Test Strategies – When Should You Take the Official Practice Tests?

Today’s post is not based on any section of the GMAT. Instead, we will try to answer the often-asked question:

When should I take the two free GMAT Official Practice Tests?

and

How should I use the GMAT Official Practice Tests 3-6  if I wish to?

In our 12 and 18 week plans, we have already scheduled the tests for you appropriately. If you are not following either  plan, then you should read the below to understand how to use the official practice tests.

Let’s first discuss a hypothetical situation: Say, your goal is to beat a particular opponent called Mr. X in a game of chess in a competition being held three months from now. Over three months, you can play four friendly matches against him on a day of your choice. The results of the friendly matches are immaterial and will not be made known to any third party. What will be your strategy?

I will tell you the strategy I will adopt – First, I will familiarize myself with the basics of ‘rules of chess’, ‘strategies and moves you can use’ etc. Then, I will play a friendly match against Mr. X i.e. I will find out the strength of my opponent. Once I know how I stack up against him, I will channel all my energy toward learning how to defeat him. I may play some matches against other opponents to practice and to get exposure to strategies I can use. After working on my weaknesses, I would play another friendly match against Mr. X. Every match would help me fine tune my strategy against him for the big day. Will I keep my last friendly match for the day before the big day? Definitely not! What’s the point? I will not have enough time to fine tune my strategy anyway. Also, I would not want to waste a lot of energy a day before the final match. I would rather like to conserve every bit of it.

There are four main points we are trying to make here:

I. Take the first official GMAT practice test after completing one run of the entire conceptual content.

II. Take practice tests at regular intervals of 1 or 2 weeks after that. Give yourself enough time to learn from your mistakes and review the identified weaknesses before you take the next one.

III. Do not take more than 4 – 5 practice tests in all. 

III. Do not take a full length GMAT practice test in the last week of your preparation.

Let me elaborate a little bit on all the points here.

I. When to Take the First GMAT Practice Test

When you want to defeat one particular opponent, you need to find out as much as you can and as soon as you can about that opponent. You need to streamline your preparation according to your opponent. When Garry Kasparov lost to Deep Blue in 1997, he requested that he be allowed to study other games that Deep Blue had played so as to better understand his opponent. What did IBM do? They denied his request! Understanding your opponent is crucial to your preparation. After your basics are in place (preferably after you go through one complete set of study material), you should take a free GMAT prep test. Thereafter, evaluate your progress by taking a test at regular intervals – weekly or once every 2 weeks depending on the time available for the preparation.

II. How Frequently to Take the GMAT Practice Tests

After every test, revisit every question and analyze it in detail. Figure out how you perform in various topics under time constraints. Make a list of what’s natural to you and what’s not, what you can solve intuitively and what takes a lot of effort i.e. what you are already good at and what requires more effort. That’s how you can get maximum use out of GMAT prep tests.

III. How Many Tests to Take in ALL?

Also, you don’t need more than say 4-5 full length practice tests. You don’t want to stretch your prep time unnecessarily. After a complete run of the content, you need a month or maximum 2 months to take tests and fine tune your preparation and that is all. Otherwise, the chances of burnout increase dramatically.

IV. When to Stop Taking Practice Tests?

The other important point is – do not take a full length practice test 3-4 days before your GMAT. What good does it do? You are not left with any time to fine tune your strategy and analyze your mistakes. It can do a lot of harm though. The test requires a lot of effort and concentration, and you feel drained at the end of it. Also, if the score you get is lower than what you hoped for, it can mess up your confidence. You should just try to relax and go through your notes/error log etc.

I hope this post will help you develop an effective strategy for your GMAT preparation.