How to prepare for GMAT While Working?

Are you a working professional? Bored of the same designation! Do you want to change your profile? Then you should apply for an MBA after attempting the GMAT exam. According to recent trends, GMAT has gained popularity across the globe as it is one of the most popular ways to get into international B-schools for aspirants. Usually, B-schools look for candidates for MBA courses who possess work experience of more than two years. Hence, GMAT pools many working professionals together to study and gain expertise in office management. Now comes the elusive question which such professionals face – “How to prepare for GMAT while working?”

This is the first question which strikes your mind when you decide on taking the GMAT exam. Since you are an active member of working fraternity, so the following are the challenges which may derail your smooth GMAT preparation:

• Irregular Study Hours
• Being Rigid With The Plan And Burning Yourself Out
• Not Embracing Your Weaknesses
• Not Practicing Enough

It has been often seen that the GMAT aspirants who are working commit a few common mistakes and mull over obtaining a lesser GMAT score. It advisable not to commit these 5 Mistakes Committed by Working Professionals While Preparing for GMAT. Below we have suggested a few GMAT prep tips:

• Dedicate 2 Hours on a daily basis
• Lay a Strong Foundation of your Basics
• Take Mock Tests Regularly to help you self analyze your strengths and weaknesses
• Never Think of Quitting Job since this may reflect negatively with the adcom when you submit your application for admissions.

Here are some fundas of BYJU’S which will help you in beating the GMAT:

Dedicate 2 Hours:

The GMAT is a comprehensive test on topics like – “Verbal Reasoning, Analytical Writing, Quantitative Aptitude and Integrated Reasoning”. The exam acts as a benchmark to decide if a candidate is eligible to study at some of the top B-schools in the world. Accordingly, the level of difficulty in the exam would also be high. Therefore we strictly recommend you to study at least two hours a day. Slowly and gradually you could increase this time to 3 hours or 3.5 hours. You have to religiously dedicate one hour to quant and one hour to verbal preparation. And for Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) you can spend your weekend on writing articles. You can utilize your free time and break hours in office by reading a lot of articles; this will enable you to understand the nuances of writing and help you in enhancing your vocabulary. You could also utilize the commute time to learning simple Quantitative topics and vocabulary building exercises. Setting yourself small but achievable goals will definitely help you track the progress on your preparation.

Map out a Detailed Study Plan:

This aspect of preparing for the GMAT exam is certainly a crucial one. A clear and concise study plan will help you in many ways and make your task less daunting. You must ensure to divide your time appropriately for all sections of the test – Quant, Verbal, Analytical Writing and Integrated Reasoning. You could create weekly plans and check on a periodic basis on how far you have progressed since the beginning of your preparation. This will also be effective so that you don’t miss out on any important topics. Since you are already juggling a full-time job and preparing for the exam such small strategies will help you tremendously.

Lay a Strong Foundation of Basics:

GMAT is a time game and covers all the basic learnings from middle and high school in the quant and verbal syllabus. This will also prove beneficial since you have a time limit in the GMAT exam which you will have to take into account. Firstly understand the basics, then solve numerous questions based on that concept and gradually increase the level of difficulty in the questions you attempt. Since you have been isolated from studies for a long time say 4-5 years, give sufficient amount of time to your brain to learn tricks to solve questions within a limited time. Regular practice is the best way to overcome any initial anxiety you may face during preparation. You have to remember that the aim of GMAT is to evaluate the individuals on their skills in various sections and it not to discourage them in any way. As already listed above, the GMAT’s syllabus comprises of fundamental middle and high school math and verbal concepts. You can also rest assured that the exam pattern for GMAT tests skills which naturally belong to individuals with a few years of experience.

Take Mock Test Regularly:

Take the first GMAT mock test without any prior preparation for GMAT. This can help you in identifying how many months you require to prepare for the GMAT exam. Let’s say, you score around 500-600 without preparation, it is a positive indication that you require only 3 months for GMAT preparation. If you secure around 400-500 score then you may need to study religiously for 6 months. Mock tests also give you an idea of your weaknesses and strengths. You could accordingly plan your preparation ensuring that you devote enough time to improve on your weak topics. When you regularly attempt mocks they give you a clear idea of the testing conditions of GMAT like – the breaks, the timing required for each section, the no use of a calculator in the Quant section etc. You will also get accustomed to GMAT’s adaptive testing methods (i.e) The difficulty level of the next section depends on your performance in the previous section. If you have done well in the last section then the next section tends to be a bit more difficult and vice versa. There is not much you can do to overcome this aspect but you can only get familiar with the same. Lastly, the mock tests will give you an estimate about which score range you would fall in during the final exam.

Never Think of Quitting Job:

Quitting your job on the pretext of preparing for the GMAT is not a wise idea. It is true that it will be a difficult task to deal with both a full-time job and preparing for an exam. However, it is not an impossible job. You just have to do smart planning and work hard for the same. Besides if you quit this would end up reflecting negatively on your resume at the time of admissions. When you are receiving additional income it is recommended that you don’t jeopardize the same

BYJU’S will be glad to help you in your GMAT preparation journey. You can ask for any assistance related to GMAT and MBA from us by calling at 088845 44444, or you can write to us at gmat@byjus.com.

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