Yesterday, I took the GMAT
(on 29th of July). I made 740/800 (Q-50, V-39). Total – 97 percentile (Q – 93
percentile, V – 87 percentile). It took me more than two years, with many long
breaks in between, to prepare for GMAT. Over a period of time, I worked very
hard to develop certain skills, which are pre-requisites to pursue MBA and to
manage business. I want to share my views on and my preparation strategies in
GMAT preparation so that some points would help aspiring MBA candidates who
wish to take the GMAT.
Quantitative Ability:
Problem Solving & Data Sufficiency –
You should learn the concepts, remember the formulas and solve wide variety of
problems. To master Quantitative Ability, practice problems with a smart
approach. I prepared for CAT, which requires one to solve problems of a high
difficulty level. Thus, I did not spend much time to master Quantitative
Ability. I followed only the Official Guide to study the concepts in
Quantitative Ability.
Verbal Ability:
As I am a non-native English speaker, I had to spend much
of my time to improve my score in Verbal ability section.
Sentence Correction – Unless you
know the rules of Sentence Correction, you are recommended not to proceed
further. Study the rules (especially idioms) with due diligence. Looking at a
sentence, you should identify the flaws and this skill requires good amount of
practice. I suggest Official Guide, Manhattan Review, Princeton Review and the
flash cards from ‘beat the gmat’.
Critical Reasoning – Usually, the time
required to solve a Critical reasoning question is more than the average time
required to solve a question in Verbal Ability section. Whether you read the
question first and go to the passage or you read the passage first and go to
the question later should not make much difference. But, before looking into
the options, you should have a vague idea about what the answer could be. Don’t
overlook other options, even if you think you got the Bingo! in the first
option itself. Although I practiced L-SAT questions, I do not suggest others this
path because the questions are pretty difficult and may unnecessarily consume
your time. I suggest you follow Official Guide, Princeton Review and Kaplan
Review.
Reading Comprehension – Many of us
have different approaches to solve Reading Comprehension questions. I recommend
you read the passage first, understand the gist and refer to the passage only
if needed, while answering questions. This approach helps you a lot not only in
b-school but also in your future endeavours in managing a business. The
concentration with which you read the passage is inversly proportional to the
time you take to answer the questions. I suggest you follow Official Guide and
Princeton Review.
AWA:
If you apply the Verbal Ability strategies in AWA, you
can reap the benefits with less effort.
Practice Tests:
GMAT Prep Tests : These tests are
highly recommended because the difficulty level of the actual GMAT tests is
more or less the same level of GMAT Prep tests. Try to take more than one test
so that you can get a clear picture of what kind of traps GMAC has devised for
you. I made 720+ in all the GMAT Prep tests I practiced.
Manhattan GMAT Tests : I recommend
even these tests because the difficulty level of actual GMAT tests is more
closer to that of Manhattan tests than to that of any other test. By the time I
took these tests, I was not strong enough in Verbal ability fundamentals. My
average score is 690 in these tests. Later I worked on Verbal ability
fundamentals and proceeded with GMAT Prep tests.
Princeton Tests : I heard that the
scores in Princeton are skewed. I cannot comment on this claim as I took only
one test when I was taking Manhattan tests. I made 720 in Princeton test.
Kaplan Tests : You better avoid
taking these tests. The difficulty level in these tests is pretty high. I made
scores in the range of 570-640.
I hope this information helps the MBA aspirants who are
planning to give GMAT in near future. If you have any query or need some help,
you can shoot a mail at jet706@gmail.com or post the query in the comments
below. If you post the query in the comments, your query and my answer will
help others who are planning to take GMAT.
