Make the Most of Your Holiday Study Time - Part 1
The holidays are fast approaching and all of my students are asking me how best to use their extra downtime over the next few weeks. I have some different recommendations, depending upon your circumstances.
In this installment, well talk about what to do if youre aiming for the second round (in other words, your applications are due in January 2016soon!). In the next installment, well talk about what to do if this circumstance does not apply to you.
Im aiming for Round 2 admissions (early January 2016)
If youre aiming for round 2, then this is obviously going to be a busy holiday season. Lets see if we cant find a way to lessen the stress a bit while still allowing you to accomplish what you need.
Youve got two broad tasks at hand: taking the GMAT and finishing your applications. Youre going to have to balance your time well so that one of these aspects doesnt suffer unduly.
Task #1, then, is to take a good hard look at your goal GMAT score. Sure, it would be unbelievably fantastic if you could score a 720, but you have to ask yourself whether thats a realistic goal in the few weeks that you have left, particularly given that you still have essays and other aspects of your applications to finalize. So what do you think is a realistic goal, given everything you have to do?
Cut your stressful commitments
Next, pull out your calendar. Youre going to have to work on some aspect of this stuff every single day. (As if the holidays werent stressful enough. Sorry.) Can you reduce any stressful commitments? Are there holiday parties or family events you really dont want to attend? Dontyou have the perfect excuse. Send your regrets right now. Can you work from home a couple of days or take time off? Use up some of your sick days? Schedule it. :)
Do not, though, skip events that youre looking forward to; you will need some breaks in the coming weeks. If you burn yourself out, you wont do very well on the test, so remind yourself that I ordered you to go to your best friends awesome annual party and have a great time.
Is the craziness of everything really getting to you? Try meditating to help manage the stress of holidays + GMAT + applications.
Schedule study appointments with yourself
Okay, now start blocking off chunks of time every day from now until your applications are due: 30 minutes here, an hour there, 2 hours over there. Give yourself good breaks between sessions; your brain will thank you. Youre probably going to need a total of 15 to 30 hours a week, depending on how many applications youre doing and how much you want to lift your GMAT score.
Plan to do some GMAT study and some work on applications every day. This is better than doing all-GMAT today and all-essays tomorrow. Your brain will stay fresher if you mix up your activities.
Plan to take 1 or 2 practice tests. Block off 4 hours and start at the same time of day that you will start the real test. Take the tests at least one week apart. Dont take a practice test within 5 days of the real test. Make sure you take your tests under 100% official conditions, including the essay and IR sections. (I know you dont care as much about those scores. But you do care that your practice mimics the real test.)
Fix your timing
The single biggest thing that people consistently mess up on the GMAT is timing. I would bet that almost anyone can pick up 20 to 30 points on the GMAT simply by getting better at knowing what NOT to do. Im totally serious!
Knowing what NOT to do is related to business decision-making: both while studying and during the test, where do you want to spend your scarce time (and mental energy) and where dont you? You dont invest in every last idea that your employees brainstorm; you pick out the most promising ones and allocate your scarce resources accordingly. By the same token, on the GMAT, you cant do it all; if you try, you wont maximize your score on the test.
Got that mindset? Heres how to put your best foot forward with respect to timing on the test.
Focus on the lowest-hanging fruit
You cant study it all, either. You have limited time and a split focus (applications!). You need to prioritize: work on the easiest-to-improve stuff first and just get as far as you can before you run out of time and have to take the test.
Take a look at your most recent CAT or your performance on recent practice problems. Where were you almost there? Use that data to drive your study and review.
The lowest of the low-hanging fruit is careless mistakes. You already know how to do this stuff! You just need to figure out how to minimize whatever types of careless mistakes youre tending to make. This might be, Hmm, I solved for the wrong thing on a couple of problems. What am I going to do on every problem from now on to make sure that I solve for the right thing? Or it might be, Oh, I used to know how to do that, but I havent looked at it in 6 weeks and I kind of forgot. I need to review that.
Dont just tell yourself, Ugh, dont do that! Thats not enough. Figure out why you made that careless mistake and what new habit you can implement to reduce the chances of a repeat of that specific kind of mistake.
Another low-hanging area has to do with holes in foundational-level material. Did you mess up that weird problem with negative exponents and fractions and youre still not 100% sure what the thing was talking about? Whatever. Thats too hard anyway; blow it off.
But did you mess up that problem that required you to solve a pretty straightforward linear equation? You know, the one where you read the explanation after and thought, I didnt know that before, but I get it. Thats not that hard. Okay: practice so you can do it next time!
Also take a look at problems that you know how to do, but that tend to take you about 30 to 60 seconds longer than the average expected for that question type. Are there any shortcuts you can learn to shave 15 or 30 seconds? If so, practice implementing them so that you can save up some time to spend elsewhere or just take the timing pressure off a bit.
Find someone to commiserate and motivate
Know anyone else whos studying right now or working on applications? If youre both studying, get together two or three times a week to study (even if youre both mostly working on your own stuff). If you arent in the same city, meet via Google Hangout or similar. Tell your friend what you did since the last time you met and what you plan to do until the next time you meet. Thatll help keep you on track, since you know youll have to fess up if you dont do anything!
Even if your friend is already done with the test, you can still ask him or her to be your keep me on track study buddy: you say what youve done and what youre going to do each week. He or she went through the GMAT too and will understand.
Get together for happy hour or brunch once a week to decompress and commiserate (again, even if thats both of you bringing a drink to your couch while youre on video chat or a phone call).
Do your best in the time you have left
Give it your best shot. Time is limited and its possible that you might not make everything come together by round 2but at least youll know that youve really tried. You can always decide to postpone your application and try again.
Good luck and happy studying!
Join us next time, when well talk about how to make the most of your holiday season if youre not planning to apply during round 2 this year.