Beyond the MBA Hype - An insightful book

Book Review On Beyond the MBA Hype

MBA was the dream of mine. Like the other applicants I too had‘what-if’ queries into my mind. Whether pursuing MBA would really work or it would be just waste my money and also waste my productive life time. So I started searching for the things to know how the things revolve around the person when he is an MBA, when he is at MBA and when he is after MBA. There were very positive and negative answers all around. I also started to discuss at MBA forums. Everything was clear but still there was one question at heart, can I make up the MBA? During my discussion process I had figured out a book named as “Beyond the MBA hype” by Sameer Kamat.

Before I start to review this book, Let me introduced the author Mr. Sameer Kamat. He was working as an engagement manager at IBM. Despite his high designation and high salary, he had a lacking in his mind that was MBA.

There was much confusion in his mind regarding MBA. After research he decided to do MBA and he chose the University of Cambridge. Now he says that his took the right decision. So this book is dedicated to those people who are in the similar dilemma as Sameer was. I have passed the first phase and pursuing my MBA now from IIM lucknow.

This book helps the people to solve up their queries regarding the MBA and achieve their goal. The writer deals with the challenges and confusion that the applicants should able to handle when opting MBA programme. I can say this book is same as a little hand book that we used to have in our primary and secondary school.

Since we already know Mr. Kamat has done his MBA , he talks about challenges. He says that there were many active challenges related  to pursuing an MBA. But some challenges are such that nothing needs to done about it.

This book stats with the introduction and statistics of colleges, student. Then another thing highlighted is comparison between international and Indian MBA. The next chapter talks about a simple question “Why Go for an MBA?” with lovely story of two friends’ sachin and mitu.  How a friend motivates his other friend to pursue a MBA programme. And thus story continues on every new content.

Next content is the application process. This encourages the student to apply for an MBA, deals with how one can build up his MBA profile. The techniques of lectures, case studies, individual projects, group assignments, guest lectures and industry tours are also talked about.

Further comes the skill gap which causes obstruction and the ways to overcome it. Networking is one effective tool in corporate world especially during critical job hunting phase. Internship might help you to get best of best opportunities that might be of your interest from long term career perspective. Lastly book tells about career hunt and career change. In the whole process, the author gives close look of the academic life and also the tremendous issues faced by applicants on pursuing a seat in B-schools.

Really this book has laid out various issues and tells the students what to do and what not to do. I myself was in big dilemma when I had started my hunt for MBA. To conclude, I can say that this book is worth a read and going forward I have decided to share this book with my colleagues/friends who are MBA aspirants so that they can have a better future of their life. So friends grab one copy for yourself, read it and leave your comments below.

GMAC has released the first IR percentile ranking chart

GMAC has released the first IR percentile ranking chart. http://ow.ly/i/IYQL

GMAT SPLIT SCORE - Brief by Jeff Sackmann

Found a nice article on gmat score splits

Source:http://www.gmathacks.com/cat-strategy/what-is-the-ideal-gmat-split-score.html

Your overall GMAT score--the number between 200 and 800--is generated from a combination of Quantitative and Verbal "scaled scores." The Q and V scaled scores technically range from 20 to 60, though scores near either end are not used.

The numbering system isn't what's important. Instead, focus on percentiles. Often, you'll hear people report their scores this way: "90th percentile on Verbal, 70th percentile on Quant." So, how does the GMAT combine those section scores into the overall number?

To understand how it works, recognize two things: It's relatively rare that test-takers have equal skill levels on the two halves, and business schools (and by extension, the GMAT) value balance.

Because most people are better at one section or the other, students who are equal are rewarded. For instance, someone who scores the coveted "80/80 split"--an 80th percentile score on each of the two sections--will have an overall score of about 700: better than the 90th percentile.

Thus, your overall score is not just the average of your two section scores.

Part of the reason the 80/80 split is so highly valued is that is reflects a broad skillset that most applicants don't have. Many students have tremendous Quant skills but struggle with the language, while others with more liberal arts backgrounds excel at the Verbal but are frightened away by math.

This shows up in the overall GMAT score. While a 70/90 split is an excellent score (regardless of which one is which), it is not quite as good as the 80/80. A 60/99 is still solid as well, but the result is worse than that of the 70/90 split.

The ideal split score, then, is an equal one. If your practice test scores are showing a huge gap between the two section percentiles, your overall score will increase more if you are able to improve on your weaker half of the exam.

