Ask the Test Maker

Hi Guys, how are you doing? I'm from Brazil and I'm 24. In the last 2 years I have developed a great desire to attend a MBA Program abroad, so since March of 2015, I've been studying for GMAT and I intend to take the test in December of this year. As all of you are masters in GMAT and have a lot of experiences of it, I'd like to share with you my study methods and ask your opinions about it: I got the brand new OG 2015 and the Manhattan Gmat compilation books. Everyday I study from 2 to 3 hours (at least 10 hours a week) the chapters of the Manhattan (in order) and try to solve the correspondent drills from the OG. My questions are: are these books a sufficient source for study or should I purchase/pay for another course? Is this a good method to prepare for the test? Do you guys have any suggestion in order to improve my study method? Sorry to bother you guys with this post. Thanks in advance.

Have you taken any practice tests yet? If not, it sounds as if it's about time you did.

By taking practice CATs you get a few thing including practice in handling the timing of the test, a sense of what the test with its computer adaptive format is like and what it takes to rock it, and a sense of what you need to get better at in order to hit your score goal.

The best, most accurate practice tests are the GMAT Prep tests, followed by the PowerPrep tests, and then some better test prep company tests, including those from Veritas and Manhattan Prep.

For your first practice test you are probably best off using one of the four GMAT Prep tests.

Other than that, your program seems pretty good if possibly a little book heavy. The GMAT is not really a test of knowledge. It's more a reasoning game that you win by using math and English concepts as just part of what it takes to hack your way right answers. So be sure to go beyond learning the concepts and certain strategies to really learning how to play the game. That might take finding and using a good question bank, which would have more questions for you to work on and which would provide a way for you to get used to working from a screen, though the online side of the OG provides that too I guess.

Of course what you need to do depends on the spread between your score goal and your most recent practice test scores, and that takes us back to the subject of practice tests.

So maybe you could tell us whether you have taken any practice tests and if so what your scores have been.

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Thank you very much Marty and David.

Marty, so what you're saying is that the best preparation is to take CATs? Do you think that studying all of the books I got is a waste of time? Actually, I never take a GMAT CAT. You really opened my mind. I was planning to start to take CATs after conclude all the 10 Manhattan Books, but it seems I'm wrong, right?


My initial goal is to get 650. I'll share with you guys my first score. Thanks again!!!

My advice: don't wait until you've worked through all the books before you start taking practice exams. First, it will take several tests to master the timing of the exam. Second, there is a benefit to having to deal with problems that you don't know how to solve formally yet. On test day, you will, at times, need to be creative and try alternative approaches, so the more practice you get with these situations, the better.

luigi.roza wrote:Marty, so what you're saying is that the best preparation is to take CATs? Do you think that studying all of the books I got is a waste of time? Actually, I never take a GMAT CAT. You really opened my mind. I was planning to start to take CATs after conclude all the 10 Manhattan Books, but it seems I'm wrong, right?


My initial goal is to get 650. I'll share with you guys my first score. Thanks again!!!

I am not at all saying that learning from books is a waste of time. I am saying something else.

For one thing I am saying to be careful that you don't make the mistake of thinking that the GMAT is a test like a history test or a normal math test that tests your knowledge of something that is in a book. The GMAT is a test of your skill in using logic, reasoning, vision and available resources to get to answers. So while what's in the books is useful, just be careful to make sure that you are not just expecting to somehow see questions that somehow merely require you to do something along the lines of just repeating what you have read. You need to really be developing skills.

So with that in mind, I am suggesting you take CATs not just at the end of your preparation, but all along, starting soon. By doing this you can get a sense what the test is like, assess your skill level, see what you need to work on, and get some practice in handling the test, something which is a skill itself.

Thank you for your answer Marty. Just another question: some people are saying to me that studying during an entire year in order to take the GMAT Test is a long period of time. Do you agree? However, there is a lot of concepts of math that I don't use since high school, so I need to remember and practice them again, that's why I'm making a long-run study plan. What do you think? Thanks again for your time!!!

Thank you for your answer Marty. Just another question: some people are saying to me that studying during an entire year in order to take the GMAT Test is a long period of time. Do you agree? However, there is a lot of concepts of math that I don't use since high school, so I need to remember and practice them again, that's why I'm making a long-run study plan. What do you think? Thanks again for your time!!!

Yeah, a year is an awfully long time to budget. The gap between your first practice test score and your goal score should inform the duration of your study plan. Have you taken a practice test yet?

As David said, let's see what your practice test scores look like.

Meanwhile, hey if it takes a year, it takes a year. If you get to your goal in a shorter time period even better.

A year is a pretty long time, but in a way it's great that you have given yourself so much time. I have seen people wish they had more time, or take longer than they thought they would. Then sometimes they have to start pushing everything back, maybe applying in rounds later than the ones they really wanted to apply in.

One thing to be careful of though is letting having all that time make you complacent. That's another thing people do, sometimes endlessly putting off preparing or letting themselves get distracted from really get down to it.

Hey Marty and David, I've finally finished my first CAT test. I got 500. I know that is an awful result. So, what do you think? I need to reach a 650 at least.

That's not SUCH an awful result.

You need to do some work to score 650+ though.

Now you have a better reference point and some clues as to what you need to learn to hit your score goal.

What is the section score breakdown?

500 is a perfectly reasonable starting point. The most common scenario a tutor encounters, in my experience, is a test-taker looking to go from the 500's to the 700's. As Marty said, it will take some work, but there is absolutely no reason to be discouraged. Break the test down, make notes about where you struggled and what strategies you could have deployed to improve, then get started crafting a study plan.

Keep us posted...

Marty, the section score breakdown is: Q33 and V25

Thank you all for the tips and help!

Sure thing. Now keep putting more points on the board and drive that score upward.

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Guys, serching in the web I found some suggestion about how to learn more Verbal. Have you ever heard about the e-gmat.com? It seems that this website is dedicated to Non-Natives students (that's my case). What do you think?