When you realise that an MBA degree is important for your career, you begin to take GMAT seriously. You should take the GMAT exam at a time when you are well prepared and understand its significance. The best time is the pre-final year in college so you have seniors to advise you on what to do. The aim should be to score at least 750 and you must prepare for it. The best thing is to join a reputed institute that gives coaching for GMAT.
Aim for the Top Score
While it is enough to prepare for 4 weeks, most of the GMAT aspirants prepare throughout the year. You can get the best GMAT coaching at the coaching centre but you must check the institute for past results first. Go online and search for those with over 25 years’ experience and having past students that scored more than 1450 in SAT and 750+ in GMAT.
Now when you join the coaching centre you realize the amount of preparation the others are putting in. You have to do an equal amount of preparation if not more, to get to where you want to go. For Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania, the average score expected is 730. You have one or two universities where lower scores are permissible. Like Carnegie Mellon University needs 691 on an average while Boston University needs 680.
Use of Private Tutors
When you compare GMAT with GRE, you see those who have a flair for maths will succeed in GMAT while those who have a strong vocabulary and grammar will find GRE easy. If you spend two months getting the best GMAT training it will prove sufficient. If your mathematics is weak, then you can arrange for the private tutoring. This will help you clear your doubts on the spot. If you need special tuition for the vocabulary, then you must hire the English language coach.
The GMAT scores for the Universities in Canada are much lower. For instance, The University of Western Ontario needs only 600+ scores. The Queen’s University at Kingston and the University of British Columbia will expect 650. So, you must select the place you want to go first and then make the preparation for the examination. First, get used to the question paper pattern.
Breakup of the Test
There are four sections to the question paper and it lasts for 3½ hours. The sections are Analytical Writing Assessment, Integrated Reasoning, Quantitative, and Verbal. The Analytical Writing Assessment lasts for 30 minutes for one topic. You will get the topic – Analysis of Argument. You will need to prepare the writing style for this so that the idea is clear.
Integrated Reasoning has 12 questions and will get 30 minutes to solve them. You have to do graphical analysis and table interpretation in this section. You will get breaks between the sections but many of the students do not use them. It is better to use the breaks so you get some of your energy back. Quantitative has 62 minutes and Verbal is for 65 minutes. Other than the classroom training from the coaching centre, you may also make use of online training.
