Has anyone ever taken a GMAT exam?

[Specop 007]

For those who have, whats it like. I've never taken one but am thinking about it. I have no clue what might be on it, so looking for any advice or a heads up so i dont walk in totally blind.

Thanks

 

[bobdelt]

It's similar to the SAT, in that its a reasoning test-the questions are similar, just harder. You need to brush up on basic math, probabilities and grammar. Buy a book or 2, take a class if you can afford it. It's also computer adaptive. If you get a question right, you get a harder question-its very mentally straining. So not only does accuracy factor in, but so does speed.

Studying will help a lot, only to a certain extent. Definitly check into yes\no data sufficiency questions, it will make your head spin.

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: bobdelt
It's similar to the SAT, in that its a reasoning test-the questions are similar, just harder. You need to brush up on basic math, probabilities and grammar. Buy a book or 2, take a class if you can afford it. It's also computer adaptive. If you get a question right, you get a harder question-its very mentally straining. So not only does accuracy factor in, but so does speed.

Studying will help a lot, only to a certain extent. Definitly check into yes\no data sufficiency questions, it will make your head spin.

Ah, so its not an easy test and you recommend a study guide eh. Any ones in particular you recommend?


EDIT

Jees, Google turned up this

Haha, I'm confused already 😀

 

[bobdelt]

The official guide-you have to get that one. Also, Kaplan 800 provided some good strategies. (I worked for princeton review, I think kaplans 800 book was better than princeton's)

Somewhere on the net there is a spreadsheet, that breaks down every problem in the official guide, into type\catagory, and level of difficulty, it was a great way to go through the book. I'm sure you could find it if via google.

There are also 2 essays, but those are really easy, i think the kaplan book has a basic formula that works really well.

Yeah basicly with those data ones, you have to decide which information is needed to answer the question (not solve, but answer it)

Statement I only
Statement II only
Statement I and II combined
Statement I or II
Neither

It gets tricky when they ask, does x = 1
and statement one will say x=5.

So you know x != 1, but you still pick statement one as sufficient because you can answer the yes\no question. So it gets tricky. And thats the simplest example possible.

 

[everman]

I took it in November so I might have the option of an mba with my JD. Got a 6 on the AWA 😎
There's logical reasoning and reading comp similar to the lsat, the verbal can get tricky if you're scoring very high there. The math part is a joke.

I think a good lsat book would be beneficial for the verbal, except for sentence correction.

 

[Otaking]

I suck so bad at the verbal portion.. omg 🙁 🙁

I can do fairly well on the Quantitative and AWA portion, but the Verbal has pwned me both times I took it.

 

[aswedc]

It's not that much more difficult than the SAT. Just to give you an idea of how the two tests correlate, I got a 1410 on the SAT and a 650 on the GMAT without any study. I literally didn't learn anything in college (just trust me on that one) so the only thing that would have increased my performance since the SAT would be life experience.

 

[bobdelt]

I think college will hurt your performance, most of the math is from 9th\10th grade.

Everman, you thought the math part was a joke? I know it test basic material, but some of the combinations questions can get pretty insane. I score in the 90th percentile in math, and in no way did I think it was easy.

 

[Otaking]

Originally posted by: aswedc
It's not that much more difficult than the SAT. Just to give you an idea of how the two tests correlate, I got a 1410 on the SAT and a 650 on the GMAT without any study. I literally didn't learn anything in college (just trust me on that one) so the only thing that would have increased my performance since the SAT would be life experience.

:Q

 

[everman]

Originally posted by: bobdelt
I think college will hurt your performance, most of the math is from 9th\10th grade.

Everman, you thought the math part was a joke? I know it test basic material, but some of the combinations questions can get pretty insane. I score in the 90th percentile in math, and in no way did I think it was easy.

I was really referring to my thought that they should test higher level math than what they do, at least make sure to test some calculus and advanced statistics. Gmat math section isn't easy though.

I've seen some debate on what is more important, personally I think verbal is unless you want to be a quant. In the real world you need to have good reasoning and communication skills, high school geometry isn't high on the list typically. I have plenty of criticism of standardized tests but I'll just stop now 🙂

 

[AndrewR]

Study up on your math if you've been away for awhile. It's not terribly difficult, but if you can't remember how to solve certain equations or problems, you'll get shafted. I'm good at math but couldn't remember ANYTHING and did poorly for me. Overall score wasn't horrible and wound up being immaterial, but I'd definitely recommend a review book of some sort. They weren't easy to come by in Japan so I went in blind. 🙂

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
Study up on your math if you've been away for awhile. It's not terribly difficult, but if you can't remember how to solve certain equations or problems, you'll get shafted. I'm good at math but couldn't remember ANYTHING and did poorly for me. Overall score wasn't horrible and wound up being immaterial, but I'd definitely recommend a review book of some sort. They weren't easy to come by in Japan so I went in blind. 🙂

Yeah, that's a definite. Even if you're good at math, if you haven't done any of the formulas and such in a long time, odds are that you'll likely make a lot of stupid mistakes that you wouldn't do if you took a month or so to refresh yourself on them.

 

[WildHorse]

See

 

[Orsorum]

I got a 740 on the GMAT with no preparation, just a thorough understanding of what to expect. If you didn't do so hot on the SATs, you might want to consider a prep book, but otherwise just get a good night's sleep and go in with a clear head.