I'm applying to three MEM programs this fall and a couple of them require or recommend a quantitative assessment as part of admissions. I've got a mechanical engineering background, 4 years of industry experience, but my stats and finance knowledge is honestly weak. Not sure how much time to budget for prep.
From what I can gather talking to current students, the quantitative sections lean heavily on probability, data interpretation, and some financial modeling basics. One guy told me he spent 6 weeks on Khan Academy finance and it made a huge difference. Another said the verbal reasoning section was the surprise — she spent 80% of her time on quant and almost failed the verbal.
Does anyone know if the scoring is percentile-based or pass/fail for admissions? I'm trying to figure out if a 70th percentile score is competitive or if programs expect 85th+ before they'll even look at your application seriously.
Also curious whether anyone here has done both the GRE and a program-specific MEM assessment. Are they testing similar material or is the MEM assessment more applied and practical in nature?
6 weeks is a reasonable prep window if you're working full time. I'd split it 60% quant, 40% verbal and you'll be in decent shape for most programs.
It varies a lot by program. Duke and Northwestern treat it more like a threshold — hit a baseline and they look at the rest of your application. Johns Hopkins seemed more percentile-sensitive based on what I heard from admitted students last cycle.
The financial modeling basics question is real. I had one program ask about NPV and IRR in their supplemental assessment and I had no idea what I was looking at. A 2-week crash course on corporate finance before any MEM application wouldn't hurt anyone.
I did the GRE for my MEM app and scored 162Q/155V. Got into two programs, rejected from one. Honestly I think the statement of purpose and work experience mattered more than test scores for the schools I got into.
If your quant background is engineering, you're probably fine on math. Focus prep time on verbal and analytical writing instead.