GMAT dos and donts

Its been almost 6 months since i have given my GMAT. Got a score of 700. Its an average/good score, no where near an excellent score. I thought I should jot down a few Dos and Donts before i forget about the experience completely. As a side note, a good GMAT score alone doesn't guarantee an admission in a good school nor an avg score rule out the possibility of an admission, its just one of the many parameters the ad com takes into account.

I will start of with the donts...

Donts

1. Do not take GMAT lightly. Its a general perception of we Indians that quant is a cake walk, verbal requires a little hard work. NO. The DS part of quant is quite tricky. Scope to make a good score a great score.

2. Verbal is what i found difficult. Not because of the vocabulary usage or anything, but because of the erratic strike rates (accuracy). Do not take this section lightly. The RCs and CRs seemed easy. The SCs are the one where i was never confident.

3. There will come a stage where you will hit a plateau, do not take this level to be your optimal level. Persevere during this phase. This is the difference between a 710 and a 750.

4. Do not book your exam date just a week before the desired date. Booking the date late is advised by most GMAT gurus. Its a shit load of crap. As long as you do not book a date, your prep will not get serious.

5. Do not join any of the coaching institutes. A sheer waste of time and money. GMAT is all about self learning.


Dos

1. Start your preparation well in advance. I would advice people to prepare for at least 45 days. 45 days is an ideal time to prepare and give the GMAT. Ideally you should be peaking in 35-40 days.

2. Book the date early. It helps in preparing. Until and unless we have a deadline to look up for we don't tend to be serious.

3. Treat OG like bible. Do it once, twice, thrice...every time i solved OG i learned something new.

4. Remember that GMAT is an adaptive exam. Be extremely careful while solving the first few questions. Device a time management strategy as per your strengths and convenience. No use completing the exam well before the time limit.

I covered most of the aspects of prep I felt important. I will keep updating as and when I remember more points.

This post mainly concerns with the preparation for the GMAT. I will write another post on giving the exam soon.