GMAT test taking advice from the experts

I'm Diana Jordan with MBA Podcaster. I'm working on an upcoming show about the GMAT. I'm talking to several GMAT experts and asking them for advice on how you can improve your score.

My first guest is the CEO of a new GMAT test prep company. Knewton's CEO tells me that no one comes out of the womb being a good test-taker. Jose Ferreira says being a natural at taking the GMAT is not unlike being able to bend your elbow backwards. Ouch.

So I ask how Knewton came to be, and Ferreira says he used to design courses at Kaplan, but then he went to business school, and when he got out, he went back to Kaplan, all the while his head brewing with ideas. Finally, he says technology caught up with his dreams. Instead of having classrooms around the country, he has a few very well-paid, carefully-chosen teachers in classrooms with a live video feed. Then there's the adaptive learning engine, and the ability to target student weaknesses.

You'll hear more in a show coming up on MBA Podcaster -- I'll be interviewing representatives from about five different GMAT test-taking companies.

Biggest theme Ferreira hit on -- better start prepping for the GMAT six months in advance. Much better, he says, to study gradually than to cram. And if you are cramming, better to blow off one of the more focused areas, like permutations and computations, than to sacrifice some of the more general concepts.

He says work really hard -- studying weekends and spare weekday hours -- but about a week or so before your GMAT, distract yourself with some great movies, and the night before test day, be sure you get really good sleep. For energy? Choose a brisk walk instead of a thermos of coffee. The day of your GMAT? Dress in layers. Bring bottled water and maybe some earplugs. Know where the test center is. And, bring painkillers!

Over the next few days, I'll be interviewing experts from Veritas, Manhattan GMAT, and Kaplan...maybe a few others as well. Don't worry -- I'll let you in on their test-taking wisdom as well...and the finished show should be posted in a few weeks at MBA Podcaster.

(Updated! Listen to the completed show here: http://www.mbapodcaster.com/MBA_MoreInfo/gmat-test-taking-tips.asp?iEpisode=77)