Indian MBA applicants attach a lot of significance to their GMAT scores, many of them neglect their academic grades during graduation. Some do, and they are wise in doing so because the admissions officer weighs your recommendations and essays to assess your interest in performing as a student.
You might be wondering ‘How important is GMAT score?’ It will reflect your ability and sincerity which is required to get admitted to a business school.
There are 3 criteria on basis of which your performance is analysed:
- Admission officers who judge a prospective candidate and his passion for pursuing business school program.
- Once you complete your studies, companies ask for a GMAT score before selecting a candidate as their employee.
- Performance of your peers who have excelled in the exam to take admission in the most prestigious MBA colleges.
GMAT at times becomes the sole determining factor for the admission officers apart from essays, recommendation letters, SOP etc.
Once you become familiar with the importance of GMAT score, you need to understand what qualifies as a good GMAT score. But the problem is that these business schools do not follow a standard score around the globe for granting admission. Most of the business schools have set the bar on the minimum score that an applicant needs to achieve. In order to crack that qualifying score, you must have to take comprehensive coaching classes. If you are a resident of the UAE, you will get quality GMAT classes in Dubai.
If you are planning to study abroad, anything around 700 or above would qualify as a decent score. Many students appearing for GMAT are from an engineering background which makes it easy for them to excel in quantitative sections.
If you are wondering whether your GMAT score will be determining factor in admission chances, you need to understand that this is not the case each time.
While top-ranked B-schools do give importance to a higher score in the results, and the score plays a crucial role in getting you to the list of shortlisted candidates, the situation is not same each and every time.
They consider the overall personality of a candidate, from his academic and work achievements, whether he is better than other candidates, is his work background different and unusual. They consider several other factors.
At times, hailing from a minority background increases your chances of getting through. But don’t assume that hailing from a minority background will get you in any circumstances.
International business schools are looking out for future business leaders who can transform how the world thinks or functions. They can quickly assess who is using his minority status to get admission in the big league and who despite his or her minority background refrains from using it as a tool to seek admission.
The GMAT is conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). It is used by universities in selecting the candidates for an MBA. It also becomes the basis for gaining admission in postgraduate business and management courses.
The exam is three-and-a-half-hour long. It is taken in the English language.
- Analytical writing assessment (30 minutes, one question) – tests your critical reasoning, ability to understand and share your ideas with others.
- Integrated reasoning (30 minutes, 12 questions) – tests your ability to evaluate and analyse information presented in different forms.
- Quantitative reasoning (62 minutes, 31 questions) – tests your ability to reach conclusions from the presented data.
- Verbal reasoning (65 minutes, 36 questions) – tests reading, comprehensive, skills and check whether you can write correctly in the English language.
You can complete the sections from three available options in any random order as per your convenience. You’re allotted two eight-minute breaks.
GMAT is computer-based and you can easily navigate your way across different sections. Your ability to answer one question will decide the difficulty level of the other following questions. To write GMAT you’ll need to book a place at an assessment centre. You can find an assessment centre located near you on the GMAT website.
It costs $250 (about £190) to take the GMAT. You will incur extra charges if you plan to cancel or reschedule your exam.
You need to familiarise yourself with GMAT if you want to ace it. Learn about different types of questions involved, and solve as many practice tests as possible.
The GMAT website has 90 exam questions available on it for your ease, it will help you in discovering your weak areas. Prepare a timetable that focuses mainly on your weak areas and practises regularly until the day of the exam.
You should purchase official textbooks and guides, which have thousands of questions in them, or the GMAT 800 book, which has some of the toughest questions. You need to be consistent with your approach while you are in preparation mode. This will help you in identifying the nature of the questions and the particular way it needs to be approached.
When you are going to solve practice papers, allot yourself three and a half hours. Set aside all your distractions and analyze your mistakes once you are done. It would be favourable if you keep a record of your scores and your mistakes. It will help you in identifying your weak area. Maintaining a record will also help you in evaluating your performance after every test.
If English is your second language, you should read standardized English newspapers. It will improve your verbal score substantially.
On the day of the final test, remember that algorithms change the questions based on your previous answers. Don’t panic if you seem to come across difficult questions successively. This only reflects your good performance in the test.
But if you are not the type who does self-study, it would be better to look for GMAT coaching classes. You can google ‘GMAT classes near me’. You will get a list of different coaching centres and institutes for tutoring in Dubai, which provide quality material and qualifies teachers for your preparation. Visit the centre and enrol for demo classes. Compare the quality of and fee structures of different coaching centres and choose accordingly. Don’t procrastinate the preparation. You might miss out on getting admitted to your dream college.
