GmathubWe spoke with Ayushmaan to get his views and experiences regarding GMAT and college applications:
- What is sufficient time to prepare to get a great score?
To get a GMAT score in the range of 98-99 percentile, it’s very important to plan in advance by 3-4 months. Preparation can be tricky and you never know what hurdles will break your rhythm and pull you back by few weeks. In my opinion, start preparing for GMAT at least 5 months before the college deadlines. Also, preparing for GMAT can be a good mental churning. One needs to be quite prepared mentally to put in hours consistently for months.
In my view, consistency is more important than anything else for GMAT. Do not take large gaps in your preps. If something already planned is lined up, create some plan with your mentor to maintain some continuity.
Last one month is very crucial as the fine-tuning happens during last few mocks. Grind your mind to match the exam day as much as possible.
- Should one go for some professional coaching or self-prep is sufficient?
A good mentor can solve lot of problems related to GMAT preparations. Also, there can be situations that will create anxiety and a mentor can help a lot. I tried doing self-prep but could not continue long with that.
When I took help, I realised that I was way off in my preps. How should I pace myself, what should be good duration per day, all these questions were not clear by myself.
- For GMAT, what material did you refer?
Mostly what was shared by trainer. Would suggest to refer the official questions mostly. Also, one needs to take a lot of mocks tests. Around 10 in my opinion. End of the day, the quality of mocks and practice questions makes all the difference.
The official mocks are the holy grail. But they are not enough. One needs to make sure some good quality mocks are there to practice.
- What would you suggest regarding college applications?
Should start applications at-least 1 month before the deadlines. Chose colleges very carefully. Speak to alumni, college admissions committees. It is quite a process, very intense and challenging mentally.
If you are very close to deadlines, don’t go for a quick fix and apply in next round.
