Prep time for the GRE/GMAT

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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Almost, but I know you're (oh wait, "your" is alpha) a poser. A true alpha would have gotten hit on by at least five chics while taking the test. Maybe even gotten a little something under the desk while taking the test.
I also thought about spelling "too" as "to" but thought that might not be alpha. Edit: I feel mildly guilty about poking fun at poor Axle. I've been duped into believing that mental illness exists.

I was going to start a new thread, but I figure most people in this thread will have insight to my question anyways.

I was wondering whether a background in economics is required to pursue a finance degree. Basically I plan on going back to school to get an MBA in finance and my undergrad degree is in Engineering. I pretty much have no background in econ or finance other than high school courses. I was thinking of going to CC to maybe prime myself with some micro/macro econ before going into finance. Thoughts? Any recommendations will help.

In regards to this post, I plan on putting in 3 months of hard studying for GMATs.

Originally Posted by 2balls

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I was going to start a new thread, but I figure most people in this thread will have insight to my question anyways.

I was wondering whether a background in economics is required to pursue a finance degree. Basically I plan on going back to school to get an MBA in finance and my undergrad degree is in Engineering. I pretty much have no background in econ or finance other than high school courses. I was thinking of going to CC to maybe prime myself with some micro/macro econ before going into finance. Thoughts? Any recommendations will help.

In regards to this post, I plan on putting in 3 months of hard studying for GMATs.
In short, no.

I didn't study at all for the GRE, scored a 730V, 670M, 5.5 writing section.

I could have used a bit of review on the geometry and a few algebra things, would have bumped me up 50 points or so. The math was pretty straightforward, nothing that would surprise you if you remember your SAT math or did a decent amount of math through undergrad.

The verbal is ridiculous compared to the SAT. I got an 800 SAT-V and I got to the point on the GRE where I didn't recognize any of the words on the screen, had never even seen them before and couldn't begin to guess what they meant. I have no idea what kind of mutant gets an 800V on the GRE, 730 was already 99th percentile. Not sure studying would really help that much, unless you're trying to get up to a 500 or something.

Most people drop about 50-70 points from their SAT score to the GREs, mostly on the verbal section.

Originally Posted by 2balls

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I was going to start a new thread, but I figure most people in this thread will have insight to my question anyways.

I was wondering whether a background in economics is required to pursue a finance degree. Basically I plan on going back to school to get an MBA in finance and my undergrad degree is in Engineering. I pretty much have no background in econ or finance other than high school courses. I was thinking of going to CC to maybe prime myself with some micro/macro econ before going into finance. Thoughts? Any recommendations will help.

In regards to this post, I plan on putting in 3 months of hard studying for GMATs.

Probably 50% of GMAT takers are engineers. You will do just fine. It's you F***ers that blow the curve for us normal people in classes like fixed income securities and forecasting. Luckily there are things like marketing classes where we can kick your arses

First GMAT: 710
Second GMAT: 760

I spent way too much time on questions the first time around.

Originally Posted by FLMountainMan

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I took the GMAT in 2007 and didn't study. For the GMAT - brush up on geometry formulas and alegbra (FOIL, etc....). Ignore the verbal if your time is limited.

Like Pio, I literally did not miss a question on the verbal part. Granted, I've always tested well and had just finished law school, but the verbal part is still easy. Doing geometry for the first time since high school? A little more difficult.

Pretty much my story as well. Took it in law school. Studied for 1-2 hours a day for 10-12 days (mostly brushing up on math). Missed a couple questions but did very well overall.

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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Probably 50% of GMAT takers are engineers. You will do just fine. It's you F***ers that blow the curve for us normal people in classes like fixed income securities and forecasting. Luckily there are things like marketing classes where we can kick your arses

Probably 50% that take it are Indian IT guys that studied engineering. Seriously, it has to be the largest single pool of applicants. And they tend to score in the 50Q 35V range.

The engineering guys in my program all aced stats and finance, but I don't know how many banged up marketing or MIS. Those classes are soft skill fluff. Soft batch style.

I would say longer than 3 months and you have highly diminished returns (and possible burnout).

