For countless numbers of graduate school applicants, preparing and sitting for the GRE, GMAT, LSAT or MCAT can be extremely stressful. If you are considering working with a test prep organization, you will most definitely want to follow this blog series. MyGuru offers excellent test prep services for grad school applicants. They offer GMAT tutoring, GRE tutoring, LSAT tutoring, and more. Perhaps more importantly, has the outcomes to prove that their strategies and individualized approach with students works.

We are delighted to offer this interview series, which will feature a new interview question every two to four weeks.

Below is our sixth question for MyGuru.

Grad School Road Map: What are the top areas to focus on in GRE or GMAT tutoring?

Stefan Maisnier, Director of Online Tutoring: Let’s face it, the GRE and GMAT are very similar tests and if you’re considering an MBA or other business-focused program, both may be accepted by your target admissions office. So, how can you begin studying to maximize a test score for two exams at once? Well, this article is intended to help you begin preparing for both tests simultaneously before making an informed decision about which one is ultimately best for you.

1) Delay the unique parts. The two tests have much more in common than not, so the undecided GMAT or GRE test taker should focus on shared content before moving on to the limited unique aspects of the two exams. For the GRE, this means forgoing vocabulary study at the outset of your practice and for the GMAT you should wait to engage in studying grammar for the sentence corrections on the Verbal section of that exam. Furthermore, you should really only focus on the Verbal and Quantitative sections to start, unless you are concerned about your ability to complete a four-paragraph essay that evaluates the cogency of an argument in 30 minutes. In that case, practice only the argument essay for either test because those tasks are very similar, but only the GRE has an issue essay task, which should be relegated to later investigation, and of course for the GMAT you can probably wait until you commit to that exam before beginning to investigate its Integrated Reasoning section in detail.

2) Practice without a calculator. There are so many practice resources out there to help with learning the math content for the GRE and the GMAT, but only one exam allows a calculator – the GRE. However, that GRE calculator is pretty terrible! In fact, the GRE used to not allow a calculator, but more than a decade ago ETS (the company that administers the GRE) incorporated a limited interface calculator without changing anything else on the exam, which should tell you how valuable ETS officials believe that calculator to be. Two of the best math review ebook resources for both tests are the Manhattan GMAT Foundations of Math and the Barron’s GRE. If you attempt the math content of either of these resources from your computer, without a calculator, you’ll be well equipped for most of the quantitative concepts on both tests even though one resource is theoretically for the GMAT and the other is for the GRE. Plus, if you do choose the GRE you’ll be able to avoid that terrible calculator once and for all!

3) Keep pacing in mind. Both exams will require you to work fast, so when you’re studying and attempting practice problem make sure that you do so under timed conditions. For either exam a good baseline is 20 questions in about 40 minutes for any type of question you might be practicing. The GRE does require a little bit of a faster per question pace than the GMAT does, but it is also a longer test. However, recognize that your pacing will need to become more specifically regimented once you choose your test.

4) Don’t ignore verbal. Yes, the Quantitative section is probably more scrutinized by most programs that accept both the GRE and the GMAT, but those same programs do use the Verbal section score too, presenting an opportunity for the savvy test prepper. Generally, GMAT reading comprehension and critical reasoning materials carry over to the GRE pretty directly, so you can use those in a 2 to 1 ratio of reading comprehension to critical reasoning and feel confident that you’re preparing for that content on the GRE concurrently.

5) Take diagnostic exams. Once you have a solid understanding of the arithmetic, algebra, and geometry of both exams’ Quantitative section, as well as the reading comprehension and critical reasoning that makes up a majority of their Verbal sections, you should take the time to attempt diagnostics for both tests to see which you prefer. This way, you’ll be able to then pivot to focusing on whichever you like more, probably based on the unique aspects that you haven’t studied for much as yet. Go to ets.org/gre for access to one of their free PowerPrep practice exams and mba.com/exam-prep for one of their free GMATPrep practice tests. Then once you’ve gotten your two scores, visit ets.org/gre/institutions/about/mba/comparison_tool to compare your diagnostic scores using the GRE’s own conversion tool to make a decision about which to pursue.

Eventually, you’ll have to narrow your focus to one of the two tests, but before you do, by following these five tips you’ll set yourself up for the highest GRE or GMAT score to submit with your application packet!

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