GMAT tomorrow.. any last minute advice

[Cdowwe]

I am taking the GMAT tomorrow morning.. any last minute advice from those that have taken it?

[styx491]

Good night's sleep, wake up, a 5 hour energy for breakfast, a line of coke, and BAM, you'll feel great regardless of how well you'll do on the test!

But really, the most important thing is to clear your mind of anything negative and go in knowing you'll do well, with confidence. If you've been studying, then trust yourself that it will show. Half the battle is mental toughness.

[Spartacus87]

I took it about a month ago.

At this point you're sort of locked in to whatever score range you've been at while taking practice tests or studying, so not a whole lot you can worry about now.

The two most obvious things that I would recommend to remember are:

1- Make sure you don't leave any questions unanswered, otherwise your overall score can drop dramatically, even if you just leave 3 or 4 questions blank.

2- While you're taking it, don't worry about how you're doing and trying to predict what your score is going to be like for that section.

I thought I was doing about average on the math and I scored a pathetic 33rd percentile on that. I thought I was completely sucking on the verbal portion and I scored an absurd 92nd percentile on that part. So you really never know until you see the final score, and there's no sense in wasting time or energy concerning yourself with it. Just take it and see how it goes.

If I were you, I'd just surf Extremeskins/Facebook/whatever tonight, maybe watch a movie, and just go to bed and not even look at any GMAT stuff tonight outside of the basic tricks & tips portion of any practice book you might have.

[Elessar78]

I'm planning to go to get my MBA/grad school in about 2-3 years so I'm starting to plan now. GMAT could be on the horizon if I choose that route, so def give us an update on what you thought of the test afterward.

[hockeysc23]

Just take a deep breath you did all the hard work already. Now it's just an opportunity to show it.

Good luck!

[Spartacus87]

I'm planning to go to get my MBA/grad school in about 2-3 years so I'm starting to plan now. GMAT could be on the horizon if I choose that route, so def give us an update on what you thought of the test afterward.

It's really not that bad of a test.

The math is a harder version of SAT math (geometry, statistics, ratios, etc.), and the verbal isn't very complex (it's sentence correction and some reading comprehension based on small passages that are a couple of paragraphs in length), so it's not like there's anything that you haven't seen before in some form.

Honestly, I've taken both the GRE and the GMAT, and I thought the GRE was a bigger pain in the ass to study for. The GRE has a vocab section like the SAT, where they recommend for you to learn about 1,500 to 2,000 uncommon words, and that's a huge chunk of the verbal section. The GMAT weighs the verbal section more heavily than the GRE does, and I thought the GMAT's verbal section was much more straightforward.

[Elessar78]

I wish my local community college offered refresher math courses. I'm no slouch in math, but it's been decades since I've used classroom style math.

[DeanCollins]

Take some hard candies and eat them throughout the test. your brain runs off glucose.

The "3 pass method" of test taking works very well. Read every question twice before answering. If you're sure of the answer, circle it. If you think that you know the answer, circle it and put a check beside the question number to come back check it again. If you don't know the answer (or if it's a calculation problem), skip it and move on. This gets you through the entire test in a 1/4 of the time allowed. Now you've read all of the exam and you mind is working on All the questions. Go back and go through the check marked question (that you thought that you knew the answer to) and finalize you choice for them through the whole test. Now go back and work the word problems or take your best guess on the answers that you don't know. Go with the first notion of the answer (make sure you've read the question twice so you're not fooled). If you're guessing (multi-choice) guess C or D as those two answers will be right 66%-70% as test makers want to try and trip you up on the A and B answers.

Lastly, if your using a bubble score sheet, and you're allowed to write in the book, save 7-10 minutes and transfer all of your answers to the answer sheet at the end. This save time and will prevent mistakes (being one answer off for half of the test because you skipped an answer. I used this method on 3 state contractors exams (12-18 hour exams) and the state real estate exam (which was comparatively easier) and I scored high 80's/ low 90's. Good luck.

[Spartacus87]

Take some hard candies and eat them throughout the test. your brain runs off glucose.

The "3 pass method" of test taking works very well. Read every question twice before answering. If you're sure of the answer, circle it. If you think that you know the answer, circle it and put a check beside the question number to come back check it again. If you don't know the answer (or if it's a calculation problem), skip it and move on. This gets you through the entire test in a 1/4 of the time allowed. Now you've read all of the exam and you mind is working on All the questions. Go back and go through the check marked question (that you thought that you knew the answer to) and finalize you choice for them through the whole test. Now go back and work the word problems or take your best guess on the answers that you don't know. Go with the first notion of the answer (make sure you've read the question twice so you're not fooled). If you're guessing (multi-choice) guess C or D as those two answers will be right 66%-70% as test makers want to try and trip you up on the A and B answers.

Lastly, if your using a bubble score sheet, and you're allowed to write in the book, save 7-10 minutes and transfer all of your answers to the answer sheet at the end. This save time and will prevent mistakes (being one answer off for half of the test because you skipped an answer. I used this method on 3 state contractors exams (12-18 hour exams) and the state real estate exam (which was comparatively easier) and I scored high 80's/ low 90's. Good luck.

That's usually great advice.

The problem with the GMAT or GRE is, both are computer adaptive exams. Meaning, you can't skip a question and come back to it later.

