HI Eric,
I encourage you to create and/or tap into systems that already exist so you're not throwing darts blindfolded or reinventing the wheel, and I'd also ask you to really think about whether you're as 'bad off' as you think you are: because likely you're just rusty and need direction.
You're not the first veteran or rusty student to embark on GMAT studies. There are various time lines, and examples of 'error logs' here in these posts, but I wonder if you really believe you are, and always have been, out of the loop, why you're not signing up for online, in person group or in person/online tutoring. Courses will give you the kind of structure, direction and materials, that soemone you purport yourself to be would benefit most from Certainly it makes 'good business' sense if you consider your time valuable: employ systems that already exist and have been known to improve student scores. It can be overwhelming, because there are alot of options out there, and certainly those of us here as 'featured experts' have been in the biz for long enough and/or are committed enough to student success that we can provide SOME advice. SOme of my colleagues can point to their resource pages, which might be very helpful, and others can identify more what your issues are, when you tellus more about what's up.
This is the transcription of one of our clients who was a veteran which you might find helpful.
From MBA Podcaster - - and I'm not sure they're around so much - - their links weren't working, but the name of the podcast had been: Dealing With a Low GMAT Score - MBA Podcaster. Google it. Maybe it's working now.
"Let's turn now to a first year student at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, Ronald Rolph. Rolph was an infantry officer for the Marine Corp for the past eight years. He shared his personal experience of taking the GMAT with MBA Podcaster, "Initially I bought several of the test prep books just at a local bookstore and went through a few of them.
I also took kind of a crash course, like a weekend seminar in Durham, North Carolina near where I was living at the time which provided some insight into the test. I think it gave me a relatively decent overview of the format and some of the types of questions and subject matter that was going to be covered but I really did not have sufficient time to prepare adequately.
I was constantly being deployed as an active duty Captain in the Marine Corp, so trying to cram in studying between deployment and while overseas I really didn't do it justice. So when I took that test initially I really felt that I was under prepared so much so that I actually canceled the scores when the test was over. I really wasn't comfortable with even recording that score officially because I really didn't know how to go about attacking the test appropriately and I ran out of time on I think both of the sections, the verbal and the quantitative section. Then after taking that test once it was really kind of a cold bath and a harsh dose of reality where I quickly realized that if I wanted to do well on the GMAT, I really needed to dedicate more time and energy toward preparing sufficiently to do as well as I would have liked on the test. I think because of the unique format of the GMAT being not only academically but psychologically prepared to take the test is a key component to being successful on it."
But Rolph said he was far from being mentally ready for the GMAT the first time he took the test, "As I was taking the test and you know, you see the clock ticking right there on the screen and struggling with the questions kind of a vicious cycle and I really didn't do anywhere near as well as I had hoped on that initial test. By design the test is supposed to foster that kind of anxiety and make sure that people have adequately prepared and are able to handle those kinds of situations and I guess it just took me accepting the fact that I couldn't do it on my own that just relying on my own previous academic experiences and my own studying wasn't going to get me to the score that I really hoped to get. Just going through the books and doing self-study was not going to be enough, that I really needed outside help. I'd been out of school for about seven years at the time so the quantitative aspects in particular among my skills were very rusty."
Rolph contacted a test prep company in New York, (Test Prep New York). Because of his military deployment schedule, Rolph had to cram his test prep course into a single week. The company suggested he come to New York right away to work with a team of tutors who specialize in the GMAT. "I spent exactly a week up in New York City staying with a friend, having daily sessions with both verbal and quantitative tutors as well as going through some of the more intangible aspects of the test preparations, psychological aspect of the test, and confidence, etc., etc. Which really enabled me to go into the test from a much stronger, more confident perspective. And that sort of intangible aspect of the preparation I thought was as important if not maybe more important than the actual hard skills of the sentence correction or the data sufficiency problems on the test."
Rolph explains some of the techniques the test prep company used to help him use to calm his nerves, "Mental exercises, stress reduction routines, breathing, relaxation, mental cues to keep yourself calm during stressful situation specifically as you're taking the computer based test. And just kind of reinforcing your mental capacity to go about taking that kind of a test and just building your confidence. Initially I was a little bit skeptical, coming from the military background sometimes those sort of touchy feely things sometimes I'm a little adverse to but looking back on it that really was invaluable and I think helped exponentially my performance on the test."
