Can I cancel my GMAT score and should I?

Dear First Choice Admissions.  I’m going to take the GMAT test in about a week and I’m very nervous.  If I totally blow it, can I can cancel my score?

Dear George-

Yes, the GMAT can be very nerve racking but it’s reassuring to know that if you have a disastrous attempt you can, indeed, cancel your score.  In fact, the GMAT will let you look at your quant and verbal scores before you make the decision.  And if you do decide to cancel your score there will be no record of the attempt – it’s like it never happened. The schools you’re applying to will not even know you took it.

The more important question is:  Should you cancel your score? The predictable yet unsatisfying answer to that question is….it depends.

First of all, most students I work with take the test on average 2-3 times and admissions departments know this –so don’t get too caught up in making it look like you were a brilliant test taker right out of the gate.  That’s much less important than submitting a score that makes you competitive for your target schools.

Also, most of the students I work with are shooting for scores in the 700+ range.  And they tend to be in that range on practice tests.  So if a student gets a 650, it’s a pretty easy decision.  They cancel the score.  But what if you want a 700+ score and get a 680?  It get’s a bit more complicated.

First of all, depending on how strong the other areas of your application are –  a 680 can be a very competitive score.  There will be lots of students admitted to top 10 schools with scores of 680 (and some below).   In that case, I’d keep the score and take the test again and try to improve.

If you are way off your target score (by 30 or more points) AND you have consistently posted better scores on practice tests, my general advice is to go ahead and cancel your score.

The other thing that might persuade you to keep a score that is a bit lower is if you performed particularly well on a section that you needed to perform particularly well on.  I had a student who was a political science major and worked in the state department for a number of years.  He didn’t have a strong quant background and needed to post a very good score on the quant section of the test.  He got a 680 overall but got a 49 on the quant.  So He kept the score and got into an Ivy League School.

The other thing to keep in mind is that you can take the GMAT a total of 5 times in a year and a total of 8 times in a lifetime.  If you are on your 4th attempt, I would lean more toward keeping the score (unless it’s a absolute disaster and you KNOW you can do better) and then try to improve on your last attempt.

I hope that helps, George.  And good luck!

GMAT Tutoring: Learn How You Learn Best

Going through all of the materials at your own pace, on your own time. Taking a semi-private online class, with no more than three other people. One on one GMAT tutoring with someone who not only devised the GMAT test prep that they use at UCLA, but also has a Wharton MBA himself. Those are just a few of the options available for how you can prepare for the GMAT. At First Choice Admissions, we can help you to get ready for the GMAT no matter what your learning style is.

One on One GMAT Tutoring

This is exactly what it sounds like. These private sessions, just you and the instructor, last roughly 90 minutes. We’re quite confident that this will help you to better prepare for the test. We’re so confident, in fact, that we offer a money back guarantee after one session, should it not completely change the way that you think about the test. If you want to talk it over ahead of time, that’s fine, too! You can do a free half hour consultation to lay out exactly what you’re hoping to get out of this, and answer any questions that you might have.

Semi-Private Classes
“Semi-private” is one of those words that have been abused in the past. “Semi-private” does not mean a dozen people, nor does it mean ten, eight, six, or even five. To us, “semi-private” means two to four people. That’s it. We don’t open these classes up, hope two to four people sign up, and then just keep adding folks. No, we cut them off at four people. That way, everyone can get the help, assistance, and attention that they need. You know that feeling when you’re in a class, you have a question, but you don’t ask it? That doesn’t happen in this class. In this class, you have the space you need to succeed.

A Classroom Where You Are
Even better, you don’t have to travel for these online classes. You don’t have to head out to some location, thus taking even more time out of your busy schedule. No, these classes meet online via Zoom. That means that anywhere can be your classroom. Better still, these classes are taught entirely, 100% live. So, it’s not like recorded classes, where you might have a question but not be able to ask it since it’s pre-recorded. If you want something explained better, greater clarification, or have any other kind of question, you can bring it up in real time. We are, quite literally, here for you.

Self-Study and More
While our students have had incredible success with the tutoring and online classes, we understand that not every student learns their best through classes. That’s why we also have books and self-study materials available. That way, everyone who wants to better prepare for the GMAT can do so. If you’re ready to get ready for the GMAT, you can choose the option that best fits you at our site. Should you have more questions, call  info@firstchoiceadmissions.com.

What is the best strategy for guessing on the GMAT?

As you are probably aware, the GMAT is an adaptive test.  It determines the next question to give you based on if you got the last question right or wrong.  Get the question right, your score goes up but you get a harder question next time.  Get the question wrong, your score goes down but you get an easier question next time.  There is both good news and bad news in this wacky world of algorithm scoring.

