Ask Manhattan GMAT

[a_rathi83]

Hi Kevin,
I am 23 years old and a Chartered Accountant. I am planning to take GMAT examination in Jan 2007 and apply in July 2007 for the 2009 batch. I am planning to do an MBA in finance from among the top 10-15 b-schools in the world. At the time of application (ie. in July 2007), I would be having 3 years of post graduation work experience, including 1.5 years of internship. I have some questions about GMAT and MBA and it would be great if you could answer them for me.

1. The GMAT scores are valid for 5 years. But are the b-schools okay with scores as old as 3 years and more at the time of application? One of my colleagues, who is an MBA from Indian School of Business (Hyderabad, India) told me that the schools prefer the score to be not more than a year or two years old and may even ask us to retake the GMAT examination in case the scores are old. Is this true for good b-schools like INSEAD, WHARTON, LONDON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS etc.

2. At the time of graduation, will a young student who gets into a good b-school having just two-three years of work-ex, be at a disadvantage when compared to someone with 8-9 years of work-ex with regards to
(i) preference by employers
(ii) level (designation in the company)
(iii) salary

3. When the b-schools talk about the work experience requirements, do they mean the work experience after graduation or the work experience as an employee i.e. not including internship.
It would be really great if you could help me with the above questions.

Thanks.

Abhishek

[looniest loony]

Originally Posted by KevinFitzgerald

Hello KP,
Thank you for looking for Manhattan GMAT classes. We teach many students in India. Click here to visit our website and to see what classes, 1-day workshops and private instruction are available to you in India: http://www.manhattangmat.com/gmat-prep-global-home.cfm

Hi Kevin,

I am looking for Manhattan's GMAT Books for Verbal and Quant. I am Bangalore, India based and do not know where to get these books from. The online stores such as Amazon are taking too long to deliver (more than a month). Also I am taking the test on 10th Aug. How much time do you think would be sufficient to study all the verbal and quant (all the 7 books)?

Regards

[sonofagun]

Hi kevin.. can u detail out GMAT prep.. for eg: which books would u recommend, how much time for prep, online resources etc.. it would be of grt help..

[sanjurj]

am 23 1/2 years old Senior Software Engineer;currently working Full Time for the client (Genworth Financial) in Lynchburg-Virginia USA. I am planning to take GMAT examination in Dec-2006/Jan 2007 and apply for the Fall 2007 course. I am planning to do an MBA in finance/International Business from among the top 50 b-schools in the world. At the time of application which i think are in 2 cycles the deadlines for the first one being Nov or Dec and for the 2nd cycle being March/Apr, I would be having around 3 years of post graduation work experience. I have some basic and genuine questions about GMAT and MBA and it would be great if you could answer them for me.

1.When is the right time to start with my preparations??

2.Which books or materials should I start with??

3.I have got hold of Official Guide(OG) to GMAT 10th edition,Kaplan's GMAT 800 and Barrons GMAT 13th edition.
Do you think this is sufficient for the begining??coz am worried about QUANT as the OG does not have the QUANT part at all.
If not then can you suggest some so that i can buy them online or get them from stores??

4.How should I plan and pace my preparations in this 3-4 months period??

5.Being in a very small place in US we dont have any specialised classooms courses available too and i do not prefer Web sessions.

6.What do you think is 4 months of time enough to get a moderate score of 620-670 considering an hour study daily and 3-4 hrs on weekends??

7.Should i take the exam date first and then start off with the preps or the other way round??

8.Am lloking at the moderate scores only so please advise the material and tests as per the same.

9.Finally when do you think i the right time to strt taking the tests and any specialised test taking strategies or guides are available that can be taken up as well to assist in acheving my goal.????

[MSawhney27]

Originally Posted by KevinFitzgerald

Hello KP,
Thank you for looking for Manhattan GMAT classes. We teach many students in India. Click here to visit our website and to see what classes, 1-day workshops and private instruction are available to you in India: http://www.manhattangmat.com/gmat-prep-global-home.cfm

Hi Kevin,

Would it be possible for you to give answers to Sentence Correction or Critical Reasoning questions on this forum.

Regards,
Meenakshi

[KevinFitzgerald]

Many of you are asking how to find our books. You can purchase them right from our website by clicking here: http://www.manhattangmat.com/Store.cfm

Also, you should know that our books are really great for teaching content but that is only half of the problem if you are looking for a competitive score. If it takes you 3 minutes to answer a geometry question and you get it correct it is the same thing as getting it wrong (because it will probably mean you'll run out of time before the end of the test and you'll have to guess or leave questions blank, making your score drop). You only have 2 minutes per math problem and 1.5 minutes per verbal problem if you want to achieve a competitive score. Trying to master time mangement is very difficult and it's not included in any of our books - that is what is covered in our classes and private instruction.

[KevinFitzgerald]

Hello Sanjurj,
I'll try to run through your questions:
1. You should start your prep immediately because you don't know how long it will take for you to master a 700+ score.
2. I would not try to start with books. I would sign up for a Manhattan GMAT course. There is a huge "you don't know what you don't know" factor to this test. So it's almost impossible to break the 700 barrier on your own. You need someone to help you to do this - especially on the verbal part of the exam.
3. I don't recommend trying to just use books. I don't think anyone can master this test by themselves (or at least it is much easier when someone else helps you). The whole point of getting an MBA is learning to be a business leader. Every good business leader knows when to ask for help when they need it.
4. Yes, you should count back a minimum of 4 months from when your application deadline is due.
5. You should rethink your idea of "web" based classes. This is the future of MBA classes and if you are not comfortable with them perhaps you should not go for an MBA.
6. It all depends on what you are studying and if you are taking a prep class.
7. You should do the prep work first and then set a date.
8. You should always try for the best score possible.
9. Again, you should look at a Manhattan GMAT class because we'll give you a detailed plan that will help your work.

[Psychodementia]

Hi Kevin,

My question is more along generic prep for GMAT. Specifically on Verbal.

Some background:

(a) Consider that a person has done everything that needs to be done in terms of prep material - Manhattan SC, OG, idioms etc. thoroughly revised. And inspite of it, because of possible vernacular educational background is not able to break a particular barrier (say 35 raw score). What would be your advice to him/her ?

(b) There are cases where the accuracy is very high i.e. around 90% but the whole process takes close to 2minutes on an average. Because of it, in verbal only 37-38 questions are being completed in the alloted time. What would be your take on hastening the process without loosing out on accuracy ?

Thanks in advance,

Arun

[KevinFitzgerald]

Hello Arun,
There are two components you must do to break the 700 barrier: 1) master the GMAT content (that is what you are doing with the ManhattanGMAT strategy guides), and 2) master your time management skills. The second part is the most difficult and what you are having trouble with. You only have 2 minutes per math question and 1.5 minutes per verbal question. If it takes you three minutes to answer a geometry question and you get it correct, it's the same thing as gettin it wrong because you'll probably run out of time before the end of the test and your score will drop.

You need to learn the opimum ways of answering each and every question. The fastest ways. Period. That is the only way to maximize your time management and be able to answer each question in the given amount of time.

In the many years I've been training students, the only source for learning time management skills I've ever encountered has been our GMAT classes. I don't know of a single book (the Manhattan GMAT strategy guides included) that teach the optimum ways of answering the problems. That is what our GMAT prep classes teach and why our students choose to work with our instructors - they learn the fastest ways of answering each problem (both math and verbal - with special attention to critical reasoning and sentence correction). Hope this helps.
Kevin

[ninja_talli]

Originally Posted by phsum0003

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Mods, any idea what is this?? seems like a spam or advertising!

EDIT: spam n advertising