GMAT Starter Pack

Read through our Knewton GMAT Starter Pack for advice from our teachers about month-by-month study plans, acing the AWA, and mak-ing the most of your time on test day. We’ll also throw in a super-tough GMAT Verbal question to test your skills.

In the Knewton GMAT online course, we cover all the techniques you need to do your best on test day—from the building blocks of GMAT grammar and math rules to the strategies that 700-level scorers need to master.

To keep your GMAT momentum going, we’ll follow up by sending you strategy tips for every section of the exam. Stay tuned, and happy studying!

Here’s a guide to get you started.

Getting ready to prep for the GMAT?

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Tip #1: Should I study Quant and Verbal at the same time?

Dave Ingber Lead Knewton GMAT Teacher B.A. Harvard

We get this question a lot from Knewton students, and there’s a very simple answer:

Yes.

While studying Verbal and Quant separately might lead to high section scores in the short term, in the long term this strategy is much less effective. If mastering the GMAT were as simple as memorizing groups of facts, like memorizing all the U.S. states and then all the Canadian provinces, it would make sense to plan your studies sequentially. However, memorization is not a big part of the GMAT (except for certain handy-to-know items like idioms and common squares). It’s much more important to build all your test-taking skills in combination. Studying for the GMAT is like working your muscles—if you do a month of chin ups, and then a month of sit ups, the rippling shoulders and biceps you built up after the first month will have faded away by end of the second month. In GMAT terms, your Quant skills might be chiseled and strong on test day, but you won’t have the same endurance on the Verbal section that you had at the end of your training a month earlier. That’s why most GMAT classes (like ours) are structured to develop your Quant and Verbal knowledge in tandem: one lesson covers Sentence Correction AND Quant strategy, the next lesson covers number properties AND Reading Comprehension, and so on. This ensures that you build a steady foundation for each section of the test—and it prevents the burnout you might feel from immersing yourself in GMAT verbal questions for an entire month! If you’re studying on your own, you should structure your preparation the same way. Vary your work with Quant and Verbal exercises, and use your drills for each question type to give you a break from all the others. That way, your GMAT muscles will be strong and evenly developed when exam day comes along.

How Knewton helps: We create a study plan for you—so you only have to worry about the learning part. Our classes cover all the concepts you need to succeed on the GMAT, in a sequence that’s been proven successful time and time again.

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Tip #2: How long should I spend studying for the GMAT?

Jonathan Bethune Knewton GMAT Verbal Teacher B.S. New York University

This is another big question from students trying to plan their study schedule, application cycle, and GMAT test date. The short answer, of course, is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. That said, at Knewton we generally recommend a prep period of around three months. It gives you enough time to build a solid foundation in every key area of GMAT study, but not so much time that you’ve burned out by the time exam day rolls around. If a 3-month study schedule is something you’re considering, here are some guidelines and tips for spending your time wisely: Week 1: Take a diagnostic practice test to see where you stand overall. Learn the basic parameters of each section including scoring and question types. Weeks 2–4: Do as many practice problems as possible for each section and read explanations for any wrong answers. The goal is not just to see whether you are better at Verbal or Quant, but specifically which sections (Critical Reasoning, Sentence Correction) and which question types (strengthening arguments, usage of idioms) are the most difficult for you. Weeks 4–8: Now that you have a lot of practice questions under your belt, you want to focus on the bigger ideas behind them. If Sentence Correction is killing you, work through a good guide to essential GMAT grammar rules. If Data Sufficiency algebra is your weak spot, then crack open a math textbook and brush up on your fundamentals. During this middle phase you should keep doing practice problems for every section—not just the ones you struggle with!—but the real goal should be mastering the content. Weeks 9–12: For the last month, focus on strategy. We recommend doing this last because strategies are what you will want to have in your head if you ever get stuck on the content of a question. Try plugging in numbers on the Problem Solving section. Work on sketching quick outlines for passages in RC. Practice negating assumptions in CR. These methods don’t involve mastery of any GMAT material, but they can save you serious time once you have them down. In addition to strategy work, review any math or grammar content that still feels foggy during this period, and be sure to take one more practice test before the last week. Final Week: The final week before the GMAT is best spent working on your timing strategies. Complete entire sections of the GMAT and time yourself so that you have a sense of how long you should spend on each question type. Don’t try to learn complex new math concepts or test-taking strategies during this period; instead, prepare yourself mentally and emotionally by getting more sleep and maintaining healthy eating habits. Shorten your study sessions and

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reduce your stress, but make time to review the essentials. As you study, be sure to remember:

• Consistency and routine are your friends. Try to study at the same time each day, and be sure to pace yourself. Studying every other night for between 45 minutes and two hours will allow for much more long-term retention of content than weekly cram-fests and all-nighters.

