Here is a short followup on my yesterday’s GMAT post.
In my preparation for GMAT I did not use any in-class or online prep courses. The reason is quite obvious – I was not applying to top 10-20 full-time MBA programs, which have a very high break-in GMAT score. Part-time MBA programs available in Washington, DC area, even though they are offered by very reputable Business Schools, have significantly lower entry point as far as GMAT is concerned.
After utilizing a few books and doing a few simulation tests I knew what my weakness was, namely the quantitative part of the test. But that I have known from my high school years anyways. I also realized that even though I was not an A student in math at school, the material we were studying at school in my country of origin was at significantly higher level than what most of the high schoolers in America study. Based on the preparation materials I figured that we covered at high school what was equivalent of trigonometry, college algebra and pre-calculus in today’s USA.
I also learned that my biggest problem in taking the test was the time. While doing exercises in the beginning I was not timing myself, and I was able to crank about 55-70% of questions in quants and around 60-75% in verbal part. Once I started timed exercises, my quants slipped to just around 50- 55%, verbal was retreating just a little bit. Of course, as I was preparing and practising more, my solved questions percentage climbed slowly up.
At any rate, I knew that self-study would be sufficient for me to get the necessary GMAT score for the MBA programs I had on my list. Therefore I did not want, nor did I really need to spend money, and comparatively big money for that sake, for any in-class or online prep cources for my GMAT preparation.
Most of the materials I used for GMAT preparation I either got online or borrowed from a local library. There were just four books that I actually bought, because they were not available at the library. All the books I used in my GMAT preparation (in bold are the ones I found most helpful):
- Official Guide for GMAT Review, 10th and 11th editions
- GMAT for Dummies
- Cracking the GMAT, Princeton Review
- Verbal Workout for the GMAT, Princeton Review
- Math Workout for the GMAT, Princeton Review
- Kaplan GMAT
- GMAT 800, Kaplan
- GMAT Premier Program, Kaplan
- Peterson’s master the GMAT 2008 -probably the least realistic problems compared to real GMAT, in my opinion
- Manhattan GMAT: Equations, Inequalities, & VICs -very good.
The last book I bought after my first fail on GMAT. I had read good reviews about Manhattan GMAT series, but I did not need the whole set. I just got the one on the topic I felt I needed more help with. I think that book really helped me with this particular topic and if I had to buy another book from the series, I would, based on my experience with this one.
Today is a one year anniversary of my first attempt on GMAT. To be more precise, it was not on the same date, but the same day- Saturday after Thanksgiving a year ago.
On Friday before the test I knew it was not one of my brightest decisions to schedule the test for that Saturday. Thanksgiving I spent enjoying the day with the family, overloading on turkey and accompanying holiday fare. Needless to say an idea of doing anything for the test preparation did not cross my mind. My original thought was that I would have some time on Friday to do last minute cramming. But Friday was pretty much a day to get back to my normal self. So before the exam I did not do any preparation on Thursday, not much on Friday and Saturday.
On Saturday my exam was in the afternoon. I did some very light review, as every source on preparation for GMAT recommends you to stop cramming for exam on the night before the test (I agree it is a good advice in general), so your brain has time to settle all the facts and be fresh and alert for the test itself. Since I did not want to do real cramming, and there was nothing else I could really do before the test, that time on Saturday was basically lost. It just gave room for building more test anxiety, which is never good.
By the time I sat fot the test around 4 PM I was already burned out. At the test I knew I was not doing very well, particularly on the quant part which had been my biggest challenge to begin with.
I did not have a temptation to cancel my score without looking at it. My rationale was that if I paid $250 for the test and even did not do well, I at least wanted it to be learning experience, and I had to know my score to have a proper benchmark. Otherwise the money would be total waste. Also, taking GMAT was one of the testing points to see if I even was cut for the MBA in the first place. I thought, if my score was not acceptable for the part-time MBA program at my target Business Schools, then I would just have to accept the fact that it was not for me. At that point in time, and even much later, I was not yet sure that this MBA route was the right thing for me, given the serious financial and time commitment, and my age. In some way I was looking for a reason why I should not or could not do the MBA.
