What four advantageous qualities do GMAT high scorers possess?
I’ve often wondered why I have such a strong passion for the GMAT exam. After four years, I finally have a clearer answer.
Although I considered myself good at tests during my academic career (full score on Basic Competence Test, 73rd percentile on General Scholastic Ability Test), I struggled immensely while preparing for the GMAT. Within the first two weeks of preparation, I discovered that the GMAT’s design is completely different from any previous exam; it’s the most effective test I’ve ever seen for measuring a person’s true abilities, rather than rote memorization of knowledge. Over these four years, Dustin has continuously discussed with nearly a thousand Taiwanese test-takers and constantly reviewed his own preparation journey. I’ve further realized: The preparation process for this exam screens for individuals with the “right mindset and problem-solving abilities,” granting them scores sufficient for business school.
So, in Dustin’s view, what abilities and qualities do high-scoring individuals possess?
Data Induction and Analysis Ability
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Compared to directly asking others when encountering problems or getting lost in unclear OG explanations, those who are willing to patiently and thoroughly summarize during exam preparation, categorize various question types, observe common question patterns after inducing similar types, and finally deduce a hypothesis about the test maker’s thinking (key concepts), then verify this hypothesis with other similar questions – such individuals possess the greatest potential to achieve high scores.
Because in a future company, you will need to analyze large amounts of data and reports from databases. These data reports, just like the original questions arranged by serial number, require you to use the same summarization methods mentioned above to induce and analyze the data. For example, if a company wants to invest in industry B in country A, as a manager, you would need to ask your subordinates and interns to compile research reports on all past investment precedents by other companies. What you receive is just raw data, but you must first categorize successful examples and failed cases. Then, you observe the commonalities among successful cases and failed cases. Only the induced success and failure factors can be applied to future projects to maximize gains and minimize risks.
Clear Logical Thinking Ability (Avoiding the Bad Habit of “Vague Handling”)
Over these four years, I’ve noticed that many test-takers, when reviewing questions, use vague terms to convince themselves (e.g., “seems a bit off,” “doesn’t feel right,” “not quite appropriate…”). However, this merely blurs the problem without solving it. Reviewing with vague terms only postpones the issue (like “one China, respective interpretations, maintaining the status quo”), leaving potential trouble for future exams. When reviewing, you must clearly state your hypothesis; even if it’s wrong, it’s better than having no hypothesis at all. Clear descriptions provide a definite basis for subsequent analysis, preventing loss of focus and enabling timely correction.
In the East, we might be accustomed to using vague and ambiguous terms to express politeness and gentleness. However, in the future Western-dominated capitalist business society, clarity and efficiency are paramount. When reporting to your boss, would you use “seems a bit off” to gloss over things? Would you want to hear someone in a meeting say “seems unreasonable” without providing a reason? Would you expect a report submitted to you to contain such a wide-ranging estimate as “150~2000”?
Similarly, when discussing GMAT problems or preparation obstacles with you, Dustin will also omit vague and ambiguous language, hoping to get straight to the core and solve everyone’s problems. But during most of your self-study time, can you also be honest with yourself during review and use clear descriptions?
Efficient Key Information Extraction Ability
Compared to TOEFL, which incorporates listening components into all three sections (listening, speaking, writing), the GMAT is clearly an exam that heavily relies on English reading ability. Whether it’s Quant or Verbal, no matter how strong your thinking and judgment skills are, if your reading ability is insufficient, slow reading will leave you no time to think. Misinterpreting key points can even lead you to overthink, causing you to choose confusing or opposite options.
But what kind of reading ability does the GMAT actually require? For those curious, it’s helpful to understand a historical fact: GMAT and GRE originated from the same source (founded by ETS). GRE is for liberal arts and sciences graduate programs, while GMAT is for business schools. If you have a basic understanding of these two exams, you should know that GRE Verbal contains many difficult vocabulary words, whereas GMAT does not. GRE reading passages are also generally shorter than GMAT reading passages.
Dustin speculates that this is because many liberal arts and sciences graduate programs require students to produce theses before graduation. Students must learn to read closely and intensively, carefully considering every word and sentence in the literature at hand, citing appropriately, and then slowly crafting a thesis. However, in business school MS/MBA programs, students must read a large volume of cases, reports, and books in a short period during their studies, and then produce their own reports, proposals, and analyses. The different training models determine the exam design: GRE requires test-takers to have the ability to precisely discern the meaning of every word, while GMAT requires test-takers to skim within strict time limits, quickly grasp the main idea, and then return to specific paragraphs for block reading as needed by the questions.
Having encountered reading comprehension tests in various English exams since childhood, why do we often falter in GMAT RC and face preparation obstacles? The reason is simple: the “academic reading” we were accustomed to in the past is not the ability the GMAT expects you to have. The GMAT wants you to possess “newspaper-style reading” so that when you’re in business school, faced with a large amount of information, you can first skim to extract the main idea, and then return to specific data to read key points in detail according to the needs of your research.
For those interested, ask any senior who has attended business school about the weekly reading load and time spent; the answer will surely exceed your imagination.
Error Correction and Self-Correction Ability
Preparing for the GMAT is not entirely like a rocket launch, where everything is perfectly prepared, and pressing the launch button determines success or failure in an instant (though that would be dramatic and exciting!). In reality, it’s more about learning to identify your blind spots from setbacks and then trying again. From a test-taker’s perspective (including myself when I was taking the exam), who wouldn’t want to solve it in one go? Who would be willing to spend a lot of time, sacrifice sleep and leisure, and commit to a long-term battle? But this is a subjective thought, with a sample size of only yourself. Now, Dustin wants to offer an objective observation based on a large sample size. Over these four years, among the nearly thousand test-takers Dustin has seen, only 10-20% achieved their ideal score on the first attempt. Most took two to three attempts, self-correcting through ESR analysis, inductive practice of wrong questions, readjusting study plans, and resolutely committing to thorough summarization.
Similarly, after you enter the workforce, no business plan is designed to be a one-and-done, permanent solution. You must continuously track environmental changes, various market data, and problem reports and feedback from the previous implementation phase, and then decide how to revise your next steps based on this information. The “error correction and self-correction ability” demonstrated during exam preparation proves to business schools that you possess the personality trait of being able to adapt to changes at any time. In essence, this is a multi-round game between you and the GMAT – you must continuously revise based on the results to achieve your goal.
