We often get questions from applicants wanting to hone their test taking skills in preparation for the GMAT. Needless to say, the test can cause great anxiety, especially should you not be able to achieve your target score in the first attempt or more. In view of that, if you want to increase your GMAT score, you might find some of our tips in this post useful.
Let me start with a short story. There was an MBA applicant, let’s call him Billy, who aspired to get into H/S/W but was having trouble with his practice tests leading up to his GMAT. His target score was 730 yet he was consistently scoring between 680-700, which he thought would not be sufficient for him to get into his dream schools. Therefore, Billy fretted and cried, and prayed and ranted about how life was being unfair to him. Then, as luck would have it, Billy ran into a wise old man, let’s call him Mr. Alderman. Mr. Alderman gave Billy a sheet of paper and whispered something into his ear. Low and behold, within a week, Billy was scoring between 730-750 on his practice tests and went on to score 750 on his GMAT. If you are interested in learning what Mr. Alderman whispered into Billy’s ear, continue to read on.
Mr. Alderman handed Billy a document he called GEL. Now, you may ask, what exactly is this GEL. GEL stands for GMAT Error Log. It’s a way for you to document your mistakes while practicing and also your explanation for why you made the mistake along with the correct answer. This is no rocket science, yet it is something that is not done by people enough. You can boost your GMAT score simply by maintaining a GEL. Some of the mistakes can be stupid mistakes whereas other things could be conceptual mistakes. Regardless, you need to capture each and every mistake and create an error log out of it. This can be extremely effective in order for you to ensure you are not repeating the same mistakes. As human beings, we have a tendency to do so. Let’s say you have your GMAT two days later, you may not want to go crazy studying. You can simply solve only the questions in your error log and ensure you are not making the same mistakes. Another great thing about maintaining an excel-based error log is that you can apply filters to look at specific types of problems such as RC (Reading Comprehension), etc.
To get you started, you can download a sample GMAT Error Log here. Feel free to customize it as per your preference and get cracking with the documentation. This simple practice alone, if executed religiously, can boost your score by 30 points or more. Don’t believe us? Ask Billy! 😉
