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The GMAT: A Managerial Approach to a Managerial Test
The GMAT: A Managerial Approach to a Managerial Test
By Brian Galvin
Brian is the Director of Academic Programs at Veritas Prep. Learn more about Veritas Prep’s GMAT courses and MBA admissions consulting services.
As you likely know, the GMAT tests quantitative and verbal skills; as you should also know, its purpose is to determine your capacity for success in business school and beyond. Understanding the purpose of the exam is a valuable step in preparing for it effectively. While business schools value quantitative and verbal skills, they are most concerned with business-related, managerial skills; after all, those are the skills that will make their students successful and add prestige to the school in the form of career placement, alumni donations and networking. In order to maximize your GMAT score, then, it is important to note that the exam will favor those with excellent managerial skills – those who can budget time effectively, focus on core competencies, and design efficient processes to accomplish specific goals.
The GMAT is a test of your reading, writing, analytical, and problem solving skills. Equally important to your performance, however, are solid test management skills. The best test takers use proper planning, smart time management, and effective decision-making to their advantage to rack up points on test day. Poor test takers, while they may be up to the challenge academically, often fail in one or more of these key areas.
Your “Six Sigma” Study Strategy
It is useful to think of good test management skills as analogous to good business management skills. Each question type has specific managerial strategies that will help you tackle the exam as a whole:
Problem Solving: True to its name, the Problem Solving variety of questions tests your ability to efficiently derive solutions to situations in a timely fashion, much like a business manager. Also like a manager, you will want to assess each situation through a proactive process, applying proven strategies and fitting them to unique situations.
Data Sufficiency: Data Sufficiency questions ask you to determine how much information you will need to answer questions, and therefore will require you to assess the value of the information provided. In this way, Data Sufficiency questions replicate the business task of determining the resources you will need to complete a project, with a penalty for working inefficiently.
Critical Reasoning: Critical Reasoning questions require you to make logical deductions based simply on fact, and to answer specifically-tailored questions. Much like a manager, you will maximize your efficiency and accuracy by identifying and clearly defining your objective, then following the necessary steps to accomplish that specific task.
Sentence Correction: Sentence Correction questions tend to require a good deal of reading, and each answer choice offers multiple variations that can be considered. Examinees who have the ability to seek out specific errors, rather than reacting to the entire sentence, will complete these questions more quickly and accurately. In a business context, the exam will reward test-takers who approach these questions proactively and systematically, focusing on their “core competencies” to manage various unique situations efficiently.
Reading Comprehension: Reading Comprehension passages often contain dense, technical information, but will ask you to answer more general questions. In this way, they are analogous to your future role as a manager, in which you will face a barrage of data each day and need to make quick, reasoned decisions. .
About Veritas Prep
Veritas Prep is the world’s largest privately-owned GMAT preparation and admissions consulting provider, offering industry-leading programs to help applicants improve their test scores and gain admission to the world’s best graduate schools. Founded in 2002 by graduates of the Yale School of Management, Veritas Prep now offers live GMAT prep instruction in more than 80 cities worldwide, as well as interactive online courses available everywhere. Additionally, Veritas Prep offers industry-leading admissions consulting services for applicants seeking admission to the most competitive business schools, law schools, and medical schools in the world.
