Five Essential GMAT Study Tips. If you're planning to get an MBA, the first thing you'll need to do
is beat the GMAT. This is a challenging hoop to jump through. But the GMAT can be beaten.
And studying well for the GMAT will not only help you get a top score - it'll also help you
build valuable skills for your future business studies. So what do you need to succeed on the GMAT?
Here are 5 tips and tricks that can help you on test day and beyond. Study Tip One:
Use Official Prep Materials. Test prep materials from the makers of the exam -
the Graduate Management Admission Council are absolutely essential to successful GMAT prep.
These official materials are must-haves for your GMAT prep because the exam has a highly
specific, frequently updated format. No other third-party source of GMAT prep is guaranteed to
capture the feel of the real exam as completely as materials from the actual makers of the test. GMAC
offers official materials through its test prep website, MBA.com. Official prep resources include
GMAT's free question sets for Verbal, Quantitative, Integrated Reasoning, and its official AWA practice
web page. You'll also want to purchase the latest edition of the GMAT official guides and other
official prep materials offered by GMAC. Study Tip Number Two: Choose Unofficial Prep Materials
by comparing them to the real thing. The more steady resources you have for GMAT preparation,
the better. So you'll definitely want to use some third-party GMAT content. But be a smart consumer
there are many GMAT prep materials out there offered through numerous publishers and websites.
You should only use non-GMAC materials that measure up well to the real exam. If you're having
trouble determining whether an outside resource is true to the exam itself, check out reviews of prep
books and websites (like the ones we have on the Magoosh blog), and consult forums such as GMAT Club
and the Beat the GMAT Forums. Study Tip Three: Watch The Clock. Pacing is very important on the GMAT,
When you sit for the test you'll be given many rigorous, demanding, multi-step academic tasks
and a limited amount of time to do them. Learning the content of the exam is very important, but
it's only half the battle. If you develop the math, verbal, writing, and reasoning skills you need on
the test but don't learn how to use these skills quickly, you'll still find yourself missing a lot
of questions for lack of time. So include plenty of pacing practice as part of your overall test
prep. Study Tip Four: Train Yourself to do things in your head. Mental math is very important to pacing
and accuracy on the exam's Quantitative and Integrated Reasoning sections. And really,
this kind of mind-work is really important as you practice for every section of the exam. For Verbal,
learn to read with minimal note-taking. Note-taking is important, but overly heavy note-taking can slow
you down and even distract you. And for AWA, focus on ways to simplify your pre-writing. The more you
can hold your essay in your mind, the quicker you'll be able to start typing your AWA essay
into the exam computer. Do not rely on heavy notes and elaborate outlines as you practice for the AWA.
Study Tip 5: Practice Visual Literacy. The ability to read symbols, graphs, tables,
and charts is called "visual literacy". And this kind of reading ability is very important to the GMAT.
In GMAT Quant, you'll be expected to read geometric figures, coordinate plane plots,
and interpret other math graphics with ease. And you'll need to be comfortable using both
established notational symbols for advanced math and strange symbols created just for the exam. Also
remember that GMAT Integrated Reasoning requires an even higher level of visual literacy than math.
In the IR section, you'll need to simultaneously look through multiple complex charts and tables
to gather data. So be sure to really practice visual literacy skills during your GMAT prep.
Time yourself to see how quickly you can read, interpret and extract answers from visuals in
GMAT Quants and Integrated Reasoning. And try to have fun with visuals too--
peruse infographic websites like Information Is Beautiful. Take some time to really play with
visual literacy too- the GMAT makes up its own imaginary math symbols, and you should too. Think
of a particular math function that doesn't have a symbol and invent one for it, applying the new
symbol to practice equations, that you come up with on your own. If you're feeling really ambitious you
can even make your own coordinate plane graphs and geometric figures. Those are our top 5 essential
GMAT study tips! Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more GMAT prep tips and advice.