How To Score A 700+ On Your GMAT
After I posted that I got a 740 on my GMAT, I’ve received numerous emails asking how I went about preparing for it. Here’s what I did.
I got several of Kaplan’s study guides. Here’s the complete list of the best books to prepare for the GMAT. I’m cheap so I didn’t actually buy them. I borrowed them off friends and spent a couple 12-hour days at Barnes and Nobles solving them.
The GMAT is broken into two sections, Math and Verbal.
In the Verbal section, I kept getting critical reasoning completely wrong on the practice tests, so I concentrated on that section more. Kaplan is known for being a lot tougher than the actual GMAT. This acts to make sure you don’t get overconfident and the reverse psychology worked very well in motivating me.
I found the Math more challenging than the Verbal and so I devoted significantly more time to it. Make sure you get the books with the practice tests on CD. I solved numerous examples in all the books and gave all the timed practice tests.
After giving several tests, I realized that my main problem was I couldn’t complete the whole math section and in my rush to complete it I was getting stuff wrong. In none of the Kaplan practice tests did I score more than 610. In fact, for most of them I scored in the low 550-580 range.
Even though I never scored more than 610 on the practice tests, I felt that I couldn’t do any further prep and had to take the exam.
During the examination I decided to go very slow on the first several problems. These problems count the most towards your overall score. I figured that as they would get progressively more difficult, I’d get an incredibly different problem that I’d immediately know I couldn’t solve and instead of wasting time trying to solve it, I’d just skip it and my timing would be back on track. This strategy actually worked out very well for me. However, it came with a lot of practice. I finished with 1 minute to spare on both sections.
I think the best advice I can give you to keep giving tests. The practice itself will probably help boost your score a little bit.
If you can’t motivate yourself to study, you can take the Kaplan Prep courses, but at $1,500 they’re a little pricey. I was actually seriously considering taking the courses but my wife vehemently opposed the idea. (I guess she knows more about my abilities than I do!) One advantage is that you get to take a practice test at the actual center on the real GMAT. That way you really know where you stand.
Verbal is a little tricky to prepare for. If your language skills suck, there’s very little you can good other than actually cramming the grammar rules. I suggest you spend a lot of time reading English literature and watching British movies! It’ll be more entertaining and you’ll probably learn just as much.
The Math section is much easier to prepare for. One thing you need to focus on is becoming math-minded. If you’re scared of counting your change at a grocery store, then you’ve got a lot of preparation to do! I strongly recommend reading Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences
Make sure you solve the Kaplan 800 book. It has a list of the toughest questions and are great practice for the actual exam. Even if you’re not aiming for a 700+, it’ll help boost your score. You definitely want a good score since most schools provide merit-based scholarships which are dependent on your GMAT score.
Good luck!
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January 10th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Congrats on your GMAT score. Have you decided what specialization are you going to do your MBA in?
January 10th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Congratulations. This test scares me. It has been a full decade since I’ve taken a test. I will take all of 2008 and prep for it, and will take the test at the end of the year. Hoping to do as well as you did…
Good luck!
January 10th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
I want to specialize in Finance and Asset Management.
I gave the GMAT 10 years ago too, when I was fresh out of undergrad. I think I scored 620, so don’t be disheartened by my score. With practice, I’m sure you can do well.
January 28th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Though I only took sample tests, I did quite well simply because I know grammar rules really well. I’m also just interested in math which helps a lot as well.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Nice work! Where are you going to go to school?
February 15th, 2008 at 7:03 am
Congrats on your gmat score. I am preparing to take the GMAT sometime in August, and have decided to start preping now. I live in Ukraine and getting up to date books is quite problematic - however a friend of mine left me a Kaplan 2005 edition. Is that sufficient or should i try to get a newer edition?
Thank you
February 15th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Hi Patricia,
if you’re confident with your math skills, 2005 should be ok. but still try and get your hands on the Kaplan 800 book if you can.
Also, if your edition doesn’t have the CD, you might benefit from getting a copy that does.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:54 am
Congratulations!
I agree with your approach, the basic thing is to keep working on the practice tests, particularly in the areas where you have trouble. (I scored a 730).
For me, I found it interesting that over the 15 years bewteen the SAT and GMAT my strengths had reversed. When I was in HS I did very well on the math sections but had more trouble with the verbal sections. But after 10 years in marketing/business development in corporate America, my verbal skills were far better. (My strongest suit are those sentence corrections. I think the secret was learning a language with more complicated grammar - you think more about agreement between nouns and adjectives. Plus, I had years of Latin).
Still, I found that the thing I had to practice and review were all of the number properties. For me, the hardest questions were the data sufficiency - though they are an important indicator of logical reasoning, which is important in life, as well as B-School.
February 25th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Congrats on your score!
I also found the math harder than the verbal. When I took the SAT (a LONG time ago) it was the other way around.
Do you think it’s easier to improve the math score faster? I think the verbal score tests knowledge of English grammar and vocabulary. This takes more time to build up.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Yeah I think its definitely easier to boost your math.
I really can’t see myself cramming English grammar rules all day long for 3 weeks! But solving math 10 hrs a day, no problem!
I think the average scores in the GMAT have also increased from when it used to be a paper-based test. Getting 700 ten years ago was pretty amazing. Now, I think its become more common.
