Beat The GMAT a GMAT & MBA community

Hi aaisola!

Believe me, I know how daunting our physical materials can be (I think our full set is up to 30+ pounds by now)!! There are as many different ways to approach this stuff as there are different GMAT test-takers so it will definitely depend on your review of your CAT. If you want to PM me your (real) name, I would be happy to take a quick look at your first CAT for you and give you a bit of tailored advice, but let me give you some general suggestions up front!

(1) Review Your CAT:
- You are looking for the biggest holes here. Is math the big need or is Verbal? Within these areas, what are the big content or question type holes. You want to address the biggest issues FIRST.

(2) Work on 1 quant chapter (pick the book that covers your biggest issue and do chapter 1 PLUS the EVEN InAction problems for that chapter - they are at the end of each chapter, I like to save the ODD problems to use as review later in the day or later in my study). Check the clock before you start and then again when you have completely finished reading the reviewing (if you need a break, note that and stop your timer). The idea is that you want to get a feel for about how long it takes you to work on a Quant chapter.
**Do the same for a SC/CR/RC chapter - we're trying to figure out, does it take you 2 hours to do a chapter+ questions, 4 hours, do you need to leave room for several breaks, etc.
**You DON'T want to keep pushing when you need a break, TAKE BREAKS and no matter what, take a break every 1.5-2.0 hours (of at least 20+ minutes).

(3) Get your calendar out and begin scheduling. This might be a sample schedule:

WORK DAYS - The plan is to do heavier work early in the morning before work or in the evening after work (assuming you work a typical 9-5 job). You will then Try to build in a couple of short study breaks of 15-20 minutes throughout the day (during a lunch break and right after work).
6:45-7:15am -> AM Study (30-45 minutes - read, review, practice sets, short chapters, 2 InAction problems from the chapter you read the night before, etc.)
(get ready/go to work)

12:00-12:15pm -> Mid Day Review/Short Set (1-2 problems)
(go take the rest of your lunch break)

6:00-6:15pm -> Practice Problems, Review/Short set right after work.
(have dinner, relax, spend time with friends/family)

8:15-9:45pm -> Do Longer projects (read a chapter, etc)
**Only do this "Long" session on 4 out of 5 work days - give yourself a night off!


WEEKEND (Non-work day): These are your days to have a few longer study sessions spaced out throughout the day.

7:30-8:30am -> Good morning Sprint - work on several exercises during this period - maybe divie it between quant drills and then some verbal practice (RC passage or a handful of SC/CR questions)
(now go enjoy your morning, shower, breakfast, coffee, exercise, socialize, etc for about 2-3 hours)

11:00am - 1:00pm -> Lunchtime Power Study - work on a long project here (read longer chapters, work on a practice CAT, do a long timed set of 20-30 - quant or verbal, etc.) This is going to be your BIG study session of the day so enjoy it!
(now go off and have a lovely and restful afternoon - pat yourself on the back, you've done a LOT of work this week!!)

5:30-6:15pm ->[ Pre-Dinner Drills - work on anything you read about that morning/afternoon, review questions you did earlier in the week, etc. You'll be amazed what you can fit into 45 minutes, but the time will just FLY by!!
(now the night is all yours, go out and have a good time with friends, family, pets or a good book!)

10:00-10:20pm BedTime Review - pick 1-2 InAction problems from the chapter you worked on earlier that day, or from a section that you know you need to keep reviewing)

*******
So this is a pretty manageable schedule and NOT something that will take over your life (make sure to give yourself plenty of down time and make sure that you're really trying to enjoy the time you have off (don't just surf the internet, get out from your desk, get out from in front of the TV, and go live life!!).

If you do this every day and take off 1 weeknight each week, you will be building in approximately 17 hours of study time each week!! And more importantly, you will be studying in small packets of time (better for understanding and stamina), reviewing material repeatedly throughout the day/week (infinitely better for retention and later application), and NOT GETTING BURNED OUT!!

It is only 6 weeks - you CAN commit to this for 6 weeks!! Grab the calendar, write down your dedicated study times and then start jotting down ideas for what you want to work on in each time period (plan this for about 3-4 days out and then re-evaluate and continue scheduling about 3-4 days out!

Good Luck!!

Whit

_________________
Whitney Garner
GMAT Instructor & Instructor Developer
Manhattan Prep

Contributor to Beat The GMAT!

Math is a lot like love - a simple idea that can easily get complicated