What is mathematics?  The great mathematician David Hilbert (1862 – 1943) said, “Mathematics knows no races or geographic boundaries; for mathematics, the cultural world is one country.”  That’s great for a brilliant mathematician who, like Hilbert, can survey this entire realm, but what about someone preparing for the GMAT who happens not to have an advanced degree in mathematics?  What about someone who now approaches the GMAT, having bid a less-than-fond farewell to math sometime way back in high school?  How does someone like this gain access to the country of mathematics?

The good news is that the GMAT does not demand any knowledge of advanced mathematics: trigonometry or calculus or beyond.  GMAT Math only covers up to about the level of ordinary Algebra Two and basic Statistics.  The challenging part, though, is that the GMAT is not satisfied if you can merely regurgitate math factoids back at it.  Rather, the GMAT wants you actually to know the mathematics and be able to reason mathematically.  What do I mean?

Many folks think if they know the GMAT formulas, then they know GMAT math.  Even the GMAT OG has a “Math Review” in which it lists all possible math factoid tested.  Are the contents of that OG’s “Math Review” identical to the mathematics you need to know?  Not quite.  The factoids themselves are not math, just as isolated pieces of vocabulary do not constitute fluency in another language.  Mathematics is using those factoids, exploiting their logical interconnections, and employing them ingeniously as tools for problem-solving.  The best GMAT books will begin to give you this latter perspective on math.

Relatedly, stop wondering whether you can use a calculator on the GMAT. You can’t. Folks who don’t understand what math is think that a calculator “does math” for them.  No.  Instead, when you don’t have a calculator, you are forced to think mathematically.  For example, you might use the information about a number’s prime factors to figure out by what one of its powers is divisible. Not having a calculator makes more relevant the divisibility patterns, estimation, and calculation shortcuts like the doubling & halving trick.  In fact, whenever you think a GMAT Quant problem is asking you to do a gigantic calculation, you inevitably are overlooking some particularly elegant simplification.

You don’t need to be a math genius to do well on the GMAT Quant section.  Furthermore, despite whatever GMAT-IQ correlation there may be, you don’t need to be in the elite IQ region in order to get an elite GMAT score.  You just need to work hard.  You need to follow a thorough and well-founded GMAT study plan.  You need to use excellent GMAT prep resources.  You need to put in hours of practice.  Math is not a spectator sport: you learn it only by doing it.  You need to learn to see patterns, and use these patterns in problem-solving.   You need to practice, make mistakes, read solutions & explanations, and learn consistently from your mistakes.   This assiduous work, and nothing less, is your passport to GMAT math.

This post was written by Mike McGarry, resident GMAT expert at Magoosh. For more advice on taking the GMAT, check out Magoosh’s GMAT blog.

The GMAT verbal is by no means easy, especially if you are not fond of reading texts on grammar, or passages drawn from academic papers.  But the answer to the question of how hard is the GMAT depends on how you study for the test. Below are some useful tips for increasing your GMAT verbal score.

Have the best foundation

Success on the GMAT verbal is not just a question of skillfully applying strategies; without the proper understanding of basics you can only go so far. For example, knowing how to quickly eliminate wrong answer choices and home in on the correct answer on Sentence Correction questions will help you greatly, only if you have the grammar know-how to eliminate the wrong answers.

For the best of the GMAT books reviewed, look no further than Manhattan GMAT, which provides an excellent series of books that really allow you to build on your foundation. The Sentence Correction guide can help the grammar neophyte navigate the complexities of English grammar, all the way from comma to summative modifiers.

Similarly, Magoosh has broken up the Sentence Corrections, Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension into discrete modules. That way you can learn one concept at a time, and apply that knowledge in specific questions.

Practice with the best questions

What do I mean by “best”? Questions that best mimic the questions you’ll see on the actual GMAT. This mimicking includes the look and feel of questions. For example, the GMAT likes to write long Sentence Correction sentences that draw on some arcane person or event from history.

Then there are the way the “distractors”, or wrong answers, as they are more commonly known, are written. Remember, often the trickiest part of a Critical Reasoning argument is the way the trap answer lures you in, giving you a false sense of confidence.

Train with a schedule

You can still work with the best material, yet not maximize your study time. To really make sure that you are improving—and preparing for the grueling four-hour experience that is the GMAT—you have to take practice tests, do problem sets consisting of question types you struggle with, and spend time reviewing areas in which you struggle. To help you focus your training, you should follow a useful and targeted GMAT study plan.

Learn from your mistakes

The most important part of review is not only to look at the correct answer is but also to really figure out why you missed a question. This process can be difficult—indeed uncomfortable—but the struggle in trying to reason why the correct answer is correct and why your original answer was wrong will help improve your problem solving skills. It will also help you avoid similar mistakes in the future.

