ManhattanGMAT Strategy Annex

Basic Strategies

Strategy #1: The early questions are important, but do NOT spend extra time on them. Early questions, as demonstrated above, are not intrinsically worth more than later questions. Here are the results from a study analyzing how important these questions are if you get the first 7 questions correct:

True Ability

Increase

200 – 500

60 points

500 – 800

23 points

This assumes that you get all of the first 7 questions correct, which is a highly unlikely scenario given the test’s adaptive format. Furthermore, if you spend more time on the first few questions and have to guess at the end of the exam, your score increase will turn into a score decrease, and any advantage you have accrued will wind up hurting you in the long run. Data from thousands of test-takers and produced by GMAC itself suggest that students who spend extra time focusing on the early questions tend to hurt rather than help their scores.

Strategy #2: Avoid randomly guessing. Employ educated guessing. If you do run out of time, never leave anything blank.

The GMAT will penalize you if you answer a question incorrectly, but will penalize you even further if you leave a question blank.

41 Questions Total

Score (%)

32 answered, 5 blanks

55%

32 answered, 5 random guesses (1 right, 4 wrong)

64%

37 answered (0 random guesses)

70%

This demonstrates exactly how important it is to pace yourself on the exam, making sure that you leave nothing randomly guessed or blank at the end of a section.

Strategy #3: When preparing for the GMAT, focus on mastering the content and getting the problem-solving process right, not your results.

You can sometimes get the right answer to a problem without understanding the fundamental principles involved. The only way to achieve a very high GMAT score is to master the content and problem-solving process, which can only happen through measured practice. It is tempting to focus only on the hardest questions you cannot solve, but you will benefit more if you truly master GMAT problems at every difficulty level. It’s also important not to be discouraged by early disappointments on practice exams.

Strategy #4: Have a Gameplan for each problem type and stick to it.
  • Set a time limit for each problem type. Use ManhattanGMAT’s timing guidelines as well as your practice exam history as a guide.
  • Plan an educated guessing strategy. Create a hierarchy of how you will eliminate answers for particular problems, particularly if you’re struggling on a particular question. Practice your approach and then have enough confidence to use it on test day.
  • Develop a scrap paper plan. Aside from helping you perform operations and eliminate answer choices, adopting a consistent plan for how you use your scrap paper will help keep you moving forward on test day, and reduce your stress and anxiety.

Advanced Strategies