Last January I decided to take the GMAT and go for my MBA. I didn't realize just how much I was going to be afraid of taking that damn test after being out of school for so long. The more I looked into executive MBA programs in the Washington, DC area, the more the pressure was on to score over 650. My short list was UVa (Darden), Maryland (Smith), and Georgetown (McDonough).

I would say the fear of bombing the GMAT stops most people from pursuing an MBA. Frankly, people I talked with who had a hard time with the GMAT really just didn't study at all, and if that's the case, ofcourse it's going to seem impossible.

The short story for me was dedicating two months of my life to the exam. In the end, I score 680, which is more than good enough for a top tier executive MBA program.

Here's some quick tips on what worked for me:

Take a prep course

I took a Kaplan course at night, it came with web access to sample exams, very, very good

Only study on the computer

The exam is given on a computer, not a book, you need to get used to looking at the screen and then using the scratch paper.

Study at the public liabrary on the weekend

You need to get used to taking the exam in an open room with other people annoying the shit out of you with their loud breathing and typing. This is best simulated in the 'quite' study room at your local liabrary.

Download the free sample GMAT from GMAC

There are two of them actually, and if you take the Kaplan course, they integrate into the class. They will get you familiar for the crappy text editor used to write your essay. On the version I downloaded, the backspace and copy paste features were totally messed up, which was good to know ahead of time.

After you finish the prep course, take a GMAT every other day for two weeks

You have to live and breath this thing to get the timing right, remember, only 2 minutes are allocated for each question.

I hope that helps some of you out there considering an MBA.