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.
I was in a similar spot last year, mech engineering background with basically zero stats or finance beyond what I'd accidentally absorbed at work. I ended up doing maybe 20-25 hours total spread across six weeks, just lunch breaks and one weekend morning a session. It wasn't glamorous but it worked. The mem engineering management complete guide helped me understand what the quantitative piece actually covers, which honestly calmed me down a lot because I'd been dreading it.
The stats portion isn't deep, it's more like "did you forget everything from undergrad" than anything PhD-level. If you've got four years of industry behind you the critical thinking parts should feel pretty natural. Give yourself more time on the finance fundamentals if you're rusty there, that's where I had to slow down and actually relearn some basics rather than just skim.
I had the same weak spots going in — stats and finance felt like a different language. What actually helped me wasn't drilling practice problems until I could pattern-match answers, it was forcing myself to understand exactly why each wrong answer was wrong. Like, if a question trips you up on net present value, don't just note the right formula and move on. Figure out what assumption the wrong answer was making and why that reasoning breaks down. It's slower upfront but it sticks way better. The mem engineering management complete guide helped me map out what concepts actually show up so I wasn't studying blind.
With a mechanical background you're probably fine on the quantitative reasoning side, honestly. It's the business and stats vocabulary that catches engineers off guard, not the math itself. Give yourself more time than you think you need on probability and financial statement interpretation. And when you get something wrong on a practice test, sit with it. Don't just check the answer and move on.
Just went through this exact process last cycle — mechanical background, shaky on the quant side, same nerves. The thing that actually moved the needle for me wasn't grinding practice problems, it was understanding what the test is really after. It's not testing whether you can derive a formula, it's testing whether you can reason about a business situation using numbers under time pressure. Once I reframed it that way, the prep felt way more focused. I used the mem engineering management complete guide to get my bearings on what topics actually show up and stopped wasting time on stuff that didn't matter.
For someone with your background, the finance concepts are the gap worth closing first. Not deep CFA-level stuff, just NPV, IRR, basic cash flow logic. You've already got the analytical mindset from engineering, so it clicks faster than you'd think. Give yourself six to eight weeks and you'll be fine.
Honestly I almost didn't finish the prep. I kept looking at the quantitative sections thinking there's no way I can close this gap in time, and I nearly just submitted without taking the assessment at all. But I pushed through it and ended up passing, so here's what I wish someone had told me: it's not as deep as you think it is. They're not testing CFA-level finance or grad stats. It's more like "can you interpret a basic regression output" and "do you understand what NPV means in context." If you've got 4 years of industry behind you, you've probably seen this stuff even if you didn't call it by its textbook name.
The thing that actually helped me was just doing timed practice problems rather than re-reading theory. I wasted the first week reading review materials and barely retained anything. Once I switched to just grinding through problems and checking what I got wrong, it clicked way faster. Give yourself three to four weeks if your stats is genuinely rusty, but don't panic. You don't need to be a quant wizard, you just need to not blank out on the basics.