18 To register by mail, download the International Test Scheduling Form from www.mba.com/mba/ TaketheGMAT/Tools/InternationalTestSchedulingForm.htm (or call 800-GMAT-NOW to request this form) and return it with your payment to the RRC for your testing center. To register by fax, send your completed International Test Scheduling Form and your credit card infor- mation to the fax number for your testing center RRC. Mobile centers are temporary and offer the GMAT CAT on a limited schedule. You can register for the test at a mobile center by mail, phone, or fax. Follow the instructions provided for permanent centers. Supplementary centers offer the paper-based GMAT exam only once or twice each year. To register for the test at one of these sites, you must complete a Supplementary Test Center Preregistration Form and send it (via fax or mail) to the ETS by the appropriate deadline. You can download this form at www.mba.com/ mba/TaketheGMAT/Tools/SupplementaryTestCenterPreregistrationForm.htm or request it from 800-GMAT- NOW. This form reserves you a place at the testing center for the exam. Do not include payment with this form. After the ETS receives your request, you will receive a packet of information with details about the testing cen- ter location and information about the paper-based exam. Nonstandard Testing Accommodations Test takers with disabilities can arrange for several nonstandard testing accommodations for the exam. These accommodations include the following: ■ extended (but not unlimited) testing time ■ additional breaks during exam sections and/or extended breaks between sections ■ adjusted background and foreground colors (for CAT only) ■ a recorder or writer of answers ■ a sign language interpreter for spoken directions ■ audio cassette, Braille, or large-print GMAT formats Follow the Rules A considerable portion of this section has been dedicated to rules. This is because GMAT testing center reg- ulations must be followed very carefully. If you violate any regulations during the exam, you may be dismissed by the test administrator, and your violation will be reported to the ETS. Consequences may include the can- cellation of your test scores and forfeiture of your testing fee. If your violation is serious enough—for example, if you attempt to use testing aids or remove test questions from the testing room—you could even be barred from future exams. 19 Test takers may also request a Kensington ® Trackball mouse, a HeadMaster Plus ™ mouse, an Intellikeys ® key- board, or ZoomText ® . If you request an alternate format GMAT exam, you will receive special instructions for your non-CAT version of the test. To register for nonstandard testing accommodations, you must obtain the GMAT Supplement for Test Takers with Disabilities form and follow the instructions for registration in that bulletin. You can download the form from www.mba.com or request a copy from: E-mail: gmat@ets.org Phone: 609-771-7780 Fax: 609-771-7165 TTY: 609-771-7714 Mail: GMAT Disability Service Educational Testing Services P.O. Box 6054 Princeton, NJ 08541 Rescheduling or Relocating Your GMAT Appointment You may need to reschedule your GMAT appointment date, time, or testing center location for many reasons. You can reschedule by phone or online at www.mba.com (see page 15 for details).You must reschedule at least seven days before your appointment date or else your testing fee will be forfeited. The rescheduled date must also be within a year of the original scheduled exam. The GMAC charges a $40 fee for rescheduling. This fee is paid at the time of rescheduling, so you must have a credit card ready when you call or go online. Canceling Your GMAT Appointment If you want to cancel your GMAT appointment and do so within seven days of your scheduled exam, you will receive a partial refund of $80. If you cancel any time closer to the test date, you will not be refunded any por- tion of your testing fee. You can cancel by phone or online at www.mba.com. GMAT Information Bulletin The GMAC offers a print version of most of the GMAT information available on its website at www.mba.com. You can download this bulletin at www.mba.com/mba/TaketheGMAT/Tools/GMATBulletin2002.htm or call 800- GMAT-NOW to request the brochure. GMAT Fees GMAT $200 Rescheduling exam $40 Canceling exam $80 refund Additional school report $25 per school 20 Paying for the GMAT Exam The GMAC charges $200 for the GMAT. Payment is due in full at registration; partial payments are not accepted. In the United States, payment may be made by cash,* check, credit card, or money order (checks must be drawn on funds from a U.S. bank). In Canada, cash payments are not accepted; registrants must pay by credit card, check, money order, bank drafts, money orders, or UNESCO coupons. Please note that appointments are automatically cancelled if your credit card is declined. Checks should be made payable to ETS-GMAT; they may not be postdated. That should do it for administrative matters. Now it is time to review study skills and create a study plan so that you can maximize your GMAT preparation time. *Cash payments may be made in U.S., Canadaian, Australian, Hong Kong, New Zealand, or Singapore dollars. British pounds, Danish and Norwegian kroners, euros, Japanese yen, Swiss francs, and Swedish krona are also accepted. Thomas Edison said, “Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.” Here is our take on that: “GMAT® exam success is 1% inspiration, 99% preparation.” As with so many other things in life, the more prepared you are, the more you are likely to succeed. Whether that preparation involves practicing skills, researching informa- tion, memorizing lines, or developing a presentation, you make success possible by doing whatever you can to be ready for the situation. Where Do I Start? Chances are you already have a crowded to-do list, and you may be wondering how you will fit in the time you need to prepare for the GMAT exam. You have a life outside your plans for business school that may include work and family obligations, and you may already be in school, so you don’t have an unlimited amount of time to prepare. The key is to maximize the study time you do have. CHAPTER Study Skills 2 21 To study means “to give one’s attention to learning a subject; to look at with careful attention.” Notice that the word attention comes up twice in this definition. How you study is as important as how much time you spend studying. To study effectively, you need to focus all your attention on the material, so the prepa- ration time