GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

I have a British friend who’s thinking of taking the GMAT exam. It seems these kind of exam are quite far removed from British style tests in that the GMAT is mostly multiple choice and is taken on a computer.

Have you (Brits only) taken it or something similar? Have you found that as a British English speaker, you’ve had to think carefully about how you answer questions because they’re written in American English?

What about the format itself? How did you prepare for such a huge number of multiple choice questions.

Any comments from Brits who’ve taken the GMAT or similar US graduate school entry exam would be welcome.

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

I've sent you a PM.

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

I did the GRE a long time ago. Pretty much did it cold and did OK. In retrospect, the best thing would have been to do a bunch of practice tests. You can get those for GMAT too. These tests tend to be unimaginative - so practice lots and all will be good.

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

yeah, I've just taken the GRE and would agree with you that the practice tests are a good idea.

The only thing I would say is if a Brit takes one of these tests and knows hardly anything about American culture and American society, that is hasn't lived here, doing the practice tests is a must. Sometimes presumptions are made about things that are specific to American culture.

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

Like what? Politics? Sport? TV?

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

Your local Borders or equivalent book shop will probably have half a shelf of books on doing the GMAT ... also, Kaplan probably run courses on sitting the GMAT ... look up GMAT on google and see what's on offer.

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

I'm going to be doing a GRE later on this year. My one worry is it will be full of maths questions I haven't thought about since high school. Like measuring the angles of a triangle, triganometry and all that bollocks.
Does it have a lot of maths?

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

Shirley ... :D Anyway, maths (or math in the USA) is fun and dead easy ... ;) :) I really wish the admissions test (LSAT) was 100% math! :D :scared: :eek:

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

Weirdo! :rolleyes:
I wish it was 100% on the use of imagery in Shakespeare! :D

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

I know math and the hard sciences are not too popular over here (same in the UK) and are often denigrated. But I do feel very strongly that math, the hard sciences and the engineering disciplines are very important and so math should be heavily tested on the graduate school admissions tests.

As an aside, India is producing at least four times as many PhDs in the hard sciences and engineering as the USA. It is no wonder that a lot of the knowledge based outsourcing is going to India. Lots of hi-tech is moving there, not necessarily to save money, but to tap into the PhDs and associated hard science/engineering talent found out there. My firm is seriously thinking of opening shop over there, again not to tap into a cheap labor market (which anyway is getting more expensive), but because the "action" is over there and less so over here.

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

I know math is a blow-out for many ... but can the USA export imagery in Shakespeare? Wasn't that dude English? :D

Actually, I love a bit of Shakespeare ... still can't get over the imagery in Hamlet ... so much tragedy with a wee bit of comedy, "blah blah blahs, I will be brief ..." :)

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

Your local library will have practice stuff for it too. Or google and you shall find, I'm sure.

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

I took the GMAT in 2000 before applying to some business schools. I strongly recommend getting the books and computer software at least. You have to practise a lot. The scoring system places an awefully high value on how you answer the first few questions, so getting those right is essential.

Watch out for the essay questions - you have to write two. They're marked by computer and if you take the exam in the US and use UK spelling, it'll count against you!

The GMAT is actually not too difficult if you've already got an A-level + degree education in my opinion. Where your friend may find problems is with the B-School applications themselves. They took me AGES to complete. I needed to check them with many different people to make sure essays were good and that I hadn't missed anything. In retrospect, if you're considering any school in the top 10, you might want to pay someone with experience to help you.

I actually did really well in my GMAT and got a lot of "free offers" from schools wanting me to go there. But as it turned out, when the bubble popped I decided to skip B-school and stick with my job. Dropping a ton of money on an MBA and being a student with a family for 2-years just didn't give the right ROI, and that's the whole point.

Good luck!

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

Kaplan, probably best way to go, but have to make sure you get an up to date copy, and the practice tests weren't that great, well on the GRE's at least.

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

*nods*
For a Brit not used to such tests - it might pay (literally) to also attend some classes to get a feel for what's involved.

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

Thanks for your comments. There had to be someone out there who'd taken the GMAT.

I'm going to email this thread to my friend.

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

Sarah, it is done in three separate sections - essays, quantitative and verbal. Depending on the test centre depends on what order you get these. Both my essays and math were before my verbal, so by the time I got to the verbal I was tired. You can't take food or drink in to the room with you and I made the mistake of keeping going and not taking the 10 minutes break after the essays. The math is 45 minutes long and does include basic arithmatic, algebra, trig and stats. You can't use a calculator but you are given paper. Because students today aren't very good with quick numeracy as you can imagine the actual problems weren't that hard to do. It was more a case of remembering how to do stuff. I got the Baron's GRE book and was recommended it by a friend. Apparently it is the best one out there. I actually didn't use it for the math because my math score wasn't important (doing English at graduate school). I found that as long as I could do my kids math (eldest is in 9th grade), in other words high school math, I was fine and did really well on the math section.

to be honest I found the hardest bit was the verbal. You get 30 minutes to answer 30 questions, some of which are part of reading 3 separate passages. I started to panic by the end of that section and lost points because I had to rush. You just get no time to think at all. Whereas on both the math and the essays I had time to spare, and did very well on the essays.

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

My driving theory test, written in American English, multiple choice, how was I to know you're meant to click 'all the above" if it appears:rolleyes:

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

I concur with the suggestions to practice. Get the software, not the books. The software allows you to take practice tests and gives you feedback on what parts you need to work on. I have tutored people in the GRE in the past and it can make a big difference to your score. Like many tests, practice helps you feel more relaxed and not panic (so much).

I took the GRE in a sweaty, non-air-conditioned elementary school in the summer of 1990, had never taken a multiple choice exam in my life, and had no idea what to expect. I scored above the 90th percentile on all 3 sections and thought that compared to all the essay and open ended questions on UK exams I'd taken as an undergraduate student, the GRE was cake.

Fortunately, these days if you do poorly, you don't have to wait months to re-take it. Where I took it, for example, it was offered only twice a year.

Re: GMAT- Experience of Taking This?
 

That's true, its' usually offered every couple months...and as for not bothering with the books, well the books usually come with practice test software, well the kaplan one does.