From Taking The GMAT To Landing A Place On A Top Master In Finance

Italian native Giorgio Gibilaro’s GMAT journey was far from plain sailing. Yet his determination, passion, and curiosity eventually led to him being accepted at one of the best business schools in Europe. 

As a graduate of Economics and Finance from Bocconi University, he initially wanted to pursue the GMAT to land a place at another top business school in Europe and further his dreams of entering the fast-paced finance world.

Tackling the rigorous GMAT exam not once but twice allowed Giorgio to get the score he wanted and deserved.

We sat down with Giorgio to hear about what it was like to navigate the GMAT and getting into a prestigious Master in Banking and Finance program in Switzerland.

Why did you want to take the GMAT?

I recently completed my bachelor’s degree at Bocconi University and I decided to take the GMAT because I wanted to apply to other schools.

I got 735 in the GMAT exam and I’ve been successfully accepted into the Master in Banking and Finance program at St.Gallen University in Switzerland.

Did you always want to study in Europe?

I explored all the options available but then I decided I wanted to go to this business school in Switzerland for various reasons, including that it’s more convenient than going to the US for example.

I may want to try [studying in] the US by experiencing it through an exchange program rather than going directly to study there.

Tell us about your experience studying for the GMAT

I used the course from Target Test Prep, and I also used all the mock exams provided by GMAT.

It was not a very linear preparation because I first prepared for the previous version of the GMAT [GMAT 10th Edition]. I then discovered that the new GMAT exam was going to come out soon, and so I wanted to give it a try because I wasn't very good at sentence correction and [sentence correction] was removed from the new exam. So, I wanted to try again to get a better score, and it worked.

Learn more about the GMAT in our article ‘GMAT – Everything You Need To Know’    

What value did you get from the GMAT exam compared to the previous version (GMAT 10th Edition)?

Ability is measured better in the new version because, for example, I didn’t see the benefit of sentence correction as it’s not something I would consider valuable to include in the score. Meanwhile, I believe that data insights are important for a candidate to be good at, and in the previous version, they were not scored, whereas now they are both important and included in the scoring.

Other interesting features include the ability to go back to your answers if you finish early, as well as the reduction in the total length of the exam. I think that’s great because it used to last around four hours, which is a very long time to stay focused.

Did the new score report help you?

If you want to retake the exam, for example, it’s very helpful because you know exactly at which moment you lost focus or if you got a streak of wrong answers.

When did you start taking mock exams?

I took one as soon as I decided I wanted to take the GMAT, and I got 690. So, this is why I then wanted to retake the exam when I got 690, because it was the same score I got the first time that I took a GMAT mock exam. I took [mock exams] roughly once every week or every two weeks during my study time to see how I was improving over time.

When did you decide to take the GMAT?

Firstly, the GMAT was required for the majority of programs I was interested in joining. Secondly, I also believed that the GMAT was the better option for business studies, while the GRE seemed more suited for quantitative programs. I think I was already familiar with the GMAT even before I considered applying to school, as it’s a well-known test among business students.

Ready to be inspired by more success stories? Discover how Leo Zhang, an equity analyst with six years in fintech, transformed their GMAT journeys into opportunities for acceptance at Chicago Booth MBA. Read Leo’s story now.