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How to Get a Perfect GMAT Score

Many people wonder how to notch a perfect score on the GMAT — now an 805 on the new GMAT Focus Edition. They often they hear that it’s virtually impossible to get a perfect score, and that it will not help their MBA applications.

I agree that business school admissions officers generally don’t view an 800 or 805 GMAT score much differently from how they view, for instance, a 770 GMAT score, I think scoring 805 on the GMAT Focus Edition is totally doable.

Much of what applies to scoring a perfect 805  on the GMAT can be used for achieving any relatively high GMAT score. If you use the information to score 680, 730, or 770 instead, we’ll still have a win.

  • The Performance Required for Scoring a Perfect 805 on the GMAT
  • Developing a Winning Mindset
  • The Most Effective Way to Prepare for the GMAT
  • Learn Topics from the Ground Up
  • Develop Skill in Finding a Way to Get to the Answer to Any GMAT Question
  • Develop Skill in Achieving 100 Percent Accuracy
  • Tuning Your Unconscious Aspects to Maximize GMAT Performance
  • To Maximize Your GMAT Performance, Take Care of Your Health and Wellness

Let’s begin by discussing the GMAT performance required for scoring 805.

 

Performance Required for a Perfect GMAT Score

Scores on the new GMAT Focus Edition that debuted in November 2023 range from 205 to 805. The score is based on your performance on three sections: Quantitative, Verbal, and Data Insights. Scores on these sections range from 60 to 90, with each section equally weighted towards the total score.
To earn a perfect score, you must correctly answer all the counted questions in each section.

That’s not easy — but it is possible. According to the Graduate Management Admissions Council, fewer than 50 people out of more than 200,000 people who took the previous GMAT exam each year scored a perfect 800. At the same time, with the right mindset, it is doable. So, let’s continue by discussing developing the type of mindset that’s conducive to acing the GMAT.

 

Developing a Winning Mindset

As we discussed earlier, people often feel that scoring 805 on the GMAT is virtually impossible. Of course, if you believe that, it’s going to be pretty challenging to score 800 because you’ll be attempting to do something that you yourself believe likely can’t be done. Accordingly, to set yourself up to score 800, or close to 800, on the GMAT, you have to develop a mindset conducive to doing so.

One way to develop such a mindset is to consider the fact that people regularly get all the Quant questions or all the Verbal questions on the GMAT correct. So, to score 800 on the GMAT, you just have to put together two aspects of what a fair number of people do and get all the questions on both sections correct. Furthermore, as we just discussed, some people do score 800 on the GMAT. So, you can take the attitude that you too are a person and therefore can achieve what other people have achieved.

Another aspect of developing a mindset conducive to acing the GMAT is adopting a growth mindset. The  concept of a growth mindset, which was developed by psychologist Carol Dweck, involves the idea that our most basic abilities, such as basic quantitative and verbal reasoning skills, are not fixed but, rather, can be developed. (View this related article on How to Increase Your GMAT Score, in which TTP founder Scott Woodbury-Stewart speaks to adopting a growth mindset in more depth.)

What this idea means in the context of preparing for the GMAT is that, if you’re, for instance, strong in quant but weak in verbal, or vice versa, you can develop strong skills in the other area as well. Similarly, if you don’t feel particularly strong in either quant or verbal, you can develop your abilities in both areas, and the clearer you are about the fact that you can develop yourself, the more confident you’ll be and the more energy you’ll have for your test prep.

GMAT prep tips MBA

Of course, in order to achieve a perfect score on the GMAT, along with a winning mindset, you’ll need an effective approach to preparing. So, let’s now discuss the most effective approach to preparing for the GMAT.

The Most Effective Way to Prepare for the GMAT

Regardless of whether your goal is an average GMAT score, an above average score, or a 99th percentile score, the most effective way to prepare for the GMAT is to work topic by topic, mastering one topic at a time. To master a topic, you first learn the concepts involved in that topic and then do dozens of practice questions involving that topic until you get them correct consistently. Once you’ve mastered one topic, you move on to the next and do the same thing. By proceeding in this way, you eventually master the entire GMAT.

So, for instance, if you were working on rate questions, you’d first study the concepts involved, such as the rate, time, and distance formula. Then, you’d answer dozens of rate questions, starting with easy questions and working your way up to harder questions, until you virtually couldn’t get them incorrect. Similarly, if you were working on Sentence Correction questions involving modifiers, you’d learn all the concepts involved in answering those questions and then answer SC practice questions involving modifiers until you totally understood how to get them correct consistently.

This approach to GMAT prep works super well because it gives you an opportunity to focus on understanding a set of concepts, you go directly from learning concepts to applying them to answering questions, and you can apply what you learn in the process of answering one question to answering subsequent similar questions.

For additional tips on learning topics from the ground up, developing skill, maximizing performance, and more, view my full article on Target Test Prep.

 

Want more advice?

To learn more about why the GMAT matters to top MBA programs and how to prepare, read our related articles:

Want to discuss your test prep strategy in more detail? Sign up for a free consultation with Fortuna.

 


 

Marty Murray is the Chief Curriculum and Content Architect for Target Test Prep. A test prep veteran who has scored 800 on the GMAT, Marty is known worldwide for his understanding of the GMAT and how to prepare for it. At Target Test Prep, Marty has helped thousands of people to achieve their GMAT score goals, by creating insightful course content and challenging practice questions designed to help people learn just what they need to know to master the test.

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