Bad News

The bad news is that the test will quickly figure out how good you are and give you questions designed to always be just at the edge of your ability.  If you have a good run through the test, you should feel like you’ve been hit by a truck.  If you thought the test was easy – look out – you might have had difficulty getting the test to trigger hard questions.  Remember, your score is NOT primarily driven by how many questions you get right and wrong.  Your score is primarily driven by how HARD the questions are that you get right and wrong.  Most test takers, regardless  of their score, will miss about 1/3 of the questions on the quant and about 1/3 of the questions on the verbal portions of the test.

Good news!

 
The good news is that you will miss a bunch of questions regardless of how you score. That can be used to your advantage.  One difference between a very good test taker a novice test taker is that the novice test taker mostly allows the GMAT to dictate which questions he or she gets right or wrong.

An experienced test taker takes more control – quickly guessing on questions he/she knows will take too much time or questions that target a weakens and therefore offers a lower chance of getting a right answer.

Guessing on questions and moving quickly along is a critical skill to develop.  It feels just awful at first.  We are taught from a young age that the way you do well on tests is to get as many questions right as you can.  Guessing damages your score.

On a conventional test that’s true, but the GMAT is not conventional.  As you practice guessing on practice tests you’ll see that your score will actually go UP as you get more savvy about guessing.   I know…but it’s true.

Remember, in the middle of the test getting one right/one wrong (a 50/50 chance) is good.  That pattern won’t really affect your score.  Your job isn’t to get all the answers right.  Your job is to avoid stringing lots of wrong answers together in a row (getting strings of answers wrong in a row is what kills your score).  Getting the answer down to 2 choices is your job in the middle of the test.

Two precious things
On the GMAT you have two things that are equally precious to you:  1) correct answers and 2) time.  You are always trading one off for the other.  The better you get at trading those two things off, the higher your score.

On the GMAT, selecting answers is much more like placing bets in Las Vegas than taking a calculus test in college.  Your job is to increase the odds of getting a right answer as much as you can in as little time as possible.  Sometimes, you won’t increase your odds to 100% certainty.  You won’t have enough time to do that.   Instead, get the odds as good as you can in about 2 minutes or so.

Evaluating your practice tests
As you evaluate your test strategy on your practice tests, look for four things.

First, how many of the first 8 questions did you get right?  To score very well you only need to get 4-6 correct.   If you got the first 4 wrong in a row you will probably have a very difficult time getting the test to trigger harder questions.

Second, how many strings of 3 or more wrong answers in a row do you have?  You will definitely get a bunch of questions wrong.  That’s a given.  It matters a lot WHEN those wrong answers occur.  We want the wrong answers spread out – sprinkled lightly though out a sea of correct answers.  Strings of wrong answers in a row kill your score.

Third, how many questions did you take 3:30+ minutes on?  Taking too long on any one question is a rookie mistake.  Usually no question is worth 3:30 or more.  If you take 3:30 or longer on a question there are only 2 outcomes and both are bad.  The first outcome is you take 3:30 and get the question wrong.  The second outcome is that you take 3:30 seconds and get the question right.  That triggers a harder question – can you image how hard that question will be and how much time that question will take you to do?  You are playing the test above your ability.  You need to bring the test back down.  Remember:  beat the test, DON’T beat the question.

Fourth, how much time did you have left for the last 10 questions?  It’s okay to be tight on time but if you go into the last 10 question with 5 minutes left you are just opening the door for the penalty monster!  Sometimes even the more experienced test taker can get caught in that trap.  If you have 7 questions left and only 6 minutes, don’t try and do all the questions.  Target every other question.  Remember, your job is to avoid getting 3 or more questions wrong in a row.

Finally, don’t spend too much energy trying to figure out if you are doing well or if the questions seem too hard or too easy.  First it’s hard to judge that. Second, a bunch of the question are experimental and the GMAT is just gathering data.  And you won’t know which ones are real and which ones are experimental.

Zen

But most importantly, try and keep your mind focus on what you can control and what you are doing.   The GMAT is going to give you whatever question it decides to give you.  You can’t control that so don’t worry about it. Your job is to decide if you want to tackle the question and how much time you want to spend on it.  Focus on doing that question. Then move on to the next one.

A GMAT Class with the Right Focus

We understand that there are many different ways to prepare for the GMAT. Maybe you have a study method that’s served you well in the past, or perhaps you know someone that’s taken the GMAT in the past that would like to help you. As much as those can seem like they’d be helpful, we’ve found that those kinds of methods can lead to lower scores than you would like. Being able to study and prepare is an important, invaluable skill, but you have to be studying the right thing to have success. If you’re going over the wrong information or methods, no matter how diligent you are, it could ultimately harm your scores. Our GMAT class focuses on what’s most important.

GMAT Class About English, Math, and More

Yes, we can help you to improve your English and math. However, so many of our students are shocked when they find that the math and English that we teach them is basically stuff they learned before in high school. To be clear, it’s not just “in high school,” but most often “early in high school,” like say freshman or sophomore year. You probably knew this stuff before you ever went to Junior Prom. Obviously, we help you to get back up to speed on it, so that you know it (literally) like the back of your hand. However, there’s so much more to this test than just the English and math.

