The 10 Worst GMAT Prep Mistakes
UPDATED FOR THE NEW GMAT IN 2024
There’s no secret recipe to success on the GMAT Focus exam. If you want to raise your score, you’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way: hours of quality studying.
Unfortunately, the “quality” element is often elusive. We’ve tutored hundreds of GMAT students over the years – and interacted with many thousands more on YouTube and GMAT Club – and the same study mistakes pop up again and again.
So here they are: the 10 worst mistakes to avoid during your GMAT prep.
1. Self-Sabotage: Ignoring Unforced GMAT Errors
When you make a careless mistake, you might just write it off as a fluke. You “knew” the right information, so you can move on to other questions, right?
Nope. If you ignore your unforced errors and don’t address the sloppy habits that caused them, you’re bound to make similar mistakes on test day. The GMAT Focus Edition algorithm doesn’t care why you make a mistake. All it knows is that you missed an easy question, and it’s going to bludgeon your score accordingly.
So if you’re making unforced errors, it’s absolutely crucial to figure out why. If you misread the question, was it because you were rushing? Were you too over-confident to check your work? Nervous? Sleep-deprived?
Once you have your diagnosis – whether you’re working with a GMAT tutor or on your own – you’ll need to create a concrete, specific action plan to address the behavior that causes those sloppy errors.
2. GMAT Test Anxiety
I’m certain that anxiety is one of the biggest contributors – and maybe THE biggest contributor – to unexpectedly low GMAT Focus Edition scores. Nevertheless, most test-takers tend to ignore the signs that test anxiety might be affecting their GMAT results.
Of course, ignoring test anxiety is a huge mistake. When we’re anxious, we don’t think clearly. We rush, we make silly errors, we get distracted, and we struggle to read with sharpness and clarity – even if we don’t feel consciously nervous. Our fear that we might perform badly becomes a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy: we get more questions wrong because we’re so afraid of getting questions wrong.
Dealing with anxiety isn’t easy. It’s a complex issue with many causes and potential treatments. Whether it means doing aerobic exercise and mindfulness meditation on your own or doing therapy with a trained professional, you’ll definitely want to address your test anxiety head-on.
For more, check out our beginner’s guide to test anxiety, our test anxiety and performance quiz, this collection of test anxiety articles, or this YouTube playlist.
3. GMAT-Induced Burnout
I’m constantly impressed with how far our students will push themselves to get a good GMAT score. But, believe it or not, there is actually a thing as working TOO hard.
For instance, I’ve met students who get home from a long day at work and study for six hours. This determination is admirable, but it’s not a good strategy. Not only is this kind of studying ineffective, it’s also absolutely miserable. Why slog through six hours of tedious work when two hours of focused, energized studying will lead to better results?
So stop ignoring your sleep schedule and physical health. Getting your body right is as important as getting your mind right when it comes to the GMAT Focus exam.
4. Practice GMAT Exam Abuse
You only have six official practice GMAT Focus tests from MBA.com. That’s it. When those are gone, you can’t get more, and non-official practice tests are nowhere near as accurate as the real thing.
So we can’t say this enough: please don’t burn through your official mba.com practice tests too quickly.
Instead, intersperse them throughout your studying to identify weaknesses. Once you’ve taken one, return to other practice material and work on your blind spots. When your practice data shows clear signs of improvement, check your progress with another official test.
For more, check out this video to learn how to maximize the value of the official GMAT Focus Edition practice tests.
5. Obsessing Over Probability and Other Minor Quant Topics
Here’s a fun fact: probability makes up about 2-3% of all GMAT Focus quant questions. On average, that comes out to less than one probability question per test. Yet I’ve seen plenty of students devote a ton of time to probability even though the probability (ahem…) of seeing a ton of these questions on test day is close to zero.
It sounds obvious, but your studying should be focused on the topics that appear most frequently on the GMAT Focus. Sinking valuable time into relatively rare subjects is counterproductive, and we see tons of students obsess over probability, combinations, permutations, and other relatively obscure topics.
Detailed topic breakdowns for the GMAT Focus Edition can be found on GMAT Club, an excellent resource for all things GMAT. It also has pretty pie charts.
6. Binge-Studying for the GMAT
Binging doesn’t work. Period.
