For many students, the day you step into your Kaplan GMAT class is the first time you’ve seen the inside of a classroom in a number of years.  This can be both exciting and scary, and definitely should be used to your advantage as you work towards becoming a student again.  In order to make the most of your study time, it is important to learn (or re-learn) effective ways of understanding, absorbing, and applying the content and Kaplan strategies that you need to be successful on the GMAT.  Take some time to determine your learning style and what works best for you.

Fortunately, the newly-revised Kaplan GMAT course has something for every style – visual and auditory input in classroom and live online sessions, endless tactile/hands-on study in your syllabus, course book, and Official Guide, and kinesthetic experience as you interact in class and practice using the new noteboard.  I offer other creative suggestions for my students to enhance their learning:

Flashcards are very helpful. Writing concepts, definitions, or strategies gives you both tactile and visual experience with the material, and having flashcards on hand gives you a quick, easy, and portable way to review.

If you are having a hard time memorizing a formula or method, write it 25 times on a sheet of paper!  There is a reason we had to do this in grade school – repetition is one of the keys to memorization and understanding.

If you find that you are fidgety and have a hard time sitting still while studying, try standing up and doing your work at a high counter or kitchen bar – for the more kinesthetic learners, this gives you an opportunity to keep your body moving so that you can focus your mind.

If you are having an especially hard time with a certain problem or concept, teach it to someone else!  Look at the material with an eye for teaching it to your “student”, and then find a willing friend or family member who wants to learn some Data Sufficiency or Critical Reasoning.  Again, there is a reason we had to prepare and present lessons to our classes throughout all of our school years, including college – you learn a lot when you have to teach material to someone else.