Disaster Recipe Scores

Veritas:
Scaled Quant:38,Verbal=22
wrong Quant:10,verbal:19
Learnings:
silly mistakes in quants inspite of knowing the concept
sc - could not find error in original sentence still picked another option which is more correct. A is the best in such a case
rc-focus and read

Princeton
GMAT CAT 1 with AWA
Verbal: 31
Math: 44
Total: 610
Wrong
quant:7
verbal:13
Quant - good
do not assume integer unless it is said so
Verbal - had seen some Q previously in forums. overall the score is bad
silly mistakes in CR due to oversight. Read all A properly


Kaplan test CAT : 560
Quant
wrong:14(7 Q oversight error, remaining Q learnt new concepts)
Verbal
Wrong:19(learnt concepts, CR and RC done oversight errors in 5 Q)


MGMAT
TYPE SCORE ESTIMATED PERCENTILE RANK
Quantitative 46 79 %
Verbal 33 69 %
Total 650 84 %

Quant
Oversight - 1(calculation),1(exponents)
error due to hurry : DS 3
Q wrong : 14

verbal
Q wrong : 20

4 out of first 7 questions are wrong. focus more time to get initial Q correct
Quant time was short
verbal time was spare


Kaplan test CAT : 560
26 july 2010
Quant
wrong:11
1,1 oversight error
Verbal
Wrong:17


MGMAT

SCORE & OVERVIEW OF RESULTS
TYPE SCORE ESTIMATED PERCENTILE RANK
Quantitative 41 64 %
Verbal 33 69 %
Total 610 73 %

Quant
Wrong:20

verbal
Q wrong : 19


Kaplan test CAT : 550

All you need to know about the GMAT

Source:http://getahead.rediff.com/report/2010/aug/26/career-al-about-gmat.htm


If you're planning on studying a management course abroad, chances are you will need to take the GMAT. Here's what you need to know about the test...

The GMAT stands for Graduate Management Admission Test. It is administered by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and is primarily a multiple-choice test.

The GMAT is required for admission to most US, Canadian and European management schools and many business schools for MBA programmes globally.

It is a standardised test that most MBA programmes use to assess applicants. The test has three main sections -- verbal, quantitative and analytical writing. The test is only available as a computer adaptive test, meaning the test is taken at a computer terminal and questions vary from test to test depending on the test-taker's correct or incorrect answers.

The test can be given all year round with prior registration and depending on the availability of dates.

Test Pattern
The following table represents GMAT test format:



The test begins with the analytical writing assessment (AWA) section. Students need to type their essay on the computer, using a very basic word processor.

Each question must be answered before you can move on to the next question. Further, you cannot return to a question once you go to the next question. The first question will be of medium difficulty. If you answer it correctly, the next question will be a little harder. If you answer it incorrectly, the next question will be a little easier.

Because the GMAT "adapts" to your performance, early questions are more important than later ones. Along with the regular sections student have to appear for the experimental questions as well.

Experimental questions can be in any section and it is not included in the scores. The experimental questions can be standard math, data sufficiency, reading comprehension, arguments, or sentence correction. You won't know which questions are experimental.

Scoring pattern
The four major parts of the test are scored independently. You will receive:

* Verbal score (0 to 60)
* Math score (0 to 60)
* Total score (200 to 800)
* Analytical writing score (0 to 6)

There is no minimum score that students much achieve. The total score is a scaled combination of the verbal and quantitative scaled scores, and thus reflects a student's overall performance on the multiple-choice sections of the test. The AWA score is independent of and has no impact on the total scaled score.

The value of a GMAT score is determined by the percentile ranking assigned to that score. The percentile ranking expresses the percentage of the test-taking population that receives scores below a particular score.

The GMAT does not penalise you for wrong answers, so never leave any question unanswered. With the computer-adaptive test for GMAT, a student cannot return to a question once it has been attempted, so students should be very sure of their answer before proceeding. It is essential that students pace themselves properly and be very certain of their answers.

Universities require the official score to be sent by students for the admission process. The official scores are sent to five universities that a student needs to select on the day of the exam. If students want to send the scores to more than five universities they need to order for additional scores which costs $28 (Rs 1,300 approx) per university. The universities will receive the scores in 20 calendar days. Students may request for additional scores online.

Exam preparation
There are various reference books and notes available for students to prepare. Generally the time needed for preparing for the GMAT is 2 to 6 months, depending on individual abilities. Practice is essential and there are a number of training institutes that offer mock tests before the exam, by which students can work on areas they are weak in.

Some students retake the exam to try and maximise their scores. In such a case, many business schools may consider the higher score or average of the scores.

Registration
Students can register for the test online at www.mba.com/mba. The other ways for registration are by phone, mail or fax.

Students will incur taxes to schedule an exam in certain countries. The details of the same is given on the site while going through the registration formalities. Students need to locate the nearest testing centre and check for the available time slot for the exam and book the same.

Online registration
If student chooses to schedule a test online, they must sign up as a registered user of the mba.com website. Students should be careful while entering the required basic details like name and birth date; these should be exactly as they appear on the identification they will carry at the time of the test at the test centre.

The current GMAT exam fee is $250 (Rs 11,600 approx) the payments can only be made by credit card or debit card.

Rescheduling
Students need to log in online with their account details to reschedule their exam date. If a student want to reschedule their appointment in a country other than the one in which they have scheduled their original appointment, they have to do it by phone.

There is a $50 fee charged to reschedule the date, time, or location of the test. Students should reschedule the date before seven calendar days or else they will have to pay the full registration fees.

Cancellation
If a student cancels his/her test appointment at least seven full calendar days in advance of the date and time of their test date, they will receive a partial refund of $80 (Rs 3,700 approx).

If they do not cancel their appointment within seven full calendar days of the scheduled test date and time, they will have to forfeit the entire registration fee.