Aspiring business school MBA students may find the thought of having to prepare for a benchmark exam and going back to school daunting all over again. However, the good news is that the GMAT Test is an exam that you can prepare for and there are tips and techniques that will raise your score significantly. Here are some tips found to be especially useful!



1. Believe that you can do your best

Don't let a previous disappointing score get you down. Rather, concentrate on putting your best efforts into this one and sincerely believe that you can do well. Putting your mind to it and believing is almost half the battle won!

2. Idealistic expectations

With the first point said, do also be realistic about your expectations and desired GMAT test score. Set a score that you believe poses a challenge to yourself, but yet is achievable. While GMAT books or GMAT courses can offer much-needed help, ultimately, it is up to you to determine your score with your conscientiousness.

3. Don't put off taking the GMAT for too long

Plan well ahead to have your GMAT scores submitted in time to meet your business school application deadline. Just to be on the safe side, factor in the possibility of having to take the GMAT test a second time in planning your schedule just in case the first doesn't meet your expectations.

The testing service stipulates that you have to wait until the next calendar month to retake the exam so make sure you have enough time between sitting for the test and application deadline.

4. Avoid over-emphasizing on certain sections at the expense of others

While preparing for the test, it is easy to neglect certain testing areas either because they are your weak points and you want to avoid them, or conversely by focusing on your weak spots and ignoring your stronger areas thinking you'll be able to breeze through them.

However, bear in mind to be diligent in practising for every section of the exam as your GMAT CAT score is based on the number of questions you answer correctly, their difficulty level, and the range of question types and specific abilities those questions display.

5. Common errors in the verbal section

Subject-verb agreement, idioms, parallelisms and dangling modifiers are the most common errors in the verbal section of the GMAT so concentrate on these topics when practising for that section.

6. Practice writing the required essays a few times

As with math, practice does wonders for writing. In your essay, keep in mind the following:

• Include brief introductory and concluding paragraphs and ensure that they are consistent with the whole essay.

• Always provide a reason and/or an example to support every point you make in your essay.

• Pay attention to the organisation of your essay. One that does not flow will appear messy and reflects the jumbled up thoughts in your head! Use transition words and signpost as you progress through the essay to keep the reader with you.

• Ultimately, its form over substance so be mindful of the writing mechanics. Bad grammar, sentence construction, word usage and diction will not do justice to any brilliant ideas you have!

7. Time yourself

Practice taking the test under timed conditions so you have a gauge of how much time you need. The GMAT is a test you can prepare for and practice is an excellent way to develop GMAT time management skills so be sure to take a few mock GMAT tests before the real thing.

8. Avoid last minute cramming

Again, the GMAT test is one that requires practice and preparation. Ideally, with sufficient preparation behind you, you should stop studying a day or two before the exam. Refrain from doing last minute cramming or attending crash courses as this might be counter-productive and would probably do more to get your nerves rocketing about the big day.

Conclusion

Having said all these, one thing's for sure, and agreed upon by all those who have successfully taken the GMAT test – never undermine the importance of practice, practice and more practice. Taking practice tests accustoms you to the pressure, stress, format, timing and the areas you need to work on, which may then help you align your efforts in the right direction and achieve a high GMAT score.