Taking the GMAT

The Graduate Management Admission Test is the internationally recognised and standardised test required by most post graduate business schools. You will need to provide a GMAT score to Cranfield for them to process your application.

The GMAT has three main sections,

Quantitative (75 mins)
Problem Solving
Data Sufficiency

Verbal (75 mins)
Sentence Correction
Reading Comprehension
Critical Reasoning

Analytical Writing (60 mins)

There are GMAT testing centers in all states and you can book your test online at http://www.mba.com/mba/takethegmat.

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You will need a minimum GMAT score, 600, to be accepted for a place.

We have had applicants who have obtained scored over 750 which is exceptional. But please note – whilst GMAT score will not increase your chance of winning the Australian Alumni Scholarship as GMAT score is not part of our criteria – it will increase your chance of winning a Fee Share scholarship from Cranfield as it part of the Feeshare scholarship criteria.

The GMAT test is a test which you can practice for. As you become more comfortable with the different types of question you will be able to complete them faster and with less effort.

It is important to practice, especially if you have not studied for a few years. You will be rusty and it will show!

In fact, beacuse there are so many coaching services for GMAT, everyone does tend to study for it. Over the years, this means that the average score increased from around 500 20 years ago to about 600 now. Most people find the Verbal Section and Analytical Writing Sections to be the most concern and hence tend to spend their time on these! Especially because the Quantitative Section is based on Year 10 maths.

However getting a good score on the quantitative section can mean the difference between a 600 score (acceptable) and a 660 score (excellent). So spend the time as these are easy additional marks to obtain.

For some reason, Engineers and others who are highly numerate, tend to mess up this section of the GMAT. Over confidence perhaps? So, please do yourself a favour and practise for this section.

See what 2007 winner Sarah Nicholson (a chemical engineer) had to say about the GMAT.

“A few days before my test I tracked down some practice ones on line and thought I’d go through a couple of them. I’ve got an engineering degree so I wasn’t worried about the maths and my arts degree taught me to write essays but my grammar’s never been great so I was mostly concerned about the sentence correction questions. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE GMAT! Turns out my grammar was in the top 10% but my maths marks were horrible. They were asking about stuff I hadn’t touched since high school (and hated then) – probability, permutations, geometry, surds – and you had about 2 minutes per question with no calculator.

GMAT took over my life for the next three days. Once I had revised all my senior maths and worked out the strategy involved in the test I had time for about 5 hours sleep before driving to Sydney. The cram sessions paid off and I came out with a score of 660, the average for Cranfield students.”

- Sarah Nicholson (Read more from her Blog)

HELPFUL WEBSITES

There are many websites that help with the GMAT test.

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graduate_Management_Admission_Test gives a good overview

www.mba.com/mba/TaketheGMAT gives good advice on preparing for and taking the test. Also download their lastest GMAT Bulletin.

www.gmac.com/gmac gives advice on the test

www.testprepreview.com/gmat_practice.htm allows you to practice

www.800score.com/gmat-home.html gives free practical advice for passing the test

www.test-preparation.net/gmat.htm gives a list of books and courses which you could use in preparing for the GMAT test

GMAT Exams Practice GMAT Tests, Complete Simulation Software

We suggest picking a few and having a go.

Test cost is $USD 250.00.

Results are available in three weeks.

You should quote the reference for Cranfield to ensure that they receive a copy of your GMAT report as soon as it is available.

GMAT Help line (02) 9478 5430