What is the best way to reach my goal?

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What is the best way to reach my goal?

by Franz » Tue Jul 19, 2011 2:57 am
Hi everyone, this is my first post and I'm going to try to make it as clear as possible.

Well I'm a Parisian guy so please accept my apologies if I make any english mistake.

So basically my dream or goal is to integrate a good business school for a Master. More precisely, I want to go to the Stockholm school of economics which requires at least a 600 points score to the Gmat and a 100/120 for the Toefl.
I will have to take the Gmat on december or beginig of january, which gives me aproximately 4 months to learn how to destroy this exam because swedish school also give a lot of importance to the academic results (Understand that mine are short).

The problem is that as far as I can remember, I always sucked in mathematics, no joke, I'm a total wreck.
So I immediatly thought I would have to take private tutoring, prep courses, or maybe both. That's why I started looking in all the possible directions and went to the Kaplan center in Paris, asked for prices and advices, and also took the kind of pre-test.
The result: 490 (51% Verbal / 31% Quant) [ The verbal part is very easy for someone whose mother tongue is english!!!]
Honestly I have to say that it was more or less what I expected regarding to my skill for mathematics.
They told me I should take an unlimited prep course during over 3 months (1500€) and maybe the Mathrefresher (300€)

Meanwhile, I also sent an Email to a Private tutor (Charging half the price of Kaplan per hour =75€) who told me that it wouldn't be necessary to do both. He also told me that he wouldn't do Kaplan prep if he was me but Manhattan which has better teachers and better materials.

So actually I don't know what to think anymore, I'm a bit confused and lost. The only thing that I'm sure about is my willing and my determination to kill this test.

Does someone has any piece of advice for me, some feedbacks, opinion, or experience to share?

Thanks :)
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by Avinash_Tyagi » Tue Jul 19, 2011 6:08 pm
Quant is all about practice, first I would recommend going and finding books on basic math, math on the GMAT is not high level its only up to sophomore year stuff, Algebra and Geometry. So find some math review books maybe pull out some old textbooks and review anything that gives you problem.

Once you have a good grasp of the basics, it all comes down to practice, just practice as many quant questions as you can between now and the exam.

Also memorize a bunch of stuff, memorize your times tables, common powers, common triangles, number properties, etc. Those things will save you time on the exam if you can remember hem of the tp of your head.

Also remember that GMAT math allows you to use shortcuts that would not be allowed in the classroom little shortcuts in simplification that can get you to the answer faster. Look for those shortcuts and then make sure you know how to use them by practicing questions.

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by FutureWorks » Wed Jul 20, 2011 3:37 am
Hi Franz


Aiming for top schools you would require 700 plus score on your Gmat. . Juggling between work and studies is tough so you need to define a significant time for your GMAT preparation. Sometimes taking few days off work for preparing for the GMAT can help a person tremendously.

If you have time this may not be a bad idea. Take practise GMAT tests to see how you are doing. If you cannot do that don't worry. What might work instead is to set aside 1-2 hours at night on weekdays and major part of your weekend to study and prepare for GMAT- in this case we will suggest a good 2-3 months preparation. However we recommend you to keep taking practise tests to gauge your performance. It will help you in identifying your weak areas and you can focus on them accordingly.
There are various ways you can use to practise for your GMAT. You might need to change your practise style and try this combination to provide you flexibility and different styles to practise so it doesn't get monotonous.

It could be combination of-

1-Books- Books like- The Official Guide for GMAT Review, The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review, The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review etc could be used.

2-Online Study Guide: Websites like Knewton, Grockit etc provide you with practise questions online.

3-Smart phone applications- Kaplan, Veritas etc offer applications to prepare for GMAT on your smart phones.

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