400 hours for the GMAT?

740...is such goal achievable for an individual with average intelligence? I would assume that I am most likely above; but I don't think I am as smart as most people here. I have read that some people on here only needed a week to study in order to get over 700...I don't think I would be able to do that.

The GMAT has little to do with intelligence. If you are of average intelligence you can do very well on it if you practice hard. If you are a native English speaker you also have an edge, so it is a bit unfair in that sense.

Also, keep in mind that it is exponentially harder to get each 10 point increment. In other words, the difference between 740 and 700 is much more significant than that between 700 and 660.

To answer the jist of your question: yes, you can definitely improve your gmat score significantly by studying. I studied for it over the course of two years while I was also taking the CFA exams. I probably put in 200-300 hours over the course of those two years. FWIW, that was probably overkill since I went about it in a very inefficient manner at first.

For me personally, I scored 640 on the first gmat practice exam. Granted, it was a half assed attempt, but I felt like a total moron when I saw the score. After two years of studying, I took the actual exam and got a 760.

With how much you plan on studying, I would say that it is definitely achievable. And, seeing as you are a non-native speaker, I would suggest that you study verbal a lot. You will get a much higher score if you have a ~95th percentile verbal and an ~85th percentile quant than if you have a ~95th percentile quant and an ~85th percentile verbal.

Hi,

I'm exactly in the same boat as you are. I will apply for a Finance Masters at LSE, Imperial and Cass. According to my reading the best possible thing for us is to ace the quantitative part of the test. The verbal matters but since you lived for 7 years in the UK and you plan to study that hard for it, I'm sure it will help you achieve a higher ranking.

400 hours is probably overkill but if you study efficiently you should reach a 740. Take a practice test and see where you start, isolate your weaknesses, then dilligently attack them. I went from a 520 on my first practice test to a 700 then a 720 on ~300 hours. After you raise your score around 180 points, diminishing returns definitely kick in. And I'm of average intelligence as well-most of the material I learned as I prepared/did not know before.

Here are the materials you'll need:

Official Guides (these are a must) Sign up for GMAT Quantum. That should take care of all of your quant needs. Dabral teaches the quant better than anyone I've seen and his questions are lifted right off the practice test discs/downloads the GMAC sends you and all difficulty levels are represented.

Manhattan GMAT for Sentence Correction-crucial for non-native speakers Powerscore Bible for Critical Reasoning I didn't need a reading comprehension guide as that was my best subject but since you're a non-native speaker any of the LSAT prep books will do, or perhaps Manhattan as well.

If any explanations don't make sense during your reviews, look up the question on the GMATCLUB forums

I put in about 250-300 hours and got a 730. I wouldn't consider myself "average" in terms of intelligence, but I'm certainly not a genius either. I think anyone can get a 700-740, regardless of intelligence level. It's more or less pattern recognition at that point (i.e. when I see "x" I think "y"- especially w quant). That being said, I think for 750+ you need to be really, really smart.

300-400 hours? I saw GMAT stats saying people with +700 studied +90 hours... I thought it would be 100 more or less... I'm taking my GMAT 06/29. Am I too late already?

GMAT is an absolute joke vis a vis the CFA in my opinion but that's a separate argument.

There isn't much need to spend a ton of time nor money, in a concentrated way at least, to get 700-730. This is the range for most schools where the GMAT won't be a 'problem', MBA wise. I'm not sure what its like for other Masters programs like OP wants.

Hitting above 730 gets tricky, and you are either an ace test taker or well above average intelligence if you are hitting 750+ like someone above said.

Personally, I watched the Magoosh videos ($99 for a year subscription at the time) and did practice problems from Manhattan GMAT books for 2-3 hours in total, about 3-4 nights a week for a month. This was good enough for 730+ on 3 Veritas mock exams i did, but I got 710 on the real deal. Most people with non-GMAT items 'good enough' for top schools will not need to spend $1000+ nor more than ~120hrs.

Very good advice from C137 above. Personally, I don't think you need to spend $1,000+ on the classes. The books were good enough for me and that only cost $100-150 since I bought them used. To each their own though.

GMAT is an absolute joke vis a vis the CFA in my opinion but that's a separate argument.

I've done both programs and here's my perspective:

CFA is about memorizing facts and being able to reasonably regurgitate them. The amount of material is overwhelming, but you only need a 70% score to pass. Scoring higher doesn't matter at all and there is no time pressure (I finished each CFA exam 40+ minutes early). While the CFA is a lot of work, I never found it especially stressful. It also doesn't require any real intelligence.

The GMAT is about being able to quickly recognize a problem format and then selecting and executing the appropriate solution. Being intelligent helps, though practice is also very helpful.

You absolutely must take a structured approach to the GMAT problems. The time pressure, particularly for the quant portion, can be intense. Unlike the CFA, your score also matters enormously, so there is a lot of pressure. Hell, they even time your bathroom break or whatever, creating more pressure. GMAT is like football, basketball, baseball, etc. - you have to keep practicing the form you take to approach a given situation so you can execute quickly, accurately, and repeatedly when finally called upon.

-Study 2 hours a day, 6 days a week for two months. -Score a 760 on your last practice test. -Take the 'best interview advice in the world' and take a dump at the testing center before you start. -End up way too relaxed and screwing up the first quant portion. -End up with a 59% Quant score but a 720 because your English is better than Shakespeare's.

True story.

As someone scored 770 on GMAT, I personally think GMAT is not something you should spend to much time on. It's not like CFA or learning financial modeling, that your learning outcome is highly correlated with the time you put in. Rather, many parts of it are pretty intuitive.

Assuming that you speak English (I'm international and many of my foreign friends have trouble with the test because they don't know what certain words mean or they don't know how a presidential election works), you should be able to crack the verbal part easily once you get how to think in the test makers ways.

Basically what I do is take every CR question as something I want to argue against in the first place. That will force you to doubt every link of its logical chain and usually you will find something you have doubted show up in the options. The readings are usually very easy as long as you have time to read them. The sentence corrections always revolve around a handful of error types and I suggest you go through Manhattan GMAT prep's SC part, which basically tells you all the tricks you'll encounter in the test.

The hard shit is the math. There are many things you CAN'T change, but extremely important, like IQ, calculating speed and if you've encountered this type of thinking in your work or life before. But there are also things you CAN do. My suggestion is that DO AS MANY QUESTIONS AS POSSIBLE. There are many free resources available and when you buy the Manhattan prep you get 6 mock tests which covers both math and verbal. By doing this, you will familiarize yourself with all kinds of questions you will see on the test and find out what's your weakness.

Sorry for not seeing that I'm this far into my comment but I just realized you are not a native English speaker. That changes a decent amount of things. But still, most of what I said is applicable. PM me if you need any help regarding a specific area.