GMAT - Advice on When To Take and Apply

I would aim for first round. But everything depends on the GMAT score you receive and how well you can write your essays. Remember that if you want to take the GMAT test a second time, you have to wait a month.

I have heard that ~100 hours is the suggested amount of time to study prior to taking the GMAT. It all depends on you as a student as well. Do you excel when you cram information or do better spaced out over time? Putting in time after work each day and then more time each day during the weekend could allow you time to be ready for first round.

Like @CompBanker said though, it all depends on how you actually end up scoring.

Agreed with the previous posters and would like to add that it also depends on how much time you have each day to study (I'm assuming you're working full-time?) and what score you're trying to target. I think ~100 hours of legitimate studying (by legitimate, I mean not wasting time) could put you above 700, ~200 hours would get you to 750+.

The GMAT is beatable but it all depends on how much time you have and how much effort you're willing to actually put into it. For most GMAT test-takers, I'd say that one can't half-ass things and expect a good score.

when to take the test: whenever you are ready. as others have said, you need to prepare for it (whether it is a month or a year, that's up to your learning aptitude)

now the real question is when to start prepping: if you even have an inkling of inclination to go to school, the best advice I got for you is to take it ASAP.

as CB said, your best bet right now is to apply in round 2. Take a diagnostic test to get a feel of the test (not to see where you are and don't be discouraged / encouraged if you don't / do well). Know your weaknesses and brush up on the basics. Definitely give yourself a chance for retake.

So by looking at the calendar right now, you can take the test towards the end of October / early November and retake before the end of the year. (I highly recommend using Manhattan GMAT guidebooks, if not the prep course). Also phantombanker kindly put together a study guide which I find to be tremendously helpful. Link: //www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/phantombankers-gmat-study-guide

Whew that was a mouthful. Good luck!

Do some studying, buy some study books, take some practice tests and then pay some coin for a Kaplan or PR review course. They will give you the tricks on how to game it.

True story, I took it the first time while studying only on my own and got a sub-700 score. The funny thing is, I have a masters in engineering and got a perfect writing, a 98% percentile on the verbal, but did really shitty on the math. It boggled my mind because not only did I have a technical background, but I also got a 790 on the math section of the SAT. It turns out that it was mostly test taking techniques as an abbreviated Kaplan course (not the full monty, just one given over a three-day weekend) brought my math up more than 100 points and my aggregate score above 750.

They are not cheap, but when you consider the long term returns of boosting your GMAT score 50-100 points (especially if it gets you across the holy grail threshold of 700) they are definitely worth it.

I'm taking it tomorrow. Gave myself roughly a month and a half of studying. We'll see how it goes.

T-3000:

Remember that if you want to take the GMAT test a second time, you have to wait a month.

That's definitely good to know. Thanks for the head's up.

CompBanker:

I also suggest you don't make this decision until you've spent a couple of weeks studying for the test. Some people need a lot more time to study, others can cram. After a couple of weeks you'll have a good idea what position you're in. No use trying to decide right now with so many unknown factors.

That makes sense. I'll base it off of this.

yeahright:

I have heard that ~100 hours is the suggested amount of time to study prior to taking the GMAT.

socman:

Agreed with the previous posters and would like to add that it also depends on how much time you have each day to study (I'm assuming you're working full-time?) and what score you're trying to target. I think ~100 hours of legitimate studying (by legitimate, I mean not wasting time) could put you above 700, ~200 hours would get you to 750+.

Definitely working full time and definitely am aiming for a 700 at least. Between work and commute I work a lot, but they aren't banker hours so I should be able to pull something like 2-3 hours a day (minus friday) and then 5-6 a day on the weekend. That's about 20 a week, so it seems I need a couple months if 100 is really what I need. Debatable, but we'll see.

I took it a couple months ago (750). The absolute keys are 1) Manhattan Sentence Correction book 2) Kaplan 800 advanced math book 3) Manhattan math books (6 in all if I remember right) if you need a refresher on basic algebra. 4) Do several timed practice tests, I did the official GMAT ones and the manhattan ones. 5) Take notes on the math and SC tricks you need to memorize and review until hardwired into your brain 6) Do all the OG and supplemental problems and review your mistakes 7) MOST IMPORTANTLY, timing is critical - if you are shooting for high 700s, you have to know when to take an educated guess and move on, you will HAVE to do this if you are scoring high 700s as some of the questions are brutal in the 2min window - you will need to be able to narrow the answer down to 2 choices based on a couple tricks and guess and move on, you can miss up to like 6 and still get 50 on math so don't sweat an educated guess. Same on verbal.

