Study Material to follow for GMAT

Before starting your journey of GMAT preparation you should spend some time on getting familiar with the structure of GMAT. You can start it by browsing through the GMAT section of youdowetest.com and read as much as you can. It will help you understand: what is GMAT in general terms, its significance, its structure and the way the test is conducted worldwide. The information published there is genuine, eye-opener & myth breaker. You can also think of spending a couple of hours (or even more) on Official site for GMAT.

Then you should download a sample GMAT test available there: name is GMAT Prep. It has 2 full length tests. You can try one of them to get an idea about where do you stand without preparation. From our experience we can say that you should be able to improve upon this score by 100+ from 6-8 weeks preparation. If you need a drastic improvement then you will have to spend more time on building your basics and that can take some good amount of effort and time.

Now coming to books

The best book for GMAT is GMAT Official Guide 11.
It is published by GMAC, the company that set GMAT test. It is the most authentic study material for GMAT. It comes in 3 variants:
1. Official guide for GMAT review, 11th edition, has material for both Verbal as well as Quantitative
2. The Official guide for verbal review
3. The official guide for quantitative review

Other books

Kaplan GMAT: comprehensive book, covers everything)

Cracking the GMAT by Princeton review (good strategies & comprehensive, covers everything)

Kaplan GRE & GMAT Math Workbook ( very elementary good for starters & weak at math : not recommended for Indian applicants)

Kaplan 800 (for advanced students who want to score higher; AWA essay section not included )

Manhattan Sentence Correction GMAT Preparation Guide (Best book for Sentence Correction)

These books offer good strategies to attack GMAT, they’ll show you how to approach each section and each problem individually. For taking the test in one go you need to have a patience, faith and stamina and for that you need to take as many GMAT practice tests as possible. This site is providing unlimited number of FREE GMAT tests. Practice a lot, discuss with other and us and do well in the exam.

Practice Tests
With so many good quality tests available for FREE you should not need any more tests, but still if want to spend money you can try these tests available by spending a good amount of money.

mba.com (nearest possible)

manhattangmat.com (yet to be tested)

800score.com (easier)

kaptest.com (tough)

pricetonreview.com (neutral)

They offer good GMAT tests.

There are a lot other books and sites for practice tests which we have not mentioned because they are NOT worth your time & money.

Scheduling the GMAT

You may schedule a Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) appointment at any test center around the world by visiting the link below.

Choose a Test Center


To take the GMAT exam, you must first select a test center. Each test center operates on its own schedule and can accommodate varying numbers of test takers throughout the day.

How to Schedule Your Appointment

You may register for the test online, by phone, by mail, or by fax. Click here for details.
You may incur taxes to schedule an exam in certain countries. Click here to determine the Fees and tax you will have to pay to take the GMAT exam in certain countries. Available time slots change continuously based on capacity and ongoing registration. You will find out which times are available at your chosen test center when you register.


If you choose to schedule a test appointment online,

you must sign up as a registered user of the mba.com Web site if you have not already done so.

Be sure to enter your name and birthdate exactly as they appear on the identification you will present at the test center (see Presenting Proper Identification for details).

Fee payments can only be made by credit card or debit card (see GMAT Fees for details).

Be sure to have your VISA, MasterCard, American Express, or JCB card ready.



NOTE:

If you are a citizen of Cuba, North Korea, or Sudan, you must prove primary residency outside of your country of citizenship.

If you are a citizen of Iran living in Iran, you must schedule your GMAT appointment through GMAT Customer Service.

