Everything You Need To Know About the Business Writing Assessment (BWA)
This article was written by Jeff Vollmer.
If you are either considering applying or already in the process of applying to business school, you may have come across something called the Business Writing Assessment or BWA. But not everybody needs to do it—keep reading to find out whether you need to and, if so, how to do a great job!
How Often Should I Take Practice GMAT CATs?
Practice tests or mock exams are one of your most valuable tools as you get ready for your official GMAT—but there’s definitely a wrong way to use your CATs. Here’s how to know when to take your CATs.
When should I take a practice GMAT?
Practice CATs (or mock GMATs) are very useful for three things:
The Last Two Weeks Before Your GMAT
In the final two weeks before your official GMAT, your focus needs to shift. You’re no longer trying to lift your scoring level. Instead, focus on hitting your peak performance on Game Day—like an Olympic athlete who’s trying to peak for the gold-medal match.
Your current scoring level isn’t just a single value. It’s actually a range of values—and a pretty wide one, probably about 30 to 60 points, depending on your scoring level.
On Game Day (the day you take your official test), you could have a great day and hit the top of your range…or you could have a bad day and hit the bottom of your range. So let’s talk about how to hit your peak performance on Game Day! (This post has been updated for the new GMAT.)
The GMAT Focus Online: How to Make the Most of BOTH Whiteboard Tools
The GMAT Online allows test-takers to use both a physical whiteboard and an online whiteboard—and there are great reasons to use both, actually. Learn when to use which in this post!
When you take the GMAT Online, you’ll have access to both a physical whiteboard (that you’ll buy yourself) and an online one. The key is knowing when to use which and practicing in advance so that everything goes smoothly on test day. This post has been updated for the new GMAT exam.
What the GMAT Really Tests
The GMAT is not a math test. It’s also not a “school skills” test. Sure, you have to know certain facts and rules in order to get a good score. But this test is really testing your executive reasoning skills.
You already have executive reasoning skills—use use them every day! Here are some examples: Read more
New GMAT On Demand Study Program Has Launched!
I’m super excited to announce that our new GMAT On Demand study program, fully updated for the new GMAT Focus exam, is here! The GMAT On Demand program is comprehensive; it covers everything you need to know to get a high score on all three sections of the new GMAT exam.
More Fast Math for the GMAT (Part 7)
Guess what? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free—we’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here.
A while back, we started a series on Fast Math for the GMAT—here’s the link if you want to start from the beginning.
In our last installment, I gave you two problems to try. We’ve already discussed the first one; here’s the second one again (from the free problem set on mba.com).
Read more
More Fast Math for the GMAT (Part 6)
Guess what? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free—we’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here.
Welcome to the 6th installment of our Fast Math for the GMAT series!
On these two new problems, we’re going to employ some broader principles than the ones you saw in the earlier installments of this series. I won’t say any more yet—try the two problems from the free problem set available on mba.com and then we’ll talk.
Set your timer for 4 minutes and go! Read more
FAST Math for the GMAT (Part 5 of 5)
Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here.
Welcome to the fifth installment of our Fast Math series. (Miss any earlier ones? Start here.)
Make your life easier on the GMAT: Do less Math. (Yes, with a capital-M. 
) I use Math-with-a-capital-M to mean formal, textbook math.
Sure, you’re going to have to do some textbook math on the GMAT, but it’s really not a math test. Business schools don’t expect you to have to do paper math in b-school or the real world. Rather, they’re testing how you think about math. And thinking about math in the real world is a lot different than textbook, school-based math.
For one thing, the correct answer on the GMAT is never actually a number or a math term. The correct answer is just (A), (B), (C), (D), or (E). How you get to that correct letter doesn’t matter in the slightest.
Okay let’s dive into our 5th Principle for Fast Math!
FAST Math for the GMAT (Part 4 of 5)
Guess what? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free—we’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here.
We’re up to part 4 of our series on Fast Math for the GMAT. If you’re seeing this for the first time, start with part 1 and work your way back here.
Let’s dive right in.