Breaking the 700 Barrier: The GMAT Mindset
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The top 10 US b-schools now have average GMAT scores in the 700 to 730 range. That’s 90th percentile or higher—in other words, really high scores!
So, if you want a 700-level score, what does it take to get yourself into that range?
We’ll talk about what you need to do, but we’re also going to talk about what you need to NOT do. A lot of people harm their own chances (unknowingly!) by following paths that have very little chance of raising them to the 700 level.
And one caveat: I can’t guarantee that, if you follow what I say, you’ll get yourself into the 700+ range. By definition, only 10% of all GMAT test takers score in that range. What I can guarantee is that you’ll maximize your chances. 🙂
What is the GMAT really about?
The GMAT is ultimately a test of your business mindset. Yes, you have to know math formulas and grammar rules and other things—but these are just the surface level of the test. The makers of the GMAT (aka GMAC) are most interested in how you think.
What does that mean? Read this.
Seriously, go read it right now, then come back here. I’ll wait.
What did you learn? How does that change your understanding of what you need to do in order to do well on this test?
In short, the GMAT is a test of how flexibly you think and how well you make various decisions—including the decision not to work on a particular problem at all. If you’re going to hit a 700+ level on this test, you’ll need to employ a business mindset, both while you’re taking the test and while you’re studying.
Myths of the GMAT & The GMAT Mindset
Myth #1: I need to get a high percentage of the questions on the test correct in order to get a high score.
Let’s talk a little about what you’re not trying to do. First, it is not the case that your goal is to get all or most of the questions right. You’re going to answer approximately 60% of the questions correctly—whether you end up at a 500 or 600 or 700 level.
Think about how weird that is: the test is not scored based on percentage or number correct! It is not the case that a higher score means you got more right than the person sitting next to you.
That’s just bizarre! How can you get a better score if you got about the same number right?
In school, everyone took the same test, so the only way to differentiate was by the number each person answered correctly. But on the GMAT, everyone takes a different test. The GMAT is a computer adaptive test: it actually changes based on how you’re doing. It adapts to you while you’re taking it!
Think of it this way: if I’m trying to figure out at what level you’re capable of scoring, and I have a bunch of questions at different difficulty levels, one way to accomplish my goal is the following:
- I give you a problem. You get it right.
- I think, hmm. So you can do that one, can you? Well, how about this one? And I give you a harder one.
- You miss that one, so now I have a hypothesis: your scoring level is somewhere between the first one and the second one. So I give you a third problem that’s in the middle somewhere to see how you do on that one.
- Basically, the test is triangulating based on what you can do and what you cannot do. (And it’s actually even more complicated than what I described above, but that’s good enough for our purposes.)
So, myth #1 busted: Your goal is not your school goal to get most of the test right. That’s impossible, because the GMAT is explicitly trying to find the level at which you cannot answer questions correctly. And it will, even for someone scoring in the 99th percentile. 🙂
Myth #2: The earlier questions on the test are particularly important.
When someone grasps how the test really does work, the next question I hear is, “Oh, so the earlier questions are super important! They ‘set’ your level or your trajectory, right?”
Actually, that’s another myth. I understand why it arose; I thought the exact same thing when I first started learning about adaptive tests. As I dug more into the complex theory that governs adaptive tests, though, I realized both why people intuitively think that and why it’s not correct.
Still, I run into this myth all the time, so I’m here to tell you: There’s something else going on.
The GMAT is what’s called a “Where you end is what you get” test. You could lift your score up to a 51 (the very top score for quant or verbal) by the middle of the section, but if your performance has dropped to the 40-level by the time that section ends, then your score is going to be 40. It’s not going to be an average of 40 and 51. It’s just a straight-up 40.
Here’s what happens to someone who believes “the earlier questions are more important” myth:
- “I’m still early, so I’ve got to get this right. Hmm. I’m not really sure how to do this one. Maybe if I try it this way…” 4 minutes later, I have an answer.*
- I do this for the first 5 or 7 or 10 questions in the section.** By that time, I’m significantly behind on time.
- For the last 5 to 10 questions in the section, I have to rush and guess just to finish on time.
- My score tanks at the end. And where you end is what you get (henceforth known as WYEIWYG). 🙁
*By the way, spending a bunch of extra time doesn’t even guarantee that I’ll get it right. In fact, if I need 4 minutes to answer a problem that’s supposed to average 1 to 2 minutes (depending on the problem type), then my chances of getting it right actually decrease. Something’s wrong if I need that much time—there’s something that I don’t really know how to do, or it wouldn’t take me that long.
**Think about what it would take to answer the first 5 or 7 or 10 questions in a row correctly. The first question is going to start out somewhere in the mid-range (around 50th percentile). You get that right, and you’re going to get a harder one. And then you keep doing that, problem after problem. Before too long, the questions you’re getting are up in the stratosphere!
So, myth #2 busted.
Now, if you know how to answer stratosphere-type questions correctly and in normal time, then you’re going to get a great score on the GMAT…in which case, “make sure to get the early questions right” isn’t even a strategy you need. You just already know how to do these questions, even the super hard ones. That’s maybe 0.5% of the population. For the rest of us, this just isn’t going to happen.
The test writers are actively going to give you things that are too hard or will take too long to do. They want to see whether you have the presence of mind to recognize that this question is a bad question for you—your ROI (return on investment) potential is too low. And they want to know whether you have the discipline to walk away from a low-opportunity question.
In other words, they want to know how good of a business person you are! Your ultimate goal is not to get everything right. Your ultimate goal is to demonstrate your “business mindset.”
Make your own choices as you take the exam, deciding as you go what is and is not promising enough to warrant your precious time and mental energy. Do not become a victim of the “first 5/7/10 questions” myth! Remember WYEIWYG.
In other words, use your business mindset to help you maximize your ROI on this test.
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Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California. Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here.