I know MBA's have shown up in this forum for a bit, so I thought I'd share my experience last night.
For years, I've been terrified of the GMAT. I've been kicking the idea of an MBA for a while now, but it's always the GMAT that made me hesitate. The problem is that almost all AACSB accredited MBA programs require it and in my field, that kind of thing matters.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and decided I need to pull the trigger starting my MBA. I had some time to kill after work yesterday since my wife is currently visiting family, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity. I found a local Pearson Vue site and scheduled the GMAT for that evening. No study, no prep... Just wanted to see how hard it was. My usual test strategy is, "Go take it and then work on the areas I bomb" so I figured I'd do the same with this.
The test itself is tough. It's adaptive, which means if you answer a question correctly, expect a harder question next. It will continue doing this until you miss a question, at which point it cranks back the difficulty a bit until you answer one correctly again. The time limits are also an issue, as there were at least two parts of the four-hour exam that I hit "Finish" with less than 5 seconds to go. Other parts I was able to fly through (primarily the reading portions).
I finished at around 3 1/2 hours and hit the final button to show my score... 560. Now that's not impressive at all (kind of sad actually since most Harvard MBA's are mid 700's), but I was still surprised. The average GMAT score for 2013 is 540'sh. After years of fearing this exam, a 560 is much better than what I expected with zero study. It's also above the average accepted candidate at my local AACSB accredited MBA program. cheersmate
My math scores were abysmal (17th percentile), but the high verbal portion score offset that for the most part. Considering it's been almost two decades since I've had to find the volume of a cylinder, or messed with scatterplots and trig functions, I'm only slightly embarrassed about that. Okay, maybe a little more than slightly.
However, with minimal study, I'm 100% confident I could get that score up in the mid 600's and even (maybe?) break into the 700's.
The moral of this long post is simple - Like most things in life, the fear was worse than the reality. If you've been like me and hesitant to go take the GMAT, I would encourage you to do so. Study up for a bit and then go give it a shot. You'll likely be pleasantly surprised.
Good luck!
For years, I've been terrified of the GMAT. I've been kicking the idea of an MBA for a while now, but it's always the GMAT that made me hesitate. The problem is that almost all AACSB accredited MBA programs require it and in my field, that kind of thing matters.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and decided I need to pull the trigger starting my MBA. I had some time to kill after work yesterday since my wife is currently visiting family, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity. I found a local Pearson Vue site and scheduled the GMAT for that evening. No study, no prep... Just wanted to see how hard it was. My usual test strategy is, "Go take it and then work on the areas I bomb" so I figured I'd do the same with this.
The test itself is tough. It's adaptive, which means if you answer a question correctly, expect a harder question next. It will continue doing this until you miss a question, at which point it cranks back the difficulty a bit until you answer one correctly again. The time limits are also an issue, as there were at least two parts of the four-hour exam that I hit "Finish" with less than 5 seconds to go. Other parts I was able to fly through (primarily the reading portions).
I finished at around 3 1/2 hours and hit the final button to show my score... 560. Now that's not impressive at all (kind of sad actually since most Harvard MBA's are mid 700's), but I was still surprised. The average GMAT score for 2013 is 540'sh. After years of fearing this exam, a 560 is much better than what I expected with zero study. It's also above the average accepted candidate at my local AACSB accredited MBA program. cheersmate
My math scores were abysmal (17th percentile), but the high verbal portion score offset that for the most part. Considering it's been almost two decades since I've had to find the volume of a cylinder, or messed with scatterplots and trig functions, I'm only slightly embarrassed about that. Okay, maybe a little more than slightly.
However, with minimal study, I'm 100% confident I could get that score up in the mid 600's and even (maybe?) break into the 700's. The moral of this long post is simple - Like most things in life, the fear was worse than the reality. If you've been like me and hesitant to go take the GMAT, I would encourage you to do so. Study up for a bit and then go give it a shot. You'll likely be pleasantly surprised.
Good luck!
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-Justin
PMP, CISSP, A+, Sec+, MCDST, ITIL
Total Credits Earned: 162
www.Free-Clep-Prep.com - (with Forum Admin's permission)
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-Justin
PMP, CISSP, A+, Sec+, MCDST, ITIL
Total Credits Earned: 162
www.Free-Clep-Prep.com - (with Forum Admin's permission)
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