants cannot move further.
• Sample Test Structure, Format, and type of questions: The aspirants must be aware and get an overview of the four GMAT exam structure that is Quantitative, Verbal, Integrated Reasoning and Analytical Writing Assessment. The sample reading materials are available on the official website of GMAT. Candidates can go through the patterns of the 4 subjects in order to face less difficulty on the day of the exam.
• Start Studying and evaluate progress:  All the aspirants must follow the above guidelines and tips and act accordingly. The aspirants must start with the GMAT preparation software, then questions format and many other things that will help them to enhance their skills and aptitude in learning. This will also help them to find their weak areas and help them to improve it.
  • The way to evaluate the progress is to appear in free GMAT preparation practice test. After appearing into such trail test, the aspirants can know their loopholes in various areas and ways to improve them. The focus on their total duration of taking the exam is also very important for them.
  • Evaluate your performance through Score Report: The Default GMAT score report tells about your raw scores, your section percentiles on Quant, Verbal, IR and AWA sections, and your overall scaled score. The candidates can request for Enhanced Score Report – for an additional fee of $25. 
    • This score report includes details such as how many correct answers the candidate got, the average time taken to solve each question, candidate's percentile rank in each section and sub-section, and the candidates rank in terms of time management.
• Meet the people who have already cleared GMAT: One of the finest approaches for GMAT preparation is to meet those people who have already cleared GMAT exam. By meeting those people the aspiring people can know the various tricks and methodologies of preparing for GMAT. Those people can advise them about the various preparation materials and other smart tips which will act very much useful for the aspiring people who want to crack GMAT.

Important Sections of GMAT Exam

The Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) and Integrated Reasoning (IR) sections appear before the Quantitative and Verbal sections. Even though, only Quant and Verbal sections affect the overall scaled score in GMAT. IR section tests how well the candidate can interpret and analyse complex data. 

• Here the candidate score of IR section will be measured independently on a scale of 1 to 8 and the AWA section is measured on a scale of 1 to 6. The Scores of AWA and IR section are mentioned separately on the GMAT Scorecard.

What is a good GMAT Score?

Top 50 business schools across the world usually expect a GMAT score of 660 or more. The institute wise list of the GMAT score expected for MBA admissions is given in the following table:

Exam day Tips for GMAT 2018

Apart from the above-mentioned GMAT preparation tips, there are also few tips for the GMAT aspirants which will be fruitful on the day of the exam. Few of the tips are mentioned below:

• Time Management: Time Management is very much important for every aspirant on the day of the exam. GMAT exam is a time-based paper that 3 hrs 30 minutes - 4 Hours for 4 sections. So, the aspirants must value the time and answer the questions accordingly. They must not spend too much time on a single question because it may harm the other questions and sections as well.
• Reading the test directions: The candidates must read the test directions carefully before starting the exam, which is a very primary and obvious point for the aspirants on the day of the exam.
• Read the questions thoroughly: The questions must be read thoroughly because the best selection can only be done only by reading the questions thoroughly. Before answering any question, decide exactly what is being asked, then eliminate the wrong answers and select the best choice. If the correct answer is not known then remove choices that are known to be wrong and select the best of the remaining choices.
  • It is very much important for the aspirants not to scan or read the questions speedily because this may result in missing the important parts of the questions.
• Do not stick to a single question: As the GMAT exam is a time-based test, the aspirants should not stick and spent much time on a single question, they must immediately move on to the next questions or sections.
• Confirm and move to the next: Once the questions have been answered and the aspirant has moved into another question the previous answer cannot be changed. This is especially important in the Quantitative and Verbal sections of the GMAT exam, which use computer-adaptive testing and select the next question they see based on the previous responses. 
  

In case of any query related to GMAT preparations, you can write to us in the comments section below.