GMAT Strategy

Dear Friends,

I have just started my preparation for GMAT and planning to give my exam after 3 months of study. I have bought the preparation material from Veritas prep and working through that but seeing the online forums I believe that I need to read other books also for my preparation. But seeing different lists of books on different Forums I have really got confused.
Could someone please help and let me know how can I prepare for my exam. What other books shall I read apart from completing the Veritas Preparation course.

I would really appreciate any help.

Thanks in advance!!!

Thanks Rich!!

I will move on with my books and would come back on how I go ahead with my preparation.

Hey Nishaant,

I would NOT suggest just moving chronologically through materials. I would set a Study Plan that includes 1 practice CAT a week, a solid review strategy of all incorrect questions using an Error Log, and then BASED on the Error Log, selecting a maximum of 5-6 concepts to focus on PER WEEK.

In addition, I would practice a strategic approach for EVERY major question-type (CR, SC, RC, PS, and DS) and practice them untimed on OG questions until you're confident they will yield a high accuracy for you.

The key to GMAT success is:

-content mastery -- knowing what is ON the exam -- I'd start with MGMAT SC and MGMAT NP to build a solid backbone

-pacing flexibility -- do pacing drills with practice questions during the week so you're working under timed conditions to condition yourself in shorter bursts; use benchmarks for all CATs, get comfortable with guessing strategically in order to stay "on benchmark"

-strategy -- write out your approach step-by-step for ALL q-types and be sure to have them in front of your as you practice; get extremely organized in how you utilize your scratch paper

Good luck!

Thanks Vivian and sorry for delayed reply. As I didn't get a notification of your message, I wasn't aware of it.

I have started solving online problems for each topic after reading the basics from the Veritas prep book for that topic. But I am really struggling with the maths topics. Probably I try to finish the questions within 2-3 minutes and get them wrong. Could you please advise me a strategy here. Shall I first try to work on solving the questions correctly and then work on my timing. In that case anyhow, I would have exhausted the question banks I do have.

Thanks again!!!
Nishant

Hi Brent,

Thanks for pointing towards your articles. Probably thats the mistake I am doing.
I should first work on solving the questions for all the verbal and quant topics and then try to master the timing.

Thanks again for the help!!

Hi Rich,

I haven't joined a course but have bought the 12 book Veritas Prep set which has books numbered from 1-12 and asks to read them in the same series.

What I have started with is reading the book first and then solving the questions related to that topic online on the veritas prep question bank.

Thanks
Nishant

Thanks Rich!!!
Will post as soon as I get my hands on the full length test

Hey Rich,

Could you please suggest, which Diagnostic test would be best to give after couple of weeks study as suggested by you. As I have only covered some of the topics mixing math and verbal. I do not want to waste GMAC tests without completing the full course.

Please suggest the Diagnostic test I should take.

Thanks!

I already have some CATS from Veritas with my subscription.
I was thinking it wont be close to actual GMAT. But I will give my first diagnostic on that.

Thanks!!!

Hi Rich, Brent , Vivian and other gurus,

I am really sorry as I took a long time to give my first CAT and come back with scores. Actually I wanted to finish the books set first to get the basics right at least first for all the topics before giving my first CAT. I gave the test from Veritas and my score is as follows:

Score %le Correct
Quant 48 (of 60) 78% 59%
Verbal 35 (of 60) 74% 68%
Total 680 85 64%

My timing was really bad and I guessed almost 10 (7 wrong out of 10) questions on verbal and 7-8 questions on quant because of lack of time. Also I felt that the exam was a bit easier. If Veritas CATS are easier than actual GMAT?

I will now start working on official guide and improving my timing. Please suggest how to improve timing and how to develop a study plan moving further.

Thanks a lot in advance!!!

Nishant