*Please note that no client details are ever shared in SBC Scoop or otherwise without complete sign off from client.

Our client Tariq had a tough decision to make. He had sorted out his options and felt strongly that Chicago Booth’s MBA program was the perfect fit. He loved the classes, the focus and the city, and could easily picture himself there. Unfortunately, his first attempt at the GMAT had yielded a 690, with a low quant score. Though Tariq and his consultant agreed that this was a nice first attempt, and possibly good enough for many schools, they knew that while this score made it into the range where 80% of Booth’s students landed, he was still somewhat below the average score.

The rest of Tariq’s application was strong and interesting, but added to the dilemma. After a strong undergraduate career at Amherst, where he compiled a 3.6 GPA, he returned to his native Turkey to work in arts management. Tariq transformed this experience into an essay and application that made his desire to bridge the gap between the liberal arts and business worlds clear and interesting. His consultant had few worries about his application outside of the GMAT score, and they discussed what to do. Since Tariq’s application was lacking in more day-to-day quantitative experience, and his first choice was a program with one of the highest average scores, they agreed that he should go ahead and retake the test.

Tariq’s consultant pointed him to Booth’s messaging regarding the GMAT, which he found reassuring. His school “looks favorably” on taking the test more than once. We see this fairly often as MBA programs consider working hard and improving your score as evidence of persistence. Tariq focused on doing the best he could to impress the admissions committee. Though it was too late for Round 1, he had enough time to work through an online class and retake the test before Round 2. His hard work and focus paid off with a thirty point bump in his score, a solid 720 with an even break between quant and verbal. Tariq and his consultant agreed that if Booth had not been on the top of his list, or if he had been further away from the average score, it may not have been worth it at all to retake, but in his case the costs were outweighed by the benefits.

Aside from manipulating the GMAT’s favorite numbers (72, 64, etc.), one of the calculations you’ll do most often when working through GMAT problems is dividing and multiplying by five. It’s common in the real world, too. As with most common calculations, there’s a better way to do them than long division or traditional multiplication.

For both division and multiplication, the key concept here is that 5 is simply 10 divided by 2. So, anywhere you see a 5 in an equation, you can substitute (10/2). You won’t always want to do that, but in some cases, I guarantee you that working with 10s and 2s is preferable to working with 5s.

Using that trick, consider multiplying 36 and 5. (If you automatically know that, work through the example with a less common number, like 47.) Using the trick outlined above, 36(5) = 36(10/2). You now have two options: you can multiply 36 and 10 and then divide by 2, or divide 36 by 2 and then multiply by 10. Either way, both steps are quite simple.

This is an excerpt from a longer article by Jeff Sackmann, originally published at GMAT Hacks.  Jeff has created several valuable GMAT-preparation resources, including Total GMAT Math and Total GMAT Verbal.

Interested in reading more? Click HERE to see more test prep advice.

It’s often said that the only way to really learn something is to teach it; when it comes to GMAT quant problems, you could say the only way to really learn something is to create it.

To get started writing your own variations on GMAT questions, take a problem (preferably from The Official Guide) that you’re not 100% comfortable with. Then start asking yourself “what if?”  What if x was negative? What if there were four coins instead of three? What if you added two or subtracted two from one of the numbers?

How you change the question will differ in every single example. It’s a test of imagination nearly as much as a test of knowledge. But if you generate, say, 10 new GMAT questions, you’re much closer to being inside the head of the testmaker. By extension, you’re that much more prepared for what the GMAT will throw at you when you take the real thing.

This is an excerpt from a longer article by Jeff Sackmann, originally published at GMAT Hacks.  Jeff has created several valuable GMAT-preparation resources, including Total GMAT Math and Total GMAT Verbal.

Interested in reading more? Click HERE to see more test prep advice.

Learn the Approach

On a GMAT Verbal Section, you will typically have four Reading Comprehension passages, each with associated questions.  The danger of Reading Comprehension is that it becomes a major time-sink, stealing valuable time away from Sentence Correction and Critical Reasoning.

First of all, I will point out: no one strategy will be perfect for everyone.  You will need to tweak these suggestions to find what works best for you and your own study plan.  This post will give you a clear starting point for that process of exploration.

Read, Don’t Skim

First of all, the point of this question is to read.  Some GMAT prep sources will recommend skimming the passage, or reading only the first paragraph, then skimming the rest.  In my view, this is a mistaken approach.  Read carefully, so that you only have to read once.

What does it mean to read carefully?  First of all, it means to take notes, summarizing each paragraph briefly on scrap paper or on your notepad (on the real GMAT).  Students resist the process of taking written notes, but if you practice it and become good at it, it will always be a time-saver.  Even if you never again look at your notes, just the fact that you invested the mental effort in deciding how to summarize means that you thereby were understanding that part of the passage.

