My Experience with the GMAT

The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is an entrance exam for business school. This post will not make much sense unless you are familiar with the format of the GMAT. A simple Google search should suffice.

I’ve had several friends reach out to me asking about the GMAT. Here’s a brain dump of everything I could think of related to my experience with the GMAT. Hopefully at least some of it is helpful.

I took the GMAT on August 21, 2019. My last day of work at EY was July 11, and I moved back to Utah/did some relaxing between July 11 and August 21, so realistically I had about 2-3 weeks of studying under my belt when I took the test. I hadn’t taken a math class (or done anything with math, really) in four years, so my math was really rusty and a lot of my time was spent recovering the math I once knew.

Here’s how I prepared & my thoughts on each:

• Took some official GMAT practice tests (they give you 2 free ones with your account when you sigh up to take the GMAT, and you can pay for up to 4 more)
• This was super helpful, I highly recommend it. These are actual GMAT questions that are now retired, which means they are a great representation of what the actual test is like.
• Watched a ton of GMAT Ninja videos on Youtube
• They’re by a guy named Charles Bibbilos. He’s amazing. I highly recommend both his quant and verbal videos.
• Paid for the GMAT question bank online
• Also super helpful. Official GMAT questions are so much better than any other test prep company’s. For Quant it doesn’t matter as much (see my discussion of Magoosh below), but for Verbal, if you need more practice, don’t turn to other test companies, always go to the official GMAT ones first.
• Watched some Khan academy videos on probability and combinatorics
• This was so helpful. Probability makes actual sense to me now. If you are struggling with some of the more challenging quant topics, make Khan Academy the first place you go to for help.
• Worked through the Princeton Review’s GMAT prep book (platinum edition, I think)?
• I personally didn’t find this very helpful
• Worked through the Official GMAT Guide book (the printed version)
• This also wasn’t that helpful for me

I was aiming for a 760 and I’d scored 730/770/770/750 across my practice exams so I was pretty optimistic going into the exam. But about 5 questions into the quant section (which was my first section of the GMAT) I had a panicky thought along the lines of “this test is the one and only determinant of my future” and I started being a perfectionist on the exam (completely disregarding the time and not moving onto the next question until I was positive the current one was correct) which did not bode well for me on quant.

Here’s how I scored:

• Composite: 730/800 (96th percentile)
• Quant 48/51 (67th percentile)
• Verbal 41/51 (94th percentile)
• IR 8/8 (92nd percentile)
• AWA 6/6 (88th percentile)

Walking out of the GMAT, I was a little disappointed because I was aiming for a 760 (to get into my “dream school”), so I ordered an Enhanced Score Report (detailed breakdown of what kind of questions you missed, how much time you spent on each question, etc.) and signed up to take it again, 3 weeks later.

The biggest takeaway from my ESR was that I tanked the geometry questions (I got a 20%!) and my pacing on the quant section was poor. I figure I’d taken the test once so I knew what to expect, and I could refresh some geometry and get my quant up to a 50 or 51, keep my verbal at around a 41 and be in the 760 range. Math had been a strength of mine growing up, so I know I could score better with a little bit of practice.

During those 3 weeks, school had started and I was in a math class and a statistics class, both of which were super helpful in getting my math skills back. I needed more practice with geometry but I ran out of GMAT official questions, so I did some research and found that Magoosh (a test prep company) has really great geometry questions. Magoosh has a “50 point score bump or your money back” guarantee so I figured either I’d get a 780 or I’d get my money back, and I was ok with either alternative. So I signed up for that bad boy and cranked through all of their geometry questions. And most of their probability questions. Which was so painful but so helpful.

So here we are, September 12, 2019, my second GMAT test day. Here’s how I scored:

• Composite: 700/800 (88th percentile)
• Quant 51/51 (96th percentile)
• Verbal 33/51 (68th percentile)
• IR 8/8 (92nd percentile)
• AWA wasn’t graded because I canceled my score

That was an interesting score. I achieved my goal of a perfect quant! As I was taking the quant section, I felt pretty confident and I got to some difficult probability questions at the end, so I knew I was doing pretty well. But I made the mistake of taking this test in the afternoon, and I was exhausted after quant, so I totally blew the verbal section and that score went in the trash.

After canceling that score and sitting on my 730 for a while, I talked to some really amazing people who had gone to UNC and decided that’s where I wanted to go. I thought I’d need a 760 for UNC, so I asked some friends at UNC if I should retake the GMAT. They responded with a resounding NO. So I ended up applying with my 730 and got into UNC, which has been the most amazing program and the best place for me. (I also got my money back from Magoosh because I obviously didn’t score the 780)

 Here’s the tl;dr version:

• Watch the GMAT Ninja videos on Youtube for good strategy tips
• Do Official GMAT practice questions only (if you can get away with that)
• Don’t freak out on test day; don’t be a perfectionist because if you’re really stuck, you’re probably wasting time on a “test question” (the ones that don’t count) anyway
• Watch Khan Academy videos for help with probability/combinatorics. This was so helpful.
• If you need extra geometry (or any quant) practice, consider Magoosh

Special note for those in the BYU SoA PhD Prep Track (if that doesn’t mean anything to you, ignore this next section):

• Definitely take Econ 378 before the GMAT! The math review, combinatorics, and probability sections are so helpful in prepping for the quant section.
• If you plan to work before starting a PhD program, take the GMAT while you’re still in school or shortly after graduating. Those math skills slip away fast.

That’s all, folks! The GMAT is incredibly difficult and humbling, but don’t be discouraged! Good luck!