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bpeyster
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I am planning to take the GMAT in approximately 40 days, and want to use everyone's expertise to assess my progress so far, and to determine what direction to go from here. Quick background: native English speaker (born in US), Accounting and Business Admin. Major from top 10 liberal arts school, currently working in consulting (former Big 4 Consultant, now at a startup). Target score is anywhere above 700, but hopefully in the 720-740 range. I gave a lot of background, but please feel free to skip to the questions section if you don't feel like reading!
What I've Done so Far (Through approx. 7 weeks of studying):
1. MGMAT Live Online Course
Have done 7 of the 9 classes, and have done a decent job of staying on track with the syllabus. I have kept up each week with the suggested Quant MGMAT strategy guide, and have completed all of the Quant books now. I slacked off a bit in the verbal since I figured I was stronger here, but have recently started to dive in, especially with SC.
2. Two CAT's so far (MGMAT)
670 (44Q 37V) - This is the one I took before the class started, and was based on knowledge that I had acquired through limited studying in the past. I felt overwhelmed by the math, and did significantly better than I thought I would. (upon review I got a number of guesses right). Verbal was decent, even though I expected to do better based on history.
660 (44Q 36V) - I took this last week, and felt significantly more comfortable. I was able to apply a bunch of Quant concepts that I'd learned, and also felt that there were a number of problems that I knew the concept for but couldn't quite remember. When I reviewed the next day, I was able to get a number of the problems I got wrong right before looking at the answer. With Verbal, I was a little disappointed, because although my studying has been somewhat limited, I have put some time into it, and didn't improve at all.
3. Kaplan Quiz Bank
I bought the Kaplan quiz bank to do at work, which has been really valuable so far. It makes it very convenient to do in a team room on client site, as opposed to pulling out the OG. I do 20-40 problems per day (half Q/V). they have really helped me apply math concepts.
Plan for the next 40 days:
1. CATs
I plan to take one per week, which would put me at six total taken. I have 4 MGMAT left, and 2+ GMAT Prep's to do also.
2. OG
So far, I have really neglected the OG, which is obviously the most useful tool there is. I have done the suggested problems relating to my course syllabus, but have not made much of a dent at all in the book. This will take up a lot of time from here on out.
3. Strategy Guides
Finish (and possibly reread) SC guide. On both my CATs, SC was my weak link in Verbal, so it will help to really dive in strategy wise. Will also review other guides that I've completed as problem areas come up.
Kaplan Quiz Bank
Will continue to do this at work daily, shooting for 40 problems per day, but a minimum, 20 total.
Questions
1. Is four more CATs (six total) enough? Too few, too many?
2. How do people typically tackle the OG? Do they do big blocks of problems, small blocks of problems, sort by topic, etc.? Do people with a decent math score usually start at the beginning of the book or pick up somewhere in the middle of the numbered problems?
3. What is the best way to tackle RC strategy for a native English speaker that has historically been very strong in verbal (800 on SAT)? Is the MGMAT strategy guide a useful tool, or would it help me to simply do more passages?
4. As for SC, do people memorize the entire guide? Or do you memorize a systematic method of a few things to look for, and apply the method to every problem? And the idioms...how many to memorize?
5. Any other suggestions for someone at my stage? Would appreciate any random insight or advice that people can think of.
Sorry for the length, and thanks for any help!
What I've Done so Far (Through approx. 7 weeks of studying):
1. MGMAT Live Online Course
Have done 7 of the 9 classes, and have done a decent job of staying on track with the syllabus. I have kept up each week with the suggested Quant MGMAT strategy guide, and have completed all of the Quant books now. I slacked off a bit in the verbal since I figured I was stronger here, but have recently started to dive in, especially with SC.
2. Two CAT's so far (MGMAT)
670 (44Q 37V) - This is the one I took before the class started, and was based on knowledge that I had acquired through limited studying in the past. I felt overwhelmed by the math, and did significantly better than I thought I would. (upon review I got a number of guesses right). Verbal was decent, even though I expected to do better based on history.
660 (44Q 36V) - I took this last week, and felt significantly more comfortable. I was able to apply a bunch of Quant concepts that I'd learned, and also felt that there were a number of problems that I knew the concept for but couldn't quite remember. When I reviewed the next day, I was able to get a number of the problems I got wrong right before looking at the answer. With Verbal, I was a little disappointed, because although my studying has been somewhat limited, I have put some time into it, and didn't improve at all.
3. Kaplan Quiz Bank
I bought the Kaplan quiz bank to do at work, which has been really valuable so far. It makes it very convenient to do in a team room on client site, as opposed to pulling out the OG. I do 20-40 problems per day (half Q/V). they have really helped me apply math concepts.
Plan for the next 40 days:
1. CATs
I plan to take one per week, which would put me at six total taken. I have 4 MGMAT left, and 2+ GMAT Prep's to do also.
2. OG
So far, I have really neglected the OG, which is obviously the most useful tool there is. I have done the suggested problems relating to my course syllabus, but have not made much of a dent at all in the book. This will take up a lot of time from here on out.
3. Strategy Guides
Finish (and possibly reread) SC guide. On both my CATs, SC was my weak link in Verbal, so it will help to really dive in strategy wise. Will also review other guides that I've completed as problem areas come up.
Kaplan Quiz Bank
Will continue to do this at work daily, shooting for 40 problems per day, but a minimum, 20 total.
Questions
1. Is four more CATs (six total) enough? Too few, too many?
2. How do people typically tackle the OG? Do they do big blocks of problems, small blocks of problems, sort by topic, etc.? Do people with a decent math score usually start at the beginning of the book or pick up somewhere in the middle of the numbered problems?
3. What is the best way to tackle RC strategy for a native English speaker that has historically been very strong in verbal (800 on SAT)? Is the MGMAT strategy guide a useful tool, or would it help me to simply do more passages?
4. As for SC, do people memorize the entire guide? Or do you memorize a systematic method of a few things to look for, and apply the method to every problem? And the idioms...how many to memorize?
5. Any other suggestions for someone at my stage? Would appreciate any random insight or advice that people can think of.
Sorry for the length, and thanks for any help!
I believe it makes sense to practice per topic though, because that way you put the newly learned theory to work and it sticks to your mind better. I did 20 question sets for verbal though and it worked for me.