Tune your brain

A great way to improve at verbal is when you are not actually studying verbal. Sounds counterintuitive? Well, our brains clearly need down time to process what we’ve learned. But watching marathon sessions on Netflix of your favorite show is not going to help your GMAT verbal score much. Reading the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal will. Part of the reason is you are exposing your brain to the very complex syntactical patterns you will see test day.

For those of you who struggle with some of the vocabulary on the GMAT, you might want to make flashcards of the words. Sure this is not the same as how to memorize words for the GRE, as anyone familiar with the GRE format will know. But knowing words that pop up often in Critical Reasoning can make the difference between knowing the answer to a question in less than a minute, and blindly choosing an answer.

This post was written by Chris Lele, resident vocabulary wiz at Magoosh. For more advice on taking the GMAT, check out Magoosh’s GMAT blog.

GMAT test takers can now review their practice exam responses, gain insight into their pacing, and customize practice question sets in an updated version of GMATPrep software, the free test prep program from the Graduate Management Admission Council.

“With two computer adaptive exams using retired test questions and the same technology as the actual exam, GMATPrep has always provided the most realistic experience for test takers to understand the question formats and practice pacing,” says Andy Martelli, vice president of new product development for GMAC. “Now, GMATPrep v2.2 provides even more features to help test takers make the best use of their study time.”

Compatible with both Windows and Macintosh operating systems, the GMATPrep software includes a step-by-step guide to taking the exam, a comprehensive math review, and 90 questions with answer explanations.

GMATPrep was overhauled last year before the addition of the Integrated Reasoning section to the GMAT exam on June 5, to add Integrated Reasoning preparation; enable Macintosh compatibility; and introduce new features to help users customize their studying, track their progress, and extend GMATPrep through the purchase of additional retired test questions. GMATPrep v2.2 includes more features developed as the direct result of feedback from test takers and test prep companies.

In GMATPrep v2.2, users can:

• Review responses to practice exams and practice question sessions
• Pause a practice exam or question session
• Gain insight into pacing with new timer tools, available when answering practice questions
• Specify how many questions of each type and difficulty level they want to answer when they opt to create their own question set
• Receive their IR percentile ranking
• Have Reading Comprehension questions grouped by passage wherever possible
• Be able to generate system information at the click of button should they require customer support

GMATPrep v2.2 is available for free download at mba.com/gmatprep. An additional question pack, with 404 questions and answer explanations usable within the GMATPrep program, is available for purchase at the mba.com/store.

While GMATPrep includes two full-length practice exams, GMAC will release a second add-on package later this year. Exam Pack 1 will feature additional computer adaptive practice GMAT exams with new questions and will be available for sale on mba.com.

This guest post was written by Mike McGarry, resident GMAT expert at Magoosh.

There’s a great deal of claptrap floating around on the internet that you don’t need to know about idioms for the GMAT.  Many websites broadcast the dubious message, “The GMAT no longer tests idioms,” and yet, the GMAT Official Guide is stuffed to the guppers with questions about idioms.  What’s the straight dope?

GMAT idioms

Let’s make a fine distinction here.   One sense of the word “idioms” connotes colorful metaphorical expressions, such as “claptrap“, “stuffed to the guppers“, “straight dope“, and “more fun than a barrel of monkeys.”   These colorful expressions, while they pepper colloquial English, are quite informal, and thus have never been the focus of the GMAT. These idioms are definitively not going to be on the GMAT.  By contrast, another sense of the word “idiom” connotes the idiosyncrasies of the syntax of a language: what prepositions follow what verbs, or what combinations of words are or aren’t used.

For example, the words “able” and “ability” always take the preposition “to” — you might have an “ability to do something”, but never an “ability for doing something”.   These fundamental constructions appear even in formal language, and thus are very much part of what the GMAT verbal sections tests.  In this latter sense, knowledge of idioms is absolutely essential on the GMAT.

How to study for GMAT Verbal

If you want a good GMAT score, particularly on the Verbal section, you need to understand the basic parts of speech — verb tenses, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs.  You need to understand the more complex and exotic constructions — infinitive phrases, participle phrases, and various clauses.

For each verb, each adjective, each phrase, you need to understand what combinations, what accompanying prepositions, the syntax of English supports — in other words, you need to know the proper idioms.  This can be hard even for a native speaker, and can be very challenging for folks who speak English as a second language.  The more folks can read GMAT-level material, the more they will accustom their ear to the idioms they need to learn.

In order to know how to study GMAT verbal, it’s important to have a GMAT study schedule.  The Manhattan GMAT book on Sentence Correction offers a truly excellent discussion of idioms.   Here’s a free GMAT ebook that gives a valuable overview.  Avail yourself of the best GMAT books and resources available, and with practice, you can achieve the mastery you will need to have a successful performance on the GMAT verbal section.  Make use of all these resources and you will be in the catbird’s seat!