The Information to Take the Test
 
Taking the GMAT isn’t like taking any other test. Really, it’s not even like any other test of your English and math skills. It’s much more about being able to look at the questions and break them down quickly, being able to fully decode them without getting bogged down, lost, or confused. We can teach you to do exactly that. See, when you can find the inferences in a hurry, you can figure out exactly what it is you need to do.

What Can Happen Without the Proper Training

We can’t tell you how many students we’ve talked to who have taken the GMAT in the past, only to be completely flummoxed by it when they sat down to take it. To be clear, these were hard workers, smart people, who had done plenty of prep, whether from companies other than ours or through other means. What they found was that the GMAT was unlike any other kind of test. It took them too long to figure out exactly what it was that the problem was asking, if they ever did. By the time they did so, it was too late to devote as much time and space to later questions. We can help you to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Unlocking Your Best Preparation

The GMAT is a pressure cooker. The time limits are strict. The stakes are high. With our classes and other study methods, you can be as prepared for it as possible. Learn more by calling us at info@firstchoiceadmissions.com.

Gmat Test Prep Courses To Prepare Yourself For Future Managers

Gmat – we all know, how important it is to clear in order to get the best and amazing MBA colleges all around the world. Well, if you are interested to study MBA and to become the best future managers to work on your favourite company or run your own business, you should prepare to qualify the most important exam, called – Gmat.

Are you the one need help to prepare for the same? Or don’t know which institute to join to get quick help to learn all the tactics to clear the test? Well, you should concentrate on online Gmat classes and get ready to prepare yourself for the exam. With the right and reliable preparation, you can easily score high and this will surely be the turning point for your career, hence go for it and have fun. Why online gmat class? Well, this is something will give you full support to go for the fantastic study right from the comfort of your home and you won’t get distract at all. No matter where you are located, if you are looking for world-class best teachers and study materials, you should concentrate on right online institute and meet up with them via video call and learn everything without any hassle.

Online classes are the best as this will be designed as per your convenience and time availability and at the same time you can get ready to prepare for the Gmat in a great ambiance. What about the fees and other facilities? Well, you can find out the right institute online will help you to prepare for your exam, let you know the best tricks, and have amazing study materials will make your study easier and in a creative manner. Surely, the competition is very tough, hence it is very important to go with the smart work and get quick help in qualifying the exam in a better manner. It is a high time to turn your weakness into your strength and this will only happen if you have the best teacher with you.

Why don’t you go with the suggested online center will help you with the gmat test prep courses and arrange good data and study materials for you will enable you to get ready for GMAT success. Everything that you attempt is tagged and tracked and pros will help you with the best tricks and suggest you to be taken the best moves to crack the exam. At the same time, you will get precise and actionable insights will get you over from your weakness, improve your speed and get great ways on how to crack the most complex questions. So, just go for it and get ready to learn everything right from your home to become a very successful future manager.

Gmat test prep online to start your MBA journey with great college

Are you looking to pursue MBA with the top school and take your career to the next level? Well, this won’t be so easy, hence it is very important to prepare tightly and beat the competition fast. The students will need to clear GMAT exam, which will surely be very tough, but not impossible to get great score. If you are looking for amazing and quick help so that you can prepare for the tests immediately and without moving here and there, just go with the online gmat preparation and crack the exam with the best score.

Yes, online classes are the best as they will save you a lot of time so that you can concentrate on your studies without going here and there, it will be affordable, and you will get all the convenience where you can prepare for the exam right from the comfort of your home. As we all know that time is everything and there is nothing bigger than time, hence you should plan for gmat test prep online and save your time so that you can devote all your time to your studies. You can be the best future managers and work with great MNCs if you are passed out from the reputed college, hence your target to get the best score, which you can easily obtain by meeting up with the top professionals online and follow their guidance.

If you are serious about a future career in business, you better be serious for GMAT as MBA enrolments globally are made using a GMAT score. Go with the online classes, which will exactly like offline classes will help you to prepare to score high right from the comfort of your home. No matter what time suits you for online session, the place or anything else, you can easily expect everything according to you. Your gre prep online classes will be very interactive due to its visually appealing and amazingly interactive out video lessons ensure that effective while studying than when using a book. The right online classes will make you focus on the right elements, teach you how to apply everything that you learn, let you know about the time management and give you feedback in real time to ensure that you self-correct.

There are various tips one can expect to have, which will help them to study smart, remember all the formulas and things they need to know to crack the exams and other things will be very helpful for them. Hence, join the best online classes and if you want to have a great reference, just check out the suggested source and enrol today to get ultimate help and support to prepare for the test in an ultimate manner.