GMAT Fees

Test Fee	US$250
Rescheduling Fee (7 days before original appointment)	US$50
Rescheduling Fee (Within 7 days of original appointment)	US$250
Cancellation Refund (7 days before original appointment)	US$80
Cancellation Refund (Within 7 days of original appointment)	NIL
Additional Score Report Fee (for each report)	US$28
AWA rescoring Fees (within 6 months of test date)	US$45

You will incur taxes when you schedule an exam in certain countries. Tax rates are given below:

Country	Tax Rate(%)	Country	Tax Rate(%)	Country	Tax Rate(%)
Austria	20.00	Greece	19.00	Netherlands	19.00
Belgium	21.00	Hungary	20.00	Poland	22.00
Cyprus	15.00	Ireland	21.00	Portugal	21.00
Czech Republic	19.00	Italy	20.00	Slovakia	19.00
Denmark	25.00	Japan	5.00	Slovenia	20.00
Estonia	18.00	Latvia	18.00	Spain	16.00
Finland	22.00	Lithuania	18.00	Sweden	25.00
France	19.60	Luxembourg	15.00	United Kingdom	17.50
Germany	16.00	Malta	18.00

No Tax for countries not mentioned in above list.

Fees are subject to change without notice.

For any questions concerning tax rates, please contact the GMAT Customer Service in your region.


Preferred Forms of Payment

Credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or JCB)

Debit card (Visa or MasterCard only)

Cashier's check (mailed forms only)

Money order (mailed forms only)

Personal check (mailed forms only)


Please note:

Payments by check must be payable in U.S. dollars and drawn on banks located in the United States.

All payments must be made in full, have the appropriate signature(s), and be made payable to Pearson VUE-GMAT.

Postdated checks will not be accepted.

The bank name and its location should be preprinted on the face of the check.

Taxes must be included where applicable

The appointment date must be at least 10 calendar days after the check is received to allow time for the check to clear. Please keep in mind that it can take up to eight (8) weeks for letters to reach the U.S. from some countries.

Pearson VUE will make an electronic debit from your account of an additional service fee of US$20 in the event your check is returned.

If payment is not submitted in U.S. dollars, or otherwise does not comply with the above requirements or other standard banking practices, your registration or request for service will not be processed and your payment will be rejected and/or returned.

If your credit card is declined, your appointment will not be processed. You will be responsible for scheduling your test appointment again using a valid form of payment.

Understanding AWA Scoring

How AWA Is Scored

Each of your essays in the AWA section will be given two independent ratings, one of which may be performed by an automated essay-scoring engine. The automated essay-scoring engine is an electronic system that evaluates more than 50 structural and linguistic features, including organization of ideas, syntactic variety, and topical analysis. If the two ratings differ by more than one point, another evaluation by an expert reader is required to resolve the discrepancy and determine the final score. College and university faculty members trained as readers for the AWA will consider the following: the overall quality of your ideas about the issue and argument presented your overall ability to organize, develop, and express those ideas the relevant supporting reasons and examples you used your ability to control the elements of standard written English In considering the elements of standard written English, readers are trained to be sensitive and fair in evaluating the responses of examinees whose first language is not English. If you have reason to believe that your scores for the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) portion of the GMAT test are not accurate, you may request that your essays be rescored.

Retaking the GMAT

Retaking the GMAT Exam

Sometimes it is necessary or desirable to take the GMAT test more than once. For example, a graduate management program may request more recent scores than you have on record. However, unless your scores seem unusually low compared with other indicators of your preparation for graduate management study, or unless there are other reasons to believe that you did not do your best on a test for which scores have been reported, taking the GMAT test again may not be helpful.
Statistically, retesting is unlikely to result in a substantial increase in your scores; in fact, your scores may decrease. If you repeat the test, any scores for tests you have taken in the past five years will still be reported to the graduate management programs you designate as score recipients. If you repeat the test and want to resend your scores to programs that previously received your scores, you must reselect the programs at the time you take the test or order an Additional Score Report after your exam with the appropriate fee. Any repeated GMAT testing is subject to the GMAT retest policy.

Retest Policy

You may take the GMAT exam once every 31 calendar days and no more than five (5) times in a rolling 12-month period. If you score an 800 on the exam, you will be prohibited from testing for five (5) years from your exam date.
The retest policy applies even if your score from a test administration within that time period is canceled by you, Pearson VUE and/or GMAC. GMAT Customer Service representatives and test administrators are not authorized to waive or modify the retest policy for any reason.
If you take the GMAT test more often than allowed, your new scores will not be reported and you will forfeit the entire test fee. You may also be prohibited from future GMAT testing and may be subject to other remedial actions. The retest policy will be enforced even if a violation is not immediately identified (due to inconsistent registration information, for example) and your test scores are reported. In such cases, your scores will be canceled and your score report recipients will be notified of the cancellation.