Hopefully you know the GMAT is a very important test, especially for those aiming for Top 10, and especially Top 5, business schools.

Although, as a side note, it’s less important than most people assume – you don’t need a 770 to go to Harvard and the GMAT really is just one of about 5 key elements to the application.  But, this blog post is about GMAT prep options, so I’ll stick to that.

There are fundamentally three ways to study for the GMAT:

1)      Study on your own

2)      Take a GMAT prep class

3)      Work with a private tutor

The GMAT assesses core math, reading comprehension, writing, and analytical skills, yet it also has unique features and quirks.  So, you’ll do much better if you put in the time to properly prepare for the particular problem types which the test writers love to use year after year.   You can perform extremely well on the GMAT by choosing any option above, but folks in specific situations may fare better choosing one option over another.

Studying on your own is a good option when…

1.       You can score at least in the mid 500s (which is an average score) when taking a practice test “cold.”  And, you are at least about average in all of the sections. You also aren’t obsessed with scoring well above 700 by the time you take your official GMAT.

The GMAT will make you remember the rules of triangles, how to factor equations, how to read critically, and many other skills you may not have used since college.  If you can comfortable score about average right off the bat on a practice test, you’ll probably be able to score well above average after studying on your own for a few months.

2.       You have a lot of time.

Let’s just say it takes 35-50 hours of studying for most people to reach their full natural ability on the GMAT.  Well, if you don’t have too stressful of a job, and you have 6 months until you plan on taking the GMAT, you’re in a better position to figure things out on your own.

3.       You are naturally an independent worker.

You prefer working on projects by yourself.  You didn’t mind classes in college where the professor didn’t explain things very well, or at all.  You are a natural at digging in and figuring things out.

4.       You are naturally very structured and organized with your time.

To properly study for the GMAT, you need to develop a plan of attack and stick with it.  Each week, you need to devote 3-4 hours to studying for it.  You need to ensure you methodically review each of the sections and then do and review practice problems.  If you have trouble structuring your time or aren’t generally very organized, you’ll find it hard to study on your own.

5.       You are not rich.

A good test prep class will cost you $500 to $1,500 per hour.  Private tutoring tends to cost – and I’m not joking – $25 to $250 per hour.  Obviously, self-study costs much less – perhaps $25 for the Official Guide to the GMAT, $30 for some additional practice tests, and $50 for a supplemental bank of practice questions.

With this in mind, let’s review the two other GMAT prep options available to you.

So, when would someone take a GMAT Prep Class?

It’s not quite as simple as taking the inverse of the above five points, but it’s close.  A GMAT prep class is a good option for someone who:

1. Scored below average when taking a practice GMAT cold – this means they are missing a few (perhaps not too many) core skills that will be tested on the GMAT, and a prep class can provide a reasonably priced review of those skills.
2. Has at least as much time as it takes to work through the prep class.  Most classes meet once per week for a few hours for 8 weeks or so.
3. Benefits from having a teacher explain key concepts.  You won’t get truly customized instruction from a prep class teacher – after all there are 10-30 other people in the room – but you will have somebody explaining the material.
4. Needs the structure that the prep class naturally provides.  You’ll show up each week at a given time, review new content, and be assigned practice problems to complete.
5. Is willing to spend some money to do well on the GMAT.  Some prep classes are expensive, but it’s a reasonable middle ground between self-study and private tutoring.

OK, so who should hire a private GMAT tutor?

If you’ve read through this blog post so far and don’t feel like you fit in one of the above categories, then a private GMAT tutor might work for you.  Specifically, a private GMAT tutor works well for folks who:

Scored either well below or well above average on an initial practice GMAT, taken cold.  If you are well below average, the prep class might not be enough instruction to get your skills up.  If you are well above average, you might already know most of the stuff taught in the prep class.   After all, a prep class has to make sure it is covering concepts that the average person in the class needs to be taught.  So, if you aren’t somewhere close to average, a prep class is probably not for you.

