GMAT Prep Abroad: Finding Direction and Persistence
Students who had previously consulted with Dustin were mostly local Taiwanese students balancing work and study, and had attended GMAT prep courses. However, Dustin knows that this blog also has many self-studying Chinese individuals who are studying or working abroad. Today’s consultation features candidate B, who has been working overseas for several years and encountered obstacles in self-studying the GMAT.
A Different Background, But an Even Firmer Goal
We exchanged emails with B for nearly ten days before the consultation to get a solid grasp of their background and preparation status. This groundwork allowed us to plan the consultation efficiently, making the session much smoother.
Although B had been in Taiwan until graduating from university, their overseas experience was very rich, including working holidays, international internships, and working in both American and Chinese companies. Currently, B has been working in an English-speaking country for nearly 2 years. Through their work, B identified their future ideal position and field. They clearly communicated to Dustin which programs they were interested in and how those programs’ resources would help them achieve their career goals.
Dustin was pleased to hear this. It’s because a successful applicant doesn’t just chase a “high GMAT score.” They understand that the GMAT score is just a tool. The real win comes from having a clear career plan, selecting schools that align with that plan, and then setting target scores based on those schools’ requirements.
This distinction is vital. As mentioned in the previous consultation record:
Without determination, any long-term plan is useless. Because as time drags on, even a slight feeling of fatigue can lead to giving up. After a few cycles of fatigue and renewed effort, the entire study abroad plan is abandoned.
Initial Problem Understanding Through Correspondence
Dustin noticed that B consistently engaged with English in their past work. Combined with their current experience in an English-speaking country, B’s GMAT reading comprehension skills should be solid. To test this, I asked B to send 2-3 questions they found most difficult or hesitated on, and 2-3 questions they were confident about but answered incorrectly. B needed to mark the incorrect or hesitated options and explain their reasoning.
After reviewing B’s emails, I analyzed their thought process. Unlike most Taiwanese students, B had minimal trouble understanding question prompts and instructions. However, reading the passages took too much time—about 4-5 minutes for the first read in RC. In CR, B occasionally picked plausible but irrelevant options that didn’t directly support the conclusion, and struggled to distinguish between distractors. For SC, B’s entire problem-solving approach and grasp of key concepts were muddled. When sentences got complex, B couldn’t pinpoint the core issue, focusing instead on isolated phrases and missing fundamental SC principles like “relative options” and “concept hierarchy.”
Dustin then drafted an agenda to discuss the consultation time allocation with B:
1. Planning the application campaign before this year’s deadline: monthly goal management. (Approx. 10-15 min)
2. Analyzing SC errors to pinpoint fundamental blind spots and refine the problem-solving process. (Approx. 30-40 min)
3. Analyzing CR errors to pinpoint fundamental blind spots and refine the problem-solving process. (Approx. 30-40 min)
4. Summary of RC, localization, and important notes for problem-solving. (Approx. 30-40 min)
What Are the Misconceptions in the Candidate’s Mindset?
During the four-hour consultation, two things about candidate B stood out. These weren’t unique to B but are common issues for many self-studying candidates, including Dustin himself before he scored a 760 on his first try.
1. Feeling overwhelmed by the difficulty of self-studying, leading to excessive pessimism, lowering target scores, and settling for a score around 600 on the first attempt. (Some candidates with wavering goals even abandon their study abroad plans altogether.)
2. Lacking direction, resorting to all sorts of “hacks” found in unofficial circles. For instance, colleagues suggesting gambling on RC with exam banks, experience posts claiming a certain number of question repetitions guarantee high scores, avoiding prep courses that focus on tricks, or marking all the “topic sentences” in RC…
As someone who studied independently, I completely understand these mindsets. However, now as Dustin, having consulted with over a thousand candidates, I honestly told B: “Actually, from my perspective, your preparation is quite optimistic.”
I’m not just saying that to be nice. Those who have consulted with me know I’m very direct (B mentioned others warned him not to be intimidated by me… apologies, I used to have a bit of a temper!).
Why Optimistic? Reading Comprehension is Not an Issue
The reason for optimism is simple: Generally, the biggest hurdle for Taiwanese students isn’t their logical thinking ability, but their academic English reading comprehension. Because B consistently read in English, their understanding of academic English had significantly improved. During the on-site test, it was clear B had little trouble grasping the text or organizing information. So, while others might need an extra month or two to boost their reading comprehension (the most time-consuming part), B could save considerable time.
Additionally, B received their secondary and high school education in Taiwan and performed well in math exams. Although some skills might have faded, Dustin advised B to consult with math tutor KH for diagnosis and improvement. With the Quantitative section secured and reading comprehension being a non-issue, the focus shifts to refining logical thinking and test-taking strategies.
However, during a practical RC passage exercise, two minor weaknesses in B’s reading emerged:
(1) Difficulty with passages in unfamiliar subject areas, and
(2) Insufficient ability in structured skimming and active reading, causing the first read of long or difficult passages to take 4-5 minutes.
Here, Dustin recommended practicing with relevant academic papers and articles to build vocabulary. Combined with the logic of business school lectures, he explained the RC specialized class’s predictive thinking based on passage structure. B was advised to integrate this into their daily training. For distractor options, B should also summarize “clue logic words” (like qualifiers, degree indicators, subjectivity/objectivity markers…) to develop a final decision-making strategy for subsequent questions.
