For most aspiring MBA students, cracking the CAT/GMAT would be the prime goal. The way it usually works is that people attempt CAT within the first 2-3 years after their bachelor degree. The GMAT is usually the goal for the more experienced professionals, who want to pursue an MBA later in their careers. The reason for this pattern can be attributed to the fact 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. But since the topic of the review is about Tips for GMAT, I will save that for another review.
GMAT tests students on 3 main competencies: Quantitative (simple math), English grammar, and Essay writing.
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 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.
Tips: GMAT is really not a test that requires coaching (unlike CAT). On second thoughts, GMAT is not a test that can be coached. This is because the real challenge lies in the English section, and language skills cannot be taught in a crash course. Honestly, if you don’t have inherently good English, chances are you wont cross 650 even with the best preparation. However, even with good inherent English skills, you are not guaranteed a score around or above 650 without adequate preparation. Also, the trick to boost your score is to spend more time in getting the first 6-7 questions right in each section.
Ideal preparation time would be around 3 months (about 1-2 hours a day) for working professionals.
Suggested material for preparation:
1) GMAT PowerPrep (can be downloaded from https://mba.com)- Has 2 full length tests and several smaller tests
2) Princeton Review for GMAT (with CD) - Has 4 full length tests and several smaller ones.
3) Kaplan GMAT (with CD) - Has 4 full length tests and several smaller ones.
4) Kaplan GMAT for 800 scorers
5) Online tests at https://mba.com, https://princetonreview.com, https://kaptest.com.
There are some other books available for GMAT (Barron’s etc), for those who have more time and money to spare.
Remember: 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.