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"The GMAT: About the test & preparation methods" |
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Posted on: 6/2/2009 |
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The Results: My Score |
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So after 16 hours of class going over the prep book, several hours more of studying, and the 2 online practice tests that I took, I got a 510 on the GMAT (out of possible 800). I'm not excited about a 510, but I'm not complaining either. : ] With that score, I will be accepted into either school that I am interested in for my Graduate studies; UTC (Chattanooga) only requires a 450 or higher and USF (Tampa) only requires a 500. |
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About the GMAT |
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BACKGROUND
The GMAT is the standardized test for getting into most graduate schools. It stands for Graduate Management Admissions Test; "Graduate" as in a college graduate, and "Management" as in business management. The GMAT was designed as a way for college admissions faculty to gauge a student's business and management knowledge. Most accredited graduate schools require applying students to get a score of around 500 or higher in order to be admitted into their program.
OVERVIEW
The GMAT costs around $250 to take, and test-takers are given 3 ½ hours (210 minutes) to complete the exam. The GMAT is a computerized, adaptive test; it is "computerized" in the sense that it is taken on a computer, and it is "adaptive" in the sense that the test adapts as you take it, based on your submitted answers. For instance, if you are answering all of the questions correctly, the GMAT will give you questions of increasing difficulty. Conversely, if you answer a question incorrectly, the next question is likely to be easier than if you answer that same question correctly. The GMAT is a 3-part exam and tests a person's basic verbal, math, and analytical writing skills, but does not measure knowledge of any specific fields of study.
THE 3 PARTS OF THE GMAT |
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The Analytical Writing (essays) portion of the exam
consists of 2 essays, and test takers are given 30 minutes to complete each essay. One of the essays measures the test taker's ability to analyze an argument, and the other essay measures the test taker's ability to analyze an issue. |
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The Quantitative portion of the exam
consists of 37 multiple-choice questions, and test takers are given 75 minutes to complete it. This portion of the exam measures the test taker's aptitude for problem solving and knowledge about data sufficiency. |
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The Verbal portion of the exam
consists of 41 multiple-choice questions, and test takers are given 75 minutes to complete it. This portion of the exam measures the test taker's reading comprehension, critical reasoning, and sentence correction. |
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SCORING
The GMAT is scored on a scale of 0 - 800, and the average score in recent years was around 535. Most accredited graduate schools require students to get a score of around 500 or higher in order to be admitted into their program. This score does not reflect the student's score on the essays (Analytical Writing part) though, so the essays are somewhat overlooked because most graduate schools don't base acceptance on their scores. In spite of that, the Analytical Writing essays are graded on a seperate scale of 0-6, with 6 being the highest. One important thing to note about the scoring on the GMAT is that your score will be reduced greatly for not completing all of the questions. For example, failing to answer 5 verbal questions would reduce your score from the 91st percentile to the 77th percentile (according to the GMAT Review book mentioned below). |
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My Preparation Methods |
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1) Taking a Prep Course |
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Some colleges provide courses to prepare students for the GMAT, and I enrolled in the prep courses at Florida Southern College. They provide a Verbal course that prepares students for the reading comprehension & analytical writing parts of the exam and a Math course that prepares students for the problem solving & data sufficiency portions of the exam.
Taking this course was the best preparation that I had because it was taught by local education professionals that are very familiar with the GMAT. Each course met for 2 hours/week for 5 weeks, so it was about 20 hours of preparation. I never would have found the motivation to study that many hours on my own. |
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2) A Prep Book |
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The GMAT prep courses that I took used a great prep book as a guide: |
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This is a great prep book because it has over 800 questions and answers from previous GMAT exams. In addition, it was created by the people who created and refine the exam (the Graduate Management Admission Coucil) and includes a lot of great considerations about the exam and its format. |
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3) Online Practice Tests |
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I took a couple different practice tests online, and I strongly recommend taking at least one practice test before taking the GMAT because they are the best way to become familiar with the computerized format of the GMAT. Unlike most high school and college exams, the GMAT is administered on a computer and you are only given small dry erase boards to doodle your calculations on.
I have taken two practice tests so far. I took the first on the Princeton Review website prior to studying and got a 530. I took the other one on www.GMAT.org when I was about halfway through my prep course and got a 550. |
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4) Some good online resources for reviewing GMAT material |
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