• Try to cover each section every time you study. We definitely do not recommend spending a month solely on verbal and then a month on math (see previous tip!). Follow up Critical Reasoning lessons with Data Sufficiency questions to keep everything fresh in your mind.

• Focus on your weaknesses. While you certainly shouldn’t neglect math for verbal or vice versa, you may focus more on one section if you find that you lose considerably more points in that area.

• Work repetition into your schedule. This will ensure whatever you learn at the start of the three months is still in your head at the end.

• Don’t overemphasize practice tests. Full-length practice tests are an important part of any GMAT prep regimen, but it’s important not to overdo. One full test every other week is more than enough. Three tests over the course of three months is also a sensible structure. Don’t panic if you get a bad score on a practice test, nor celebrate too much if you get a good score on one. Whatever scores you find yourself getting, focus more on the questions you miss than on the actual score. The point of taking practice tests is to improve, not to predict the future.

How Knewton helps: Three months is enough time to complete the Knewton course, should you choose to invest in it. The course will provide you with pacing practice and a consistent structure—both keys to successful GMAT prep.

• Each class will build upon your Quant and Verbal skills until you feel totally prepared for the test

• You’ll get exactly the guidance you need from your teachers and TAs • Our adaptive learning platform tracks your weaknesses for you and recommends

what to study next, so you can focus solely on improving Plus, if after 3 months you still feel unprepared, you’ll still have 9 more months left in your Knewton membership to review, do practice problems, and attend more classes.

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Tip #3: The Top 10 GMAT Time Savers

Kyle Hausmann Knewton GMAT Teacher B.A. Harvard University

Time management is key to conquering the GMAT; after all, test takers only have an average of two minutes to spend on each question. But saving time isn’t just about answering the hard questions in less time—it’s also about answering easier questions faster. Every second you save is an extra second to use on a hard problem later on. And believe it or not, there are easy ways to save time on many types of questions, without sacrificing accuracy. Knewton’s Top 10 Time Management Tips 10. Don’t untangle complicated language unless you have to. If you come upon a few lines in a reading passage that are all “tied up,” don’t waste time untying them. Just get the gist and keep reading. If a question asks about those lines, you can always go back and figure out what is going on then; but if no question deals with them, untangling would have been a waste of time. Like all the time savers in this list, the idea is to keep moving—and to go back only if you absolutely have to. 9. Look at the verb. When a Reading Comprehension question asks for the primary/main purpose of a question, that purpose is often expressed by infinitives in the answer choices. For example, possible answers might include, “to explain a complicated scientific concept,” “to suggest a new application of a scientific theory,” and “to advocate for a new application of a scientific theory.” Before considering the complete answer choice, try to eliminate choices just by looking at the verbs. Verbs like encourage, argue, suggest, support, advocate, etc. represent a strong agenda on the author’s part. If the passage is only presenting information, you can immediately eliminate choices with those verbs. A choice with a verb like summarize or report could be the correct choice. 8. Learn keyboard shortcuts. If you don’t know what CTRL-X means, learn! Some particularly important shortcuts to know: Copy by pressing CONTROL and C (CTRL-C) at the same time; paste by pressing CTRL-V. CTRL-X cuts. CTRL-Z is undo, and CTRL-Y is redo. If you are used to using keyboard shortcuts, note that not all of them will work. (I like to use CTRL-Up/Down Arrow to jump between paragraphs, but that won’t work on the GMAT.) So whether you are used to using the keyboard in this way or not, download the official GMAT practice test at mba.com and practice keyboard shortcuts as you write your AWA essays. You’ll definitely be moving things around in your essay. These shortcuts can help you do that faster, leaving more time to hone your diction and develop your ideas. 7. Guess and move on! Sometimes you just don’t know the answer. Or you know you would get it if you spent five minutes on the problem, but five minutes is too long. Staring at a problem you aren’t solving is a huge waste of time. If you’ve been working (really working) on