Reading carefully means summarizing paragraphs and identifying the main idea of the passage.  It DOES NOT mean reading every single stinking word.  For example, if an author makes a point and then follows it with a detailed example (“for instance”), you can skim that example.

This careful reading should take about 3.5 minutes for a short passage and about 4.5 for a long passage.  Then, spend about 1 minute per question, and that will leave you ample time for SC and CR questions.  You should time yourself, to verify to yourself that you can keep this pace.

Understand, Don’t Memorize

Your goal in reading the passage should be to understand.  It will help to feign interest in the material, to generate a genuine sense of curiosity about what’s being discussed.  If you are a visual person, it will help considerably to form a mental picture of what the author is describing.

Your goal is not to memorize obscure details: dates, complicated scientific terms, names of theories or processes.  It’s enough to note where that detail is in the passage, so if a detail question addresses it, you can find it quickly.

Remember: GMAT Reading Comprehension is not a speed-reading test.   It is not a memory test.  GMAT Reading Comprehension is about developing your own understanding of a passage in order to identify the correct answers in the questions that follow.

***

This post was written by Mike McGarry, GMAT expert and writer for the Magoosh GMAT Blog.

Interested in reading more? Click HERE to see more test prep advice.

Should I Budget more Time at the beginning?

Despite what you may have heard, do not spend a majority of time at the beginning of the test. Many people subscribe to this belief in hopes that they can game the system. The misconception is that the first few questions weighted more heavily then the subsequent question, with the last few questions having almost no impact on score. The algorithm, however, doesn’t fall asleep once it’s got you “figured” out. You can “bomb” the first part of the test, but as long as you do well on the rest of the test, your score should be no different from a student who misses the same amount, but misses most of them at the end.

Skipping a Question

First off, you must answer each question on GMAT before you are able to move on. By skipping a question, you are essentially randomly guessing because you have absolutely no idea.

As to how many questions you should skip, and how long you should spend on a question before skipping, there is no perfect answer. But if you have spent more than a minute on a question without being able to devise a solution path, then you may want to skip this question. However, if your first attempt did not yield you one of the answer choices, do not simply give up. Check your work. Figure out if there is another way to approach the problem. If at this point you are stuck and the clock is ticking inexorably to zero, then you may want to make an intelligent guess and move on.

How many questions should you skip?

Again, there is no perfect answer to this question. Factors to consider include your target score and your score on practice tests. For the latter point, know how many questions you’ve skipped on practice tests and how that affected your score. For instance, if you skipped two questions on a practice test and still scored close to 700, then you should be able to do the same on the real test (of course the practice test you use should not be a Manhattan GMAT or GMAC test – the algorithms on other tests are less trustworthy.

Use Practice Tests to Work on Time Management

Beyond determining how many questions to skip, you can use practice tests to get a feel for how you should manage your time. Reading about time management and theorizing on the best approach is moot if you do not actually take practice tests to determine what works for you. For instance, you may find that you are making careless mistakes at the beginning of the test, and finishing with time to spare. You clearly need to slow down. Missing many questions toward the end because you are short on time will require you to speed up at the beginning.

Takeaway

Time management can play an important factor in your score. While there is no one magic mantra, keep the points above in mind as you fashion your own approach using practice tests.

This post was written by Chris Lele, GRE and GMAT Expert at Magoosh Test Prep. Magoosh offers hundreds of practice questions and video lessons, as well as free resources and tips on how to master the GMAT and GRE.

Interested in reading more? Click HERE to see more test prep advice.

Guest post provided by Jeff Sackmann of GMAT Hacks

One of my main goals with this site is to help guide you through the quagmire that is the commercial GMAT prep marketplace. There are some good resources out there, and there’s a lot of garbage. Unfortunately, even if you find the best resources, you still may not use your time as effectively as you could.

Here are the two things that will help you use your time the most effectively when doing practice questions: (1) Choose realistic questions. Start with the Official Guides.  (2) Choose questions at the appropriate difficulty level.

The second one is much harder than the first. How do you know how difficult each question is? After all, you’d have to do it to know how challenging it is, right?

Yes and no.

If you want a more precise measurement of difficulty, consult my Guides to the Official Guides. (I hope I don’t sound like an infomercial here: I’ve specifically created these resources because the need for them is so glaring.) In each one, I organize every single question into one of five tiers of difficulty.

I do the same in each one of my problem sets, as well. When I work with students one-on-one, I often start them out at the lowest level, only moving up when they reach a certain degree of competence and comfort…

This is an excerpt from a longer article by Jeff Sackmann, originally published at GMAT Hacks.  Jeff has created several valuable GMAT-preparation resources, including Total GMAT Math and Total GMAT Verbal.

Interested in reading more? Click HERE to see more test prep advice.