Full-time MBAGMAT prep experience: Hugo Packard

Q: What methods of study did you use to preparefor the GMAT? How were your days structured?

I spent a few weekends in a row working throughthe Official GMAT Guide Book and preparingdetailed notes, which basically meant starting atpage one and working right through to the very lastpage. Whenever I came across a problem I didn’tknow the answer to I added it to my notes andonce that was done, I went right back to thebeginning and just focused on those questions.

I also downloaded an app onto my iPhone calledGMAT Toolkit. At first it really freaked me outbecause all the practice questions on there arereally hard, but I used to take a look at that on thebus each morning and it ended up being reallyhelpful.

I had to be systematic about making sure that Iunderstood the basic maths – I think I worked outthat I did about 1500 practice questions in theend, which isn’t a ridiculous amount when youspread that over 8 weeks and each of thosequestions should take 2 minutes to answer, so itprobably works out to 4-5 hours a week. That’smanageable in the context of doing a job at thesame time.

Q: What advice do you have for a potential studentwho is reluctant to take the test?

I saw the GMAT as a means to an end. I wanted togo to business school and part of that required meto take the GMAT.

Sit down and try the test, ignore the hype you readon the internet, and try to solve a few problemsand if it feels like the sort of thing that you don’twant to do then business school might not be thebest route to take.

I sat down last night working on my corporatefinance problem set and it’s not dissimilar. It’sapplying formulas and structured thinking to solvequestions.

Q: Can you see any benefits to doing the GMAT nowthat you’re a student?

Obviously the main benefit is that it got me into agood MBA programme. It looks good on your CV ifyou get a good score, certainly for some careerssuch as consulting; they really like a good GMAT.

It does get you back into that vein of doing work inthe evening and learning again, especially if youhaven’t studied for a long time.

Name: Hugo Packard Class: Full-time MBANationality: BritishPre-MBA role: Requirements and Business Relationship

Manager Pre-MBA company: Ministry of Defence

Hugo Packard decided to undertake an MBA at London BusinessSchool as a means of facilitating a career change. After studyingFrench and Italian at University, Hugo spent a total of seven yearsworking in the defence/national security sector. Hugo hopes towork in strategy consulting upon graduation.

A lot of what business school is teaching you isabout being able to make sense of information in astructured way and that is exactly what the GMATis testing. It gives you a certain amount ofinformation, whether it’s verbal or quant and asksyou to draw some conclusions from it.

Q: Do you need very advanced math skills to get ahigh score?

No. I don’t have very advanced maths skills and Imanaged to get quite a high score. If you’re thekind of person who just isn’t comfortable withnumbers you will just need to prepare more on thequant side, but it’s nothing you haven’t seenbefore.

Q: What practical advice do you have about theactual exam?

I deliberately organised my test on a Mondaybecause I wanted to be well rested over theweekend. I did one practice test on the Saturdayand then one on the Sunday. I didn’t see the pointin doing them half way through my prep because Iused them to boost my confidence just before theexam.

Always double check your data sufficiencyanswers, I found them to be the hardest questionson the test. It’s so easy to miss something. Onefifth of the questions are on data sufficiency, but itwas those questions that I found were the easiestto make a mistake on because they are muchmore precise.

Another tip, really understand the properties of 1, 0and -1. So many of the questions are built aroundthe 1, 0 and -1, i.e. is 1 prime or is 1 not prime, is0 odd or even, just random little things you wouldnever really think about but make a big differencein quite a lot of the questions. The maths questionsare built on basic principles rather thancomplicated calculations, a lot of the questionsdon’t bother with bigger numbers because you cantest the basic principles on those numbers.

Getting into a routine with the practice questions iswhat can take you from a 600 to a 700.

Q: What impact did getting a good GMAT scorehave on the rest of your application?

It really gave me a lot of confidence in my broaderapplication for business school. I was coming froma non-conventional business school backgroundand worked in the public sector in a role that wasabout analysing verbal information. I wasn’t thatconfident about whether the school was right forme.

Getting a good GMAT score really made me think Iwas right for the school and vice versa. I felt that Ishould back myself when it came to the applicationand interview. This GMAT score tells me that I’m acredible candidate, whatever else.