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Showing posts with label GMAT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GMAT. Show all posts

February 28, 2012

The First Step On Your Road To MBA

The entrance exams for a management or business school tests the person's analytical and verbal skills; both are necessary to perform well in a management program and later, after completion of the course, to cope with real life business situations. The tests also require the candidate to write on topics varying from social, political issues to sports and other current affairs. 


Also Read : How to Get Internship at Google

The GMAT and CAT scores are some of the primary criteria for seeking admission to a reputed business school. At most schools, GMAT scores are the single strongest predictor of admissions success. It is probably the only element of your application that admissions committees can use to objectively compare candidates. The GMAT is not the usual test you take in schools. You cannot stay up all night and get full marks. GMAT is a game. Like say chess, baseball, tennis, or any other sport and if you know the tips and tricks to play the sport, you have an edge over those who are comparatively ignorant.

Fortunately, a variety of text books and study material is available at leading bookstores to prepare effectively for both the GMAT and CAT exams. However, do not inundate yourself with too much study material that will leave you confused. The Kaplan 800 book helps students to maximise their GMAT score. A majority of other text books or course material presents similar concepts and question types and therefore do not differ drastically from each other.
The sentence correction bibles, besides the official guide, can help a great deal in scoring well in verbal tests. It
is wise to take up the tests on various courses on the Internet that help put structure into your preparation. They also clear your fundamentals in math or quant as it is known in GMAT language, if that is your low point. Also make sure you give ample time to the analysis of the tests.
The secret to maximising your GMAT or CAT score is in the preparation. Besides the 3Ds that is determination, dedication and diligence, the mantra for scoring well in the exams is Practice, Practice and Practice. Consistency and perseverance really matter. The best way to develop your time management skills is to practise taking the test. It is strongly recommended that you take at least a few mock GMAT exams, in the computer-adaptive format and try to simulate the actual testing environment. So no taking food breaks, engaging in telephone conversations and all that.
Besides, make sure you schedule your GMAT test well. Don't count on taking GMAT at the last minute. Scheduling the GMAT well into the admissions season is also bound to cause undue stress. With proper planning and insight, you can spare yourself these negative energies and instead focus on maximising your GMAT score better.
There are few other things which must be kept in mind like reading the questions carefully, avoid any random guessing and spend adequate time on the first five questions.
To elaborate, one must avoid misinterpretation of questions. You will encounter questions in the exam that include incorrect answer choices that were deliberately designed to exploit likely misinterpretations of what the question is really asking. Don't fall into this trap.
The first couple of questions in any GMAT section are used to determine the range of questions that the program 'thinks' can handle. Thus, your answers to the first five questions will make a HUGE difference in your final section score. Solve these with extra care - double check if you have to. They must not be incorrect. If you are unsure of the answer to one of these first questions, at the very least, take a very good educated guess by eliminating.
To conclude, studying for a test is never fun, but try and turn it into a challenge. Ultimately, these entrance tests are all about practice and essentially test how cool you keep yourself while taking the test. Try and reward yourself for staying on track. Inspire yourself. Be perseverant. In the end the hard work will pay off !

Some Facts
  • The GMAT score is valid for five years. Hence it is wise to appear for this examination when you are in your last or second last year of Degree College.
  • It is not only applicable for seeking admissions in the B schools abroad but also in a few schools in India including popular institutes like TISS.
  • Students from Asian countries tend to score better in GMAT. 
  • The GMAT centres are in almost all leading cities of India including New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad etc. In Maharashtra there are three centres, namely Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur.
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April 29, 2011

GMAT - Gateway to MBA Abroad

The dream of abroad study and achieving an MBA degree is far reaching. For an Indian, it is not just confined within the Indian business schools but there is a huge chunk of MBA aspirants who want to study abroad from an international business school such as Harvard Business School, Stanford University or Wharton Business School for an international MBA degree. With the Foreign Education Provider’s Bill, the dream has been even more kindled. And the most sought after way to guarantee your admission in an international business school for international MBA is taking Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT). This article of MBAUniverse.com will be talking about the most popular entrance exam for the international MBA i.e. GMAT.

