Taking the GMAT at age 35

Question

Well, I am looking for some motivation here, I am 35 years old and I intend to the take the GMAT this year. I graduated from college more than a decade ago and haven't prepared for any major exams after that. I wish to pursue a full time executive MBA in India from either the IIMs or ISB and I realize how important it is to have an impressive GMAT score to get an edge over other applicants for their programmes. I am having a tough time grasping concepts in quants whereas I am comfortable with verbal.
I am aiming for a 700+ in GMAT and at this point I really doubt I will ever get there. I saw some charts for mean GMAT scores by age and looking at the scores drop with age was really a downer for me

Motivation please!!

ramblers · Answer

I just turned 33 and am taking it (for the 3rd time) on Saturday.

Yeah - it's not easy. I'm sure it would have been easier when I was younger. Especially with quant.

After ~600 hours of study over 8 months, my last practice test was a Q44/V47. It took this long for me to realize that I will never be great at quant, but I can get close to a V51 without much effort (of that 600 hours, I probably put in 20 hours of verbal prep.)

My point is...play to your strengths. You might not have a great quant/verbal split, but you aren't applying to full-time HBS. Do what you need to do to get over that 700 mark. Take your time, practice daily, sign up for an online course, and do whatever it takes to get around a Q45 and use your comfort in verbal to prop up your overall score.

Another thing I noticed about our advanced age...our bodies - including our mind - react more extremely to how you treat it. If you eat terribly and do not exercise, you will be sluggish and unmotivated. Treat your body right. Make sure you are eating well and exercise regularly. My best practice test came after a great 1.5 hour olympic weightlifting session. Take care of yourself. A clean body and motivated mind will help both in your study sessions and test. Along those lines - take at least 10 practice exams. Those are great tools to train yourself to be able to take a 4 hour test.

An 800 might be impossible. A 700 will take longer than you think, but it will be easier than you think.

akadiyan · Answer

Well said  jsheppa

Being from the same age group, I can resonate with everything you said.

jaysaccharide 
Play to your strength - This is extremely important.

I took 6 months to reach 40’s in Quants. I am very much aware that i could not score 50/51 in quants and very well know that i have to compensate with my verbal score.

Identify your strong area /weak area and plan accordingly.

All the very best.

Posted from my mobile device

houston1980 · Answer

The admissions committees are aware that standardized tests scores on such tests as GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT usually drop with age. Do not stress too much about your scores. The admissions committees are likely to compare your scores with scores of people with similar ages.

bb · Answer

It is tough and other EMBA applicants will face the same issues so you are not alone. Some of the US programs don’t even require GMAT for the EMBA for that reason - it is frustrating and much harder to deal with quant and Verbal.

Here is a thing, while you study, think of all the benefits the GMAT will give you with your quant skills and your English. You will be a better communicator, reader, and leader. Find the motivations and desire within you to get through. Perhaps something you are doing is not going to work and it is time to change things up. You can figure out a way to turn this into a turnaround story....

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi jaysaccharide,

Since it sounds like you're just beginning your studies, then it would be a good idea to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test; you can take 2 for free at www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). If you want to do a little studying first, so that you can familiarize yourself with the basic content and question types, then that's okay - but you shouldn't wait too long to take that initial CAT. That score will give us a good sense of your natural strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. A FULL CAT takes about 3.5 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have those scores, you should report back here and we can come up with a study plan.

I'd like to know a bit more about your timeline and goals:
1) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
3) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

jaysaccharide · Answer

Thanks for the great advice jsheppa and akadiyan!
I was worried about my weakness in quants but now I shall focus more on strengthening my verbal to get close to my target score.
houston1980 - I want to make sure that I make it past the mean gmat score cut-off that admission committees typically have to filter out the applicants.
bb - It would need some extra-ordinary grit and determination from me to make this into a turn around story

EMPOWERgmatRichC - I will take the test sometime this weekend and report the scores here for your feedback

jaysaccharide · Answer

Okay so I took my first practice test and I scored an abysmal 480 - Q36 V20. Verbal score really surprised me when I thought I did it better than I did quants.
I am planning to take the GMAT in September. Since I have a full time job I think I can spare an hour daily on weekdays and about 6 hours on weekends for GMAT preparation

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi jaysaccharide,

To start, many Test Takers are unhappy with their initial practice scores, but you really shouldn't be. This 480 isn't too bad (the average Score on the Official GMAT hovers around 540-550 most years) and it's just a measure of your skills right now. Over the next several months, you'll work on learning the content and developing the necessary skills to improve. Raising a 480 to a 700+ will likely require at least 3 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

Based on everything that you have described, you would likely find it beneficial to invest in a GMAT Course of some type (either Guided Self-Study or instructor-led), so you should plan to look into the available options. Most GMAT Companies offer some type of free materials (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.) that you can use to 'test out' a product before you buy it. We have a variety of those resources at out site (www.empowergmat.com). I suggest that you take advantage of all of them then choose the one that best matches your personality, timeline and budget.

If you have any additional question, then you can feel free to contact me directly.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

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