How To Find Support in The GMAT Community
Studying for the GMAT exam can feel nerve-wracking at times. You’ll be learning new topics that you might not have dealt with before, while trying to balance GMAT revision alongside your other commitments. This can make for a stress-inducing few months in the lead up to test day.
However, with over 200,000 MBA and business master’s candidates taking the GMAT each year, you don’t have to go through the GMAT prep journey on your own.
The GMAT community
The GMAT isn’t just a test; it’s a community. When it comes to the GMAT, those taking the test are likely to have similar goals in mind since the GMAT is the most widely used test for business school admissions.
This is one of the major reasons why the GMAT community is a more connected, like-minded community than those of alternative standardized tests, like the GRE.
The GRE is used to apply to a range of graduate degree programs, so test takers have very different career motivations.
“In comparison to the GRE, GMAT test takers are a more homogenous, interconnected group,” says Jamie Nelson, instructor for Manhattan Prep.
“They also, in my experience, tend to be quite friendly and eager to help others. GMAT test takers create some of the most successful study groups because of this.”
How to find GMAT study groups
If engaging in collaborative learning sounds like the right decision for you, there are multiple ways to find GMAT study groups.
“By taking initiative, students from GMAT prep courses could find suitable team members from the class and could make a study group. Since group members undergo the same style of instruction and use the same study material, such groups prove effective,” explains Sam Modi, founder of GMAT Prep Expert.
There are several online GMAT forums where you might be able to reach out and work remotely with test-takers, including Manhattan Prep forums, GMAT Club, Beat The GMAT, and GMAT groups on Facebook.
GMAT test takers can also find like-minded peers via the GMAC Business Fundamentals Powered by Kaplan micro-courses, which help you master core business concepts – statistics, accounting, and finance – before you enroll in business school.
“The main benefit I gained from study groups is the motivation to keep pace with everyone, especially seeing everyone's progress week by week, and discussing specific GMAT questions where the answer given wasn't making sense,” Chien Lei Pan, an MBA student at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, explains.
How GMAT study groups can help you manage test anxiety
Bineeta Monga, who is currently studying for the GMAT with Manhattan Prep, says engaging in GMAT study groups is also a great way to manage your test anxiety.
“I’ve realized that we all have our areas of improvement, we all make careless errors on the quantitative section, and the verbal portion of the test is not what we expected, but we’re all also in the same boat and going through this process together.”
Liana Lei, an MBA student at University of Virginia Darden School of Business, agrees.
“If I’m experiencing some challenges in certain questions, there are at least two or three other people in my study group who had the same struggle. We would give each other pep talks to cheer every one up days before the exam,” she says.
To calm your nerves, it can also help to engage in mindfulness exercises, which you can do alongside a fellow GMAT test taker.
Keeping one another accountable along the GMAT prep journey
Lastly, connecting with the test community while preparing for the GMAT will help you to hold each other accountable during your revision.
Finding the motivation to study in your spare time can be tough, but knowing that there are others in the same position can be a source of encouragement. “We all want to help each other get better because it inevitably helps us be better ourselves,” Bineeta explains.
Jamie Nelson from Manhattan Prep says it’s also useful to teach GMAT topics to one another. “When you help another member of the study group, you are learning and cementing that concept in your mind much more deeply,” he says.
By tapping into the GMAT community, and leveraging support from your fellow test takers, you’ll stand the best chance to feel calm and prepared on test day, achieve your best score, and get accepted into your dream business school.