I studied 2.5 months and scored gmat 770. Another month of studying would not have increased the score.

I believe GRE has definitions/vocab? If so, I suppose you could argue that more time memorizing vocab could help there, but I have never studied for GRE.

Only took the GRE, did pretty well (650V/790Q/12W). One of my degrees was in math but it honestly didn't help that much. If you're going to look at math stuff, look at geometry, that's where you'll probably be weakest. The quant percentiles are skewed by the science people, 790 was only good for 89% when I took it. 650 V on the other hand was over 90%

Verbal, I guess you could memorize words, but that's going to be a lot of work for not a whole lot of gain. Your call based on how you think you'll do.

I would strongly suggest writing out a sample essay under time limits. You're going to be graded on narrow criteria: state a clear topic sentence in your intro paragraph, write a few paragraphs that have individual topic sentences and directly support your statement, summarize, etc. It doesn't have to be erudite ****.

I think the main advantage of a prep course (besides the high school math review) would be if you're the kind of person who is anxious about tests.

GRE verbal studying should strictly be vocab memorization and some reading comprehension practice (how to get through it v. quickly while gaining gist of passage). To score higher on the math I (the apparent marsupial of SF) would probably need a prep course.

Originally Posted by Gibonius

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I didn't study at all for the GRE, scored a 730V, 670M, 5.5 writing section.

I could have used a bit of review on the geometry and a few algebra things, would have bumped me up 50 points or so. The math was pretty straightforward, nothing that would surprise you if you remember your SAT math or did a decent amount of math through undergrad.

The verbal is ridiculous compared to the SAT. I got an 800 SAT-V and I got to the point on the GRE where I didn't recognize any of the words on the screen, had never even seen them before and couldn't begin to guess what they meant. I have no idea what kind of mutant gets an 800V on the GRE, 730 was already 99th percentile. Not sure studying would really help that much, unless you're trying to get up to a 500 or something.

Most people drop about 50-70 points from their SAT score to the GREs, mostly on the verbal section.

That's because you're not "alpha as ****." Axle not only knew all of the words, but actually introduced several of them into the English lexicon, including the words Chuck and Norris.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. To put it into context, I have about a month to a month and a half to study for the GMAT if I am going to have a good chance of getting into the program I am looking at. I did some light studying for it a few months ago, but didn't think going back to Grad school was a good idea at the time. Things have changed in my life and now I do.

I am most concerned about math. It was never my strongest subject and I have not had many chances to apply it since graduation.

At this point, the best I can do is give it a shot and see what happens. I'll either get the score I need or not. It's a short window, but I can't do anything about that now.

To the guy who said that taking too much time to study can lead to diminishing returns, this is very true. I know a guy who studied for his GRE for over a year and bombed it. Smart guy, but due to the lack of urgency he only studied it casually.

About 2 months for GRE about 8 years back. And this was when they had a *real* Analytical section with the good stuff (e.g. puzzles) and not the analytical writing crap they've got going these days.

If you've a good vocabulary, and a grasp of basic middle/high school math, you don't need more than a month with the new format.

Originally Posted by JMRouse

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Thanks for the feedback, everyone. To put it into context, I have about a month to a month and a half to study for the GMAT if I am going to have a good chance of getting into the program I am looking at. I did some light studying for it a few months ago, but didn't think going back to Grad school was a good idea at the time. Things have changed in my life and now I do.

I am most concerned about math. It was never my strongest subject and I have not had many chances to apply it since graduation.

At this point, the best I can do is give it a shot and see what happens. I'll either get the score I need or not. It's a short window, but I can't do anything about that now.

To the guy who said that taking too much time to study can lead to diminishing returns, this is very true. I know a guy who studied for his GRE for over a year and bombed it. Smart guy, but due to the lack of urgency he only studied it casually.

Are you meeting a March 1 application deadline? It's not really enough time to both study, take the GMAT and do your applications. You should be spending at least a month on your applications alone.

Unless of course, you are applying for a very specific program and you know they don't care about the application (i.e. local, work-sponsored, part-time, all they care about is the GMAT,etc)