Not really sure why Mensa considers it an IQ test, but they’ve stopped considering GRE scores, so maybe they’ve done some research on this. After all, the GMAT is a $2 Billion a year business!
February 26th, 2008 at 6:49 am
Yeah, well fortunately for me, my English grammar is very strong.
I think the issue with the math vs. verbal has alot to do with who is taking the test. More and more non-North Americans are taking it, so the native speakers already have an advantage there. At the same time, lots of engineers from India and China take the test as well, so that makes the math a bit more tricky.
You might be right about the Computer Adaptive Test leading to higher scores, particularly since the first question is of “average” difficulty.
March 14th, 2008 at 2:51 am
Congratz.. great score!!!
How many months did you prepare ??
March 16th, 2008 at 2:12 am
congrats for ur gmat score. it calls for a real achievement.
Even i have suddenly taken the decision 2 prepare 4 da gmat, but there is no one to guide me through dis endeavour. I would realy appreciate if u kindly mail me da basic know~how of dis test..
thank you.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
[...] I scored 740 on the GMAT test. I was truly pleasantly surprised to score over 675 considering I had only spent 21 days on [...]
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:31 am
I just took the two practice tests on the GMAT website since it’s good to have practice with the time limit. It seemed to work for me since I managed a 750.
The tips you’ve mentioned in this article can be a great help to those considering taking the test. Nice post.
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:03 am
[...] I found a good article about how to score over 700 on the GMATand figured that a few people might be interested in it. After scoring a 750 myself, I’ve [...]
April 27th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Hey, was just wondering if you took any practice tests from the official GMAT prep site (from the guys who actually makes and administers GMAT), and what was your score of such tests.
Thanks
June 27th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Just took the GMAT yesterday night and scored a 730! Thanks for posting your study recs LOD!
@LOD. What was your % breakdown??? Do you remember?
I ask b/c my undergrad and current MA program is journalism. My verbal was 99% BUT the quant only 72%. I’m considering taking it again to get the quant up if possible (ran low on time about 2/3’s into it this time). I visited Wharton during undergrad and the admission’s head said specifically that they want to see high quant scores from applicants with non-math related backgrounds.
In case it helps anyone, my prep was:
1) Princeton Review Cracking the GMAT (AWA and probability is great) (actually about 1 year in advance, then I didn’t do anything until about 3 weeks in advance)
2) Ultimate Math Review (on your recommendation LOD! Awesome refresher!)
3) Kaplan GMAT (standard)
I REALLY wished I had done the Kaplan 800 book but I ran out of time. I also bought the Barron’s book (it is pretty much crap) and the GMAC official book (but didn’t have time to work on it)
Ideally, I think the three book above plus the Kaplan 800 would be just right. Add in as many practice tests as you can and that’s a cherry study plan IMO.
P.S. The 2 practice tests I did were both GMAT Prep, 690 4 days before and 720 2 days before.
June 28th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Hi,
First of all, congratulations for your GMAT Score.
I’m from Portugal and I’m planning in applying for a PhD program in a seriously top BSchool in the USA (I’m not saying the name of it because I don’t want you to think bad of me). I’ve followed this web page advise and got all the Kaplan’s books from the list with the exception that I’ve brought the updated editions.
Until now I’ve done the all 50 practice exercises about Critical Reasoning in the book and got 46 right ones. Also I’ve done the 3 Quizzes in the CD about CR and scored 63%-63%-69%.
I want to take the GMAT and the TOEFL in August 2009 to apply for the Fall of 2010.
Could someone please tell me if I’m in right path to score at least around 720 on the GMAT.
Thanks,
FVS
June 28th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Jason,
congrats on your 730 score. I’m glad my tips helped you.
I think I got 84% on quant and 99% on verbal. I don’t think you need to score more than 730 to get into a top school.
Just apply in the first round and you stand a better chance. If you want, you can keep practicing your math and retake the gmat. but start working on your essays - i thought they were tougher than the GMAT prep!
August 31st, 2008 at 12:55 am
Hello to all,
Congrats on all who have achieved good scores.
I am preparing for my exam as well and will have it in this month. I am confident I will do good.
However I have my doubts about the admissions. My scores in bachelors are hopeless, just 43%, but after that I have done my masters and in that my score is 68% overall. How it might affect my chances for securing admissions.
I would really appreciate the guidance.
thanks
October 28th, 2008 at 1:20 am
HI Aditya,
You can open http://www.mba.com website and there is a option which will helps you to access yourself and lot more can be clarified there.
Adv. wishes for your MBA..
Regards
RajasekharK
“MBA Aspirant”
November 15th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Congrats! The GMAT is one intimidating test but it isn’t so bad if you prepare well. Glad to see you did well.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:56 am
I e-mailed an MBA college advisor last week and received a response on Thursday that I would have to take the GMAT. I signed up then to take the test the next day (Friday). I received a 700 on my “unofficial” result. It seems like the key must just be pacing and not freaking out about complexity of the questions.
December 8th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Congratulations on your great hard work and score. I need help to get this type of excellent score. Can u tell me which books I have to read and which sites I have to go for practice? I m on face book can u tell me what is your id. So I can add u.
Siddhi