The application to an MBA is made up of different pieces, such as motivational essays, letters of recommendation, personal CV, and of course the GMAT. All applicants are verified, and in the competition to enter a prestigious MBA, only those who best meet the selection criteria will be admitted. These selection criteria are in many cases subjective, and an engineer, a musician, and a waitress are not judged in the same way (and yes, we can find all these profiles in an MBA).
The GMAT is surely the most objective and equal criterion of all, and it also helps to compensate for the weak points of the application such as "not so good" grades in the university. In my opinion, this is the importance of the GMAT: it is egalitarian, objective and allows to measure the academic capacity of the applicant under conditions that will be repeated during the MBA.
I have taken the GMAT twice. The first time, I thought that you couldn't really study much, since the GMAT doesn't measure knowledge but rather skills in math and English. I was wrong. I bought a book and studied what I could on my own trying to balance it with work. I took the GMAT and got a 680, not enough to support my application to the colleges I wanted to go to. I was 100% convinced to try again, and when some friends signed up for Técnicas Lingüísticas Aplicadas (TLA) to prepare for the GMAT, I decided to do everything possible to get the highest grade. So I trusted TLA and followed the course.
TLA teachers made me understand the GMAT. The GMAT measures your performance under stress on simple math and verbal tasks. It is not a difficult exam in terms of its complexity, but if you want to obtain an excellent grade it is essential to automate the method, know how to understand the questions and score high on both parts of the exam. In this TLA helps, and a lot.
After taking the course at TLA and studying hard, I got a 770. I think taking the TLA course was a very good choice, and I recommend it to anyone who wants an excellent GMAT grade.
Marc
GMAT-770
