The Recurring Mistake I’ve Seen Repeatedly In 20 Years Of GMAT & GRE Prep

I’ve spent more than 20 years helping people prepare for the Graduate Management Admission Test and Graduate Record Exam. Many of these applicants have been highly accomplished people who have done well in school and in their careers and who are used to succeeding when they apply themselves to something difficult. Yet many of these applicants carry with them a misunderstanding of the GMAT and GRE that prevents them from getting the kinds of scores they are hoping to achieve.

They prepare for the GMAT or GRE as though they were primarily content exams! They assume that the path to a high score is to learn rules and formulas, expand their vocabulary, and generally prepare for the tests the way one might prepare for a final exam in college.

It’s not that content doesn’t matter at all. Someone who has forgotten basic algebra or who doesn’t know the meaning of core vocabulary words should address those weaknesses. But once a reasonable baseline is in place, these exams become much less about what you know and much more about how you think. Failing to appreciate this fact is the key mistake that people tend to make when preparing for the GMAT and GRE.

THE GMAT & GRE REWARD REASONING

Put simply, the GMAT and GRE are reasoning exams (that’s why we’re called Reason Test Prep – I realized early on that that’s what these exams are about). They reward critical thinking, logical reasoning, and the ability to make effective decisions under timed pressure.

This fact helps explain why two people with similar backgrounds can score very differently. One may know every relevant formula but approach questions rigidly and slowly. Another may actually know less math, but better understand the tests and the need to be scrappy and strategic.

The same dynamic exists on the verbal side. Strong verbal performance is not usually the result of reading as much as possible or memorizing every difficult word one encounters. It is more about being able to read and think critically and being able to distinguish between answer choices that look plausible and ones that are actually supported.

Again, it’s not that content knowledge has no value. It does. But most test-takers drastically overestimate the value of content and fail to appreciate how crucial reasoning, critical thinking, and problem-solving ability are to success on the exams.

WHY STRONG APPLICANTS MISDIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM

When high-achieving people struggle on these exams, they often assume that they need more information or need to double down on doing more questions, more reps. They buy another prep book or online course subscription and spend hours learning material that may appear rarely, if at all, on the exams. (I am always taken aback when someone tells me that they have a lot more content to learn and cite as an example that fact they haven’t yet learned all of the prime numbers up to 100! People, you don’t need to know stuff like that!). Or they continue to run through more and more practice problems, but continue approaching questions in the same way.

The problem is often exacerbated by the types of questions they are using. Unofficial questions often don’t reflect the logic of the exams.  They tend to reward the content that the companies who create the questions teach. This creates a vicious cycle!

The real problem is that these prospective test-takers often fail to appreciate the true nature of the GMAT and GRE and therefore fail to prepare accordingly!

TIMING IS USUALLY A THINKING PROBLEM

Timing problems may be the clearest example of this misunderstanding. Many applicants believe they are simply too slow. They assume they need to read faster, calculate faster, or move faster.  

The truth is that most timing problems are consequences of ineffective reasoning. If someone spends three minutes forcing an algebraic solution to a problem that has a much simpler path, the issue is not speed, it’s their failure to appreciate the reasoning aspects of the exams. Similarly, if someone refuses to move on from a low-percentage question because they feel they should be able to solve it, the issue is executive function and higher order thinking, not lack of content knowledge.

This misunderstanding is crucially important because many applicants respond to timing struggles by trying to move faster while preserving the same inefficient habits. They fail to understand that they need to pivot their approach to the tests and learn how to think more critically and problem-solve more creatively and effectively.

WHAT BETTER PREPARATION ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE 

Once applicants understand that the GMAT and GRE are reasoning exams, preparation should begin to change. The focus should shift away from simply accumulating more information and toward improving how one thinks and makes decisions within the specific environment of the test. That sounds abstract, but in practice it is very concrete.

For one thing, review should become much more analytical and introspective. Most people review a question by asking whether they got it right or wrong and then, if they missed it, learning how to get it right the next time. Of course that has some value. But it often misses the more important issue. A better review process asks how the question was handled. Was there a faster path? Was there a clue that could have hinted at a more effective approach? Did the person become overly committed to one method too early without considering other options?

These are the kinds of questions that lead to meaningful score gains because they target the reasoning process itself. And, when doing practice questions, it helps a lot to seek out explanations from multiple sources so that you can see different ways of attacking questions!

HOW TO TRAIN FOR A REASONING EXAM 

Stating the obvious now, if the exams reward reasoning, then practice should train reasoning. That means spending more time with high-quality official questions and less time racing through large quantities of mediocre material. It means slowing down enough to understand why a question is designed the way it is. What trap answer was the test-maker hoping people would choose? Why was one path efficient and another path wasteful?

It also means practicing flexibility. On Quant, students should get comfortable solving the same question in multiple ways. If a problem can be solved algebraically, can it also be solved by picking numbers. Test-takers can practice attacking the same question in multiple ways!  This kind of training develops the adaptability that is required for a high Quant score.

On Verbal, students should practice focusing on structure rather than memorizing details. After reading a sentence or paragraph in a RC passage, can you go beyond just understanding “what” the author said and identify “why” the author said it? What was its function in the passage and how does that relate to the overall purpose being communicated by the author?

Finally, students need to practice decision-making under timed pressure. Not every question deserves the same investment. Some questions should be solved all the way through, but others should be approached quickly, perhaps with the intention of making an educated guess and moving on. And others should just be dumped straight away (especially on the GRE where test-takers can move forwards and backwards freely through each section). Many applicants never train these skills directly, even though it is one of the most important parts of performance on test day.

The point is that better preparation is not necessarily more preparation. It is preparation that reflects the true nature of the exam. Once students begin training reasoning rather than merely memorizing content, they usually break through a perceived ceiling and arrive at much higher scores.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The problem that most people encounter in preparing for the GMAT or GRE is not lack of motivation or intelligence. Rather, it’s a misunderstanding of the true nature of the exams and what they reward.  

They approach the GMAT and GRE as though success will come from learning enough content and putting in enough hours. Of course those things matter – to a degree. But once a basic foundation is in place, what matters most is an understanding that the GMAT and GRE are reasoning tests that reward critical thinking and creative problem solving.

The good news is that these skills can be developed. Once applicants understand what the exams are really measuring and begin preparing accordingly, higher scores become achievable!  

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Brian Prestia is the founder of Reason Test Prep, a tutoring service specializing in the SAT, ACT, GMAT and GRE. 

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