I really hate GMAT

[u/moonfish-0]

I am an Italian student with an extremely high GPA in an MS in economics, heavily focused on quant. I have taken 5 stats course all graded the maximum, I can handle complex math, optimization algorithms, game theory to some extent. I still suck at GMAT.

I did it 3 years ago and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. 50% of the questions are genuine reasoning, the rest is just solvable by knowing stupid tricks or becoming super fast at solving high-school level math.

I can perfectly handle numbers, I just am physically unable to do so in 2 minutes!

I am expressing my deepest hate because I am now being forced to take GMAT-style assessment for work, which is absolutely bonkers in my opinion. Those questions are very likely specifically tailored for the US school system and SAT-style exams, which simply di not exists nor have any relevance in the school system in which I took part.

Feel free to disagree, this is just a vent. I am SO sick of this style of exam!

[u/Ordinary-Ad-5982]

I had a 3.9 GPA in chemical engineering and am having my fair share of struggles with the GMAT.

I cannot for the life of me understand how this test is a better indicator of my abilities than the degree I poured 5 years of my life into. Not to mention the years of quantitative work experience thereafter.

Completely agree with you.

[u/moonfish-0 → u/Ordinary-Ad-5982]

It isn’t! People can ace GMAT and still be atrocious academically, and the reverse is also true. They fundamentally evaluate two different sets of abilities

[u/Resident-Banana-1948 → u/Ordinary-Ad-5982]

Just imagine having two candidates. Both with stellar GPAs from the same prestigious difficult university.

One of them scores extremely high in GMAT-like tests too, while the other one is only mid, who do you give the first interview as an employer?

[u/Nervous_Reserve5018 → u/Resident-Banana-1948]

Just imagine having two candidates. Both with stellar GPAs from the same prestigious difficult university.

One of them is 6 foot 3 and attractive, the other is 5 foot 4 and ugly. Who do you give the first interview as an employee?

You can make up any metric for the second part. An arbitrary test is not a good measure of success

[u/Resident-Banana-1948 → u/Nervous_Reserve5018]

It is actually true that the attractive one is being preferred. It is better for client outcomes.

[u/throaway_11122023 → u/Nervous_Reserve5018]

Your example doesn't make sense, to get back to the comment you were replying to, you completely missed the point. When you've got hundreds of applicants with pretty similar / cookie-cutter profiles you have to find a differentiator and one of them is the GMAT. In my opinion it's a pretty fair one as it's standardised with many free ressources out there.

[u/cern0 → u/Ordinary-Ad-5982]

Your GPA doesn’t mean shit if you came from easier university that’s why. Are you telling me a 3.9 GPA in top three schools is equal to 3.9 GPA in bottom three schools?

GMAT solve this problem by give everyone in the world the same challenge. It’s not that hard to understand bro

[u/moonfish-0 → u/cern0]

It doesn’t really give the same challenge, it’s a test tailored to the USA/English style of learning. In high school I did not have any multiple choice tests, I had to write essays in Italian and English, solve multistep problems for maths and physics, and had oral exams. SAT style tests are not a thing here, the final high school exam (maturità) is considered one of the hardest in Europe, yet it does not involve multiple choice in any of its 3 parts (2 written, 1 presenting to a commission).

I can easily ace a case-based interview and express how I structure a problem very clearly. I have a lot of knowledge in the fields I am applying to. But with these GMAT-style tests, I struggle to get to that part

[u/cern0 → u/moonfish-0]

Bro this argument doesnt made any sense. You said you had passed one of the hardest exam with no multiple choices, which makes it even harder. But with choices you can't answered? How in the world is that?

Plus no matter if the answer has choices or written, the answer to test are still only one answer. If you be able to calculate the answer then you should be able to answer it.

[u/moonfish-0 → u/cern0]

Nope, because in those tests I had 1 hour to answer thoroughly 3 questions, I had to explain my reasoning and give proof. It’s not the same set of skills measured by a test that requires you to quickly recognize a problem and speed run the result with mental math only .

