It's been nearly 10 years since I took the GMAT, but I scored in the 92 percentile. I got two GMAT prep books from Barnes and Nobel and studied them cover to cover, took all of the tests and made sure I was up on everything covered. That's all I did and I was surprised that the GMAT test seemed almost easy.
I know that some people hate these sorts of standarized tests but I'd suggest two things 1) Your anxiety is your worst enemy 2) Preparation helps As SD said, buy the books do the practice tests. Do as many as you can find. The repetition will help calm your nerves and help you to feel prepared but, perhaps more importantly, it will help you to learn to take the test. Often times that's the key.
I know for the GRE, the free prep software on the ETS site gives surprisingly accurate results compared to how people did on the actual test. There is free GMAT prep software on the mba.com site (you have to register to DL it), so I would use that in conjunction with a couple books, as mentioned in this thread. Free Test-Preparation Software I would probably buy the official books and maybe supplement with Barron's or Manhattan Review.
I just took it couple mounths ago .you need atleast 6 mouths prep to score 80% , its not a hard test. make sure you do alot of practice before any attempt to take the test . you'r biggest enemy will be the time ,try use the offical GMAT book .good luck .
6 months? Really? I studied for 2 weeks and scored in the high 600's. The people I know who studied for 6 month durations all scored well into the 700's and let's face it, if you're looking at online/distance MBA programs outside a handful of programs, a score that high is pointless.
I was thinking about taking the GMAT at one point and found the forum below. Degreeinfo is a great resource for distance education programs, but this is a much better place to get GMAT advice imo. GMAT
The most important question is probably what your target school require. If you are aiming for a top school and are under pressure to score at least 700points you better prepare. On another note: Has anyone experience with these in-person prep programs? A friend of a friend is taking two weeks of from work just to take a Gmat boot camp. Not quite sure in how far these things work, but I can see some benefits of having some expert available to explain things squeezed in a more rigid schedule. But the question is of cause how far can they go within just two weeks.
I'd have a hard time imagining how much more the expensive in-person programs would do for most people. Unless you have severe challenges in your educational background or need one-on-one coaching in certain aspects of test taking, I'd imagine a little time and some cheap prep books would do you more good.
