In our previous article, we covered some of the areas of content knowledge necessary to perform well on the GMAT.  But content is only a small part of the suite of skills that leads to better GMAT scores; in other words, even if you could immediately memorize volumes of Math formulas, Grammar rules, and practice problems, that wouldn’t automatically lead to a perfect score.  There are plenty of tests that could test the same subjects as the GMAT–math tests from high school come to mind–but the GMAT is unique, and it has an extreme amount of predictability in its formatting.  This means that, ideally, we want to use this format to our advantage; own the GMAT, don’t let it own you.

One unavoidable fact about the test is its timing restrictions: 75 minutes for 37 Quantitative questions or 41 Verbal questions, depending on the section.  At 2 minutes per question, this can get quite brutal, especially considering the GMAT’s adaptive nature, which will be sure to consistently feed you questions that are difficult for you.  This means that we all, at one point or another, will have to guess.

With proper strategy, you can make guessing work for you.  For example, if you’re short on time and come upon a Data Sufficiency question with a killer Statement (1)–maybe the statement requires substantial words-to-math translation, followed by some tough arithmetic–don’t just pick an answer randomly and move on: do yourself a favor and take a glance at Statement (2) first.  Often, the GMAT will hide easy-to-evaluate Statement (2)s behind tricky Statement (1)s to throw us off in this very way.  If the second statement can be evaluated in short order, then you can eliminate certain answer choices ((B), (C), and (E) if the statement is Sufficient, or (A) and (D) if it is Insufficient) and dramatically increase your chances of guessing correctly among the remaining choices.

Not that GMAT Strategy is limited to guessing and pacing–far from it.  All sorts of tactics, such as assigning numbers to unknown values (in Math) and reading for structure, not content (in Verbal) can be employed across all question types that can work in tandem with Content knowledge to get correct answers as quickly as possible.  These myriad strategies are a major ingredient of prep course curricula and the toolboxes of high scorers.

That’s it for our Strategy briefing.  Look for Pillar #3: Intangibles next!

While the two essays on the GMAT require you to do completely different things, the approach and foundation of each essay is exactly the same. In this blog article, I want to address two questions my students often ask: “How long should I spend on planning the essay vs. writing the essay?” and “How long should the essay be?”.

Pacing the Essay

Thirty minutes isn’t a great deal of time to write Shakespeare. However, you don’t need to be as eloquent and esoteric in your style. What you need to be is clear, organized, and direct. The best way to accomplish those three objectives is to spend a significant amount of time planning your essay before you start typing the essay. Kaplan has specific templates and approaches that we discuss in our course; however, I’m going to simplify our approach for this post:

Step 1: Spend about 8 minutes planning your essay

In this step, make sure you critically assess the argument and issue at hand. Keep yourself unbiased and objective as you initially understand the argument or issue presented.

Step 2: Spend about 20 minutes writing your essay

During the writing step, this is where you pull together the ideas you came up with during the planning stage of the essay. While you were objective during the planning stage, in the writing stage, you drop that objectivity and vociferously attack each essay appropriately. However, make sure you also mention the other side – i.e. acknowledge the dissenting point of view. Indicate that while you understand the different point of view, it is not as strong as your position.

Step 3: Spend about 2 minutes proofreading your essay

Most test takers fail to conduct this final step. Please! Take two minutes to review what you wrote. While you are not restructuring the argument in this case, you need to re-read the essay, correct spelling mistakes, and liberally add structural words.

Length of the Essay

The length of the essay is actually the least important component. The essay is graded on four dimensions – length is not one of those dimensions. Generally, shorter is better (if you were able to clearly articulate your points with specific and clear examples). At the end of the day, the length won’t matter if you are sure to include the following points:

1. 1. At least two clear points that articulate your position, broken down by the different essays:
   1. a. Argument = Two clear flaws of the argument
   2. b. Issue = Two clear points that defend your side of the issue
2. 2. At least two clear examples that drive your point home
3. 3. At least one counter point (with rebuttal), broken down by the different essays:
   1. a. Argument = One clear strengthener point that the author could include to support his position
   2. b. Issue = Acknowledgment of a potential point someone on the other side of the issue would argue

If you have these three components in a well-written essay, you’ll score at the top of the AWA range; no matter what the length of the essay.

Make sure you practice full-length CAT tests that have essays included! Before you ever see a quantitative question on test day, you will have already spent 60 minutes writing two intense essays, so it’s important to make sure you practice under the same test like conditions. Good luck!

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.