you do have must be quality time. This section of the book will help you determine the study strategies that are right for you. It also will provide you with techniques for overcoming the two most com- mon roadblocks to successful studying: anxiety and distraction. Visualize Your Future If you are ready to prepare for the GMAT exam, you have probably already researched several business schools and selected the programs that interest you most. Perhaps you are attracted to a particular program because it offers a unique course program or concentration, or you are impressed with the work of certain faculty members and would like to study with them. Maybe you know the reputations of particular programs and want the career opportunities they can offer. You may desire to go to a school close to where you live or to one that offers weekend or online courses. If you have not investigated your options, now is the time to do so. You can search online for informa- tion, contact schools directly, and ask reference librarians to help you search. Keep an open mind — at this stage, it cannot hurt to explore any program that piques your interest. One excellent business school resource is GMAC’s MBA Pathfinder™, a program that helps you objectively compare programs and consider impor- tant factors such as elective course work and faculty teaching styles. You can search business schools through Pathfinder at www.mba.com. As you narrow your options to one or a few schools, you will want to learn as much about the partic- ular program(s) as you possibly can. Perform Internet searches for all faculty members to learn more about their particular areas of interest. Skim through whatever course syllabi, student projects, and graduate stu- dent resources the program has posted online so you can compare your top choices and have an edge when you submit application materials and go in for interviews. If at all possible, visit the campuses of your top two or three choices. In addition to helping you choose wisely, the information you gather on a visit is valuable input to help you form a visual image of yourself in business school. Visualization is a powerful tool that motivates you to make your dreams a reality. Once you know where you want to be, spend a little time envisioning yourself there. What are you doing? Giving a presentation? Engaging in a conversation with an admired professor? Listening to an inspired lec- ture? Go over your vision, keep it in your mind, and use it to reinforce your resolution to study. Sticking to a study plan can be a real challenge. You would often rather be doing other things, and unforeseen obstacles may present themselves. You may be overwhelmed at times with the size of the task, or you may be anxious about your chances for success. These are all common problems. This book will show you how you can over- come them. – STUDY SKILLS– 22 The actor and comedian Jim Carrey is reported to have written himself a check for a million dollars when he was still struggling and broke. He carried that check in his wallet for years. Whenever he felt discouraged, he would take out the check and look at it. He visualized receiving a million-dollar check for his work one day. Car- rey made that million-dollar paycheck part of his reality, and reality added a few extra zeros for him. A Reality Check 23 I Need a Plan You already know a great deal about studying. You could not have gotten this far, to the doorstep of business school, without effective study skills. The following pages will help you fine-tune your study methods so that you can make the most efficient use of your time. The key to success in this endeavor, as in so many, is to take things one step at a time. Break this giant task down into manageable pieces. Your first step in successful studying is to create a study plan. What Should I Study? First, you must decide what you need to study. You may want to start with the pretests at the beginning of Parts II, III, and IV to help you assess your strengths and weaknesses. Make a list of each type of question and how well you scored on it, and analyze your list. What kinds of questions did you miss? What patterns do you see? Do you need to work on sentence correction questions? Word problems or data sufficiency? Do critical reasoning questions throw you for a loop? In your practice analytical essays, did you organize your thoughts well and convey them clearly? Did you take a clear position on the issue and effectively analyze the argument? It can be difficult to judge your own writing accurately so get feedback from someone whose opinions you trust and respect so you can better identify your writing strengths and weaknesses. Most importantly, do not forget to give yourself credit for the questions you answered correctly. Once you are aware of what you know and what you still need to work on, you can effectively priori- tize whatever study time you have available. Remember, no matter how you scored on the pretests and no mat- ter what your weaknesses are, you will get better with practice. The more you study and the more effectively you work, the higher you will score on the actual exam. How Do I Find the Time to Study? Now is the time to create a realistic study schedule. You might be thinking that your life is too full without cramming in study time, too. But maybe you have more time available than you think. Think about your typ- ical daily and weekly activities and determine when you have free time to devote to studying. Do not forget the short stretches — the 10 minutes here, the 15 minutes there. Sometimes you can do your best studying in short bursts. If you cannot seem to find the time, ask yourself what is more important to you in the long run than achieving your goals. Your life may seem quite full, but you are bound to spend some time at less pro- ductive activities, such as watching television. You could use this time to help make your dreams a reality. . download the form from www.mba.com or request a copy from: E-mail: gmat@ ets.org Phone: 609 -77 1 -77 80 Fax: 609 -77 1 -71 65 TTY: 609 -77 1 -77 14 Mail: GMAT Disability Service Educational Testing Services P.O at www.mba.com/mba/TaketheGMAT/Tools/GMATBulletin2002.htm or call 800- GMAT- NOW to request the brochure. GMAT Fees GMAT $200 Rescheduling exam $40 Canceling exam $80 refund Additional school report. www.mba.com/ mba/TaketheGMAT/Tools/SupplementaryTestCenterPreregistrationForm.htm or request it from 800 -GMAT- NOW. This form reserves you a place at the testing center for the exam. Do not include