Sunday, October 29, 2006

GMAT and Some tips for preparation.


The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT®) is a standardized test used for the purpose of admissions to the M.B.A and Ph.D. programs offered by the Business Schools (B-Schools).

If you are planning to do an MBA in US/UK/Australia and other countries GMAT score is very essential to determine your admission prospects.

For the most of MBA aspirants, cracking the GMAT/CAT would be the prime goal. The GMAT is usually the goal for the more experienced professionals, who want to pursue an MBA later in their careers. People attempt CAT within the first 2-3 years after their bachelor degree. A fact is that CAT requires very high Math Skills, and within the first couple of years after passing out, there is a better chance that you will remember the complex calculus that you learnt in college. There are other reasons, more professional ones as well, for this pattern.

About the test:

Quantitative (simple math), English grammar, and Essay writing are the main three competencies tested in GMAT. It is nearly 4 hour long and it’s pretty exhaustive.

Data sufficiency and Problem Solving questions are mingled throughout the quantitative section, and Sentence Correction, Reading Comprehension, and Critical Reasoning questions are mingled throughout the verbal section.

1) The Quantitative section tests the students for basic mathematical thinking. This does not require complex techniques, but tests your ability to understand the problem and solve it using simple techniques. Since GMAT is a Computer Adaptive test, the difficulty level keeps increasing with each correct answer. However, even the most difficult questions on the GMAT Math section should not be too tough. At worst, it could take you a few extra minutes to solve. And it is up to your time management skills to decide whether you want to spend that extra 3 minutes trying to solve a tough probability question, or simply move on with an intelligent guess. In short, you can’t go wrong too much on this section if you were a fairly decent student in high school. A scaled score of around 45/60 is considered decent in this section, although most Asian students score higher than this.

2) The Verbal/English section tests the student on his/her grammar, comprehension and reasoning skills. This section comprises of three types of questions: Sentence Correction, Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension.

a) Sentence Correction requires a very sound understanding of the constructs of the English language and tests your ability to identify and correct very inconspicuous errors in sentences. In fact, some questions don’t even have any errors in them, and you are expected to select the answer which is most correct (since all answers are grammatically correct). These questions might prove very tricky for Indian students due to the liberal use of Hinglish and other vernacular corruptions of English in our daily lives.

b) Critical Reasoning comprises of a small argument, followed by one or two questions that test your reasoning ability. Every word in the argument should be carefully read and understood in order to be able to answer these types of questions. Not an easy cup of tea unless one carefully trains one’s brain to capture each and every detail.

c) Reading Comprehension questions usually comprise of a medium sized passage, followed by 4-5 questions based on the passage. The main difference between reading comprehension in GMAT and reading comprehension in other tests (TOEFL, GRE etc) is that in GMAT, most questions are based on inference and anticipation. Questions based on actual details found in the passage are very few. Consequently, no single technique can be completely successful for GMAT reading comprehension. From my personal experience, the best approach is to improve reading speed since other techniques like skimming, reading questions before the passage, etc. don’t work some of the times. Speed Reading is a technique that cannot be mastered overnight, and requires intense practice. Normal Lewis’ ’’How to Read Better and Faster’’ should be a good book to improve reading skills. Please be warned that Reading Comprehension can be really tricky and could throw you off your timing. So be very careful not to spend too much time re-reading passages. It is very important to improve your comprehension and retention skills if you want to excel in these questions.A scaled score of 35/60 is considered decent in this section. Students with English as their native language usually fare better than others.

3) Essay writing is the third section on the test. GMAT requires students to write 2 essays on topics that are provided at the time of the test. One is an Analysis of an Issue (AI) , and other is an Analysis of an Argument (AA). AI requires the test-taker to analyze the issue given, and take a stance, and then support the stance with facts, opinions, anecdotes, examples etc.AA requires the test-taker to analyze the argument given, and weaken it by identifying the flaws in the argument. The test-taker will also have to provide the necessary assumptions in order to strengthen the argument.The section tests both for analytical skills as well as English writing skills. Sentences should be formed with correct grammar and punctuations, although concessions are made for some spelling mistakes.

The verbal and quantitative sections are multiple-choice and computer-adaptive.

Computer Adaptive: The GMAT is administered only on computer. Computer adaptive means that when you are taking the test the questions given to you will be according to your level of competence. i.e., If you get 1st question right, you will be presented next question which is more difficult. If you get 2nd question wrong the third one will be of lesser difficulty.

Here we have to note one important thing: Every wrong answer damages your score. In fact, the scoring in the test is so weird that if you get the first few questions wrong then take a word from me you can’t by any damn chance get a score above 550. It is impossible.

If you get first few questions right and then you goof up in the following few still its OK. You still stand a chance to get a decent score of 650 or above by doing well in the rest of the questions.

Scoring:

The scoring for the GMAT combines the Math and English sections, and evaluates the performance for a total maximum of 800. Scores in the range of 650 are considered decent. However, students hopeful of getting into the Top 15 colleges should ideally score around 700. The essays are scored on a separate scale, which is not a part of the 800 score. The 2 essays are combined for a total maximum score of 6. Scores above 4 are decent.

Some Tips for preparation:

GMAT is not a tough test if you have decent English and average Math. And that’s why scoring 600-650 is very easy for most Indians. Therefore, if you want to have a higher percentile, you need to score close to 700. But scoring around 700 is not easy. Take more and more full-length tests, to improve your chances of getting that magical score.

The best way to prepare is to join a GMAT coaching program. Or get books and CDs that coach you for GMAT.

The people who are weak in verbal part tested (most people with technical qualifications face difficulty in this section) should start memorizing the dictionary. Make your word power very competent.

People with difficulty in Quantitative skills should pay more attention to their Maths.

Polishing writing skills and presenting views is extremely important as in GMAT two essays are asked. One is Analysis of an issue and other is Analysis of an Argument. You are given half an hour for each topic. The topics asked are usually such that you will be scratching your head thinking of what to write and in the mean time your time gets over.

You have to take a simulated GMAT before the actual test. You need to practice the GMAT on computer to get familiar with the computer based format of the test and get the hang of the test. From www.gmac.com you can download the diagnostic test for practice which is free.

You cannot give GMAT more than once in any calendar month. Its a rule. Also the number of times you take a GMAT is on the record.

GMAT is expensive; fees are $190 (USD) and other fees for other purposes like reporting of scores or rescoring of essays and the like follow which makes it really heavy on pocket.For an average person 2 or 3 months of a dedicated preparation with 3 hours of studies put in daily is enough to get a good score in the test. Some may require more time and some may require just 3 days depending on their grey cells!.

Suggested material for preparation:

1) Princeton Review for GMAT (with CD) - Has 4 full length tests and many small execrcise.
2) GMAT PowerPrep (can be downloaded from www.mba.com)- Has 2 full length tests and many smaller tests
3) Online tests at www.mba.com, www.princetonreview.com, www.kaptest.com.
4) Kaplan GMAT (with CD) - Has 4 full length tests and many small execrcise.