A common issue faced by students preparing for GMAT is that they find themselves stuck between the 550-650 score range even after devoting months to prep. Most of these students have one thing in common – they directly jump into preparation without adequate planning and then end up making mistakes that keep them from scoring 700+ on GMAT. In short, they do not have the 3 key skills you need for the GMAT.
However, to prepare for GMAT effectively and reach your target score in optimal time, you must focus on certain aspects during prep. In this post, we are discussing them in detail –
The 3 Key Skill Levels
Most students who are starting their preparation focus primarily on learning concepts, and then they directly jump to solving questions on that particular topic. They do not realise a crucial step in between, which is “To master the right strategies to solve Questions”. Most people either don’t know how to do so or simply choose to ignore it and follow shortcuts instead.
What Do We Mean By Right Strategy?
Right strategy means following a step-by-step methodical process for solving questions. For example, if asked to solve 2 linear equations in 2 variables, you will probably equate the co-efficient of 1 variable in Step 1, eliminate that variable in Step 2, and then substitute the value of the obtained variable to get the other one in Step 3. You follow these 3 steps in any linear equations Question and then get the right answer.
Now, when it comes to Quant, people generally understand the right methodologies because they are taught at school. But, when it comes to Verbal, most non-native English speakers find it challenging. Not because they don’t understand the concepts, but because they are not sure how to apply the concepts methodically. Similarly, if you don’t follow a methodical approach in Quant, you will struggle there as well.
Only a few experts detail out a methodical approach to solve questions. So, even after looking at the solutions (especially in the OG), students don’t realize the importance of learning the Right Strategy. It is important to understand that you can get easy, and to an extent, medium questions correct without applying the right strategy, but you will still struggle with the tough ones. The tough questions on GMAT require a strong understanding of the Right Strategy.
The Inference Drawn By Students –
When students don’t get hard questions right and get decent accuracy in easy & medium questions, they start believing that they are not getting the question right because the question is tough. So, instead of working on the core problem, students believe that they can get the hard questions right by practising tons of questions.
What they fail to realize is – Why do they get hard questions incorrect in the first place? It is not because they get stuck at 2 close choices in hard questions but, more importantly, because the hard questions require you to apply the concepts properly using the right strategy.
What’s the Impact of Not Mastering the Right Strategy?
If you don’t master the right strategy, you don’t get hard questions right consistently. Now, what happens when you don’t get hard questions right consistently? Your score is stuck in the range of 600-650. It is really painful to find yourself stuck at 600-650 range after months of preparation, so if you want to avoid being stuck there, we recommend learning the right strategy from Day 1, so you don’t have to redo your prep in the end.
What Should Be Your Action Plan While Learning?
From the start of your GMAT Preparation, make sure you do the following:
1. Arrange the topics in a section in the right order – First, start with the basics. Then move to intermediate topics, and finally advanced topics. And, more importantly.
2. Learn each topic in 3 steps –
Step 1 – Learn the concepts related to each topic.
Step 2 – The most important part of learning – Learn how to apply these concepts using the right Strategy.
Step 3 – Practice questions to identify gaps in your understanding and work on covering them.
To master the right strategy, you must do the following two things –
Firstly, you need to learn the right strategy. Once you have learned the right strategy, you need to master it as well. To master it, you must apply the right strategy on around 50 questions consistently.
Secondly, to fine-tune your understanding, you must refer to solutions that apply the same approach to note down the variances and improve your understanding of the strategy. At GMATWhiz, we have ensured that we teach the right strategy and make sure that every solution uses the same Strategy in a detailed manner so that learning is much easier.
The Right Approach to Learn Each Topic in GMAT
We have already discussed why it is important to learn the right strategy for solving questions on GMAT. But, how will you identify the right method or strategy to solve those questions? If you want to follow a methodical approach to solve each question on GMAT, take a look at the right approach for various modules –
Table of Contents
A common issue faced by students preparing for GMAT is that they find themselves stuck between the 550-650 score range even after devoting months to prep. Most of these students have one thing in common – they directly jump into preparation without adequate planning and then end up making mistakes that keep them from scoring 700+ on GMAT. In short, they do not have the 3 key skills you need for the GMAT.
