Studying too much for the GMAT: is there such a thing?

Students often ask me whether they should be concerned about studying too much for the GMAT. The short answer is that in almost all cases, the more you study for the exam, the better your performance will be. 

Gauge your progress with practice tests

A common-sense approach is needed to know when you are ready to take the exam. The good thing is that there are tools that can you help you to assess when you are ready. The main tool you can use is practice tests.

Practice tests can give you a good guide as to your current level of preparedness for specific topics, as well as provide you with the best possible practice for the test itself. Taking one practice exam at the beginning of your studies can give you a sense of what is to come, while strategically timed practice tests later in your studies—generally starting at the halfway mark or later—will allow you to consolidate your knowledge, practice timing strategy and start getting comfortable with the exam.

As long as you are adding new tools to your metaphorical GMAT toolbox, you are undoubtedly using your time well. Over the course of your studies, you will develop a sense of whether or not you are still making progress. When you finally feel like your skills can’t progress further, test this feeling with a practice exam: if everything is in order, proceed to register for the test.

Too much study can lead to diminishing returns

In some rare cases, it is indeed possible to study too much. GMAT preparation and the GMAT itself are mentally demanding. Approximately 10-20 hours per week of studies are what our tutors advise, though on any given day, once you are feeling too tired to concentrate properly, it is time to put your study materials aside and take a rest. In the long term, between two and four months of GMAT studies (sometimes a bit less or more depending on special circumstances) ought to suffice. Much more than that—sometimes we hear of individuals drawing their preparation out for years—can negatively affect knowledge retention and motivation.

3 easy tips to help you get real with your English resolutions

Follow these simple tips to set up English resolutions that you can stick to and achieve your English goals :

1.       Set a resolution that is focused and measurable. A vague resolution such as ‘I want to improve my English’ isn’t going to help you make the most of your year. You can make it more specific by including the level you want to reach in English or a particular thing you want to be able to do in English. So, a more effective resolution would be to say ‘I want to improve my English level from beginner to intermediate level’ or ‘I want to feel comfortable conducting business meetings in English’. If your resolution is related to a level of English competency, you can measure it using a standard test such as IELTS or TOEIC. If it’s related to feeling comfortable communicating in English in a particular situation, you can measure your success by evaluating your own feelings in that situation.

2.      Make your resolution an outcome rather than a process. If your resolution is to study for 20 minutes per day but your method of studying is not effective, your English will not improve as quickly as it could. Instead, resolve to achieve a certain level of competency or to be able to communicate in a certain situation. By focusing on the outcome rather than the process and constantly reviewing how effective your study techniques are, you will use your time more efficiently and achieve more.

3.       Be sure your resolution is achievable. Achieving resolutions and goals is partly down to you but there are also a lot of external factors that affect you reaching your goals. The most common of these are money, time, access to experts, and support from family and friends. By planning well, you can take steps to limit the effect that these factors have on your resolution. One simple way to do this is to make sure your family and friends know about your resolution and support you with it. You might even find someone to study with who has the same resolution. Having a study partner is an effective way to stay accountable and make sure you reach your goals.

5 Best Practices and Tips to Improve GMAT Verbal Score

To all you students who dread verbal and want to abandon studying for GMAT because of the intimidating VERBAL section, the following 5 tips might change your perception and boost your morale:

1. RECOGNIZE THE RULES: There are only a handful of grammar rules tested in Sentence correction.The interesting thing about SENTENCE ORRECTION, possibly the nightmare for most GMAT students, is that it tests the same old rules in almost all the questions on this topic. In fact, if a student has familiarized himself with rules such as SUBJECT/VERB Agreement, MISPLACED MODIFIERS, and PARALLELISM to name a few, he can eliminate at least 2 or 3 of the options with ease, since he is bound to find errors relating to these rules. So know the rule and apply it wisely.

