The Key to a 700 GMAT Score (or Higher): Multiple Levels of Strategy

There is just something about breaking that 700-score threshold on the GMAT that feels, and perhaps really is, very important when you are applying to business school. In this article, I’ll share a less “technical” view on how to approach the GMAT to improve your chances of scoring 700 or better.

The title of this blog post says “multiple levels of strategy.” So first, let’s define the word strategy.

What is a strategy?

When I was a new analyst at a “strategy consulting” firm, fresh out of undergraduate business school, one of the first questions they raised in training was, what is a strategy? People would give long answers. Some might start talking about identifying attractive markets, or building better products, or having lower costs, or designing better processes, etc. But really, a strategy is just the plan you put in place for allocating various resources (your time, focus, money, people, etc.) to achieve a goal.

In my first job, we were taught that “strategy” is about consciously choosing what you will and what you will not do.

And we’ve previously written on this blog that successful people use strategies. They succeed because of how they think and plan, not because of innate talent.

Why is having a “strategy” so critical when taking the GMAT?

The GMAT is indeed a test of academic skills and so there are specific concepts and ideas you’ll have to understand, but more importantly it’s a test of flexible, creative, logical, and strategic thinking. It’s not a math test focused on specific concepts that you can cram for or master through memorization.  The math concepts on the GMAT, by and large, don’t go beyond what most U.S. students learn in 10^th grade. But, the GMAT covers a very wide range of math topics, employs a variety of question types, and asks questions in a variety of ways that force you to think logically to reason your way to the best answer.

When I talk about the importance of strategy when it comes to the GMAT, I think there are three “levels” of strategy to consider.

Level #1: Strategically creating your study plan

If “strategy” is about choosing what you will and won’t do, then level one is about having a structured study plan that’s customized to your strengths and weaknesses and general situation. A strategic GMAT student will take a diagnostic test early in the process. He or she will then design a plan of attack that allocates more time to addressing deficiencies, and less time to areas where skills are already very strong.

A solid, strategic study plan will also allocate more time to concept review and practice problems early on, and more time to practice tests and review of missed problems as the exam date nears.

It will also be specific. As you design your study plan, set a test date and target score, determine when and where you will study week by week, and plan when you’ll take practice tests to track progress. If you don’t set a goal and work back in time to develop a plan to meet that goal, you are less likely to be happy with your eventual score.

Level #2: Strategically attacking questions on the test

Many people fail to realize that the GMAT is more like a game than a math test. It’s a crucial failure. You need to have a strategy for each question. Here’s an example of this.

One of the simple formulas you’ll need to know for the GMAT is the Pythagorean theorem for lengths of sides of a right triangle. A^2 + B^2 = C^2.

Now, let’s say the question says A = 3.2 and B = 4.2, so what does C = ?

The answer choices are:

A) 3.9

B) 4.9

C) 5.3

D) 6.5

E) 8.7

If you treat this like a math test and you remember the formula, you start plugging numbers into the formula. But, now you are working with decimals, it’s taking a little while, and you might make a calculation error.

But, what if your strategy is to find ways to remove the need to use decimals, operating under the correct assumption that 90% of the time, the GMAT does not really want you to be working out multiplication on paper. It wants to force you to find creative alternatives to solve the problem.

In this case, you would say well, 3.2 is pretty close to 3. And 4.2 is close to 4. If it was 3 and 4 I was working with, I’d know that 3^2 = 9 and 4^2 = 16, and then I’d be looking for the square root for 9 + 16 = 25, and that’s 5. Then, you’d say OK, so the answer has to be B or C.

Finally, because you started with one number a little higher than 3 and another that’s a little higher than 4, the answer must be C. It would take you probably 30 seconds to work this through in your head, and you’d know for sure you were right.

Many GMAT questions are like this. You can in fact answer the question correctly by just plugging the numbers into the formula. That’s one approach. But there are usually less quantitative but perhaps far more effective and strategic paths to the right answer.

Level #3: Strategically managing your time during the test

So, level 1 was about high-level strategy from a study planning perspective. Level 2 was about approaching questions strategically when you have a handle on the question. But what do you do on the test when you are faced with a question you really are not too sure about. You may think you know what to do, but you fundamentally feel stumped.

The GMAT puts most students under intense time pressure which both a) leads to missed problems just because time runs out and b) raises most folks’ stress levels, which can sometimes lead to unforced errors. This raises two important “level 3” strategies.

First, if you really don’t know, don’t spend time trying to figure out, on the spot, how to do the problem. Instead, spend your scarce resource (time) identifying how to increase the chances you’ll guess the right answer, and leave more time for working out future problems you do understand.

So, take the question from the last section. But assume you don’t remember the Pythagorean theorem. You know there’s some sort of formula, but you are drawing a blank on what it is. You could quickly realize you’re in trouble because you don’t remember the formula. Then, you could look at the picture and say well, C has to be longer than A or B, so answer choice A is not right. And if B = 4.2, it doesn’t seem like C could equal 8.7. That’s too long. So, you choose B, C, or D. Now, your chances of getting it right are 1/3, instead of 1/5. That’s strategic guessing using process of elimination.

Second, if you start to panic during the test because you are running out of time or just feel like you are performing poorly, though it may seem counterintuitive, you might want to just stop and breath for 30 seconds. This strategy allows you to calm yourself and more accurately identify when you do or do not truly know how to attack a problem. You’ll spend 30 seconds collecting yourself but may then find yourself better positioned to make the right decisions as you engage with the next few problems.

In sum, remember that the key to success on the GMAT is strategy, and that applies to high level planning, thinking through specific questions, and time management on the day of the exam.

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