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a problem for 3 minutes, stop and ask yourself if you will be done in 30 seconds. If the answer is no, guess and move on. And if you have been staring at a question for 60-90 seconds and still don’t know what to do, the same is true: It’s time to guess and move on. 6. Zoom out from reading comprehension passages. If a question asks about the “occipital lobe,” try literally drawing back the focus of your eyes to see the whole passage, registering each place the phrase “occipital lobe” appears. This is a skill that can be improved with practice. RC passages can take up a lot of time if you have to read through them again and again—this skill can help you find what you need without rereading. 5. Compare answer choices. Answer choices are often grouped together. Look at what makes the choices similar and what makes them different. So, if on a sentence correction question, two choices begin with “its” and three begin with “their,” you have a 2/3 split. The antecedent of the pronoun will either be singular or plural, and once you know which one is correct, you can eliminate the incorrect choices right away. 4. Pick a strategy. Sometimes there will be multiple ways to solve a problem. You might be able to tell that testing cases will get you to the right answer, with a little work. So will solving algebraically, although that doesn’t seem super quick either. Rather than wasting time debating the relative efficiency, just pick a strategy and stick to it. 3. Don’t solve! This one is obvious but often overlooked. Data Sufficiency problems ask you to say when you have enough information to answer the question in the prompt, not to actually compute the answer. Sometimes you need to work all the way to a solution, but often, all you need to know is how to get the solution – and whether you could do so with the information provided. In these cases, actually solving is a waste of valuable time. 2. Be confident. If you know the right answer, stick with it. Often on, say, a Problem Solving question, you’ll need to figure out the right answer before you even get to the choices. Don’t waste time second-guessing yourself when you see a different answer that looks appealing; you studied for this, you did the question properly. Select your answer and proceed to the next question. 1. Know your s#!&. This one is on the obvious side, but too important to leave off the list. The most important thing you can do to prepare for the GMAT is to understand all the concepts tested and to be familiar with all the question types. There is no magic formula—the best strategy is to spend a lot of time beforehand practicing and familiarizing yourself with the various concepts and question formats.

How Knewton helps: Knewton’s course is built to make sure you incorporate these tips into your everyday practice (in other words: you’ll know your s#!& on test day). With practice, strategies like comparing answer choices can become second nature, and you’ll cruise through “hard” problems without wasting a second.

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Extra Challenge Question: GMAT Critical Reasoning Now that you’ve read through just a few of our GMAT tips, try out this tricky Critical Reasoning question. Over 67.6% of Knewton students miss it on the first try, so it’s a great way to see where you stand. If you get it wrong, don’t worry—you have plenty of time to hone your skills. Question: A newborn kangaroo, or joey, is born after a short gestation period of only 39 days. At this stage, the joey’s hind limbs are not well developed, but its forelimbs are well developed, so that it can climb from the cloaca into its mother’s pouch for further development. The recent discovery that ancient marsupial lions were also born with only their forelimbs developed supports the hypothesis that newborn marsupial lions must also have needed to climb into their mothers’ pouches. The argument in this passage relies on which of the following assumptions? [A] All animals that are born after a short gestation period are born with some parts of their bodies underdeveloped. [B] Well developed forelimbs would have been more advantageous to ancient marsupial lions than well developed hind limbs would have been. [C] If the newborn marsupial lion did not climb into its mother’s pouch, then paleontologists would be able to find evidence of this fact. [D] Newborn marsupial lions that crawled into their mothers’ pouches could not have done so had they not had only their forelimbs developed at birth. [E] Newborn marsupial lions would not have had only their forelimbs developed if this development were of no use to the marsupial lions. !!!!

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Answer/Explanation: Want to see how you did? Check out a video explanation to this problem—and our other Challenge Discussion Questions—on the Knewton Blog: knewton.com/blog/category/challenge-discussions