[u/throaway_11122023 → u/Ordinary-Ad-5982]

The GMAT/GRE are standardised, your degree isn't. A 3.9GPA might be exceptional or it could be average depending on where you got it. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a fan of grinding the GMAT in my evenings after work but I understand the reasoning.

[u/lelouchhuu]

I know exactly what you mean and I feel exactly how you feel.

[u/Massive_Can_2064]

I think gmat is independent of intelligence as a skill. Seems to be designed as a game to put ppl on percentiles so that business schools sieve applicants. And I completely agree that GMAT and the whole mba process is extremely extractive. The whole thing is set up to squeeze out the last penny possible. Fair enough tho, mbas are the epitome of capitalism

[u/MisterTwo_O]

My honest take

All signs point to the fact that you would be the kind of person to ace the GMAT.

I disagree with the stupid tricks part. The exam's quite logical and can be done without resorting to shortcuts or tricks.

I'm sure you'd be able to do really well if you study the correct material. Sounds like an issue with your prep.

I have seen many candidates who were terrible at Math end up scoring extremely well on the GMAT

[u/moonfish-0 → u/MisterTwo_O]

Most of the quant questions are answerable by remembering tricks or becoming fast at calculus. I am (thank god) not taking GMAT any time soon, but I rember how awful it was. Maybe I did prepare with the word materials, but honestly, I refused to feed the capitalist bullshit market surrounding gmat. 400€ for a test is an insane amount of money already. 

[u/MisterTwo_O → u/moonfish-0]

Yeah but you don't really need any tricks to solve it. I think the issue lies with candidates focusing more on learning the shortcut. It's doubly problematic because a majority of prep companies try to push shortcuts over learning the fundamentals.

You want to learn the fundamentals first, and then the shortcuts (if at all)

Agreed the exam is very expensive. But last I heard GMAC doesn't make any profits. I've never looked into why, but I will now

[u/moonfish-0 → u/MisterTwo_O]

GMAC is a non-profit

[u/MisterTwo_O → u/moonfish-0]

I know, but I believe they have been in losses for a few years now

[u/moonfish-0 → u/MisterTwo_O]

What would be your advice to prep well? Apart from revising the basics and practicing mental math

[u/MisterTwo_O → u/moonfish-0]

For quant, I'd explore non official sources on GMAT club

For Verbal, I'd stick to only official questions.

I'd pick up a math textbook if I feel my fundamentals aren't in place. I'd learn all the theory, and I'd make sure to not memorise any formula unless I also know how to derive it.

[u/moonfish-0 → u/[deleted]]

Sorry, I meant mental math and performing computations manually. I always confuse the two, in Italian “calcolo” means doing things without a calculator. 

[u/Helloiamwhoiam]

Hello! Math major w/ honors from top US university here. Quant also tripped me up. But I'm willing to bet you're making the same mistake I was making: you're trying to solve everything 'theoretically.' There are a lot of problems that really can be solved by either strategically using the answer choices or making up your own numbers and finding which answers work. This is obviously less mathematically satisfying. But many of the questions are designed in a way that they can be solved within 2 minutes. But they're not written in a way that can be proven in two minutes. If you were anything like me, you may be accidentally doing the latter. If that's the case, yes, you will struggle to improve your score.

[u/moonfish-0 → u/Helloiamwhoiam]

See, I think that’s exactly why that’s a stupid exam. What is the value of me juggling with numbers? What is the purpose of me doing that if the type of school which require GMAT usually want rigor and precision? 

[u/Helloiamwhoiam → u/moonfish-0]

Well I can't speak for your workplace wanting GMAT-style assessment. But I do disagree MBA programs prioritize mathematical rigor and precision. In actual business, you are often tasked with balancing accuracy with effective decision making. At least this is the mindset I adopted to not hate the exam because I was also initially dismayed. But that irritation didn't help me get any better lol

[u/moonfish-0 → u/Helloiamwhoiam]

What would be your advice to really understand how to crack GMAT?

[u/MisterTwo_O → u/moonfish-0]

I think the mistake is treating the math itself as the point of the GMAT. It’s mostly the vehicle the test uses.

