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1 Month to study from scratch.....need some advice!!

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1 Month to study from scratch.....need some advice!!

by takyle » Tue Jan 21, 2014 7:24 pm
Hey Guys,

Just a little background before I explain my predicament. I graduated last May from a top tier university with a degrees in Finance & Management. I have been working since but still remain fairly sharp when it comes to mathematics and problem solving. I have recently decided to go back to school for a Masters in Accounting/potential MBA at several well known universities. That being said I have to get half of my applications in by March 1st, and most in by March 15th, as well as take the GMAT.

I have not taken a practice GMAT yet but am doing so tomorrow to assess where I am at. I had no prior knowledge of the GMAT and its format prior to a day or two ago. From what I have read on the forums and the GMAT website, I concluded that it is getting fluent with the style and type of questions on the exam that seems to lead to the biggest improvements, as well as understanding the underlying causes of your mistakes.


(Note: I am currently not working but am taking 2 classes this semester, so I have a lot of time on my hands.)


My two main questions are as follows:

1. Is 1 month is plausible for studying for the test and getting a 600+ (hopefully 650+) from most likely the 400-450 range that I am assuming I might land in. If so, how many daily hours would suffice? 5-6 hours?

2. I see that there is a plethora of resources available, but what might be the best bang for my buck with 1 months time? And does anyone have any strategies for this? (One thing i did notice is that people are adamant about keeping track of scores and analyzing your weak areas, but do you record them in an excel spreadsheet as you take the test or can you get the results after you finish?)


Any help is very much appreciated and this website is surely a life saver.


Kyle
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by Mike@Magoosh » Wed Jan 22, 2014 12:47 pm
Dear Kyle,
I'm happy to respond. :-)

Here's a free GMAT idiom ebook you may find helpful.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idiom-ebook/
Here's a one-month GMAT study plan
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/1-month-gm ... -schedule/
With this plan and a healthy time commitment each day, it is most certainly possible to produce a very respectable GMAT in a month's time.

I will also tout the benefit of Magoosh, which dovetails nicely with the use of that study plan. Magoosh provides exceptionally high quality preparation, but at a fraction of the cost of most other places. When you practice in Magoosh, the computer keeps track of all your work, so you automatically have an error log compiled for you. Here's an introductory lesson on SC:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/lessons/932-str ... ing-splits
Here's a free practice RC question:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/3623
Here's a free practice DS question:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/1024
When you submit your answer to those two questions, in each case the following page will contain a video explanation. Each one of our 700+ practice questions has its own video explanation, for accelerated learning.

Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mike :-)
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
https://gmat.magoosh.com/
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by [email protected] » Wed Jan 22, 2014 2:19 pm
Hi takyle,

How did you score on your practice CAT (and what were your Scaled Scores for the Quant and Verbal sections?)? The situation that you're describing is far from ideal, but it's not the first time that someone has had to prepare in a short period of time. The odds are not in your favor though; most Test Takers need 3 solid months of prep (or more) to hit their peak scores. With a little over a month, it's not realistic to expect you to become an expert on the material. You might be able to make the necessary adjustments to score above 600 though. Once you've reported your score, we can take a shot at planning out your next month.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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by takyle » Wed Jan 22, 2014 7:08 pm
Mike@Magoosh wrote:Dear Kyle,
I'm happy to respond. :-)

Here's a free GMAT idiom ebook you may find helpful.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idiom-ebook/
Here's a one-month GMAT study plan
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/1-month-gm ... -schedule/
With this plan and a healthy time commitment each day, it is most certainly possible to produce a very respectable GMAT in a month's time.

I will also tout the benefit of Magoosh, which dovetails nicely with the use of that study plan. Magoosh provides exceptionally high quality preparation, but at a fraction of the cost of most other places. When you practice in Magoosh, the computer keeps track of all your work, so you automatically have an error log compiled for you. Here's an introductory lesson on SC:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/lessons/932-str ... ing-splits
Here's a free practice RC question:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/3623
Here's a free practice DS question:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/1024
When you submit your answer to those two questions, in each case the following page will contain a video explanation. Each one of our 700+ practice questions has its own video explanation, for accelerated learning.

Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mike :-)

I appreciate your response. Thank you for the input and material links.
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by takyle » Wed Jan 22, 2014 7:21 pm
[email protected] wrote:Hi takyle,

How did you score on your practice CAT (and what were your Scaled Scores for the Quant and Verbal sections?)? The situation that you're describing is far from ideal, but it's not the first time that someone has had to prepare in a short period of time. The odds are not in your favor though; most Test Takers need 3 solid months of prep (or more) to hit their peak scores. With a little over a month, it's not realistic to expect you to become an expert on the material. You might be able to make the necessary adjustments to score above 600 though. Once you've reported your score, we can take a shot at planning out your next month.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hey Rich!

I very much appreciate your response. I actually took the Exam 1 CAT tonight and scored a 530.(IR-3, Quant-32....in the 30th percentile, Verbal 31 in the 59th percentile.

I have honestly forgotten a lot of the simple mathematical concepts that I had used in high school and middle school due to the heavy use of a calculator in my Finance courses. I honestly didn't feel that strong on the verbal but I seemed to do well, the sentence structure is what kind of throws me. Also, the length is what caused a lot of errors, I made careless mistakes in the quant section from misreading the question do to the amount. My stamina needs some building.

I know that the time/effort to increase your score is exponential in nature, so I am wondering if a 650 is plausible.

Kyle
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by [email protected] » Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:17 pm
Hi takyle,

With your Quant Scaled Score (Q32), you're going to need to spend some extra time on Data Sufficiency and overall Quant tactics. A 120 point improvement in one month is doable, but it's completely dependent on how quickly you can absorb the material, learn/retain new tactics and fix all the silly/little mistakes (including learning proper pacing). If you had more study time, then you'd have a better chance at success. Given the timeframe, you have a lot of work to do.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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