The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is an assessment test taken by students who are aspiring to pursue a management course at one of the business schools around the world. Almost every business school has a similar application process with students submitting an application form along with their GMAT score.
The GMAT exam is a computer adaptive test. It has 4 sections – Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning, Integrated Reasoning, and Analytical Writing Analysis (AWA).
Have you ever thought of making the most of your GMAT study time? Although we all try to do the same, at times it gets difficult to manage our time. Getting the best possible results by investing the least amount of time is what we call “smart work” which is applicable to nearly every situation of life. Choosing a time to plan your priorities and a proper plan to implement to schedule your studies will undoubtedly help you achieve your desired score.
Here are some GMAT preparation tips for beginners that can help them make the most of their study time. Let’s have a look:
You were most likely introduced to the concept of importance of time management GMAT preparation at work, university, or college. The GMAT requires you to successfully manage your time. It’s a mistake to ignore the clock, and you’ll come to regret it if you do. Let’s imagine you’ve set aside some time (at least two to three months of serious GMAT preparation is recommended) and are ready to start studying. It’s a mistake to believe you can just jump right in and begin GMAT preparation at your own pace.
Because your foundational test preparation would not have been centered around speed, you would just have to reorient yourself later if you prepared in this manner. Strengthening your test muscles and tracking your progress in simulated real-time is the best way to prepare. Let’s take a look at some GMAT time management strategies.
Most students make the mistake of attempting to learn everything at the same time. You should know where you stand in terms of your grammar and language skills, as well as your mathematical abilities. Every day, acquire certain concepts and collect them while striving to fix what you’ve already learned. Your homework must be finished within the time frame specified. Deviating from the established schedule, would obstruct not just your GMAT preparation but also the faculty’s strategy.
Clearly, speed isn’t everything if you’re making careless mistakes. It’s crucial to keep track of how long it takes you to answer each question during your GMAT preparation time and practice sessions. When you go over the answers, keep track of which types of questions you take a long time to answer and which you respond to quickly (and correctly). You’ll gain a better understanding of how to organize your time more effectively as you practice more questions with time constraints and keep track of which categories are your strengths and weaknesses. You’ll also gain a better understanding of how much time you have left on the test as you practise more questions with time constraints. Keep track of your progress by keeping track of the questions you answered properly and poorly, as well as the time it took you to complete each one.
The methods that you learn in class have helped tens of thousands of GMAT students improve their scores. Some of them will seem strange at first. And, in many cases, they may seem more time-consuming. That’s normal. As you get more comfortable with the techniques, you’ll find that both your accuracy and your speed will increase.
It’s not easy to absorb the plethora of formulas and concepts required to tackle the spoken section. It is important to understand the GMAT paper pattern. The GMAT necessitates a high degree of attention, which can only be attained by GMAT prep and mastering the many strategies. The exam is a combination of speed and accuracy, which can only be attained by perseverance.
You can feel like you’re falling behind during the test. This is most likely owing to your inability to answer certain questions. If there’s a good chance you’ll answer them poorly regardless, questions that make you hesitate aren’t always worth your time and efforts. Make the best decision you can. When you’re having problems with a question, it’s often beneficial to save time by making a strategic or even random guess. You’ll miss about 40% of the problems on the GMAT on average, so it’s important to be strategic when picking which questions to solve and which to guess. Moreover, you should attempt GMAT practice question papers as much as possible. If you’re behind schedule, this strategy will give you some time and help you get back on track.
This should be taken literally, and if you’ve spent three minutes on one question, you’re already pushing it. Taking the GMAT necessitates adaptability, and this is where you must adjust to the test as it adjusts to you. Recognize when it’s time to sever the cord so you can devote more time to answering queries. Do not leave any questions unanswered, as each question left unanswered costs you more than questions poorly answered. As outlined in the next paragraph, be aware of the individual time limits of each test section.
The GMAT exam’s difficulty can cause you to falter and diverge from the proper procedure. It’s possible that you’ll make more errors than normal. Mental exhaustion can drag you down and cause you to lose faith in yourself. Take a break, relax and restart whenever your mind is ready.
If you start to zone out, take a break: When you start to find yourself focusing more on getting the answer than on how to get there, it’s time to take a break. If you really want to improve your GMAT score, then you need to first find out your weak areas so that steps can be taken for your improvement. You can’t get your answer right until you don’t focus on the way you are approaching the questions.
The GMAT is made up of a sequence of questions that are designed to measure your ability to think quickly. It can be nearly hard to absorb what you read in a reading comprehension passage or a critical reasoning question in the allotted amount of time. Guessing an answer becomes a lot easier after you repeatedly do GMAT preparation. The mind has been trained to recognise patterns in questions, allowing it to accurately reject incorrect answer possibilities.
The GMAT is designed with time management in mind, and the test is as much about pacing as it is about the content. When you comprehend how important time is to your performance, you’ll recognise that using all of the pacing tactics described above is in your best interests. Rather than plunging right into studying, make sure you grasp the schedule for each question and keep track of your efforts and achievements. Start thinking about the time if you’ve gotten to the point in your GMAT preparation where you understand most of the test’s concepts.
All of your practice questions include explanations. It may be tempting to look at the explanation as soon as you get stuck. However, when you take the real GMAT, you won’t be able to glance at an explanation for a hint. So, before you look at the explanation, practice your elimination skills. If you can’t find the right answer, look for wrong answers to eliminate. Your teacher will help you learn how to identify the wrong answers for each type of question.
Once you’ve eliminated some answers and made a guess, then it’s time to look at the explanation. Most test takers need to guess a few times when they take the GMAT. Learning how to guess effectively can give a real boost to your score.
The easiest approach to use all of these suggestions is to constantly do GMAT preparation, especially take GMAT sample paper. Any good GMAT online prep course will include time management as an important part of the process, culminating in the completion of several GMAT practice tests under timed test conditions. The GMAT is similar to learning a foreign language in that the more you speak it, the more fluent you will become.
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Book your Free Counselling Session now!Here are the four steps to achieving a GMAT score of 750 or higher:
Keep in mind that studying for the GMAT takes time. Spend two to three months and 100-120 hours reviewing material and practising on a regular basis.
Top GMAT scorers spend an average of 120+ hours studying for Test Day over a period of time.
GMAT Time Management Techniques and Strategies
2 to 2.5 hours per day, seven days a week, with one or two days off. That equates to approximately 8 to 12 hours per week – approximately 40-45 hours per month.
To move from 500-600 to 700-750, for example, you may need around 3 months – that’s 120-135 hours approximately.
The GMAT is a standardized test. This means that the types of questions, duration of sections and the content tested are all predictable and standardized. Depending on your initial starting score and target score, you can prepare for the GMAT in 3 months with efficient practice and reliable material. However, if your current score is very low and/or your target score is high, then more time and effort will be required.