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CR Relies Too Much on Intuition, Neglecting the Problem-Solving Process for Clear Topics and the Design of Distractor Options
For the CR section, Dustin designed specific test questions for B. He asked for B’s reasoning behind eliminating or hesitating on each option to pinpoint any thinking pitfalls. Given B’s reading comprehension and foundational thinking skills, they could generally sense the correct direction after reading the passage and eliminate obviously wrong options.
However, as discovered during our prior correspondence, B often relied too heavily on intuition. They would stray from the core topic, broadening the passage’s issue. This led to selecting irrelevant options that sounded correct (a common error on easier questions) and a lack of a clear decision-making framework when two options seemed plausible (causing confusion on harder questions), thus falling into traps.
Dustin advised B to force themselves to identify the “clear topic” from the passage before looking at the options. Furthermore, B should conduct a thorough review of errors based on how distractor options are designed, coupled with a “two-round filtering” problem-solving process. This will help B avoid simple mistakes based on intuition during the exam and provide a clear decision-making criterion when faced with two difficult options.
SC is the Most Urgent; Concepts Need Reconstruction to Understand the Spirit of the Questions
However, B’s most pressing need was in SC. The examples B had previously sent revealed critical bad habits in problem-solving:
1. Evaluating options based on subjective judgment rather than comparison, assessing the correctness of a single option in isolation.
2. Eliminating options that don’t align with personal preferences without comprehensively checking all grammatical points.
3. Struggling to identify the core grammatical issue in SC sentences with slightly complex structures.
4. Being unable to articulate a clear reason for the error in eliminated options.
Dustin addressed B’s long-standing confusion: “Why, despite having decent English reading skills and understanding the meaning of SC sentences, do I still get so many wrong?” This is because the design principles of past Taiwanese English exams differ significantly from those of SC. Correct options aren’t always perfect, and grammatical points have a hierarchy. The difference in thinking between Chinese and English requires comparison to catch semantic nuances. Options also contain “false traps” designed to mislead test-takers, making a standard process essential to avoid them.
Therefore, Dustin advised B to start by thoroughly reviewing questions in the Official Guide (OG). During review, follow the “partial rewrite” and “full rewrite” problem-solving processes, identifying all grammatical points in each option. Consider the hierarchy of errors for each point: which should be addressed first, which can be revisited later, and which should never be considered. If B finds their conceptual understanding insufficient during this review, enrolling in a prep course is also an option.
No Need for Pessimism; Tackle “Many Holes” by Prioritizing Steadily
Analyzing this far, even though candidate B still seemed hesitant, Dustin could already provide a comprehensive summary of why their preparation was actually optimistic.
Strengths:
Diverse past work experience and background
No significant issues with English reading comprehension
Good past performance in math in Taiwan
Weaknesses:
Q – Skills have atrophied and need re-acquisition
RC – Unfamiliar vocabulary in certain fields, lack of structured skimming, difficulty filtering distractor options
CR – Need to optimize problem-solving process, review distractor options
SC – Need comprehensive review, reconstruct concept understanding and problem-solving process
Therefore, Dustin advised B: First, collaborate with KH to solidify the Quantitative section, where Taiwanese students have an inherent advantage, dedicating at least one-third of study time daily to Q. The next third should be spent on SC, correcting the disorganized problem-solving process and concept judgment through comprehensive review. The final third should be allocated to CR/RC for general practice, focusing on structured skimming during RC and paying attention to “logical clues” when reviewing distractor options; for CR, maintain a fixed problem-solving process and deeply analyze the design strategies of distractor options. In any spare time, B should focus on extracurricular reading in difficult RC subject areas to supplement vocabulary and background knowledge.
Setting a target score of 660-680 for the first attempt in one month is achievable, provided Q scores reach 48-49 and SC can handle medium-difficulty questions without major issues. After the exam, Dustin will analyze the ESR to determine if a higher target score is feasible.
Don’t Follow the Crowd; Finding Your Own Blind Spots is Most Important
Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, the second common issue for self-studying candidates is: due to the lack of direction, they start accepting all sorts of circulating “hacks” without question.
Dustin wants to emphasize that this is an era of both abundant and scarce information. Browse Chasedream, PTT, GMATClub, or Beat the GMAT, and you’ll find a vast array of resources, potentially accumulating gigabytes of data. You can easily find one or two hundred experience posts.
For example, if you read “when reviewing RC, you should mark all topic sentences,” but miss the underlying meaning – which is to “study the tone and attitude of the topic sentences to understand which ones are important during the first read, making localization smoother” – then simply marking them like others won’t help when the passage content changes in the next exam. If your original localization was already fine, what’s the point?
There are no two identical people, nor is there a universally applicable success formula. The key to progress or stagnation lies here: Will you blindly follow others, or will you understand your own weaknesses and build upon them? Dustin can only act as a “midwife.” The real key to solving problems rests with each candidate.
Conclusion
Ultimately, Dustin remains hopeful about B’s preparation. With clear direction and goals, B is less likely to give up on the GMAT. For such individuals, Dustin will do his utmost to assist. After an objective analysis, as long as the obstacles are addressed step by step and abilities are improved, the target score will naturally be within reach.
With B’s subsequent consent, this consultation record has been compiled into this article. It’s meant to tell overseas self-studying candidates: You’ve worked hard. Before Dustin saw that 760 on his screen, I had experienced everything you are going through, That’s why the blog today is filled with such rich articles and tutorials.
Please don’t give up easily. More importantly, plan your study steps rationally and reflect deeply to find your own blind spots. If you can calmly do this (instead of rushing into practice questions), the opportunity for progress will naturally emerge.