Rolph had only one math class as an undergraduate so he said he was especially unprepared for the quantitative section of the GMAT. "What the tutor did which I thought was really prudent, he kind of gaged my ability level through some initial tests and interactions and we kind of determined that trying to master everything, all of the quantitative content of the GMAT was going to be a loss cause. We would get diminishing returns there was no way we could do that. So he kind of picked and choose some of the most or more important concepts and we sort of conceded the fact that there were going to be some questions on it that were going to be beyond my level that I wasn't going to be able to get or memorize the formulas for but he focused on some of the more general concepts, some of the more prevalent ones on the test and really reinforced those and just focused on those. And we were able to I think to mutually get me to master those."
The test prep tutors covered the verbal section as well, "Repetition, repetition, and more repetition. She had me get the full GMAT official prep book as well the verbal supplement and do literally every single question in both of those books and really by doing that you start to sense patterns for the questions that they ask you the types of questions they ask and some of the over arching concepts that they really like to test on the GMAT. And she sort of gave me some insight as to how to go about recognizing certain concepts within sentence correction and the reading comprehension and to really pick up on those quickly to save time."
The Saturday after his crash course in New York, Rolph flew back to North Carolina. He took the test on Monday, two days later. "I didn't cram the day or the night before. I think that can be counterproductive. Just focused more on getting a good night sleep, eating right and make sure I was fresh for test day and really just kind of trying to clear my mind the day before."
I asked Rolph how his experience of taking the test the second time compared to the first time, "It was night and day. In a way it was good because I took it in the same test center so I already knew what it the place looked like, I knew where it was, I was just much more confident and I had a much clearer concept of what to expect and I was as close to fully prepared as I could have been under the time constraints." Rolph his score wasn't quite as high as the highest he had gotten on one of his GMAT practice test but, "You know I guess ultimately the proof is in the pudding. I was able to get in to one of the programs that I had been hoping to get into so it did the job."
ALl this to say: your experience is NOT unique, and once you identify WHAT you need to do to improve, you will improve. That's where the log comes in.
You can get all fancy pants with the log, but generally, you want to identify the following things:
1. Did you know how to do this, or did you guess - - and get it right, get it wrong
2. Did you not know how to do this, and did you guess - - and get it right, get it wrong
3. Do you understand why you got it right/wrong
4. If you got it wrong, was it a deficiency in content knowledge or strategy
5. If you saw something like it again, could you get it correct
Then the vitals:
1. Section
2. Question Number
3. If Math: DS or PS
4. Then the vitals: What 'types" of things were being tested, Ie. Geometry - Triangles - Right Triangle - Question about degrees in a triangle
5. How did you answer the question wrong.
Often it's not only important THAT you get a question wrong but HOW you get it wrong. From that you can learn.
NOW. In terms of support. There are various options:
1. Online static course - - these you can go at your own pace and your own time. There is varying amounts of support, often by email/text.
2. In person group course - - Varying levels of proficiency. The bigger the program the more likely it's a big-box program with a one-size-fits all model. If you're not looking for 700+ and don't mind going through everytihng that is on the test (incuding things you likely already know), these are great.
3. In person or online tutoring - - This is typically highly customized to your needs, is usually more expensive, but more streamlined and economical in terms of your time. You get what you pay for! Always ask for a bio of the tutor you're working with or the opportunity to have a quick talk with the instructor if your'e calling the tutoring company cold.
Since you're planning to take the test mid-may and you're starting out where you are, you can use any of the above as your test-prep option. You can also self-study, but I believe given your background, this will be the most difficult. You can also do a combination of all of them. Something we do for clients is an evaluation, which essentially provides feedback on what you're doing, and what you need to do to improve your score. This feedback would help you decide next steps as well, and if you want more information about this, ping me privately, email or call.
SO. Buckle up. Dive deep, and keep us posted on how we can continue to help you.
Good Luck!