Retest Policy Appeals

Any request to take the GMAT test more than five (5) times in a 12-month period must be submitted in writing. Requests will only be considered after you have taken your fifth test. Exceptions to the retest policy are entirely discretionary and will be granted only for compelling reasons.

You can mail all requests to:
Pearson VUE
Attention: Request for GMAT Retest Exception
5601 Green Valley Drive
Bloomington, MN 55437
USA
Please remember that it may take up to eight (8) weeks for mail to reach the United States from some countries.

Contact GMAT Customer Service

Telephone lines are open Monday-Friday in each region, except on local national holidays. If you have questions about the GMAT exam, please contact GMAT Customer Service in your region:

Asia-Pacific Region

Please Note: Email services are available Monday-Friday , 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. AEST. Response time for email sent outside of these times may be up to 48hrs. Telephone services are available Monday-Friday at the following numbers and times:

Email:	GMATCandidateServicesAPAC@pearson.com
Telephone:	6038318 9961, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. AEST
In India:	+91 120-439-7830, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Indian Standard Time
Fax:	6038319 1092

Americas Region

Please Note: Email services are offered Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CT. Emails sent outside of these hours will receive a response the following business day. Telephone services are available Monday-Friday at the following numbers and times:

Email:	GMATCandidateServicesAmericas@pearson.com
Telephone (toll-free):	1-800-717-GMAT (4628), 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. CT
Telephone:	1-952-681-3680, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. CT
Fax:	1-952-681-3681

To check on the availability of GMAT appointments in the following Canadian cities, please call 1-866-442-GMAT (4628):

Calgary, Alberta

Edmonton, Alberta

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Kitchener, Ontario

London, Ontario

Ottawa, Ontario

Regina, Saskatchewan

St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador

Victoria, British Columbia


China

Please Note: Email services are available Monday-Friday , 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. China Standard time. Response time for email sent outside of these times may be up to 48hrs. Telephone services are available Monday-Friday at the following numbers and times:

Email:	gmatservice@neea.edu.cn
Telephone:	86-10-62798877, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. China Standard Time
Fax:	86-10-82520243

Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) Region

Please Note: Email services are available Monday-Friday , 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. China Standard time. Response time for email sent outside of these times may be up to 48hrs. Telephone services are available Monday-Friday at the following numbers and times:

Email:	GMATCandidateServicesEMEA@pearson.com
Telephone:	+44 (0) 161 855 7219, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. BST
Fax:	+44 (0) 161 855 7301

Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT)

The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is a computer based test that helps business schools assess the qualifications of applicants for advanced study in business and management. Schools use the test as one predictor of academic performance in an MBA program or in other graduate management programs.

What the GMAT Test Measures

The GMAT exam measures

basic verbal,

mathematical,

and analytical writing skills

that you have developed in your education and work.

It does NOT measure:

Your knowledge of business,

Your job skills,

Specific content in your undergraduate or first university course work,

Your abilities in any other specific subject area, or

Subjective qualities-such as motivation, creativity, and interpersonal skills.

Format and Timing

The GMAT exam consists of three main parts, the Analytical Writing Assessment, the Quantitative section, and the Verbal section.

Analytical Writing Assessment
The GMAT exam begins with the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA). The AWA consists of two separate writing tasks-Analysis of an Issue and Analysis of an Argument. You are allowed 30 minutes to complete each one. more…

Quantitative Section
Following an optional ten-minute break, you begin the Quantitative Section of the GMAT exam. This section contains 37 multiple-choice questions of two question types-Data Sufficiency and Problem Solving. You are allowed a maximum of 75 minutes to complete the entire section. more…

Verbal Section
After a second optional ten-minute break, you begin the Verbal Section of the GMAT exam. This section contains 41 multiple choice questions of three question types-Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, and Sentence Correction. You are allowed a maximum of 75 minutes to complete the entire section. more…