Im looking to get my MBA but im a little nervous about taking the GMAT's. I havent taken a standerdized test in years. Im thinking about getting some extra help (Kaplan) to study for it. Should I even bother paying for this service or just buy the books myself and study from there? For those who have taken it..... Was it easy? How many times did you take it?
gymguy1 saidIm looking to get my MBA but im a little nervous about taking the GMAT's. I havent taken a standerdized test in years. Im thinking about getting some extra help (Kaplan) to study for it. Should I even bother paying for this service or just buy the books myself and study from there? For those who have taken it..... Was it easy? How many times did you take it?
I don't know much about the GMAT, but the word on the street is that KAPLAN and PRINCETON REVIEW courses suck, generally. POWERSCORE (www.powerscore.com) and TESTMASTERS are more reputable. I'm taking the LSAT in October and have done self-study, using materials from both POWERSCORE and TESTMASTERS. (I wasn't about to pay $1200 to listen to someone tell me what I could get from a bunch of books!) In a month I've made remarkable improvement and feel confident about taking the test in October.
Just get the books bro, and devote a good 3 or 4 months to going through them. I'd recommend the GMAT for Dummies, that worked well for me. I also had the official study guide from the GMAT people, which was more in depth. The latter book is pretty pricey though, so go with the first one, read through it in about a month, and if you think you need more study, go for the second book.
The hardest part of the test for most are the data sufficiency questions. Start off with that when you practice, and if you do well with that, focus on some other part of the test.
Good luck man! When's your test? Keep me in mind and let me know how you did.
I wrote my GMAT for MBA and my GRE (General Record Examination) for my Psychology Masters in early 1984, one week apart. I was not working at the time so I had the time to study.
I bought a couple of books and used them extensively. I also bought a GMAT book that had actual GMAT questions.
The best thing I ever did though was I tried to re-create as much as possible the actual test conditions. Starting at 9 AM and doing the test over a 4 (?) hour period. I also scored it the way it was done at the time, 1/4 off for every wrong answer which certainly discouraged guessing!
The score I got on my simulated tests really boosted my confidence and was quite close to my actual score (92nd percentile I think).
An MBA is a very useful degree to get, but a lot of work! Not intellectually overwhelming but the sheer volume was daunting. Working 80+ hours a week was common.
I bought the Kaplan GMAT self-study book and their GMAT math-specific book, and it worked out very well for me. I studied for an average of 3-4 hours a week for about 2 months. The book came with a CD that had a couple computerized practice tests on it, so that was great.
You can take a practice test at your local Kaplan center for free just to see where you stand. Depending on your baseline, you might need to take some sort of prep course. You definitely want to get in the 500-600s in order to be competitive, and much higher if you want to go to a top school.
