MBA Voices: The GMAT Doesn’t Measure Our Intelligence. It Measures Our Persistence

When I started preparing for the GMAT, I literally started from zero. I had forgotten how to do basic high school math. Despite this, after taking a practice test online, I decided I would sit the exam in a month.

Surprise, surprise! It was far harder than I expected. I honestly thought it would take me a month at most, or that I would open the guidebook for 3-5 hours and become a GMAT wizard.

I ended up studying for almost a year. At the beginning, tears were constantly shed because the GMAT made me feel stupid, unworthy, and as though none of the time I invested was translating into improvement.

I sat the exam four times.

The first time, I received a score of 545. It was ok for a first try… but far below the average admission at my target schools, and below what I felt comfortable applying with. The second time, I improved only marginally, so I decided to try again. The third time was a disaster. I scored lower than I had the first time. Finally, on the fourth attempt, I achieved an improved score I felt I could apply with, although I still didn’t think it accurately reflected my abilities.

After a year’s worth of gruelling, unforgiving work, a year’s worth of disappointing outcomes, and a year’s worth of persevering in the face of failure, I got interviews and acceptances at every school where I applied. None of them mentioned my score. That includes London Business School, where I eventually enrolled.

LIKE MASTERING A NEW LANGUAGE

When I attended the LBS Experience Weekend post-acceptance, I spoke (and laughed and cried again) with so many people about how difficult the GMAT had been. Almost everyone I spoke to had retaken it at least once. One MBB consultant, whom I know to be exceptionally smart, told me she had attempted it three times before switching to the GRE (which many people ultimately choose). That was when I realised that this test isn’t really about how intelligent you are. Instead, it reveals your grit, resilience, and willingness to persist through discomfort.

No matter where you start, everyone must adapt to the way the exam thinks, and that takes time. The exam has a very particular style, especially in the way questions are phrased and the logic you’re expected to apply when interpreting them. It’s almost like learning a new language. Even when you understand the underlying concepts, you still need to learn how the GMAT presents them, what its wording is really asking you to do, and how to recognise the patterns in its questions.

This familiarity only comes with practice. What really matters is the mental game, the time you spend getting comfortable with the test, and deciding not to stop until you’re satisfied you’ve given it your best.

So, you might ask, why am I sharing all of this?

When I was preparing for the test, and when I performed worse than expected time-and-time again, I felt alone. I would have loved to be told that I wasn’t.

So, I’m sharing my story as a beacon of hope for those facing these standardised tests. Failing at the first attempt, or feeling dissatisfied with your score, is a very normal, shared experience. If you keep going, you can succeed. These tests are designed to push you to your limits. They are designed to place you under pressure. They are designed to separate those who stop from those who don’t.

10 GMAT TIPS

With that said, here are some GMAT tips that will hopefully lend a hand in the process.

1. Keep going. Simple but difficult.

2. It is a mental game as much as it is a knowledge game. There will be points during the test (and throughout the overall process) when you want to give up or feel like you aren’t doing as well as you could be. Remember, as a rule of thumb, it’s going better than you think. And then refer to rule 1.

3. Start studying from the basics. Don’t start with the hardest questions, start with the easiest. If you have a strong foundation, you’ll learn faster than if you jump into the deep end without knowing how to swim.

4. Learn the quick tricks. The GMAT has hidden shortcuts that become clearer the more familiar you get with it. For example, sometimes you don’t need to know the precise answer, you just need to know what the answer isn’t. When you discard the incorrect answers, you may easily see which the right one is.

5. Find forums where people discuss the questions, answers, and processes they used to get them right. I used GMATclub.com, and it was revolutionary. This particularly helped me decide which was the best method for answering tricky questions, picking up shortcuts to answers, and finding guidance for answering question types. When I got a question wrong, I could follow someone else’s step-by-step answer to see exactly where I veered off course.

6. Do every single practice test you can on the official site. Yes, it’s expensive, but it’s cheaper than sitting the actual exam multiple times. Then, use your practice tests as data. Figure out which question types you find challenging and work on that material. I found time, speed, and distance problems to be my weakness, so I did at least five of those specific problems a day. It’s not fun, but it is effective.

7. Make flashcards of the questions you get wrong in your practice. The numbers and wording won’t be the same in the test, but the underlying problem and the way you solve it will often be similar. So, memorise the process of how to solve things you’ve gotten wrong.

8. Get support. Talk to your family and friends. Seek advice from others who have taken the test. Employ a tutor if you can. The more people you can vent to and learn from, the better.

9. Start with your strongest section and finish with your weakest. The GMAT uses an adaptive testing system, meaning the difficulty of questions adjusts according to your performance. Your performance in one section can also influence the difficulty at which you begin the next. In my experience, it’s more advantageous to start at a higher difficulty level and work your way down than to start at a lower level and try to climb up. I found that the difficulty dropped more slowly when I answered questions incorrectly than it increased when I answered them correctly. So, by starting with your strongest section, you give yourself the best chance of entering subsequent sections at a higher level.

10. If a question comes up that truly stumps you, don’t waste time on it. Time is the most precious resource on the GMAT, so it is better to get one question wrong than spend 5 minutes figuring out how to solve it. This will force you to rush the following questions to make up the time which will likely lead to getting those wrong.

Ultimately, this process comes down to your persistence, your resilience, and your dedication.

Never forget: You can do it!

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Denira Coleman began her career as a professional opera singer, spending a decade performing principal roles internationally to audiences of up to 2,500. She went on to found DSC for Artists, a digital growth consultancy for artists and performers, before pursuing an MBA at London Business School. At LBS, she is President of the Entrepreneurship Club, a Student Ambassador, and a Community Representative. She has also taken to the TEDx stage to speak about AI and human creativity. Her writing explores career reinvention, learning, leadership, and the experiences that shape how we work and grow. Connect with her on LinkedIn here.

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