GMAT Strategy

Hello all,

first of all thank you very much for reading my post and helping me. Following I will describe my situation and plans. I ll try to keep it short:
So far:
I m a non-native (German). I studied for the GMAT for 4 weeks last year and then from mid February until end of March intensively. I took my first test on March 27. and scored 610.

I prepared with:
All MGMAT guides. Went through Math twice. Verbal once. Didn t find latter very good (mistake) and kind of skimmed SC (big mistake).
Magoosh (stopped after half of the questions)
OG (twice) and OG Quant (no verbal)

CATS:
- GMAC 490 15.11
- MGMAT 630 44 32 2.3.
- MGMAT 610 41 33 13.3
- MGMAT 610 38 35 19.3
- MGMAT 650 42 37 21.3
- GMAC 640 47 31 23.3
- MGMAT 650 41 37 25.3
- GMAT 610 47 27 27.3

My weaknesses:
Q: some basics but I got most, data series, number properties, Reminders, hard questions in general
V: weakest link is SC then RC, best is CR. I do not take any notes (I used the MGMAT approach in the beginning but figured it takes me too much time and doesn t help me much ->mistake), with CR I just read the text and answer the questions. i dont really look at the question type (most of the time I can figure by just reading the text or i see boldface etc..)

My goals and Studyplan:

I got a conditional offer for a Master from the LSE. I MUST get 650 by the beginning of September. I ll aim for 700+ though because I want to do an MBA in a couple of years.

My plan:
Take the GMAT around the 20th of June which is in about 10 weeks. If I get below 650 I will retake 1 month later (End of July) because I would like to do an internship in August. If I fail again I cancel the internship and do the test again..
I m still not sure whether I should study 5 hours a day (6d/w) or put even more effort into it (8 or 9 hours?). I don t want a burnout..

CATS:
I would do much less CATs than before (might have had burnout from 5 CATS in last week before exam..)
I only have 1 MGMAT CAT left and would buy the additional 2 OG tests (+ paper tests?)
I often heard to not do any tests from other sources do you agree?

Quant plan:
- 25% of the time I have
- I would redo all concepts fast
- focus on my weaknesses first
- Do hard problems from beatthegmat and gmatclub
- redo all questions that i got wrong so far (kept log)
goal: improve from 47 to 49/50 (realsitic?)
-??

Verbal:
- Redo MGMAT SC Guide very thoroughly
- Constantly study Idiom list
- get a proper concept for RC and CR (any links??)
- Do the OG verbal guide
- review all wrong questions (OG archer)
- get Kaplan verbal?? (hear RC is good?)
- do hundreds of LSAT questions
- do beatthegmat and gmatclub SC questions
- goal improve to 40+ (realistic?)
- ??

Thank you very much and thanks for your help. It means a lot to me.

Best regards

Hi. I recommend you check out my guide to GMAT self-study: GMAT Clarity. The plan you have laid out to improve your score is alright, but not ideal. A greater depth of knowledge on how to self-study and powerful schedules will help you save time and earn a higher score.

Here are some thoughts on your current plan:

5 hours of prep a day is a maximum. 8 or 9 is far too much and has diminishing returns.

5 CATs in the last week before prep was far too much. Again, ideal prep is balanced and allows you to gain the most from the prep. Less is more sometimes.

You have 7 MGMAT CATs left. You can retake each one.

Your Quant goal of a 49/50 is reasonable if you improve the quality of your prep. GMAT Clarity will show you how to do that.

You need to use the OG Verbal book - it is an excellent resource.

Don't switch strategies for verbal. Stick with MGMAT. What you need to do is practice and review more effectively, not learn additional and likely conflicting strategies from Kaplan.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with in your prep.

Thomas
www.gmatclarity.com