I am planning to go back to college probably next spring. For those currently in grad school or who already have an MBA what can you suggest for GMAT preparation? Did you go to a prep class or use "at home" study materials? Keep in mind I have been out of college for 4 years now and was never really that great at math. Any help would be appreciated!!

Ryan

 

I'm taking the LSAT in September and am using books only to prepare. Classes will help you with test-taking skills and strategies, along with a little bit of the material from what I know.

What kind of MBA will you be going for? Executive? MBA programs are pretty numbers-heavy, another reason why I'm going to law school

 

Personally, I feel that those test prep courses are a waste of time and money. Many of my law school classmates have taken those classes and felt that the $1,500 that they spent went down the drain. Granted, the people teaching those courses probably scored really well on those exams. If you are well disciplined in terms of studying, I would suggest that you get a test prep book (i.e. Kaplan or Princeton Review) and go through the concepts and examples.
And on the GMAT, don't they have two sections--verbal and data sufficiency? From what I remember, it's a lot easier to study the GMAT material on your own compared to the stuff that's on the LSAT.
Some people may feel differently, but to each his own.

 

[QUOTE=gosixers215,Jul 12 2007, 07:31 AM] I'm taking the LSAT in September and am using books only to prepare.

 

The math sections on the GMAT and GRE are very simple.. almost pathetically easy You should be able to find sample tests on their respective websites to see if you really need to worry about math. You probably learned everything you need to know in high school. I would be more worried about the verbal sections.. there are certainly going to be some words you can't define, and some of the analogies are tricky.

 

The way I see it with standardized tests like the GMAT is that there are generally two levels of preparation. The first is to understand the test, how it's structured, the types of questions, and strategies for doing well with what you already know. The second is improving your knowledge it the fields being tested.

IMHO, the first is a must on any exam, and the second may or may not be that important based on what you already know and the score you wish to obtain.

My recommendation:

Try to find information about the average or range of GMAT scores that have been historically accepted by the school(s) to which you plan to apply. Often it can be found on the admissions website for the MBA program.

Buy a test-prep book from one of the better-known test-prep companies (Kaplan comes to mind) to get to know the various sections of the test (analytical writing assessment/quantitative section/verbal section) and format for the questions.

Take at least one practice exam (timing yourself for each section) and score your test. Compare your scores to those that the schools have accepted to determine if you really need to improve your knowledge in a particular area.

Unless things have changed, when you sign up for a seat time, the organization that writes the test will send out a CD with practice tests on it. I took at least one of these tests as well. I found that my scores from these tests more closely reflected my actual score than those from a third party prep book (such as Kaplan).

The GMAT is a computer-adaptive format, which means that for every question you get right, the next will be progressively more difficult, and for every question you get wrong the next will be less difficult. The score isn't necessarily based on how many questions you get right, but the level of difficulty you tend to achieve. Thus, your strategies may be very different than a printed multiple-choice test. Learn more about the GMAT at mba.com.

For the writing portion, you cannot test yourself because you will not be able to score yourself. The important part there is to understand what they are testing for (essentially your ability to build an argument). Take some time to understand specifically what they are testing for. Take some time to read some "good" and some "bad" example essays to understand the differences (examples should be included in a good test-prep book). And possibly write a couple example essays yourself to get comfortable with the allotted time. The test prep book I used recommended some strategies for writing a brief essay outline, which I always find helpful.

In my own experience, I've found that self-study has served me well for standardized admissions tests. I would possibly recommend a course for someone that does not have the discipline for self-study, or that needs to improve scores over practice or previously taken tests.

 

^^^Great write up. Thank you very much.

 

whats the consensus on hiring a MBA admissions consultant? my bro paid 4 gs, however, he got into the best MBA program possible. I don't have 4 gs, but am still shooting for a top 10 bschool. Anyone here think that the consultant is not worth it (obviously if you not shooting for top 10, its not)?

 

It's all relative.

As an engineer having gone through an MBA program, I would not say that it was very numbers-heavy but somewhat writing-intensive. But then, as interesting as I find law, I'm not sure I could bring myself to start a law program due to all the research/writing.

It's all about what you're interested in/good at.

 

I majored in science as an undergrad and took both the GMAT and GRE before going into a MBA program. IMO prep courses are a major waste of time and money unless (A) you have no discipline to study on your own or (B) will have regrets if you don't feel like you did all you could to squeeze every single last point possible out of the test.

Honestly these sorts of tests aren't things that I feel you can really cram for. By the time you're taking such tests, you either know the material or you don't. One can spend hour after hour studying hard and it will probably pay off on a few obscure questions on the test, but whether that tiny difference is worth the time spent depends on the person. I'd rather be at the bar myself.

Personally I'd say to just go to the bookstore and pick up a book with some sample tests. Do a couple of those and you'll be fine. The main point is to familiarize yourself with the test format and pace. That's what I did and I scored fine (granted IMO the GMAT is probably the easiest grad school standardized test around).