Many topics on the GMAT – such as Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension – simply cannot be learned quickly. And the topics that can be learned quickly will be less likely to stick if you study in unsustainably long marathon sessions.
Instead, your goal should be thoughtful, balanced studying. Start with the subjects that deserve the most time and then gradually phase in the other topics. And you shouldn’t be learning anything new in the last few weeks before the exam.The final weeks of your GMAT prep should be devoted to honing your strategy and taking care of yourself so you’re rested and focused when it matters most.
7. Too Much Memorization
There’s very little that you need to memorize for the GMAT exam, which is far more concerned with testing how you think than testing what you know.
Consider Critical Reasoning, for example. You can spend hours internalizing the solutions for individual questions, but the odds of being able to apply those lessons on the exam are really small. And as soon as you see a question that’s worded slightly differently, you’ll be completely lost if your study strategy is dominated by memorization.
The same goes for quant. The GMAT Focus quant section rewards flexible thinking, not rote memorization. If you go on autopilot and blindly apply a memorized formula, the smallest wrinkle in a GMAT question will derail you.
So it’s fine to memorize a handful of basic rules at the beginning of your prep. But once you’re a little further along, you’ll want to focus on maximizing the flexibility of your thinking, especially under pressure.
8. GMAT focus Timing Gimmicks
On any standardized exam, it’s important to manage your time well. But highly specific time management gimmicks have never worked on any version of the GMAT exam.
We’ve heard dozens of timing “tricks” over the years, and they inevitably do more harm than good. When you try to spend a specific amount of time on a certain question type – or exactly the same amount of time on every question – you’ll inevitably be forced to rush through some questions, and you’ll make score-killing careless errors.
Instead, focus on a broad principle: don’t waste your time “chasing” questions that you’re unlikely to answer correctly, and spend your time methodically answering questions that are in your wheelhouse. If you try to rush through questions – particularly on verbal – to try to save a bit of time, you’ll inevitably miss tons of questions that you’re perfectly capable of answering correctly.
For more, check out this video on how to manage your time on an adaptive test like the GMAT.
9. Too Much Non-Official GMAT Material
There is a whole lot of GMAT study material out there. For students looking to maximize their practice reps, this might seem like a godsend. But sadly, not all test prep materials are created equal.
The reason for this boils down to economics. Official questions are the products of years of careful refinement, and GMAC spends literally thousands of dollars developing each official GMAT question. GMAT test-prep companies can’t possibly spend more than a tiny fraction of that amount, and the quality of non-official questions inevitably suffers accordingly.
Does that mean that you should avoid unofficial study materials entirely? Not necessarily. It’s usually best to completely avoid non-official verbal questions (and perhaps use official LSAT® questions instead for CR and RC), but well-crafted quant questions can be a decent supplement to your studies. Just use those non-official quant questions thoughtfully, and make sure that official GMAT materials form the backbone of your studies.
10. Chasing the Wrong GMAT FOCUS Score… or the Wrong Exam
Setting realistic goals is an important part of preparing for the GMAT or any other standardized test. But far too many students choose an arbitrary GMAT score target without fully thinking through their career goals.
Is it true that a super-elite GMAT score will increase your chances of admission to a top-10 MBA program? Sure. But those programs aren’t ideal for everyone. It’s possible that the MBA program that’s the perfect fit for you has lower average test scores, and it’s also possible that other strengths in your profile can compensate for a less-than-spectacular test score. There’s no need to drive yourself nuts trying to get a GMAT Focus score that you don’t actually need.
Finally, too many MBA candidates take the GMAT without considering other options. The GRE and EA are both widely accepted and are often better options, depending on your specific circumstances. So do some research before you start spending time and money on a test you might not end up taking.
For more, check out this video on how to choose between the GMAT and the GRE for your MBA. The video references the “old” GMAT, but the punchlines are still 100% relevant, even with recent changes to both the GMAT and the GRE:
Want to learn more about the GMAT?
New to the GMAT? Here’s a pile of articles about the logistics and fundamentals of the exam.
Our beginner’s guides to Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning
7 Reasons Why Your Actual GMAT Scores Don’t Match Your Practice Test Scores
Still struggling to hit your target score? Here’s why low GMAT scores might actually help your MBA applications.