My strategy for a 700, maybe???

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My strategy for a 700, maybe???

by trzask.m » Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:46 am
Ok here is my GMAT situation, I feel like it is very different than most of the members of this forum. I am a native English speaker and have lived in the U.S. all my life. I am strong in my verbal abilities, but quant is the section that gives me the most trouble ( I got a 40 on my MGMAT CAT #1). I have never been very good at math, I struggled throughout high school and college, but managed to make it through calculus. I'd like to post my strategy for some comments and helpful tips oh how to crush the GMAT. I am shooting for a 680-700, and I got a 610 of my MGMAT #1 (40q, 34v).

My Materials

-Kaplan Premier 2008
-All 8 Manhattan GMAT Strategy Books (except CR)
-Powerscore CR
-OG12
-OG11
-OG Quant
-OG Verbal

My Strategy

Phase 1 (Strategy and Quant)
- Go over the Kaplan Premier strategies for quant.
- After Kaplan, begin studying quant concepts for MGMAT (Start with NP end with Geometry)
o Weekdays study 1.5 hours of MGMAT strategy book, do 20 questions from the OG (timed). Review results and explanations the next day. Keep an error log.
o Continue this process through all of the MGMAT Quant books.
- (I know this will take me longer than a month)
Phase 2 (Verbal)
- Go over the Kaplan Premier strategies for verbal
- Study the verbal concepts in the MGMAT books and Powerscore CR, begin with SC end with CR
- Also read The Economist daily to help with RC.
o Weekdays study 1.5 hours of MGMAT strategy book, do 20 questions from the OG (timed). Review results and explanations the next day. Keep an error log.
o Continue this process through all of the MGMAT Verbal books.

-Another Idea I had was to completely review one MGMAT quant book, then switch to a MGMAT verbal book, and continue this pattern until I am through with the whole set. With this strategy I would try to take a practice test every other week. Any thoughts on this strategy, or should I stick with the more conventional one?

Phase 3 (Practice)
-Take 2 practice tests per week with a thorough review of errors
-Finish OG and review the error log on the remaining days.
-Review some strategies for AWA.
-When the test nears I will take the GMATprep tests as many times as I can as suggested by many.

Do you think if I stick to this strategy I could achieve a 700????

Please comment on this strategy, I need some pointers.

Thank you!
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Re: My strategy for a 700, maybe???

by cbenk121 » Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:52 pm
trzask.m wrote:Ok here is my GMAT situation, I feel like it is very different than most of the members of this forum. I am a native English speaker and have lived in the U.S. all my life. I am strong in my verbal abilities, but quant is the section that gives me the most trouble ( I got a 40 on my MGMAT CAT #1). I have never been very good at math, I struggled throughout high school and college, but managed to make it through calculus. I'd like to post my strategy for some comments and helpful tips oh how to crush the GMAT. I am shooting for a 680-700, and I got a 610 of my MGMAT #1 (40q, 34v).

My Materials

-Kaplan Premier 2008
-All 8 Manhattan GMAT Strategy Books (except CR)
-Powerscore CR
-OG12
-OG11
-OG Quant
-OG Verbal

My Strategy

Phase 1 (Strategy and Quant)
- Go over the Kaplan Premier strategies for quant.
- After Kaplan, begin studying quant concepts for MGMAT (Start with NP end with Geometry)
o Weekdays study 1.5 hours of MGMAT strategy book, do 20 questions from the OG (timed). Review results and explanations the next day. Keep an error log.
o Continue this process through all of the MGMAT Quant books.
- (I know this will take me longer than a month)
Phase 2 (Verbal)
- Go over the Kaplan Premier strategies for verbal
- Study the verbal concepts in the MGMAT books and Powerscore CR, begin with SC end with CR
- Also read The Economist daily to help with RC.
o Weekdays study 1.5 hours of MGMAT strategy book, do 20 questions from the OG (timed). Review results and explanations the next day. Keep an error log.
o Continue this process through all of the MGMAT Verbal books.

-Another Idea I had was to completely review one MGMAT quant book, then switch to a MGMAT verbal book, and continue this pattern until I am through with the whole set. With this strategy I would try to take a practice test every other week. Any thoughts on this strategy, or should I stick with the more conventional one?

Phase 3 (Practice)
-Take 2 practice tests per week with a thorough review of errors
-Finish OG and review the error log on the remaining days.
-Review some strategies for AWA.
-When the test nears I will take the GMATprep tests as many times as I can as suggested by many.

Do you think if I stick to this strategy I could achieve a 700????

Please comment on this strategy, I need some pointers.

Thank you!
First, you don't say how long of a timeline you have. That will strongly impact any strategy. Second, where were your weak areas on the practice test? PS, DS, SC, CR, RC? It's much better, I believe, to engage in the "rifle" approach - spending a large porportion of your time on your weakest area to see the largest marginal gains. This is opposed to the "shotgun" approach - treating all question types equally in terms of prep time.

Thirdly, I don't believe you're as strong in verbal as you say you are, because you had a score of 34, which is lower than your quant score, which you said was your weak area.

Basically, I'd like to learn a little more about your performance on the practice case - to know how to move forward, you need to know exactly where you are at right now. What question types were you weakest in? What types of concepts did those questions involve? Did you run out of time in either section?

A 700 would require Q48 and V38, or Q50 and V36, etc.

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by trzask.m » Sun Oct 25, 2009 2:03 pm
Cbenk, thank you for the reply. I'm sorry I was not very thorough in my explanation, I was writing it at work. My study timeline is actually going to be about 4 months, I started at the beginning of October so I want to take the test in the beginning of February.

My quant breakdown for MGMAT CAT #1 is as follows, PS 50% correct, DS 64% correct. My worst subject areas were Geometry (1 out of 3), Algebra (4 out of 9), Word Translations (5 out of 10). I believe I struggled in geometry because I could not recall alot of the formulas that were being tested. In the quant I moved at a good pace and did not leave any blank. My verbal breakdown is as follows, SC (80%), RC (50%), CR (43%). Completed all questions.

I agree with the rifle approach you suggested, I need to focus on my weak areas but I would also like to focus on the concepts tested most frequently on the GMAT like arithmetic in addition to my weak areas.