6 months, no/basic math knowledge and 650+. What strategy?

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Coin: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2010 6:09 am

by Coin » Sun Jun 13, 2010 6:25 am

Hi everyone.

I'll do the GMAT within a time frame of 6 months and I am wondering what kind of strategy would be the most appropriate. My overall math knowledge (especially English terms!) is kind of completely gone. My bachelor (in progress) is 100% qual. Have got an conditional offer to get into a great B-school if the GMAT is 700. That brings a great motivation

.

I've ordered the OG GMAT 12th book and I am considering just starting to make all the exercices including the answers. Than I will constantly check the correct ones including explanation. Learning by doing.

Would this be a good strategy for the first month, to get into the GMAT? Or would you recommend any (free) websites where I can get used to the math terms and basic math rules? And start lateron with the OG GMAT book?

Thanks.

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Sun Jun 13, 2010 6:25 am

RumpelThickSkin: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 162; Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2010 5:43 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 6 times

by RumpelThickSkin » Sun Jun 13, 2010 7:02 am

If you have no basic of math I would say consider a doing basic book even before doing the OG 12 problems.

Your study plan could look something like this:

1) Kaplan Workbook - i highly recommend it. It will only take you less than a week to complete. If your math is a little rusty or you have absolutely no knowledge it might take you 2 weeks. But you will build solid basic knowledge on the concepts tested.

BTG Review here:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2009/11/ ... ook-review

2) Move on to the OG - solve every question timed. Do not forget to time yourself and keep an error log.

3) Move on to more challenging stuff with Manhattan math guides (trust me you need to complete the tough problems in these books)

4) Use math resources on this site.

5) 2 weeks before the test - you might want to consider GMAT focus released by GMAC. I have read constrasting review of GMAT focus as it is a bit pricey but I would buy it to see what the tougher offical problems look like.

Hope this helps you and I highly recommend you complete the Kaplan Workbook before moving on the OG.

Coin: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2010 6:09 am

by Coin » Sun Jun 13, 2010 10:54 am

Thanks RumpelThickSkin for your extensive reaction. Great! So if I am correct, the Kaplan Workbook will probably 'update' my mathknowledge? After finishing that book succesfully I'll have the math knowledge necessairy? Or could you recommend any other books in addition?

RumpelThickSkin: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 162; Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2010 5:43 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 6 times

by RumpelThickSkin » Sun Jun 13, 2010 11:57 am

Coin wrote:Thanks RumpelThickSkin for your extensive reaction. Great! So if I am correct, the Kaplan Workbook will probably 'update' my mathknowledge? After finishing that book succesfully I'll have the math knowledge necessairy? Or could you recommend any other books in addition?

Coin,

I also suggest Nova math prep book. It is not very well known but has a through review of the basic math concepts. It is a great book if you are totally out of touch with mathematics. But Kaplan workbook has more practice problems.

One word about both these books they do not cover the tougher topics in detail or leave them out altogether i.e. in Kaplan there are hardly question related to Statistics, Probability. Permutations and Combinations is not even covered in this book. That said, they are still great basic books to start off with.

Additionally, I would suggest you to just stick to one book initally (for eg Kaplan workbook) and complete it. Then review the areas where you need more practice.

I hope this helps! Best of luck I hope you eventually get your 650+

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