They stopped putting them in booklets sometime in the the mid-90s. The way it's set up now is you answer a question, and depending on whether you got it right or not, it makes the next question harder or easier. That way, over the course of 42 or 38 or however many questions there are per section (depending on whether it's the GRE or GMAT), the computer figures out your average range of difficulty that you're capable of answering.

So for each question, you have to answer it right then and there, or at least narrow it down to your best guess, and move on to the next question.

[Spartacus87]

I wish my local community college offered refresher math courses. I'm no slouch in math, but it's been decades since I've used classroom style math.

You don't need a community college refresher course.

I suck at math, I mean I'm the absolute worst, but you can teach yourself the basics that you'll need for the GMAT. I sucked when I took the math portion, but that was more because I freaked myself out and beat myself mentally before settling down to take the actual exam. Right after I finished the math section, I recalled 3 questions that I knew the right answer to but didn't do them correctly because I lost my nerves, not because I hadn't studied.

(The math section is the first real section of the exam and I knew it would be my weakest part, and I skipped the essay part since I didn't need it despite the fact that even trying it would help get me into the exam groove, so that was why I freaked out)

I'd strongly suggest this Kaplan book to brush up on your math skills:

http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GMAT-Math-Foundations/dp/1607140861/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281168032&sr=8-1

It's the real basics, and I guarantee that you can find it at any book store near you, and it's fairly cheap. You could probably sit and go through it in about a week or two, just to get rid of the rust on the mental math.

From there I'd recommend either this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GMAT-Math-Workbook/dp/1419552163/ref=pd_sim_b_2

Or this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-GMAT-Review-12th/dp/0470449748/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_c

A friend of mine scored a 720 on the GMAT and is going to the London School of Economics this fall, and he studied with these books:

http://www.amazon.com/Manhattan-GMAT-Set-Strategy-Guides/dp/098417804X/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281168385&sr=8-9

[Cdowwe]

GMAT is done and wasn't too bad.

I got about 7 hours of sleep the night before and I think that helped big time.

A few years ago I was seriously debating going back to get my MBA full time at a great school, so I tried to study for the GMAT, and got very comfortable with all the questions. Then, I decided to just stay with work and didnt look at a book for 2 years.

Last weekend I signed up for it and accidentally clicked 1 week away, and with no refunds, I was stuck taking it.

2 days before I looked over the book for about 30 minutes.. just sort of skimming math, and the instructions for the other parts.

I decided I wouldnt be able to learn new stuff in a week without torturing myself so I left it at that.

Anyway, first you do the writing portion, which wasnt too bad. Definately helps to plan it out before you type.

Math was what I expected. Some of the questions that popped up I think I could have answered correctly 2 years ago, but I had forgot how to do them.

Verbal at the end.. I was tired by now and found myself skipping a few, never a good idea. Sentence correct is definately the hard part, because I didnt have the patience to learn grammar rules.

I got a good enough score to get in to the 2 local schools here.. Xavier and U. Cincinnnati. Xavier has a better part time program so that is probably where I will end up.

My score was probably (Basing this on avg GMAT acceptance) to get into a couple top 25 schools. But unless something changes drastically at work, I will just continue working and go part time. If for some reason something did change, I would probably apply at these 2 schools and go back full time.

If anyone has any questions, I will gladly answer them.

The main thing to remember is just to relax and take the breaks they give you. I walked outside each time and just took a breather.

One guy who wasnt a US citizen showed up without his passport and was turned away no refund. Make sure you read the rules before so you dont have that happen to you.

[Forehead]

If you don't mind me asking, what did you get? I took the GMAT a few years back and am finishing up my MBA this semester. I actually still have the test score they sent in the mail, apparently I got a 610 and a 5.5 on the writing portion.

It's a pretty good score, but I spent a lot of time studying during lunch at work, and at night.

[ACW]

Congrats

Working full-time with night classes is what I did :twitch: Not fun.

[Burgold]

Well done. After reading your writing and how you think for a couple of years now, I thought you might do pretty well as long as you didn't sabotage yourself.

[Pick6]

Congrats! I know that is a big weight off your shoulders. I took the GMAT back in February and got accepted into George Washington Univ. and Maryland. I start part-time at GW on August 30th. Here's to 36-months of hell, but so worth it.

[DeanCollins]

That's usually great advice.

The problem with the GMAT or GRE is, both are computer adaptive exams. Meaning, you can't skip a question and come back to it later.

They stopped putting them in booklets sometime in the the mid-90s. The way it's set up now is you answer a question, and depending on whether you got it right or not, it makes the next question harder or easier. That way, over the course of 42 or 38 or however many questions there are per section (depending on whether it's the GRE or GMAT), the computer figures out your average range of difficulty that you're capable of answering.

So for each question, you have to answer it right then and there, or at least narrow it down to your best guess, and move on to the next question.

I kinda thought that might be obsolete information. :pfft: I hate computer tests, going back takes so much time/effort and you can't see the whole test at the same time. It's amazing how much information the human brain takes in, while looking at the whole test, and is able to consider. Computer tests, that only let you look at one question at a time, take away this advantage. I still think, if it's possible, that it would be advantageous to skip through and read all the questions on the exam first to give your brain all that extra time to come up with the answers. Think about when you're having a conversation with someone and you're trying to tell them about an event and you can't recall the name of a person or object, then several minutes later, while your discussing something else totally different, your brain gives up the information.