2. READ FOR ANSWERS: Reading online and comprehending what you have read is another dreaded feature of the GMAT for some or maybe for most students. Reading is intimidating especially when the passages become dense and boring. But what we need to tell ourselves is that the GMAT is not testing our ability to read well but is testing our ability to answer correctly out of the 5 options given. So if we successfully eliminate 4 options we are down to the correct answer. To eliminate the four wrong options we would have to read only sections of the passage that contain the information. You do not have to be subjective or opinionated while reading. You just need to be clerical and write notes in shorthand.

3. GUESS AGGRESSIVELY: Now let us look at the scoring behavior of the GMAT. The myth that the first 10 questions matter the most is sufficiently busted by all GMAT pundits, and we all know that‘s not how the test works. On the verbal this knowledge should be reassuring. Recognize your strength areas and invest more time on getting those questions right. Assuming your logical reasoning is top notch and your grammar knowledge is abysmally low, you would benefit on guessing on a few SC questions and using the time saved to see that you get the CR and RC questions spot on! You will be amazed to see that this educated guessing has actually increased your score.

4. SELF –DISCIPLINE: Verbal section requires a keen mind. Train your mind to look out for indicator words in argument questions that indicate the premise and the conclusion correctly. Likewise train your mind/sight to look for transitional words such as however, alternatively, yet, and so on while reading passages.These words will tell you that the tone of the passage has changed direction and you are expected to read the information with a little more attention.Train yourself to keep away from distracting information that often comes up in reading passages. Keep to the main crux of the passage. Ignore the mundane details. If you need to pick an answer from these details you could always go back and read that part again.

5. PRACTICE, PRACTICE & PRACTICE: There is no short cut to success. To work at something day in and out will ensure success. The tenacious always shine; the skilled one sometimes. Take several mock tests and review the tests with your tutor or anybody who has already taken the GMAT. Practice helps in two ways. 1) You become perfect 2) your stamina levels improve tremendously and you become well equipped to handle the 4 hour long test with stoic endurance. ENDURANCE matters hugely!!

Importance of an Effective Test Strategy for GMAT

GMAT preparation is not a uni-dimensional challenge, and does not involve only studying; Rather it is a combination of skill, hard-work and effective test-taking strategies that helps optimize your test scores. Through this article, we explore some of the basic parameters of GMAT test taking strategies that you should keep in mind while preparing for the exam.

Diagnostic Tests are Vital

Before you actually begin your GMAT preparation in full flow, it is important that you give GMAT diagnostic test, preferably a full length GMAT online test. This effectively becomes your benchmark that you refer to whenever you evaluate your performance. Unless you know you initial preparation level, you will not be able to gauge how effective your current GMAT self preparation methods are.

Place sufficient focus on Area and Topic Tests

An important point you must remember is that along with a focus on full length GMAT online tests, you must also place sufficient emphasis on topic-wise and area-wise drills. These help  you in understanding your strengths and weaknesses and pin-point the areas you need to work on. Practicing topics individually will help you in improving the areas you are weak in.  Focusing on your strengths is critical to a great GMAT score as these are questions and concepts that you can nail on the day of the test. So don’t leave these topics out of your-self preparation plan –   you should give adequate time to these topics.

Ensure you give simulated online GMAT practice Tests periodically

Testing is only effective when it follows a pre-defined schedule and agenda. Haphazard or sporadic testing is of no use, and you should ensure that you follow a pre-defined structure in terms of your test taking schedule. This should have tangible goals and markers, and ensure you periodically evaluate your performance. Keep a target score in mind before you take a test and pace your self accordingly. Remember that improvement will come in steps rather than leaps.

Ensure you time yourself

Do not get trapped in the vicious temptation of solving all questions correctly without keeping an eye on the timer.  When you prepare for GMAT online, there will be occasions where you will not practice with the timer in place. Make sure this does not become a habit and you solve majority of your tests with the timer on.

