I am happy to provide some general advice about getting started with your GMAT prep. First, I agree that starting out with a practice exam is a great idea. The results of that exam will provide you an accurate depiction of what to expect on the GMAT as well as your baseline GMAT score. With that score, you can determine how far you are from your 640 goal and make a more accurate determination of the prep needed to reach that goal.
Once you have your baseline score, you may consider mapping out a study schedule to keep organized and efficient throughout your prep. When devising a study plan, you must remember that the GMAT is so challenging in part because you are presented with only 37 quant questions and 41 verbal questions on any given GMAT, yet those questions come from a huge topic pool.
For instance, when presented with GMAT Sentence Correction questions, you are not being tested just on the basics of grammar; rather, you are expected to apply the rules of misplaced modifiers, subject-verb agreement, idioms, parallelism, and more. If you have not developed the particular tactics necessary to attack questions testing these principles, you will find it difficult to efficiently and accurately answer Sentence Correction questions.
Similarly, on quant, when presented with Geometry questions, for example, you are not being tested just on the basics of Geometry, such as the area of a square or triangle; rather, you are expected to tackle questions involving inscribed shapes, shaded regions, similar triangles, arc length, and more. Once again, you must develop the tactical knowledge to swiftly attack such problems. Can you recognize when a right triangle is inscribed in a circle? Do you have a process for how to attack a question testing you on an equilateral triangle inscribed in a circle? Can you easily recognize a question that requires the use of the properties of similar triangles? By developing tactics to attack such problems, not only will you increase your accuracy on GMAT quant, but also you will increase your speed and efficiency.
To develop your tactical skills for each individual topic, you want to strive for linear and targeted learning. In other words, you want to master one topic prior to moving to the next.
For example, if you are learning about Percents, you want to make sure you learn as much as possible about Percents: percent less than, percent greater than, variable percents, and percent change. Then it will help to do numerous practice problems on Percents (50 or more). After completing the problems, do a thorough analysis of those you incorrectly answered and fix any issues needing more attention. Once those issues have been addressed, move on to the next quant topic. Ideally, you want to follow a similar process for the verbal topics of Sentence Correction, Critical Reasoning, and Reading Comprehension.
When selecting a study resource, be sure that it allows for such focused learning and practice. If you plan to study on your own for the GMAT, you may consider an online self-study course. Self-study courses typically provide detailed study plans and have granular analytics, so you can easily track your progress as you move through the course. By being able to track your progress, you will remain more engaged, and you'll be able to more accurately forecast when you're ready to take your real GMAT.
I wrote a detailed article that explains some more steps that you can follow
to help you achieve your GMAT score goal. .
Once you complete your practice exam, follow up here or reach out to me directly and I'll be happy to provide some further advice.
Good luck!!!!