1. A side note – if you are trying to score above 700 on the GMAT, then you’ll encounter some pretty difficult questions.  Many people find that a tutor can quickly reveal the core concepts at play in these seemingly difficult questions, oftentimes in cases where self-study or a prep class simply would have failed.  So, if you’re dedicated to trying to break 700, a tutor starts to become a better option.
2. You may not have much time because you’re literally taking the GMAT in 4 weeks.  Or, you may be taking it in 3 months, but you work 80 hours a week, leaving little free time to prep.  If you don’t have much time, a private tutor is the most efficient way to fill in the gaps in your knowledge base.  A tutor can quickly assess your situation, and focus on the areas in which you need help in a laser-like manner.
3. If you don’t mind listening to someone else explain something (vs. desiring the satisfaction of having figured it out completely on your own), a private GMAT tutor will work well for you.
4. When it comes to being organized and structured with your time, almost anyone can benefit from a private GMAT tutor.  Why?  If you aren’t naturally organized, the tutor can help you develop and stick to a plan.  If you are, you can use the tutor to answer specific questions or review questions you had trouble with while following your own plan.
5. Unfortunately, a good GMAT tutor can be expensive.  With some research, you can find a good tutor for between $50 to $100 per hour.   But, if your score improves from 630 to 700, and you ultimately get into a Top 5 business school, the $1,000 to $2,000 you might spend end up being very well worth it.

Have I missed any other major ways to study for the GMAT, or any other key considerations? What are your thoughts?

***

Mark Skoskiewicz is the founder of MyGuru, a boutique provider of customized, 1-1 GMAT tutoring, as well tutoring for most other standardized tests.  He also has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

This post was written by Chris Lele, GRE expert at Magoosh GRE Prep.

I know, I know… I always preach the importance of learning vocabulary slowly and in-context, so the usage of a word really seeps into your brain. But sometimes, you just don’t have the time, and you need to cram as many GRE vocabulary words as you can in a limited amount of time. Maybe you only found out that the application deadline was sooner then you expected. Maybe you had intended to study vocab all these months, but…eh, you never got around to it. Or maybe you just figured vocab wasn’t that important on the GRE Think again! It’s crucial to getting a good score.

No need to despair, at least entirely. You can still cram a large number of words into your head in a one-week period of time. But you are going to have to be intense, and you are going to have to be clever. Simply reading a vocab list or just relying on flashcards is not going to allow you to maximize your potential.

 Don’t bite off more than you can chew

My colleague at Magoosh, Mike, bet me lunch that I could not learn the periodic table of elements in one week (yes, we make silly bets like this all the time). Though chemistry is not my forte (I remember the physical education teacher replaced my actual chemistry teacher at the last minute), I was definitely up for the challenge.

Instead of just staring at the periodic table of elements, which would probably have induced nausea, I learned a few at a time, constantly closing my eyes and rehearsing those that I had learned. I went up and down, left and right, all the time strengthening the connections between the elements.

Likewise, when you learn words, you should learn about a dozen at a time. Make connections, when appropriate. See if you can come up with the word when you just look at the definition. See if you can list a few synonyms.  When you feel you have a strong grasp of the words, build off of them by learning another dozen words. Always come back to the original words, comparing them to new words. Remember, it does not help to cram words for the GRE if they fall out of your head after an hour.

 Quiz yourself frequently and creatively

Researchers who study memory have learned that after 90-minutes what we learn suddenly begins to dissipate rapidly. Instead of studying two hours at a time, study in little bursts, trying to return—even if for a few moments—to your studying within 90 minutes to 2 hours. These little breaks are a good time to let the words incubate; but not enough time so that they disappear completely.

 Brain Barf

This is probably not the most pleasant visual—but I’m sure it is colorful. Joking aside, “brain barfing” can be a powerful way to know what is inside your brain, and just how strong the memory of a word is (are you mixing up letters? are you mistaking one word for another?)

So here’s what you do: Take a blank piece of paper and see how many words, along with their definitions, you can write out. You will often find that the number of words you knew is fewer than expected. Don’t worry, go back and consult your list, especially for those tip-of-the-tongue words. That way you can identify those words that you tend to forget.

Take advantage of those quiet moments

Waiting for a bus? Eyeing that smartphone to kill the time with Angry Birds? Don’t succumb! Instead see if you can think of words that you had been learning. Maybe you can even use them to describe something in your immediate environment (“Where is that dilatory bus?!?”).

Do plenty of practice questions

Don’t just hang out with vocabulary the entire time. Crack open a GRE book or log in to Magoosh on your smartphone and start solving actual questions. You will be exposed to words, many of which you know, and probably many which you don’t. Of the words you do know, working with them in a problem-solving context, will only make the connection your brain has formed with that word that much stronger. For the words you don’t know, make them part of your daily list.

 The flashcards

Don’t forget to use them as part of your all out assault on vocabulary. Grab a friend or family member, and have them quiz you. And remember to see if you can identify words from their definitions (and make sure you actually know what the definitions mean, instead of just saying them in a robot voice).

1. Aggressively following this schedule—making sure to include all six strategies—should help you learn between 500 and 1,000 words. As for the bet, I employed many of the strategies above and was able to memorize all 118 elements—reciting them forwards and backwards, up and down—in 48 hours. The best part was I got a free cheeseburger. Of course even the juiciest burger pales in comparison to a great verbal score, which you can only attain from learning lots of vocabulary words.