What You Need to Know About the GMAT Exam Whiteboard

A few years back, a friend of mine took the GMAT. He was a junior in High School and was anxious to take his GMAT. So he bought several new books about the Exam and went over to my house for an afternoon of GMAT practice. I knew he was nervous, but we figured that he had hired a tutor or at least had someone who could answer his questions. Well, when he came in the following day to take the GMAT, he dropped by my office and asked me if I would teach him how to take his GMAT online.

I told him that I might be willing to help, but that taking the GMAT online class was going to take some time. My first question was why he would need to take the class at all. His response: because he wanted to improve his score. To improve his score, he needed to know how to maximize his resources.

Now, I get it, a high school student may have some resources that a full time attending student does not have. But what about a working adult? How does he take the GMAT test online? Is he even capable of doing it?

Let’s go over what we did to prepare him. He came into our room and sat down at our computer to start the process. He was unprepared for the fact that we had set up everything that he needed to take the test the right way – from the software he would need to take the test on, to his test book, and the timing pad. We also had the material that he needed for the test itself, and his response time was adjusted according to his speed. His test results showed that he did indeed pass with flying colors!

So, how did he do it? Well, we first of all let him know that we had a GMAT whiteboard sitting in the room. We also explained to him that he could take the whiteboard home and study it there. We also provided him with practice questions and answers, so that he got a good grasp of what the questions were and how he was answering them. Once he understood that he could take a computer seat at his desk and take the exam anytime he wanted, all that was left for him to do was to sit back, relax, and have fun answering question after question.

So, how did he do? Well, in the morning, he had a comfortable desk chair that was already waiting for him when he came in. He went ahead and loaded up the GMAT test material that he needed to take the test. And while he was preparing, he erased the last ten minutes or so of his test preparation so that he had enough time to review everything that he needed. Then, he got himself a quiet computer chair and downloaded the GMAT preparation software into it. He was set to go and take the test right before he went to work, but unfortunately, he missed his appointment.

So, how did he handle it? He came back in a couple of hours with a full test in his hands. He sat down immediately behind his computer and started studying. It took him about three hours to finish the whole thing. He also printed out copies of every question that he got wrong and made copies of the answers to make his study list.

It was great to have a whiteboard right there where he could keep his focus on taking the GMAT exam. It would have been difficult for him to study because of the distractions around him, but he didn’t need that. He also printed out all of the answer sheets that he got from wrong answers so that he would have them handy whenever he needed them. And once he understood exactly how to study for the GMAT test, he never looked at a guide the next day again.