Using my teenage daughter’s language, the revealed score for my test was epic fail. But regardless what lingo you use it was miserable:
- Total score – 550/ 51 percentile
- Verbal score – 36/ 78 percentile
- Quantitative – 29/ 25 percentile
I considered my verbal score reasonable, but quantitative was killing me.
My first reaction to the score was: “OK, this is what I am worth. I will submit my application with this score (which I did anyways before the start of the test, by selecting the four Business Schools I was planning to apply to), get rejected and put this whole MBA adventure behind me.”
Frankly, even with this score I had a very reasonable chance of acceptance to at least three of the schools I was considering at the time, based on the class profiles of part-time MBA programs.
My full list of target part-time MBA programs was as follows (in the order of my preference at the time):
- Smith part-time MBA, University of Maryland (GMAT mid 80% range: 510-690)
- McDonough evening MBA, Georgetown University (most selective of the four, GMAT mid 80% range: 620-700)
- Professional MBA, George Washington University (GMAT mid 80% range: 480-650)
- Kogod part-time MBA, American University (GMAT mid 80% range: 490-610)
The GMAT ranges data are taken from this year’s Businessweek ranking of part-time MBA programs. These scores are very close to what I knew from research about the programs last year. As you see, I was very well qualified for George Washington and American University part-time programs, and my chances for Smith part-time MBA were very reasonable.
Nevertheless, I considered my score a failure, as I was shooting for at least 620, in order to get a shot at Georgetown McDonough School of Business, even though it was my second choice. And even more than effect on my chances of acceptance, that score was a blow to my self-esteem. Based on the practice tests I had taken from various GMAT preparation sources, even with the awareness about my quantitative lacking, I was expecting, and would be consent with the score of at least 620.
This was one of the reasons I decided to take a second attempt on GMAT, after I recuperated from the first failure in a week or so after the test.
GMAT is one of the major hurdles to overcome in pursuing admission to an MBA progrram. No wonder then that a big deal of attention is paid by every applicant to scoring high on this test. I’ll talk a bit about this as now is high season for GMAT taking, because of the second, and some first round application deadlines in many business schools.
Pretty much every business school explicitely states that GMAT score is only one of the prerequisits and is evaluated together with other components of the applicant’s complete application package. Nevetheless it is probably the single most important component which can make it or break it for a particular applicant. At the very least this is how it is perceived by probably every single MBA aspirant.
Before we get into specifics of part-time MBA, here is the general overview of the role of GMAT for full-time MBA as those are most often perceived as quintessentia lMBA program.
The high GMAT score is pretty much expected for the applicants to the top 10 MBA programs, like Harvard, Wharton, Stanford and the likes. ‘High’ here usually means breaking the 700 barrier. Since the top tier school are extremely selective, 700 and up score does not guarantee you admission, because well more than a half of eventually admitted will have that 700+. Once you have that score, selection really begins based on all other characteristics that are construed based on : essays, recommendations, work experience, undegraduate GPA, interviews. That’s why the 700+ GMAT score would not get you into the top tier school by itself, but scoring below that mark will most definetly decrease you chance of admittance significantly.
The best way to evaluate what GMAT score is common for admitted MBA students is to look at a particular Business School’s profile. You can readily find those at Businessweek’s rankings of Business Schools. There are two things you need to look at in regards to GMAT score in the school’s profile:
- Median/Mean (quite close numbers, that’s why I don’t really differentiate them. Median, obviously, more indicative)
- Middle 80% range GMAT scores
Checking out these numbers will give quite clear understanding if you stand a chance with your given score.
With Business Schools lower on the ranking ladder the expected GMAT score is respectively lower. Roughly the schools in the 11-20 ranking range have slightly lower median score and middle range. Most of them still have the median at or near the 700 score.
With the schools in the 21-30 rank the picture changes quite noticeably. The typical median score is below 700, around 680, and the lower rank of middle 80% range is around 610.
The reason we talk only about top 30 Business Schools is that this is the maximum number of schools ranked in Businessweek’s Top Business Schools ranking - arguably the most recognized, feared and revered, even if sometimes slanted, ranking of the US MBA programs.
To learn more about average GMAT scores for top part-time MBA programs in Washington, DC area, go to my another post here
