Don’t Let the GMAT Forums Fool You

GMAT forums like GMATClub or Reddit show you a wildly skewed sample. The triumphant “565 to 715” stories collect all the comments and float to the top, while the (far more numerous) strugglers post quietly or not at all. Most test-takers work hard for modest improvements. Keeping that in perspective is part of How to Study for the GMAT. We go into more depth below.

If you poke through popular GMAT forums, you’ll quickly encounter dozens of tales of GMAT glory. You’ll read about people who improved from 425 to 645, or from 525 to 735. You might even encounter the amazing story of the guy who got a 435 on his first GMAT practice exam and eventually made it to Harvard.

These “I just crushed the GMAT!” stories seem to be everywhere, and some of them make beating the GMAT sound awfully easy. Test-takers constantly ask us why they haven’t been able to crush the GMAT like everybody in the forums, and the first part of our answer is always the same: there really aren’t that many forum participants crushing the GMAT. It just looks like it.

The triumphant tales of GMAT success receive tons of comments and end up getting bumped to the top of the forums. But for every loud “I just clobbered the GMAT!” story with 40 comments, there are at least a half-dozen, mostly unnoticed, GMAT forum posts that begin or end with “please help!!!”

I’m sure there are exponentially more GMAT forum “lurkers” who have been demoralized by the GMAT but choose not to post anything online. The people who get ripped to shreds by the GMAT either post a very quiet “um, how do I improve?” query on the boards, or they don’t say anything at all.

So whatever else you do over the course of your GMAT preparation, don’t delude yourself into thinking that you suck because “everybody else is beating the GMAT.” They aren’t. Only a very small percentage of people who retake the GMAT actually improve their scores substantially. Most GMAT test-takers are suffering, just like you. And most of the people who made huge GMAT score improvements also suffered, just like you. 

So while the online GMAT success stories are absolutely wonderful if you’re looking for some inspiration, keep them in perspective. We read these stories because they’re relatively rare. That’s why they get all of the attention on the GMAT forums.

If you’re having a hard time with the current GMAT, you’re definitely not alone. Spend some time in the darker corners of the GMAT forums, and you’ll find plenty of people just like you, working their butts off to achieve their goals.

The GMAT might be easy for a very small handful of people, but if you want to improve by 100 points or more, you’ll have to work like crazy. At least you’ll have plenty of company. And if you’re tempted to cram your way there quickly, it’s worth knowing when that actually works.