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Several tips to help you prepare for the GMAT

1. Take it early! Most of the concepts that are covered in the GMAT are topics that you’ve gone through when you were in high school. Instead of waiting to take the GMAT after you’ve graduated college or deep into your life, you would be at an advantage if you were to take the GMAT exam in your junior year of college. By taking it in your college career, as opposed to after, the concepts that you’ve learned in high school will still be fresh in your mind as it’s possible you’ve revisited some of these concepts in your freshman intro class. This will allow you to attain a better score or have an easier time learning the material. Since your GMAT score is active for five years, that means that even if you take the exam as a junior, you’ll still have a window of opportunity to get in your work experience before applying to your choice business school. 2. Take an introductory statistics course. There are a few questions that are asked when taking the GMAT that will test your knowledge of statistics. Taking an intro class early in college will allow you to really understand the material. 3. The verbal section matters more than you know! A lot of business schools put an emphasis on mathematics, however your verbal section matters as having excellent communication skills is a must if you want to be a success. Also, your final score gets calculated by putting your raw verbal and math scores together into a final score. Someone who does extremely well on the math, but very poorly on the verbal will get a lower score than someone who does moderate on both, assuming that you’re final raw scores added together are around the same. So a poor showing on one section can really harm you, even if you are a whiz at the other section. 4. Practice! It’s important that you get enough practice prior to taking the GMAT so that when you walk in on test day, you are well prepared and able to manage your time sufficiently. Part of the preparation process should include having prior experience to the computer adaptive nature of the GMAT. The entire exam is performed using a computer and the questions that you are asked are based off your previous answer. Each time you get a question correctly, you’ll get a slightly harder question, and conversely each time you get a question wrong, you’ll get a slightly easier question. During the process, there will be a timer in front of you which can make the exam that much more stressful. In addition, there’s no skipping questions and if you want to do scratch work, you’ll need some spare paper. All of this can make for a harrowing time when taking the GMAT if you haven’t practiced prior to test day. If you are someone that gets stressed easily or gets anxious, practicing in test conditions can get it all out of your system so that you’re ready on the day of your exam! 5. The first 10 questions are the most important! Your score range is dependent on how you do on the initial 10 question of a section due to the way the GMAT’s CAT system works. This is why it’s important that you take your time when answering these questions, as they carry more weight than the next set of questions within the section. However, that doesn’t mean that you should spend all your time. You still want to get as many questions correct as you can by the end of the exam to get the greatest score possible. Also, if you don’t finish the exam, you’ll be harshly penalized, so while it’s important to concentrate on the first 10 questions, it’s of equal importance to make sure you leave yourself enough time to finish each section. GMAT Tutor GMAT Tutor