Before saying anything on the subject please remember that you always 'TAKE' the GMAT (or any other test) and never 'GIVE' the GMAT.
It's just that I find it really irritating when even some teachers use the term 'give the test'.
Anyway, having got that out of the way here's a common scenario that I see every year in the months of August-September:
At most B-schools in the US the 1st round of admission starts in September-October so a month before that I see a mad rush of students coming in to take GMAT classes while simultaneously also working on their applications and all this while also trying to meet the demands of their respective jobs.
The result: most of them usually end up botching all three of these elements.
The reason GMAT scores are valid for 5 years is to precisely avoid this type of a situation but nobody seems to be aware of that.
According to me the best time to take the GMAT is either when you are in your final year at college or at the most within 1 year of your passing out of college. I say this for the following reasons:
It's just that I find it really irritating when even some teachers use the term 'give the test'.
Anyway, having got that out of the way here's a common scenario that I see every year in the months of August-September:
At most B-schools in the US the 1st round of admission starts in September-October so a month before that I see a mad rush of students coming in to take GMAT classes while simultaneously also working on their applications and all this while also trying to meet the demands of their respective jobs.
The result: most of them usually end up botching all three of these elements.
The reason GMAT scores are valid for 5 years is to precisely avoid this type of a situation but nobody seems to be aware of that.
According to me the best time to take the GMAT is either when you are in your final year at college or at the most within 1 year of your passing out of college. I say this for the following reasons:
- You are still in the study mode and haven't forgotten your squares and cubes. A lot of students find it very difficult to get back into study mode once they've been working for 3-4 years.
- You have time on your hands. It's very difficult to juggle GMAT preparation along with your usual workload; the longer you've been working the more difficult. Also research has shown that the longer you spend preparing for the GMAT the greater your chances of scoring high.
- In case you don't do well on the test you have time to retake it, and contrary to the popular view most business schools these days encourage you to take the test more than once. (For more on this Click here)
- It also shows how focussed you are about pursuing an MBA (again you don't 'do' an MBA, you 'pursue' it), since you took the GMAT 2 to 3 years before you are actually applying.
So the point of saying all this is please do not wait for the last moment to complete everything. Plan things out well in advance; after all planning is the hallmark of an MBA. (BTW any idea why it is called 'an' MBA even though 'M' is a consonant and not a vowel?)
Those students aiming to register for GMAT exam, then i want to share some of my experience with them. I think the best time to register for the exam like GMAT is when you are fully prepared for the all section of the exam. Just a final rehearsal has been required.
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GMAT Grammar