However, to prepare for GMAT effectively and reach your target score in optimal time, you must focus on certain aspects during prep. In this post, we are discussing them in detail –
The 3 Key Skill Levels
Most students who are starting their preparation focus primarily on learning concepts, and then they directly jump to solving questions on that particular topic. They do not realise a crucial step in between, which is “To master the right strategies to solve Questions”. Most people either don’t know how to do so or simply choose to ignore it and follow shortcuts instead.
What Do We Mean By Right Strategy?
Right strategy means following a step-by-step methodical process for solving questions. For example, if asked to solve 2 linear equations in 2 variables, you will probably equate the co-efficient of 1 variable in Step 1, eliminate that variable in Step 2, and then substitute the value of the obtained variable to get the other one in Step 3. You follow these 3 steps in any linear equations Question and then get the right answer.
Now, when it comes to Quant, people generally understand the right methodologies because they are taught at school. But, when it comes to Verbal, most non-native English speakers find it challenging. Not because they don’t understand the concepts, but because they are not sure how to apply the concepts methodically. Similarly, if you don’t follow a methodical approach in Quant, you will struggle there as well.
Only a few experts detail out a methodical approach to solve questions. So, even after looking at the solutions (especially in the OG), students don’t realize the importance of learning the Right Strategy. It is important to understand that you can get easy, and to an extent, medium questions correct without applying the right strategy, but you will still struggle with the tough ones. The tough questions on GMAT require a strong understanding of the Right Strategy.
The Inference Drawn By Students –
When students don’t get hard questions right and get decent accuracy in easy & medium questions, they start believing that they are not getting the question right because the question is tough. So, instead of working on the core problem, students believe that they can get the hard questions right by practising tons of questions.
What they fail to realize is – Why do they get hard questions incorrect in the first place? It is not because they get stuck at 2 close choices in hard questions but, more importantly, because the hard questions require you to apply the concepts properly using the right strategy.
What’s the Impact of Not Mastering the Right Strategy?
If you don’t master the right strategy, you don’t get hard questions right consistently. Now, what happens when you don’t get hard questions right consistently? Your score is stuck in the range of 600-650. It is really painful to find yourself stuck at 600-650 range after months of preparation, so if you want to avoid being stuck there, we recommend learning the right strategy from Day 1, so you don’t have to redo your prep in the end.
What Should Be Your Action Plan While Learning?
From the start of your GMAT Preparation, make sure you do the following:
1. Arrange the topics in a section in the right order – First, start with the basics. Then move to intermediate topics, and finally advanced topics. And, more importantly.
2. Learn each topic in 3 steps –
Step 1 – Learn the concepts related to each topic.
Step 2 – The most important part of learning – Learn how to apply these concepts using the right Strategy.
Step 3 – Practice questions to identify gaps in your understanding and work on covering them.
Recommended Read: The importance of Learning in the Right Order
How to Master the Right Strategy?
To master the right strategy, you must do the following two things –
Firstly, you need to learn the right strategy. Once you have learned the right strategy, you need to master it as well. To master it, you must apply the right strategy on around 50 questions consistently.
Secondly, to fine-tune your understanding, you must refer to solutions that apply the same approach to note down the variances and improve your understanding of the strategy. At GMATWhiz, we have ensured that we teach the right strategy and make sure that every solution uses the same Strategy in a detailed manner so that learning is much easier.
The Right Approach to Learn Each Topic in GMAT
We have already discussed why it is important to learn the right strategy for solving questions on GMAT. But, how will you identify the right method or strategy to solve those questions? If you want to follow a methodical approach to solve each question on GMAT, take a look at the right approach for various modules –
For Sentence Correction – Meaning-based approach
For Critical Reasoning – Pre-thinking approach
For Reading Comprehension – Involved reading approach
To know more about the best strategies on how to score well on GMAT, click here!
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