MBA Admission Process: When Should You Take The GMAT?

People often wonder when they should take, or better yet, when should they start to prepare for the GMAT?  To that I answer, "Start preparing today!"  While that may be unrealistic for some due to work pressures or other commitments, let's walk backward through the entire process and see what a good time frame would be.  If you are going to drop your last envelope in the mail early January for a couple round 2 submissions, how far back does preparation go?  

If you are going to need to start your applications at the beginning of August then you need to back track at least 4 months for your GMAT preparation - this would lead you to the end of March.  

Why do you need 4 months?  

First of all, we ususally recommend 3 months of preparation, which would take you to the end of June.

What is the extra month for?  

Well, sometimes this pesky exam doesn't quite go as well as some people hope and you may need the extra time to retake the exam.  If you knock it out of the park you get the month of July to relax before applications (although there will be a few out that you can start to work on!).

For a guide on study plans for this time frame check out our recommended GMAT study plan.

For those of you who don't want to be hitting the books while the weather is warm, we might suggest getting started a little bit early.  The honest answer is the sooner you get this part of the process out of the way, the more focused you can be on selecting the school(s) that are right for you.

Good luck studying!

GMAT Class or GMAT Tutoring?

A common question that comes up in GMAT preparation is whether to take a GMAT class or to do private GMAT tutoring when preparing for the exam. Like most things in life, the answer is, "it depends." There are a number of things to consider such as: how much work do you need, what is your financial budget, what is your time budget and how disciplined are you. Before we touch on these, I will say that minute for minute you are going to get more out of private GMAT tutoring, than you will from a class room; however, that does not necessarily mean that it is for everyone.

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Is the GMAT Applicable to Real Life?

As we see countless students who are looking to attain entrance into top business school programs, we are undoubtedly asked this question at the first road block: "Is the GMAT in any way applicable to real life?" The main reason people question how the GMAT quant and GMAT verbal sections are applicable to scenarios in their life is because of their strong distaste for the exam.

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Take Your GMAT Today! (Avoid the Integrated Reasoning Section)

Under most circumstances, I recommend to students to be patient with their GMAT studies - make sure you have ample time (that is before applications are out and you are visiting schools).  However, now is a different time.  As the high season of GMAT preparation is behind us, we start to look to the future, and this year there is a big red circle around June 5.  Why?  The integrated reasoning section.

Plain and simple this is new and nobody knows how admissions committees will view the new section. Likely, it will be ignored for some time before anyone really understands the implications of this section, but it also could be used as a tie breaker for comparable applicants.  That might be a bit of a stretch, but who knows.  Fact of the matter is things are changing on the GMAT, and more importantly the changes will make the exam more difficult.

The current AWA sections are probably the least stressful for students to learn.  Often, a few hours and they are ready to go.  Integrated Reasoning is going to be different.  After looking at the questions, what I fear most for students is the additional stamina required to complete this exam.  Sure it is only 12 questions, but time alone suggests they are about 25% more involved than existing GMAT questions.  One integrated reasoning question I saw (A two-part analysis question) involves a calculation of [(1+x)^5]*1,050 = [(1+y)^5]*1,550 where you must solve for x and y with 6 potential values for x and y.  This takes some work.

Yes, these are very doable and with some practice you will ace them, but as business school admission is a difficult mountain to climb, you might as well take every advantage you can.  With 4+ months until the change date, there is more than ample time to get appropriate prep done; however, probably good to start soon...

MBA Watch: The Pre-MBA Social Network

MBA Watch, an offshoot of the popular Beat the GMAT website, was just launched last week and is already proving to be a valuable tool for applicants. This social network has a page for each of the top 20 business schools, aggregating the schools' official social media feeds, vital statistics, and essay questions all in one place. The information is presented in a similar format to a Facebook wall.

MBA hopefuls can create an account and chose to “follow” different schools, and update their status regarding that school to "applied," "interviewed" or "accepted." Members are encouraged to share their own stats and profiles so applicants can see who they are competing against, something founder Eric Bahn noticed was already happening on Beat the GMAT forums.

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