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Strategy Moving Forward

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Strategy Moving Forward

by striderite3 » Mon Sep 16, 2013 8:29 am
Hey guys- I've been a frequent lurker on here for a couple months now. On August 29 I decided to start prepping, so I took MGMAT CAT 1 and scored a 580 (32Q/38V). This wasn't too surprising, but my target score (like many others on here!) is a 700. Considering how poorly I scored in Quant, I decided to initially focus exclusively on my Quant score, and hopefully bring it up to a comparable level with my Verbal. I spent around 60 hours total working through the Quant books provided by Manhattan. I finished up the last book on Saturday, spent time reviewing yesterday, and then took MGMAT CAT 2 this morning- scored a 640 (44Q/33V). I was very pleased with this score increase, especially in the Quant section. Unfortunately there was a dip in my Verbal performance.

My question is...how should I shape my studying moving forward? I am flexible on when I have to take the actual GMAT; but ideally I'd like to take it sometime in late November/early December. I'm not sure whether I should rework all the way through the Manhattan Quant books, or whether I should spend some time working through the Verbal books. I definitely plan to work through the Verbal books at some time, but I am just nervous if I switch my focus to Verbal that I will lose the ground I have made in Quant.

Any suggestions? I start a new job later this week so I will have 1-2 hrs on weekdays and 4-5 hrs on weekends to devote to studying.

Thanks in advance!
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by Mike@Magoosh » Mon Sep 16, 2013 12:27 pm
Dear striderite3,

I'm happy to respond. :-)

First of all, here's a detailed 3-month study plan you may find helpful (there are links at the top of the page to alternate 3-month plans).
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-gm ... beginners/

Next, I would caution you to abandon immediately the binge/purge method of studying --- all of something, and none of another. In no context does the term "binge/purge" connote anything healthy! My advice --- every day between now and the GMAT, do BOTH math and verbal. Furthermore, your binge/purge approach with respect to the Q/V split makes me suspect that you may also handle individual topics like this ---- I know topic X, so I'll completely ignore it, and I don't know topic Y, so I'll focus on that. This approach is also highly problematic. As much as possible, make all your practice mixed topics, so that, regardless of what you are studying or reviewing at the moment, you are seeing all topics every time your practice. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-study ... vs-random/

Finally, on the issue of what you "understand", consider this perspective:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/understand ... rformance/

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
https://gmat.magoosh.com/
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by SofiaC87 » Mon Sep 16, 2013 12:45 pm
Your GMAT plan sounds a lot like mine :) I started studying in early September and am planning to take the actual GMAT in November/December. I have a full time job so unfortunately I'm not able to devote that much study time per day to the GMAT. I do about 2 hours every weekday (I take a break on Fridays) and 4-5 on Saturday and Sunday.

Right now I'm just focusing on the basics (still on the Manhattan Foundations books) but my advice would be to switch from Quant/Verbal every day that you study. On the weekdays, dedicate the first hour to Quant, then the second hour to Verbal. Do the same on the weekends; couple hours on Quant and couple hours on Verbal, that way you're putting away the same amount of time for each section.

If you want to focus more on one section one day, then make flashcards which you can quickly go over for the other section. I've found that flashcards help when remembering the basics and even making them can be considered a study session.

Hope that helps!
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by striderite3 » Mon Sep 16, 2013 2:41 pm
Mike@Magoosh wrote:Dear striderite3,

I'm happy to respond. :-)

First of all, here's a detailed 3-month study plan you may find helpful (there are links at the top of the page to alternate 3-month plans).
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-gm ... beginners/

Next, I would caution you to abandon immediately the binge/purge method of studying --- all of something, and none of another. In no context does the term "binge/purge" connote anything healthy! My advice --- every day between now and the GMAT, do BOTH math and verbal. Furthermore, your binge/purge approach with respect to the Q/V split makes me suspect that you may also handle individual topics like this ---- I know topic X, so I'll completely ignore it, and I don't know topic Y, so I'll focus on that. This approach is also highly problematic. As much as possible, make all your practice mixed topics, so that, regardless of what you are studying or reviewing at the moment, you are seeing all topics every time your practice. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-study ... vs-random/

Finally, on the issue of what you "understand", consider this perspective:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/understand ... rformance/

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)

Mike- thanks for taking the time to respond. Yeah all of that makes sense. When I first began my studying, I was hesitant to focus purely on Quant. But I felt like I needed to put in a lot of work to get a strong foundation. Now I feel like my Quant and Verbal foundations are pretty comparable (I like to think my Verbal score this morning was more of the exception than the rule).

Moving forward I like the idea of dividing my time close to 50/50 on each section. And then after a month or so maybe take a step back and see if I consistently miss one type of Quant problem or one type of Verbal question. Thanks for those links- I might take one of those 3month study plans and tweak it a bit to fit my specific needs.

I appreciate the help!
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