Experts say that the GMAT does neither want to test your smartness or business acumen, nor is it not conducted to understand what grades you might obtain in the business school.
GMAT is all about how perfectly you can take the test. Period.
One of the most competitive exams in the world, what makes GMAT seemingly difficult is the time constraint. If you can attempt 75% of the questions correctly by making educated guesses and following the solution behavior, then you are likely to score more than someone who takes 4 to 5 min to solve each question correctly. This is because, in the end, that person is only being able to attempt 60 to 65% of the questions. So your speed and accuracy are important here.
To buck up your GMAT pace take as many free GMAT practice test as you can, and remember the following tactics.
1. Practice systematically and work on your speed
Speed is one of the most important factors that you must work on. You can spend 2 min on each question, not more than that only then you will be able to finish the entire paper. For sentence correction you shouldn’t take more than 60 to 90 seconds, reading comprehension will require 6 min if you get 3 questions and for 4 questions you can spend up to 8 min plus don’t forget that you must keep some time to read the passage in between the lines. For Integrated Reasoning you can spend up to 2 min 30 sec on each question.
2. Don’t expect to get all the questions correct because that is very tough
Set your goal, if you want to score 700+ then focus on that, if you find a few problems difficult then straight away skip them and attempt the easier ones that you are confident about. Do not waste time for no reason for difficult problems. If you must guess then do it smartly, the process of elimination will help you a lot.
3. Record the time that you are taking to answer each question
You can keep a track of time by using a stopwatch. Now this record will help you to understand how much you need to work on your speed. Keep practicing and take notes till you achieve your goal i.e. solving questions within the suggested time.
4. Concentrate on the first 10 questions
Students who want to score 600+ should be calm and focus on the first 10 questions. These questions are likely to be the easiest so; there is no question of omitting these questions also no room for silly mistakes.
5. Nurture your internal clock
Even if it the day one of preparing for GMAT you must practice answering the questions within the suggested time. Speed is the vital factor here so start from the very beginning. Solve all the GMAT papers following the time limit. Go through your answers and find out the mistakes.
6. Divide the sections into quarters
Checking the clock every minute is a bad idea since each second counts in GMAT. You can divide the sections for Mathematics like 40-20-2 as in, suppose you are attempting the 11th question, then ideally the time left to complete that section should be 40 min. Similarly, when you are on the 21st question, time left should be 20 min, and when on the 31st question time left should be 2 min. Again, follow the same pattern for the verbal section where the division can be 45-27-10.
7. Positivity is the key
Do not worry about the result, just hope for the best because you have put in a lot of effort and you are prepared to face it. Train your mind to stay calm. If you are skipping a question do not panic about it just move on to the nest question. Basically, your focus should be on attempting as many questions as possible perfectly. Do not let negative thoughts creep in because it might have disastrous effects on your examination.
Yes, GMAT can be pretty stressful but do not forget that practice makes a man perfect so, keep up with it and come out with flying colors.