The GMAT :-
The Graduate Management Aptitude Test or GMAT is a Computer Adaptive Test. The GMAT exam is owned and administered by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), an association of the leading graduate business schools around the world.
The basic trait of the Computer Adaptive Test is that, the difficulty level and marks of the questions will depend on your performance in the previous question. For e.g. if you answer the first question correctly, the next question will be of a higher difficulty level and the marks will be higher as well and it will continue in this way. But if you answer the questions incorrectly, the next question will be easier and the marks will be lower. “Each test taker sees a unique set of questions, and those questions are based on the response to the previous question. Once you answer a question, you can’t go back and change your answer,” says QS Network.
The score of GMAT is accepted for the MBA programs in the international business schools in USA and other English speaking countries. According to Wikipedia, the fee for GMAT exam as of December 2009 was USD 250 worldwide. In general the test takes four hours to complete. The maximum score that can be achieved from taking GMAT Exam is 800. The test score remains valid for five years from the time GMAT Exam has been taken.

The GMAT pattern:-
GMAT is structured in three sections, Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability and Analytical Writing Assessment which is separately presented. In GMAT, you don’t have the choice to attempt the questions according to your preference of sections. The first section that appears in the test is Analytical Writing Assessment. Quantitative Ability and Verbal Ability sections follow respectively.
QS Network mentions that, “The writing section is composed of two essays, one that asks the test taker to analyze an issue and the other to analyze an argument.  The Quantitative Ability section requires higher order math skills and includes data sufficiency and problem solving questions. The Verbal Ability section features questions involving reading comprehension and critical reasoning.”

The scoring system of GMAT:-
While calculating the score for your performance in the GMAT exam, only the scores of Quantitative Ability and Verbal Ability sections are considered. The score for the Analytical Writing Ability is exclusive. The scoring system maintains a complicated algorithm. “The examinee can make a silly mistake and answer incorrectly and the computer will recognize that item as an anomaly. If the examinee misses the first question his score will not necessarily fall in the bottom half of the range. Also, questions left blank (that is, those not reached) hurt the examinee more than questions answered incorrectly,” mentions Wikipedia.
QS Network mentions that the range of scores in GMAT is from 200 to 800. Verbal Ability and Quantitative Ability Section scores range from 0 to 60. Analytical Writing Assessment scores range from 0 to six and represent the average of the ratings from the two GMAT essays. The essays are scored differently from the Verbal Ability and Quantitative Ability sections and are not included in the total score.
Most of the international business schools do not mention any cut off GMAT score as such. According to information available in the media, the average score required for abroad study at the top international business schools range of upper 600s and lower 700s. “It may be possible to overcome a low test score with impressive real world accomplishments, good undergraduate performance, outstanding references and/or connections, particularly strong application essays, or coming from an under represented group,” Wikipedia says.

Registration for GMAT:-
According to QS Network, There are 468 test centres that offer the computer adaptive format GMAT exam in over 110 countries across the world. The GMAT exam is available at least 250 days a year and, in most locations, is offered six days a week.

Preparation and planning for GMAT Exam:-
Advance preparation is very necessary for taking GMAT successfully. “The amount of time needed varies among individuals and many students start 12 weeks in advance devoting several hours each week to exam preparation.  Students also find that reviewing and preparing one section of the test at a time works best,” QS Network suggests.
They also mention that for extensive preparation, you can buy the Official Guide for GMAT Review 12th Edition, The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review and the Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review. “You can also access to an online tool called GMAT Focus Diagnostic Test; it is designed to help you get ready for the quantitative ability section of the exam, using real retired GMAT questions, testing your strengths and weaknesses to help you study more efficiently and effectively,” says QS Network.
You can practice essay writing with a web based essay writing tool called GMAT Write. “Each practice essay is scored in real time with the same automated essay-scoring engine used by the official GMAT exam.  After completing the essays feedback is immediate showing how you would most likely score on the writing exams and more importantly how you might improve,” QS Network adds.
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