OT-GMAT...the test not Gary!!!

by groundingout on Sep 29, 2008 11:47 PM CDT Comment 15 comments

These boards seem to be lawyer heavy but I was wondering if anyone has taken the GMAT and if they might be able to give me a bit of advice on it. I take mine this weekend. Thanks.

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Taking mine in the spring...

Also looking for any advice I can get… Thanks in advance…

Good luck this weekend groundingout.

by N41D on Sep 30, 2008 12:36 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I took it cold

with no prep. of course the internets were just geting started back then, so access to prep courses wasn’t as easy. It’s not that complex if you’re good with logical arguments. I say do practice tests online, though I couldn’t recommend any site in particular.

by SteveP on Sep 30, 2008 12:44 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I took this past summer

did very well on it. Just pace yourself. I did A LOT of prep for it and worked out a strategy that i liked. I refused to answer any question i didnt read twice initially. Also, even though it is quite elementary, eliminate two answers on every question you can. You will be fine. It is not an impossible test…

"There is nothing wrong with a good baseball argument, even if it gets a little personal now and then. If someone here get[s] their feelings hurt because of a blog post they really need to get a grip."

t ball

by booyahcaveman on Sep 30, 2008 2:14 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I took it in July

I did better on the actual test than I did on the practice tests I took. I did ok, but I could have done better. I wish I had studied more.

Remember that something like a quarter of the questions are test questions and don’t count for or against you.

by The Chase Train on Sep 30, 2008 12:00 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Practice tests

I’ve been doing some so I was gonna ask how similar the practice tests you took were to the real test.

by groundingout on Sep 30, 2008 2:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Not very similar...

The practice tests are all MEDIUM difficulty tests…they are not Adaptive Tests…the only way you take Computer Adaptive Tests is if you pay for them online. So most paper practice tests are not similar…

The scoring on this test is not total number of correct vs. incorrect…you only get scored on the # of correctly answered questions…this is an adaptive test…meaning the more questions you answer correctly the harder they get…and the more you answer incorrectly the easier the difficulty.

Here is a link that explains it better…

http://www.west.net/~stewart/gmat/qa_2.htm

by smt83 on Sep 30, 2008 2:49 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

CAT

I bought a Kaplan book that came with a CD that had 3 CATs (computer adaptive tests) on them. I made a 530, 590 and 610 on those and made a 690 on the actual GMAT. I thought the question structure and difficulty was very similar between the practice tests and the actual test.

by The Chase Train on Sep 30, 2008 3:54 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Preparation...

I didn’t take the GMAT, but I did take the LSAT. I just showed up and took the test without any preparation whatsoever. I didn’t do poorly, but I would definitely suggest spending as much time as possible preparing. Those types of tests are things that you really can improve your score on by knowing what’s coming and having a strategy to deal with it.

by Topgun22 on Sep 30, 2008 12:46 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Curious

…Why? I think excessive preparation for the LSAT is a bit counter-productive at some point, but it is a rather important test, and why not prepare for it at least a little bit?

by brettgardner on Sep 30, 2008 12:54 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

LSAT...

Mostly because I was taking it on a whim (my best friend was in law school at the time), and was working about 65 hours a week at my job. Law school had always been in the back of my mind, so I thought I’d go take the entrance exam and see what happened. I ended up doing relatively well and going to law school. I agree, you should not prepare excessively, but those logic games, etc are things you should at least look at before going in to take the exam.

by Topgun22 on Sep 30, 2008 5:15 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Meh

I’m generally a fan of winging it, but it’s much easier to wing it if you’re remotely familiar with the format. That appears to be the case with the LSAT, from what I gather.

"Asphalt me, ben. Asphalt me good and hard." - brettgardner

by Chase Irwin on Sep 30, 2008 7:36 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I am in the middle of the GMAT...

So I read this blog all the time…I’m not a baseball fanatic but I grew up going to Ranger games…so I enjoy keeping up with them. This is the first time I have responded to any fanposts…

I am in the middle of taking the GMAT…I took a Kaplan course (my employer Cisco paid for the class…which was extremely nice). I took the GMAT 2 weeks ago and my score was terrible…for some reason I didn’t pay attention to the time on my Math section and when I looked up I had 8 minutes left with 13 questions to go…so had to do a lot of guessing and scored terrible on my math section. This really hurt my score…since this test is a Computer Adaptive Test…

I agree with Booyahcaveman…pace yourself and try to eliminate questions…make sure you spend 2 minutes at most on each question…if I wouldn’t have remembered that and not had a huge brain fart during my math section I would have scored better.

So I recommend if you can to take a class…it is extremely helpful. These classes can run from 700 bucks to 1500…its expensive but very helpful. Kaplan, Princeton Review, and others offer these classes. If this is not an option go online and pay for a few practice tests…these practice tests aren’t a bunch of money so just take practice tests…pay attention to how long it takes you to answer a question. It’s not a hard test…but they try to trick you…so practicing taking tests is really helpful.

by smt83 on Sep 30, 2008 2:41 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

#1 thing

Know that it is an adaptive test, meaning if you get the first question right, it takes you to a harder question. If you get it wrong, it takes you to an easier question.

Therefore, you want to spend extra time on the frist few questions and try to hit a minimum plateau.

by kumizi on Sep 30, 2008 5:21 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

By keeping this in mind...

You’ll also be able to figure out when you’ve answered a question correctly or not. This can help you or hurt you depending on how much pressure you put on yourself.

Also, keep in mind that when you get a hard question wrong, it doesn’t hurt as much as getting an easy question wrong. The harder your questions are, the better you’re doing.

It's filed under 'D'... for donut.

by NoNameOnCard on Sep 30, 2008 11:54 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

In Spring of 2004...

I used only 1 1/2 of the 2 tests in GMAC’s downloadable prep software. I also read a small $5.99 book that told me how everything worked. That book was passed to three others on my NCAA baseball team, so I guess we all thought it was a pretty good read. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what the title was, since I only owned it for about two weeks.

My score was in the 99th percentile, but I’m a freak.

While I didn’t work on much of a strategy, it occurred to me how annoying some of the math problems can be. Specifically, I’m talking about the “enough vs not enough” information problems. I don’t recall the exact structure of the ones that can easily trip up a smart person, but it’s important to distinguish between problems that have no answer and problems that can’t be answered because there’s not enough information. Can anyoen elaborate on this? I’m too lazy to look it up (and that’s why I didn’t become a lawyer).

It's filed under 'D'... for donut.

by NoNameOnCard on Sep 30, 2008 11:51 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs