This article explains in detail about GMAT analytical writing preparation books and materials. Lists of a few important books for preparing for analytical writing section in GMAT are listed here which will be helpful to TOEFL aspirants. Read on.

GMAT Analytical Writing Preparation Books & Materials

The Analytical Writing Assessment in GMAT analyzes the essay writing skills of the test taker. Essay writing skills becomes crucial to judge the test taker’s writing and reading skills, research skills, critical thinking skills and most importantly writing under the pressure of time limit. 

In GMAT analytical writing assessment, the essay is written for an issue and argument which requires the candidate to establish facts, clarify significant values, form and state the solutions, prioritize and organize the information with confidence.

Although the above stated requirements of essay writing in GMAT are fulfilled by practicing more, having preparation books and study materials is recommended as it helps in making the preparation process smooth sailing. The following are the recommended books for preparation in analytical writing assessment section in GMAT.

• The Official Guide For GMAT Review, 12th Edition

This book is a must for all GMAT test takers because this is the only book which is being published by Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the test makers of GMAT. This book proves to be more advantageous as it has the questions from the previous real GMAT test papers and will have more number of practice questions and useful tips for analytical writing section too, which will be very helpful. This book also gives some insights on scoring well in every section. 

As the real previous essays are given for practice questions, this book is very useful to know more constructive points on writing essays for this test. 

• Writing Skills for the GRE/GMAT

Although GRE and GMAT are two different tests, the analytical writing assessment is common for both the tests. This book is the bible for writing essays based on issue and argument. It is a very comprehensive and useful book. It provides pointers for planning, organizing and outlining the essays which are very valuable. 

The book also advices on outlining the argument essays by making a list of evidences provided in the essay and analyzing it. For essays on issue, the book provides valuable points on how to use pros and cons techniques in the given essay which also helps in brainstorming by thinking for and against the issue in the topic. There are many techniques stated which helps in organizing ideas. 

This book becomes a foundation stone for the candidates who are not very familiar with essay writing.

• GMAT: Answers to the Real Essay Questions

This book provides the important strategies on scoring in this essay writing section. In this book 150 real questions from the previous GMAT test questions are published. This will bring more clarity to the test takers on what exactly has to be done for preparing well to give an excellent performance in analytical writing assessment. The book also includes additional features about 10 important strategies to score higher in essay writing section and some insider tips on what the graders expect while evaluating the essays. 

This book is very useful for the test takers who are not the natives of English speaking countries. It is also advantageous for candidates who do not know what exactly essay writing is.

It is said that writing is the mirror reflection of our thoughts and presenting our thoughts in an organized way happens only when it is expressed in the form of writing. AN in order to write well you either have to be a natural in it or you have to follow a good guide. The list of books and their reviews given above are authored by experts and will be valuable for test takers who are aiming for higher scores in the analytical writing assessment in GMAT.

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This page highlights the GMAT Strategies for Sentence Correction and Reading Comprehension. Read on to know the information on various strategies that can be implemented for the sentence correction and reading comprehension sections in GMAT.

Strategy for GMAT Sentence Correction and Reading Comprehension

The sentence correction section in GMAT is designed to test your knowledge in English grammar and your ability to recognize the errors even if it is a minor one. The questions will contain sentences among which few are underlined. The underlined ones have errors and you will be give 5 answer choices to find the right answer. 

Strategies for Sentence Correction

• Do not stress more on the answer choice (A)

Most of the time as the choice (A) from the answers list is the rewritten form of the underlined part in the question; it is advised not to think too much about this choice. It doesn’t mean that the choice (A) has to be ignored also.

• Analyze for numerous errors in same question

There is a notion among test takers that if they find one error in the underlined sentence and match it with one of the answer choice given for it, the question is solved. But the fact is that there can also be multiple errors in the sentence. The answer has to be chosen after analyzing all possible errors in the sentence.

• Eliminate the wrong answer choices

This is one of the best strategies for sentence correction questions. Eliminating the wrong answer choices which itself has grammatical errors helps in choosing the right answer with remaining choices.

Note: Do not consider the answer choice which has passive voice in it, even if it is similar to the underlined sentence in question.

• Capitalization and spelling mistakes are not tested

Do not highlight the capitalization or spelling mistakes as the error in the underlined sentence. GMAT does not test these as mistakes in this test.

• Recognize the difference between each answer choices

Make out the differences between each answer choices. It helps you in finding out if the sentence in the answer choice itself gives a different meaning apart from the grammatical errors.

• Read the sentence by inserting the answer of your choice

This is considered as one of the most popular strategy for dealing this section. It helps you in avoiding unwanted mistakes.

• Reading Comprehension Strategies

Reading comprehension section tests your ability to understand and answer the questions from the given passage. This section has 2 to 4 passages and has atleast 400 words in each passage. Each passage has 4 questions. The most common topics for passages for this section are science, social science and business.

• Usage of scrap paper

As the test is now computer adaptive, it is not possible to draw conclusions or important points about long reading comprehension passages on computer screen. Therefore make use of the scrap papers to note down brief points about each paragraphs of the passage.

• Reading the first question at first is important

This helps you a brief idea on what the passage is all about. With this you can focus on reading the parts of passage which helps to answer the question.

• Practice a lot

This section needs more practice as only reading and following tips won’t help completely. Working with a good book which has more practice questions is very useful. 

Implementing right strategies at right time plays a very important role in succeeding the test. So the strategies mentioned above will surely help you.

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The advantage of GMAT is it is flexible to all the groups of people. GMAT registration for test takers with disabilities is a procedure which accommodates disabled candidates to take up the GMAT test, provided they submit the supporting documents.

GMAT Registration For Persons With Disabilities

Digital progress has made MBA, a piece of cake for all management aspirants. As a result there are many a gateways, to enter and come out as an MBA from a business school. GMAT serves as one such gateway, but it is the only one with the broadest spectrum. That is because GMAT exam is applicable for special students i.e. test takers with disabilities too, who also desire to take up the GMAT test.

Flexibility in GMAT Registration for Test Takers with Disabilities

Disabled Students have to follow a different procedure to apply for GMAT. The eligibility criteria’s are designed in such a way that, it is not limited to cover only certain disabilities. Obviously they can make use of the flexibility, provided that they submit the required identification documents, with a detailed documentation about their disabilities.

Why Should A Special Student Document His/Her Disability In Detail?

In the paragraph above, there is a word “detailed documentation” that needs special attention. The impact of this word can be seen in the test centers, which helps special students in getting their confirmation dates along with the proper disability aid like a recorder, an interpreter and so on. These aids are termed as “Testing accommodations”.

Medical Documents

Supporting medical documents are vital to support your disability. It is a must that you should obtain the entire medical documents from an authentic evaluator like a qualified physician. The medical documents should contain a detailed description of the candidates’ disabilities.

The format to document the disabilities is available on PDF online, which should be downloaded by the evaluator before evaluating any student with disability.

Procedure for Registration of GMAT Test Takers with Disabilities

1. Request for Test Accommodation

• Test accommodations should be requested by special students through the ‘Supplements for Test takers with disabilities’ which are available online. Incase if the candidates requires a copy in mail, they should contact GMAT customer service.
• The request of the candidates will be scrutinized to see, if they are eligible to get their test requirements preapproved.
• Preapproval is given depending on the kind of disabilities of the candidates. Preapproval is necessary if you are in need of medical equipments that are not attached to your body. Please go through the details given below that should be given in the request form.

2. Mandatory Details in the Request Form

• The supporting medical documents in detail, serves as a backbone of the request for test accommodations. The following are the details to be documented for requesting test accommodation:
  • Major disability and its impact in restricting your usual life activity.
  • The limitations which might be brought by your impairment in taking up the GMAT test, under standardized conditions.
  • You should also substantiate how the requested test accommodation will suit your impairment.
• Apart from the above details, which should be documented in the request form there are certain disabilities that require preapproval. They are as follow:
  • Physical disabilities
  • Psychiatric disabilities
  • Vision impairment (blind and low vision)
  • Hearing impairment (deaf and hard of hearing)
  • Learning disorder
  • Attention deficit
• Also there are certain physical aids which must be preapproved at the test centers and after preapproval, on the day of the test make sure that the test center you have selected provides those accommodations. The accommodations which require preapproval are as follows:
  • Wheelchair, diabetic equipment, inhalers, eye drops
  • PC font enlarged up to 20 point (Low vision)
  • A reader (for the blind students, who needs someone to read the questions)
  • A person to record your test responses
  • An interpreter for sign language (spoken directions)
  • Trackball mouse
  • 50% or 100% of more additional time
  • Two day test appointment instead of one day appointment
  • Extended rest breaks

• Some physical aids do not require a preapproval. They are namely
  • Eye glasses,
  • Supporting pillow for the injured back or limbs,
  • Insulin pumps,
  • Hearing aids
  • Neck braces

There are minor changes in the accommodations, done at the test centers without an approval like adjustable chair, head phones and an adjustable computer.

There is a quote by Dale Carnegie, that suits well for special students or students with disabilities “Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday”. All that disabled candidates need to do is send the necessary documents along with the registration fee, 6 weeks in advance to their choice of test date to avoid any delays and inconveniences.

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This write up highlights the GMAT Quantitative preparation books and material. Read on further to know the best guides and reference books available for quantitative section in GMAT.

GMAT Quantitative Section Preparation Books and Material

The quantitative section in GMAT is one of the most important sections in the test compared to other sections. Having a distinct knowledge about mathematics is very important if you have to take up GMAT.

In comparison with other tests, finding preparatory material for GMAT quantitative test is much easier as the study materials are available are in bulk and in every form whether it is books, CDs, online material etc. It cannot be denied that this section is the most difficult one to deal with and it has been deliberately made this tough to test your intellectual and problem solving skills in quantitative aspect. Although most of the mathematical questions are simple they are made challenging to bring out the best in you.

You need not be a wizard in mathematics to take up GMAT, only practice is required to improve the skills to solve the quantitative problems. Good quality reference books play an important role in your first step of preparation.

It is strongly recommended to buy two books for preparation. The first should be the official book which has official format and problems to solve and the other should be a guide which has many practice problems for everyday practice. The following are the list of preparation books available for the GMAT quantitative section:

Official Guide For GMAT– Quantitative  Section Review

As the name suggests this is the official guide in which you see the format of the problems which is similar to the test day questions. There are 300 questions in this book which have been chosen from the real GMAT questions from previous tests.

Pros:

• As this is the official guide, the practice tests follow the same test pattern as it is followed in real GMAT tests.
• The practice questions are arranged according to the different levels of difficulty.

Cons:

• This book does not contain all the methods of approaching the problems.
• The questions are of medium and low difficulty. So it may not give a complete picture of higher level difficult questions.

Manhattan GMAT Foundations of GMAT Math

It deals with all the basic mathematical concepts required for GMAT, which helps in building your confidence to solve problems of any mathematical concept in GMAT.

Pros:

• It is well structured.
• It is the best book to brush up the forgotten basic mathematical concepts such as fractions, decimals, powers etc.  
• It contains many additional questions for practice.

Cons:

• It has 400 odd questions which does not contain the test pattern of the real GMAT. It is more of a mathematics text book format.
• The number of pages is almost 300, which is too much, so it is advisable to skip the topics which you are already familiar with. 

Manhattan GMAT Guides

It is recommended to use this guide for practice questions to improve the problem solving skills. This book is available online also in the form of 6 tests.

Pros:

• It strikes a perfect balance between the strategies required for test and also the theoretical explanations required for practice.
• There are different guides for each topic and you can choose the book according to your weakness or requirement for a particular subject.

Cons:

• Although the online versions do have some practical questions, they are not upto the mark and the books do not have any practice questions at all. 

Veritas Prep Guide

This book is very useful as it comes as an overall package for the GMAT aspirants.

Pros:

• It has totally 15 guides and also has a book on introduction for quantitative topics and also a test simulation booklet.
• It has some fresh questions which you may not find in any other books of GMAT also.

Cons:

• The price of this book is very high.

Kaplan GMAT Math Workbook 

It is the supplement to the official guide for GMAT.

Pros:

• It fairly covers all the basic mathematical concepts which are important for GMAT.
• The structure of the book is user friendly and it is structured in a way to cover all the previous learned skills too.

Cons:

• Questions given do not exactly resemble the GMAT questions and is designed for expertise in the subject only.
• Permutation/ Combination, Statistics and Probability are not covered in this book.

Veritas Prep Combinations and Probability

This guide is completely dedicated to the topics Probability and Combinations.

Pros:

• Strategies are good.
• Practice questions are aplenty.

Cons:

• It sometimes crosses the non-GMAT sections also but it is not of a major concern.

Giving yourself a satisfactory time for preparing for the quantitative section, benefits you in greater ways. Therefore practicing with the right study materials becomes a crucial factor.

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This article highlights some useful tips and essential information on on GMAT checklist and test day essentials. It is very important to have a checklist so that all goes well on the test day. Read on to know more about this.

GMAT Checklist and Test Day Essentials

GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) is an aptitude test conducted to provide admission to the promising candidates in universities abroad in the field of management studies. The candidates are tested for their knowledge in verbal, quantitative and analytical writing skills. The score of this test is valid for 5 years.

Knowing the checklist for D-day helps in preparing for it well in advance so that the test can be taken in smooth way for both test takers and administrators. The following is the checklist of the test day essentials for GMAT:

Checklist of Test Day Essentials:

• Identification Documents (any one of these)
  • Passport
  • Government-issued driver’s license
  • Government-issued National/State/Province ID card including an European ID card
  • Military ID card
• Appointment confirmation letter or email received from Pearson VUE

 

Tips For The Test Day

• Do not be too stressed out.

Although it is easier said than done, GMAT test does give worries and stress to its takers, as it is an international level exam. But the stress gives space only for losing confidence rather than building it. Your academic scores and performance are also considered along with the GMAT scores to get admissions to the top B-Schools. So remember, you are still competent even if your scores in GMAT are comparatively low than the high level score scale.

• Have a sound sleep on the night before the test

Do not believe in last minute preparations but studying late-nights. So get some adequate sleep on the night before test so that your performance in test is not affected.

• Comfortable clothing

You cannot be sure if the weather conditions in the test center are hot or cold. So wear comfortable clothing which has layers so that you can remove or add the layers depending on the weather in test centers.

• Attend pre-test computer tutorial 

The test centers provide a minor computer training before the test begins. It is recommended to attend it without rushing without grumbling about the test. This tutorial is quite useful to all test takers.

• Reach test centre well in advance of scheduled time

By reaching the test center ahead the scheduled time, you can familiarize yourself with the facilities available in test canters. It becomes important as you have only 5 minutes break given twice, during the whole 4 hours test, so you cannot waste time by trying to locate for facilities.

• Request for adequate number of scrap papers

The test centers provide as many scrap papers as you want for note taking. It is needed for verbal and quantitative sections so do not feel hesitant to request for scrap papers.

• Inform immediately in case if inadequate working conditions arise

If the keyboard, mouse or monitor of the room in which you take test is not working appropriately inform the authorities immediately. Although such situations are rare as the authorities check the working conditions well in advance, this suggestion will be useful if any such situation arises.

• It is important to pace yourself

It is very important that you increase your working speed as the initial 5 questions take more of your time. Later you have to pace yourself according to the given deadlines for each section.

• Think twice before cancelling the scores

Think well before cancelling the score or quitting the exam. With your previous test practices you can judge your real test day performance so it is not advisable to cancel the score or quit the test without proper analysis of your performance.

Additional Tips:

• Make sure you understand the test format thoroughly.
• Choosing a right test date is very important and it depend on your required preparation time. So it is advisable to take at least 4 weeks for studying before you schedule an appointment with GMAT.
• It is important that you follow the registration process accordingly and it is suggested to visit the test center once after you fix the test day and location. You will have a better idea on travelling and other important factors.
• At the test center on the test day, you will have to provide a valid identification along with the admission ticket and you have to oblige to the rules and regulations of the test. In India, passport is considered as the valid identification proof.
• The authorities will take your photograph, finger print and palm vein pattern digitally before you are allowed to enter the testing room.
• Before you start the exam you will be asked to provide confirmation electronically on the GMAT Nondisclosure Agreement and General Terms of Use statement. If you do not agree to the terms and conditions in it, you will not be allowed to give the test.
• Calculators, pens, pagers, mobile phones, dictionaries, alarms and other electronic devices are not allowed inside the testing room.
• Do not converse with anyone around you inside the testing room.
• The testing authority has the rights to dismiss you from the test if you violate any rules mentioned by them. So be careful about fulfilling the registration and identification needs in a proper manner.

By knowing the essentials for the test day in advance, and following a checklist you will be at ease on test day and you can end the test on a high note.

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GMAT gives you two alternatives to choose the mode of writing the test, which can be either computer based GMAT or paper based GMAT. Read this article to know the differences between computer based GMAT vs. paper based GMAT.

Computer Based GMAT vs. Paper Based GMAT

Nowadays the entrance tests for higher studies are based on two forms, computer based and paper based. GMAT is one of the tests which are conducted for testees who wish to pursue their post graduate management studies abroad. Although computer based tests are more accepted worldwide now, both the forms of tests have their own pros and cons. The test pattern in both the formats remains the same, the scoring pattern differs. The following is the detailed list about the major differences between both the tests:

• Question Paper Pattern

In paper based GMAT the questions are same to all the candidates and only the arrangement of questions are changed. In computer based GMAT, the questions differ from one candidate to another.

• Level of Difficulty in Question

The score of each question remains the same in paper based test. In computer based test, each question has different score assigned to it, ranging from a scale of 1 to 5 which means the more difficult question you answer, the more you can score. The first question will be of medium difficulty. So if you answer this correctly the next question will be more difficult and you can score well provided you give the right answers at each difficulty level.

• Score Card

In computer based test, you will get the score card immediately on completing the test whereas in paper based test you will get the score card via post.

• Question- time Quotient

The number of questions in computer based test is less compared to paper based test. Another advantage is, you can spend more time on solving each question in computer based test compared to paper based test questions.

• Skipping Questions

You cannot skip questions in computer based as you will get the next question only after solving the first question. In paper based test, you can solve any number of questions and you can complete the section which is easier first before the tough ones.

• Answering Pattern

In computer based GMAT, you will answer the first question and then only the second question is displayed but in paper based test you are free to answer any question from any section according to your requirements.

• Accessibility to Previous Questions

In computer based test you need to confirm your given answer before moving on to the next question and you cannot return to the previous questions once you have answered it. In paper based test you cannot have any such restrictions. But make sure you answer to the point in one shot so that you can save the time for other questions also.

• Stress on First Ten Questions

In computer based tests, the first ten questions carries more weightage for scoring well in the test as your performance is tested by these first ten questions. But in paper based test your scores wont vary even if you perform very well for the initial questions.

• Barriers for Note Making

In paper based test you can make a note of all the important points which is required for you to complete your test, but in computer based test you won’t have this option as you cannot make a note on computer screen and though you will get few rough sheets to scribble your important points they will be used more for the quantitative section.

Although the strategies and the scoring pattern differs in both the tests, most of the given questions are similar. So you choose the best option for you depending on your success strategy.

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This article describes the key information on paper based GMAT. Read to know the details on what is offered by GMAT in paper based test.

Paper Based GMAT

When you are aiming for admissions in one of the top B-Schools abroad, especially in English speaking countries such as United States, Canada, Australia etc, GMAT is the test administered to decide the eligibility criteria of the candidates. Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is governed by GMAC and it is the test which is accepted by the leading institutes and universities for programs on management studies.

GMAT is recognized worldwide because it is open to everybody, from students to professionals who are successful in career path and want to pursue management studies to reach higher levels in their profession, everybody is welcome. Besides the GMAT score is valid for 5 years which is value added especially if due to some unpredictable problem you cannot pursue studies immediately. In such cases with the same score you can take up admissions later (i.e. within 5 years of getting the score).

The test is conducted in two formats known as Paper Based Test and Computer Based Test. Although the Computer Based Test is offered in most of the countries, there are few test locations which do not have the computer based test facility and continue to the traditional pencil-paper test, known as Paper Based Test.

The Basic Features of Paper Based GMAT:

• The test is conducted 2-4 times in a year.
• The question paper for each candidate is same, only the questions arrangement differs from one paper to another.
• The score sheet is sent by post to the candidate.
• The test is structured into 3 sections which tests the candidate’s skills which are important for the individual in the longer run both in academics and career. The sections are:
  • Quantitative Section (75 minutes)
  • Verbal Section (75 minutes)
  • Analytical Writing Assessment (60 minutes)

The Mode of Payment Accepted for Registration:

• Credit Card
• Cashier’s Check (Mailed forms only)
• Money Order (Mailed forms only)
• Personal Check (Mailed forms only)

The Identification Documents Required for Proof are:

• Driver’s License issued by Government
• I.D cards issued by Government
• Passport
• Military Card

The Registration Process and Fees:

The fee for GMAT test is US $250. The registration process can be completed by any of the following means:

• Online

You can schedule an appointment for GMAT by registering online though the official website.

• Mail and Fax

Download the application form of the test from the official website, fill the needed details and enclosing the mode of payment is very important. Mail the payment details and application form to the address mentioned in the official website of GMAT.

• Phone

You are required to have a valid debit/credit card to register via phone. The phone numbers are mentioned in the GMAT official website and make sure you call for registration process at least three working days before the chosen test date.

The Advantages of Paper Based GMAT:

• The score for each question in Paper Based GMAT remains the same and does not change according to the level of the difficulty in question as in Computer Based GMAT.
• Unlike Computer Based GMAT where answering next question is not allowed until the previous question is answered, skipping difficult questions is possible in Paper Based GMAT.
• Note making is the advantage open only for Paper Based GMAT test takers. Note making is important to scribble few important points and formulae to solve the test paper.

Paper Based GMAT is a boon to candidates residing in locations where Computer Based Test is not available. So make the best use of it.

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