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Study Plan Help

by scarlet » Sat Apr 30, 2016 10:19 pm
Hello everyone!

I have just started studying for my GMATs and would like to get some input on the study schedule I created. I work full-time so I created an extended schedule. Please let me know if this makes sense:

1) Take the OG diagnostic in April (to find areas of improvement)
2) Take the OG 1st CAT in April (to find a starting point, just completed this and got a 650)
3) Study for GMATs on my own from May - August to get myself to the 700 mark
- Use the 8 Manhattan GMAT guides to focus on my weaker areas (1 book per week) and do the corresponding practice questions in the OG guides
- Take a practice CAT every 2 weeks (identifying weak areas and reviewing the questions I got wrong)
- Review advance quantitative strategy if time permits
4) Take a Kaplan course in the fall to break from 700 to 740 (I have already registered for Kaplan)
5) Take the GMAT in January (so that I can take full advantage of the fact that the GMAT score is viable for up to 5 years)

I know this seems like an extensive plan BUT I do not plan on studying on weekdays. I will only be studying on weekends so I need something slow paced.
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by [email protected] » Sun May 01, 2016 9:07 am
Hi scarlet,

With a plan this "long form" you will likely end up adjusting it at certain points (based on how your skills progress and in response to whatever else you might have going on in your life). There's one potential 'hiccup' in that you're only planning to study on the weekends. When studying for for the GMAT, it's often best to study in small 'chunks' throughout the week, as opposed to 'cramming' in a lot of material on the weekend.

1) What were your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores on this CAT?
2) Did you take the FULL CAT (with the Essay and IR sections)?

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by scarlet » Sun May 01, 2016 9:32 am
Thanks for the response!

I will try to fit some studying in on the weekdays when possible but I did not want my plan to be dependent on that. Since I am a consultant and work at home on Fridays, I will definitely have time to study from Friday - Sunday. Below are my answers to your questions:

1) Quant: 41 (54th%)
Verbal: 39 (88th%)
2) I took the full CAT with everything. IR: 4 (37th%)

I am unsure why I did so well on verbal since I have always considered math as my strong point. The IR I did pretty bad in mainly because of time management but I am sure I can get that up with some practice.
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Sun May 01, 2016 10:05 am
scarlet wrote:Hello everyone!

I have just started studying for my GMATs and would like to get some input on the study schedule I created. I work full-time so I created an extended schedule. Please let me know if this makes sense:

1) Take the OG diagnostic in April (to find areas of improvement)
2) Take the OG 1st CAT in April (to find a starting point, just completed this and got a 650)
3) Study for GMATs on my own from May - August to get myself to the 700 mark
- Use the 8 Manhattan GMAT guides to focus on my weaker areas (1 book per week) and do the corresponding practice questions in the OG guides
- Take a practice CAT every 2 weeks (identifying weak areas and reviewing the questions I got wrong)
- Review advance quantitative strategy if time permits
4) Take a Kaplan course in the fall to break from 700 to 740 (I have already registered for Kaplan)
5) Take the GMAT in January (so that I can take full advantage of the fact that the GMAT score is viable for up to 5 years)

I know this seems like an extensive plan BUT I do not plan on studying on weekdays. I will only be studying on weekends so I need something slow paced.
That plan doesn't look unreasonable, but as Rich noted, you'll ultimately want to tweak your study regimen in response to how well you're doing on practice tests - if you're hitting 740 on practice tests in July, you surely don't want to wait until January to sit for the test! And it's a good idea to try to sneak in some time on the weekdays. (There's actually plenty of research about how we learn better with more frequent, shorter study sessions.) Your weekday work could be something as simple as taking 20 minutes to review notes or watch a video from an app while you're on the subway. Here's our free app if you're interested: https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-iphone-apps/

Last, I'd also suggest working in some additional practice questions beyond the Official Guide. There's the Question Pack from mba.com: https://www.mba.com/us/store/store-catal ... ack-1.aspx

And we've got our own free question bank: https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-question-bank/
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by [email protected] » Sun May 01, 2016 10:39 pm
Hi scarlet,

If your Verbal skills are already so strong, then you might not need nearly as long to study as you've allotted. With a Q41, you would have made a number of little mistakes throughout the Quant section AND you would have missed out on lots of 'strategy-based' points. The Quant section of the GMAT isn't really a 'math test' in the way that you might be used to thinking about these things. It's a critical thinking test that involves lots of little calculations. In that way, you don't actually have to be great at advanced math to score at a high level in that section.

You should plan to study as you see fit for the next 2-3 weeks, then take a new FULL-LENGTH CAT (with the Essay and IR sections). That score result will gives us a better idea of how reflective this first CAT is of your actual abilities.

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by Jennifer@Kaplan » Mon May 02, 2016 5:11 pm
Hello Scarlet,

Thank you for trusting Kaplan to be part of your GMAT journey! I would like to add a bit of advice on how you could work some of your Kaplan resources into your early months of self-study. While you are in the stage of focusing on refreshing your knowledge of various topics, check out the video-based workshops in the Additional Resources of your online syllabus. These workshops are designed to review content and teach strategies, and each workshop is accompanied by a brief quiz that you can use to reinforce what you learned.

Also, why are you aiming for testing in January specifically? Scores are good for 5 years from the day of your test, so waiting until January if you are ready in October, for example, does not gain you much more time for your scores to be valid. Having said that, taking full CATs regularly will be the best way for you to monitor your progress, choose topics to study, and decide when you're ready to take the GMAT.

Best,
Jennifer
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