Writing
Notes on the climb.
Strategy, mistake patterns, and score-improvement frameworks. From the founder of Zakarian GMAT.
- 2026-06-26·11 min read
How the GMAT Focus Adaptive Algorithm Actually Works
How the GMAT Focus Edition adapts question by question, what the algorithm actually rewards, why the first-ten-questions myth is wrong, how bookmark-and-edit fits the scoring, and what all of it means for your timing strategy.
Read post - 2026-06-22·11 min read
GMAT Graphics Interpretation: An Estimation-First Strategy Guide
Graphics Interpretation is the Data Insights format students lose to carelessness, not difficulty — two dropdown blanks, both scored all-or-nothing. An estimation-first strategy: map the axes, scale, and units before the question, find two clean points for trend lines, the chart types ranked by difficulty, and the recurring traps.
Read post - 2026-06-18·11 min read
What Is a Good GMAT Focus Score? The 2026 Percentile Chart
What counts as a good GMAT Focus score, read off percentile rather than the raw number — the 2026 score-to-percentile chart, where the median sits, the competitive and elite tiers, and why 645 is the percentile equivalent of the old 700. Then how to set your own target from the schools you are aiming at.
Read post - 2026-06-18·10 min read
GMAT Focus Edition 2026: Format, Sections, Timing, and Scoring
A standalone reference for the GMAT Focus Edition format: the three sections, 64 questions in 2 hours 15 minutes, the section-order choice, the bookmark-and-edit feature, the Data-Insights-only calculator, and the 205-805 scoring scale with equal section weighting.
Read post - 2026-06-18·12 min read
GMAT Multi-Source Reasoning: A Timing and Triage Playbook
Multi-Source Reasoning is the Data Insights format that quietly eats the clock — a single tabbed set can run 10 minutes for three questions. A timing-and-triage playbook: map the tabs instead of reading them, when to mark-and-skip, a worked example, and the recurring traps.
Read post - 2026-06-18·13 min read
GMAT Two-Part Analysis: A Strategy Guide for the Trickiest DI Format
Two-Part Analysis is the Data Insights format that quietly costs students the most time. The two-column structure, the dependent-vs-independent distinction, a worked quantitative example, the recurring traps, and a timing plan for the only question type where one mistake costs two answers.
Read post - 2026-06-15·12 min read
GMAT Math Formulas: The Cheat Sheet You Actually Need (2026)
Every formula tested on GMAT Focus Quant, organized by topic with a one-line when-to-use note for each — arithmetic, number properties, algebra, word problems, stats, counting, and geometry. No calculator, no formula sheet on test day, so memorize the high-frequency ones.
Read post - 2026-06-15·13 min read
GMAT Number Properties: The High-Frequency Concepts
The number-properties concepts that show up most on GMAT Focus Quant — factors vs multiples, prime factorization, divisibility rules, LCM/GCF, even/odd behavior, units-digit cycles, remainders, and evenly-spaced sets — each with a one-line worked illustration.
Read post - 2026-06-15·13 min read
GMAT Critical Reasoning: How to Find the Assumption
The single most important Critical Reasoning skill: spotting the unstated assumption that bridges premises to conclusion. The Negation Test, necessary vs sufficient assumptions, the common assumption families, and why this one skill unlocks Strengthen, Weaken, Flaw, and Evaluate too.
Read post - 2026-06-15·12 min read
The Logical Fallacies the GMAT Loves to Test
A field guide to the reasoning flaws the GMAT recycles in Critical Reasoning and Data Insights — correlation vs causation, unrepresentative samples, the percent-vs-number trap, part-whole errors, and more. You will not name them on test day, but recognizing the shape predicts the answer.
Read post - 2026-06-15·14 min read
A Realistic 3-Month GMAT Study Schedule, Week by Week
A ready-to-use 12-week GMAT Focus study calendar for a working professional at about 10-12 hours a week — diagnostic first, fundamentals, deliberate topic practice, then official mocks and weak-area repair. With notes for compressing to one month or stretching to six.
Read post - 2026-06-11·10 min read
How to Use the Official GMAT Focus Practice Exams
Why the six official mba.com practice exams are the only score worth trusting, how to ration them, the six-week exam-conditions cadence, and what to do with each result so your number actually climbs.
Read post - 2026-05-04·11 min read
How to Retake the GMAT After a Low Score
When to retake, when to walk away, the seven-day rule, the post-mortem framework, and how to plan a second attempt that actually moves the needle — without burning out before the rebooked exam date.
Read post - 2026-05-04·13 min read
GMAT vs GRE for MBA Admissions: An Honest Decision Framework
How to choose between the GMAT and the GRE for top MBA programs — what schools actually accept, where each test is harder, the score-conversion math, and the five honest scenarios for picking one over the other.
Read post - 2026-05-04·12 min read
GMAT Quant Timing Strategy: How to Finish All 21 Questions
The per-question budget, the bookmark rule, the soft-cap-and-move discipline, and the four-tier triage that gets you through the 45-minute Quant section without burning the clock on a single brutal question.
Read post - 2026-05-03·12 min read
The First 30 Days of GMAT Prep: A Beginner's Plan
What to actually do in your first month of GMAT prep — week by week, with the diagnostic-first sequence that beats jumping straight into content. Built for working professionals starting cold.
Read post - 2026-05-03·13 min read
GMAT Prep for Non-Native English Speakers: A Targeted Plan
What works, what doesn't, and the seven specific tactics that took a non-native speaker from 565 to 735 — including the Verbal-section-specific approach native-speaker prep guides leave out.
Read post - 2026-05-03·12 min read
GMAT Focus Edition vs the Old GMAT: What Actually Changed
Section-by-section breakdown of what GMAT Focus removed, what it kept, what the new 205-805 scoring scale means in old-test terms, and how to translate any old GMAT prep into a Focus study plan.
Read post - 2026-05-03·13 min read
GMAT Reading Comprehension: How to Read Dense Passages Fast
The four passage types, the structural skim that beats line-by-line reading, the question-type taxonomy, and how non-native speakers can match native-speaker accuracy on RC.
Read post - 2026-05-03·15 min read
GMAT Critical Reasoning Question Types Explained
All eight Critical Reasoning question types — what each one is actually asking, the trap built into each, and how to recognise the stem in five seconds.
Read post - 2026-05-03·14 min read
GMAT Data Sufficiency: The Strategy Guide for 2026
The five answer choices, the AD/BCE process, the trap that costs most students 20 points per section, and how to drill DS without burning out.
Read post - 2026-05-03·14 min read
GMAT Data Insights: The Complete Section Guide for 2026
All five question types, timing strategy, the traps that cost most students points, and how to practice the newest section on the GMAT Focus Edition.
Read post - 2026-05-03·13 min read
How to Build a GMAT Study Plan That Actually Works
Why most GMAT study plans fail, the diagnostic-first approach that actually moves your score, and a 16-week framework you can adapt to a real schedule.
Read post - 2026-05-02·9 min read
Why Your GMAT Score Is Stuck
I went from 565 to 735 in eight months. The single shift that made it possible — and why most prep advice misses it.
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