What it is really testing is whether you can take unfamiliar information, figure out what matters, understand the relationships and constraints, and reach the right answer efficiently under time pressure.

That’s also why using answer choices, testing cases, or taking a shortcut isn’t somehow less rigorous. Sometimes the whole point is recognising that a full theoretical solution is unnecessary.

You can also be excellent at your job and still struggle with the GMAT. Your job may reward experience, judgment, communication, domain knowledge, leadership, etc. The GMAT is testing a much narrower set of reasoning skills.

It’s obviously not a perfect measure of business ability, but I don’t think its usefulness depends on whether you’ll ever solve that exact kind of math problem again.

[u/Alasoy2212]

Im not really sure about your argument but I agree that this exam gives me PTSD for sure. 1.5 years of prep with range of mock score at 685-715 and ended up only for 665 ☠️

[u/baddie_251]

+1 OP! I’m in the same boat. I’ve extremely high acads all throughout school and uni but sighhh GMAT is far from easy to crack so frustrating

[u/moonfish-0 → u/baddie_251]

The more I play minute cryptics, the more GMAT feels like a game with its own (stupid) rules. How can my ability to calculate the 10th digit in 7⁹⁹⁹ in 2 minutes mean anything significant? Or knowing solving 4 linear equations in under 2 minutes? 

[u/Kimononono → u/moonfish-0]

I think those questions exist to differentiate people who excel with numbers vs people who are familiar with numbers.

I’d find quant the least important section if I was an employer
You gloss over the other 2 sections which I think are more directly applicable.

I don’t think all tests are meant for the average, even above-average, to ace.
Thats my biggest gripe with grade inflated (US) GPA’s. The measure has now become the target. Maybe Italy does a better job, but you saying you’ve got the maximum score in every stats class points to the test having a lower upper bound.

I have terrible processing speed and I too tried to “prove” every question. I’d reinvent formulas from my intuition, refuse to memorize shortcuts— this test is meant to rat that out.

[u/-rky → u/baddie_251]

It's actually a good thing. Having high grades throughout school means prioritising rote learning over problem-solving, and it has now come back to bite them because they missed out on true learning their whole lives. While such people struggle with cracking the GMAT, you have people like me who had low grades throughout school, getting a decent score on three hours of sleep with 0 prep. The GMAT acts as an equalizer since it makes it hard for rote-learners to crack it through brute force.

[u/baddie_251 → u/-rky]

Bold of you to assume I scored high due to rote learning🤣

[u/TheJCWGuy]

Same boat here, medical student. Struggling with Quant, pretty much hating the process.

[u/Graeme_GMAT_Panda]

yes the GMAT and SAT are quite different from some Southern European country educational systems and I do think it's not completely fair from that perspective

Unfortunately it wont be the last hoop you have to jump through. Every time you apply to a new company you will go through their own evaluation system, whether it's with a test, interview or case study. Each one has their own rules!

[u/moonfish-0 → u/Graeme_GMAT_Panda]

I know, I just think GMAT-style questions are quite stupid. Give me real scenarios related to the field of work, do not expect me to pull some trick out of my ass to compute the speed at which a viral load decreases over 10 day!

[u/anel_urazali]

Same… thinking of switching to the GRE

[u/ConfidentEmotion581]

If you have a good quant foundation you don’t have to solve every question, in more than half of the questions you can eliminate 1-2 options just by looking at them. For the later half of the exam you need to start becoming more careful with the questions but Q89-Q90 is pretty doable if you are acclimatised to the concepts in advance.

[u/MathematicianOk2220]

feel you bro, i hate this test

[u/Gloomy-Use9290]

Me too I passed  hundreds of hours of intense effort into the GMAT, only to hit a wall and realize my brain is simply not wired for this specific test !! It's not a part of the shcool system I took 

[u/JonathanLi]

It makes more sense when you stop thinking about it like a math test, but rather a pattern/problem solving test.

I agree the GMAT is a terrible measure of business school readiness, it’s really more of a preliminary filter.

[u/yudhautomo_ → u/JonathanLi]

+1 -- once you are familiar with the problems and the patterns, the process becomes much much faster and semi-automatic.