To achieve a high GMAT score, you need to have a strong foundation for GMAT concepts (concept mastery) and effective time usage (time mastery)
At Prep Zone, we spend a lot of time focusing on the latter. In fact, our trainers consider concept mastery to be worth 30% of your GMAT prep, while the remaining 70% is time mastery.
If I remove the time component for my GMAT students after 2 months, most would score 680+; yet less than 20% reach 680+ with the time component.
Here are 5 simple tips to help you do better on time management:
Tip #1. Learn to read faster
The average reading speed is ~250 words per minute (wpm). Consider that some GMAT questions are very text-heavy, learning to read faster will help with your processing speed.
Ideally, you want to learn to read at a ~400 – 500 words per minute (yes, it’s feasible!). This would make a significant difference during your actual test.
To improve your reading speed, head to readspeeder.com and start practicing!
Reading faster will improve your processing time and provide more time to actually work on the question – pretty simple!
Tip #2. Time yourself, and improve your timing.
Candidates with the best scores will also answer a question much faster than others.
To practice your answering speed, create series of 10 questions in advance and measure how long it takes for you to answer them.
As you progress, reduce the allocated time.
You can start with slightly more than 20min per series with the goal to end up at ~18 min per series
Tip #3. Learn when to give up.
Like a trader who has taken a wrong position, it’s important to cut the losses and move on.
If you find yourself spending too long on a question that you have no idea how to solve, save your time and move on to the next question.
Tip #4. Skip questions (strategically).
Sometimes, it’s best to purposely skip questions (aka randomly answering them).
The key for a top GMAT score is to balance accuracy and time.
It is better to answer correctly to 8 questions out of 10 (having randomly answered the 10th one) than answering correctly only to 6 or 7 questions because you were rushing out of time
Tip #5. Cut time on your practice tests.
One key thing you need to do is to regularly do timed, full-length practice tests. Not only will this be beneficial to your concept mastery, you will also build confidence for the real thing.
Once you achieve your target score on practice tests, do it again, but cut out ~10% of the allocated time.
That will surely boost your confidence!
Free GMAT Consultation
At Prep Zone Academy, we take pride in having a team of experienced GMAT trainers who have all achieved scores in the 99th percentile, making us the leading GMAT training team in Singapore. Our comprehensive GMAT course syllabus is meticulously crafted to assist busy candidates in pinpointing their weaknesses and reaching their target scores within any timeframe they have. Many working professionals have successfully scored 715 (new GMAT score) after just 2-3 weeks of intensive lessons with us.
Reach out to us today to discover how we can help you achieve your dream score! Here’s how we can assist you:
- Create a personalised plan tailored to help you achieve your desired GMAT score.
- Identify your weaknesses and develop a strategy to overcome score barriers.
- Guide you through the MBA admissions process and support you with your application.
- And so much more!
To arrange a conversation with our trainers, simply use the contact form on our page or complete the consultation form provided. We will respond as soon as we are available.
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