Good luck!

It took me 5 months of studying and 2 tries to get a 760 (48 on quant, 47 on verbal). I took the in person manhattan classes and read the official guide books front to back several times through. Good luck!

I'm going to weigh in here and take a contrarian stance to all of the other posters for two reasons. First, I think it is always good to have a differing opinion in every discussion. Second, I have first hand experience applying and being accepted to a top Masters program (UVA MS Commerce) about two years ago with a less than stellar background. However, I urge you to take my thoughts with the proverbial grain of salt and invite everyone else to pick apart my argument/call me a dumbass if deemed necessary.

My background:

I attended a well-regarded, but not terribly highly ranked LAC in the midwest. I was a varsity athlete and captain, humanities major (one of the ones that is consistently poked fun at here on WSO), and sported a stellar 3.2 GPA at the time of admission. However, I had improved my GPA tremendously in my junior and first semester of senior year, generally ~3.8 each semester. (It should also be mentioned that my school is widely known for severe grade deflation.)

GMAT:

I have never been a stellar test taker, mostly due to the fact that I am objectively not the smartest guy around. I consider myself of average intelligence to slightly above average on my best days. However, I do consider myself long common sense.

I studied for the GMAT in the range of 10 to 14 days straight, basically non-stop. I then took the test on what would have been the 17th or 18th day. My goal was to achieve a score in the lower to mid range of the school's 80 percentile statistic. I was able to do so and never looked back at the GMAT or gave it a second thought.

My reasoning for this, right or wrong, is that I believe for many schools the GMAT is used as a "check the box" measure and that even a very strong GMAT score will not overcome deficiencies in other more important areas of the application.

(Disclaimer: I am not necessarily advocating this type of strategy.)

Meat of the story:

I spent a great deal of time, energy and effort in crafting my essays and letters of recommendation. First and foremost was to do in-depth research on the school, what it offered, and what it prides itself on. This involved several conversations with active students, past students, professors and admissions staff. My main takeaway from this research was that more so than simply admitting the smartest candidates with the best name brand schools, WE, or whatever, schools wanted to admit applicants that would benefit not simply from the brand of the school, but the specific offerings of the school itself (international immersion for example) and who would in turn contribute more than a stellar GMAT score, undergrad institution during both his/her time in the program and as an alumnus.

Therefore, my strategy in writing my essays was to highlight where I was in my education/ECs/work experience (at that point it was internship experience, though) and where I wanted to be eventually. I then used specifics offerings from the school to show how the program could bridge the gap between where I was and where I wanted to be. I also chose my references very carefully, specifically people I knew would give me glowing recommendations while at the same time being honest enough to say I'm not perfect. I also tried to guide my references toward making it clear in their recs that I had the raw skills and potential to achieve the end goal I stated in my essay. Being on the same page as your references is tremendously important.

TL;DR -- In my humble opinion, less than stellar GMAT scores, grades, or undergrad institution and to a certain extent work experience can be overcome, but no matter how strong your grades/GMAT/ugrad/WE one cannot overcome less than stellar essays, references. Therefore, I would spend much more time devoted to crafting the best possible essays rather than incrementally improving my GMAT score (once you get above the check the box threshold, of course.)

These all may have been things you already know or not at all what you were looking for in this post, but you give a lot back to this site so I wanted to return the favor with some of my experiences.

@Simple As...

Thank you for the incredibly thought-out response. I'm not sure it applies to me exactly, but I definitely appreciate the counter opinion.

I have already been in contact with most programs about my candidacy, and as a part of that I supplied the admission officers my resume, told them of my GPA, and asked for their advice. Each one said that my GPA will not be an impediment as long as my GMAT is good, given my work experience. One program quoted me their "unofficial" minimum as a 630, but obviously with my GPA I can't come in minimum on both GPA and GMAT so I'm aiming for at least 700. Worse comes to worse I'd probably be fine with a 680 or so, but I don't particularly want to settle for "fine."

I've spoken at length with admissions personnel about why these programs are right for me and will be reiterating that in my essays, and I am even taking a "Intro To Managerial Finance" course from UCLA Extension school as proof of my interest and abilities, as one of my top choices suggested. I wish the UVA program would be an option, but I'm too "old" for it apparently, as silly as that sounds. Villanova, Duke, UT Austin, Johns Hopkins, etc. are what I'm looking at.

Your suggestion of "leading" my recommenders is a terrific one though and I will definitely be utilizing that.

@Blax0r,

Duly noted. I will have to brush up on these test tricks too, it seems.