[показать]Since I'm planning to go for MBA after I get my Bachelor's degree, I've decided that it is never too early to start preparing for GMAT and that now is as good time to begin as ever. Of course, there is plenty of time left ( 5-7 years to be exact); but I aim pretty high as far as the business program I choose is concerned; so in addition to perfect GPA, a few great references, and some good work experience, I'll need a very high test scores to even be considered.

Although GMAT is somewhat similar to SAT, which I took, in its content, this test is more advanced; and since people who take it have already had chance to prove themselves both academically and professionally, the competition for the highest percentile is more intense. I took SAT two years ago - at the moment I have been in the US for a year - and did pretty well. Out of 800 points for each of three sections, I got 710 in Math section, which was the 95th percentile; 650 in Writing section, which was the 90th percentile; and only 630 in Critical reading, which was the 85th percentile. Taking these scores into consideration, it can easily be concluded that, at the moment, English was my weakest point.

For the past two years, I haven't been doing anything to improve my English: I haven't been trying to memorize new vocabulary, revise grammar, or punctuation. The only thing that I have been doing was reading a lot, both for pleasure and school. Since I'm not ready to take GMAT assessment test because I've managed to completely forget most of Math topics that I revised for SAT, and GMAT, as I understand, is more difficult to grade correctly, yesterday I've decided to do official SAT practice test, which can be taken on collegeboard website and is automatically scored by the system in just 30 seconds, in order to see how far I've come.

Even though these scores are not very relevant for me right now, I believe that they are a good indicator of certain improvement of my understanding of written English and of my active vocabulary. Long story short, in Critical reading section, which was the only one I did, I've raised my score by 90 points, which would have put me to the 97th percentile two years ago. So moral of this fable is as follows: if one comes to the US to improve his/her English, like many au-pairs do, or just tries to learn language at home, do read a lot; it is much more fun than trying to memorize lists of words or a grammar book from cover to cover.

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