The Tale of Two “Easy” Courses
While pursuing Engineering in Canada, I needed to take two electives in my second year. There were two common electives that students from previous batches typically considered “easy”. The first one was a course on Critical Thinking. I took that course. Loved it. I got the highest grade of the semester in that grade.
In the next semester, the “easy” elective was called Popular Music. Everyone said it was a piece of cake.
I joined it.
I attended the first lecture. The session made no sense to me. I had an option to exchange my elective within its first week if I wanted to. But, all the people I talked to still called the course very easy. I decided that the course would grow on me. I continued with the course.
The complete course made no sense to me. I got the lowest grade in the entire second year in that course. I barely avoided an ‘F’.
So how come everyone could be so right about one elective and so wrong about the other?
As you might have guessed, turns out, they weren’t wrong. I was.
The hidden difference
The Critical Thinking course was all about logical thinking and reasoning. I truly enjoyed it. A lot of the content of the course was clear to me even before I took the course.
The Popular Music course was all about music that was popular in North America. I had gone to Canada from India just the previous year. I had listened to a few English songs here and there, but my knowledge of North American music was almost non-existent. On the other hand, all the people who had called the course easy were Canadians, or had lived in the country for many years. They had grown up listening to that music the way I had to Hindi music. For them, the course was mainly about things they just culturally grew up with. For me, it was all alien.
I did not understand a simple thing that even if a lot of people find something easy, it could still be difficult for me. I was so blinded that even after I had a miserable first few sessions, I chose to ignore my gut and continue with the course. After all, so many people called it easy.
The people I was comparing myself with were not representative of me. They were all in my age group. They were all studying what I was studying. But, our cultural experiences were completely different.
Now, this cultural difference did not matter at all for the Critical Thinking course. But, it played a huge role when it came to Popular Music. I failed to make this link. I did not understand that just because we are similar in many regards doesn’t mean that we’re similar in all regards.
(In hindsight, it was a pretty dumb move. But again, it also highlights how I got blinded by everyone calling the course ‘easy’.)
Applying this lesson to your GMAT journey
Don’t make this mistake in your GMAT prep.
Don’t decide how long your GMAT prep should take based on how long people on the internet have taken. It might not look that way, but maybe there are some crucial hidden differences. Even people with similar education backgrounds, age group, country, mother tongue, etc could be different in some subtle yet important ways.
Before I want to talk about the differences though, I want to talk about what we call “everyone”. I wouldn’t have talked with more than 5 people about the ‘popular music’ elective. Yet, in my mind I believed that “everyone” finds the course easy. Similarly, where are you collecting your information about how long GMAT should take from? A colleague? An acquaintance? An acquaintance of an acquaintance? From people who share their journey online?
If you know of a few people who have taken the GMAT, they would have different scores achieved over different time periods, no?
And what about all the people who write about their GMAT experiences online? That’s a significant number. That should give a fair idea about a GMAT timeline?
Actually, no. Because that set of people is not representative of the entire GMAT population.
Here is an example of a ‘hidden difference’. Who do you think is more likely to write about their GMAT journey on the internet?
- Someone who got a high score in a short time
- Someone who got a high score after years
- Someone who spent years preparing for the GMAT and even then didn’t get a high score
In my experience over the years, most debriefs and ‘success stories’ online are from people who eventually get high scores. And even within them, most are those who reached there within a handful of months (and not years). People who do not get those “high scores” rarely share their experiences on GMATClub, reddit etc.
So, the set of people who share debriefs and success stories is not representative of all the people who take the test.
So, no. Everyone does not get a 90th percentile score within 4 months. That’s just not true. In fact, it represents a minority.
If you have been preparing for the GMAT for over 6 months, don’t tell yourself: “Everyone who prepares for the GMAT gets done by now. Only I am taking so long.” Again, that is just not true.
Don’t decide what your starting level in terms of GMAT preparedness should be based on what you’ve heard from friends/ colleagues/ people online. For most people, the skills tested on the GMAT haven’t been tested before. How well developed those skills are for you could vary over a large range. Be open to that.
Apply Critical reasoning to your whole GMAT prep process.
Some questions you might have in mind
You say I should not base my timeline on others. So, how should I figure out how long GMAT prep would take me?
Direct answer: I do not know. I do not know of a reliable formula to calculate this either. I could give a rough framework:
Take a practice test (official one). What’s the difference between the test score and your target score? For every 50 points difference, consider investing 80-100 hours in GMAT prep.
But, this framework is a very rough guideline at best.
I’d also urge you to consider: why do you need a timeframe in the first place? To help you stay on track? So that you don’t procrastinate? I am not sure how helpful a way this is to overcome procrastination.
Well, what then? If I leave things open ended, they could stretch forever!
Focus on the process you’re following and your inputs today. The outcome will follow automatically. I elaborate on this point in these articles: Stop all this beginner nonsense and Why Parkinsons law doesn’t work for GMAT prep.
Factor in Your Life: Be realistic about how many hours you can study per week. Do not expect to suddenly become Superman or Superwoman tomorrow.
What are some other GMAT-specific “hidden differences” that might make my journey different from someone else’s?
Your personal background plays a huge role in what you’ll find easy or difficult on the GMAT. Here are a few common “hidden differences”:
Academic background: An engineer might find the logic in Quant intuitive but need more practice with the nuances of Reading Comprehension. A literature major could be the complete opposite.
Comfort with English: The GMAT is in English. Many times the students make mistakes because they do not understand questions properly, or they think they do but actually they’ve misunderstood.
Whether you’re an avid read: Many (not all) avid readers have a pretty solid starting point for Reading Comprehension.
Time since school: If you just graduated, your quantitative skills might be fresh. If you’ve been in the workforce for 10 years, you may need more time to refresh those foundational math concepts and to just get used to studying again.
Your comfort with the underlying skills: I have always enjoyed math and logic puzzles. I do them in my free time many times. Lucky for me, some of those skills were transferrable and relevant for GMAT. Many of my friends – same education background, same age group, same work experience took much longer on the GMAT than I did – mainly because of these underlying differences. Many still did not score as well as I had – mainly because of these underlying differences.
I’ll wrap up now …
The thought that ‘everyone is achieving success, only I am left out’ can be very damaging. I’ve seen it lead people to question not just their preparation, but their whole identity: Am I just dumb?
I’m telling you now: Everyone doesn’t get those great scores in those short timelines. That doesn’t even represent a majority. In fact, in my estimate, it would be a small minority.
And, I am saying this last line as much for you as for myself:
Even if everyone else has achieved something and I am taking longer: So bloody what?