Test Environment

Last but not the least, test environment is also an important factor while giving GMAT tests. Ensure you replicate the actual test environment, and  do not engage in activities that take your focus away. Take  GMAT online practice tests in simulated environment, follow all instructions, strictly adhere to time schedule, don’t extend breaks beyond allowed parameters, and don’t take any liberties that you wont get in actual GMAT.

These are some of the tips related to test-taking that you should keep in mind, and try to include these in your best GMAT self prep practices. Once you inculcate these, you will surely see a positive impact on your scores and preparation.

GRE Preparation Tips

GRE Preparation Tips would be mainly relevant to working professionals who want to achieve high scores, although others might also find it useful.

Some GRE Preparation Tips:

·  Managing work and GRE preparation alongside is hectic, but doable. Start of by building your vocabulary every day. Atlei  has a vocabulary flashcard app and a vocab builder app, which you can use on the go. Also, GREedge has a nice vocabulary app, WordBot, which has pictures corresponding to words, which makes word associations fun and easy to remember. Make your own lists, either in paper or in Quizlet app. Wordnik.com is a great online dictionary.

·  With vocabulary knowledge you can ace in SE and TC, but for RC you need a whole lot preparation and practice. GRE is famous for its hard passages, and I lost few points there. Not only practice RC questions, know the traps, and simultaneously build a good reading habit by reading dense content, such as The Hindu Opinions (they have a mobile app), The New Yorker, The Economist etc. Atlei blog has a great curated list of passages which they add every month.

·  Keep the evenings for Math (that is my strategy, yours may be different) as after a day of hard work you will feel groggy and sleepy so mugging up words wont be fruitful

·  For Quants, practice as many questions as you can. Do not leave out any topics, although you may leave Probability for the end as few questions come from them.

·  If you buy Atlei, try to watch the videos of Atlei according to your weak areas. Target to complete all (yes, ALL) the questions from the Atlei package (There is around 550+ math and 500+ verbal) by the end of study plan.

·  Revise, and make note of your mistakes. You will have a lot of mistakes while you attempt tests, but do not get demotivated by it. Instead, notice how you failed. Quants are prone to even the silliest of the silly mistake which will make you hit yourself! Stay calm, and notice how you failed, and create a list of your failures. Before the next mock test, read up that list.

·  For AWA’s, first read the responses from the ETS official resources of AWA, and judge how the scores are given. Then take a topic and write in timed conditions (30 mins), and review your work by someone else. I used to get them reviewed by GREedge SFA’s. Remember this base rule: for Issue, write examples supporting and disputing your position, and for Argument, “there is one plan, Attack!”

·  Take mock tests. Beginning from the penultimate week plan at least 5 full-length mock tests having one day gap in between. So you give one FLT, analyze your mistakes and study the next day and so on. You can get those FLT’s from Atlei, one free FLT from Manhattan online, and two from ETS Powerprep. GREedge gives you 4 full-length test and 20 short 1-hour tests. These mock tests are a must, as it will build up your stamina.

·  Study every day to maintain regularity. Some days you might be stuck at office late, some days you won’t feel to study. Even in those days do light prep, such as like learning new words or reading passages.

·  Do not study at all on the previous day of your test. Read Atlei tips for the test day from their blog and follow it. 

·  On the test day, have a healthy breakfast and take some energy foods for the break (I took chocolates, amazing mental boosters!). Remember, you will only get 10 minutes of break after two AWA sessions and one test section. This ten minutes effectively ends up into seven, as three minutes are gone in you signing out and signing in and being frisked! (yes, they will frisk you much more than airport standards). Reach early at the test center, and be calm and relaxed. Always remember, every question is equal, so do not waste on a question too much.

·  If you have time make a list of universities which you can apply depending on scores you might get, which will be useful to select four universities ETS lets you send scores for free, but you have to select them right after your test are over in the test center.

·  Make a plan, stick to it, and you can score easily 320+.

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