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Fool of a GMAT student....

by Akis » Tue Jun 15, 2010 10:42 pm
I got my BSc in Health Management and I'm currently in the army doing my time, as it is obligatory to serve in the Armed Forces for a year at some point of your life if you are a Greek male. Around February I started attending a GMAT school with the hope that I will master the GMAT format and get a high score in the end which would help me attend a top-university.

However I was a fool for believing that i was learning anything. My instructor and owner of the school was only giving me tests and no help or guidance whatsoever. She was having some problems with the shcool and stopped charging me and offered me a job there and free access to all of her material. She even promised to bring a math instructor for free (the only promise she's keeping so far; i have yet to see any money from her)
I quickly started to download material related to the GMAT (OG10th, OG11th etc)
and realized that I was way off from accomplishing my goals. I have scheduled to take my GMAT exam on Augoust 27 but I am not well prepared. I'm starting my quant lessons in 3 days and i reall dont know anything and i'm panicking.


Do I still have some time left? I'm thinking about buying the Manhattan series from amazon.com along with a couple of other books.
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by uwhusky » Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:05 pm
Two months is a lot of time, I am sure you can do it!
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by Dan@VinciaPrep » Wed Jun 16, 2010 2:53 am
Akis wrote:I got my BSc in Health Management and I'm currently in the army doing my time, as it is obligatory to serve in the Armed Forces for a year at some point of your life if you are a Greek male. Around February I started attending a GMAT school with the hope that I will master the GMAT format and get a high score in the end which would help me attend a top-university.


Do I still have some time left? I'm thinking about buying the Manhattan series from amazon.com along with a couple of other books.
Two months is a lot a time IF you can spend time on the GMAT everyday. Do you know what level you're at right now (500, 600, etc..)? Go ahead and buy the Manhattan books. I've never heard anyone say- "Man, I shouldn't have bought those." They're good books.
If my post helped you- let me know by pushing the thanks button ;)

I'm a private tutor in Paris, I provide online and in person consulting for the GMAT and MBA application essays.
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by Akis » Wed Jun 16, 2010 2:56 am
I'm also thinking about purchasing the GMAT Pill. Anyone knows anything about that?
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by Stacey Koprince » Wed Jun 16, 2010 7:50 am
Received a PM asking me to respond.

So part of your issue has to do with whether you should continue to study with your current program - you're going to have to make the call on that yourself. In general, if you don't feel good about your instructor or study program (and this is true for anyone reading this, too!), then you should try to get out of that situation and find something that works better for you.

Also, FYI, OG10, OG11, etc, are not legally offered as digital documents. If you are downloading these materials digitally from somewhere, you are doing so from an illegal source.

You have more than 2 months, so yes, you do have time (though, as Dan says, yes, you'll need to study almost every day). You don't mention what your goal score is or what your current level is. Have you taken a practice test? If not, do that very soon. Make sure to take the test under full official conditions, including the essays. (You can sign up to take a free MGMAT test today! Most companies offer one free test.)

Then, you'll know your starting point and you'll know how far you are from your goal. That's important data to have in terms of planning your time, etc.

Next, you'll want to analyze that test to determine your strengths and weaknesss. If you take an MGMAT test, you can use this article to help you analyze your test results:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/09/23 ... tice-tests

Also, if you sign up for a free MGMAT test, you'll get access to a free e-book called The GMAT Uncovered. I recommend reading that sooner rather than later.

In terms of developing a study plan, here's another article that talks about the steps for that:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/02/ ... study-plan

Yes, you'll need to get some books that help you learn the material you need to know - the study plan talks more about that.

If you do get the MGMAT books, you can also use our syllabus. Go to:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/freegmatlearningforum.cfm
Under the highlights section, click on "Official Manhattan GMAT Course Syllabus [pdf]"

If, after you take your first practice test, you want to discuss your goals, study plan, strengths, and weaknesses in more detail, come back and let us know the data, etc.
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

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by Akis » Thu Jun 17, 2010 2:19 am
I know it's not legal so let's just pretend i never said that!:D I took the test today. I was afraid to take it all this time to tell you the truth. I scored a not so encouraging 410 (Q23, V23). I will order, probably on Monday, the complete Manhattan series along with the stopwatch and the the booklet. Im thinking about studying for about 7 days for each of my weak areas. That should give me enough time in Augoust to review my mistakes and take CAT's. If I purchase the complete series, I have 6 CAT's and access to all question banks or do i have to purchase them sepperately?I will purchase "Foundations of GMAT Math Strategy Supplemen" and Official Guide Companion (12th ed.) as well. I also found a very helpful link which has solutions for all quant probs in OG 11th. I will start my preparation with quant but i will solve 20 questions for each verbal section per day just to stay in touch with the material. Im thinking that if i start with OG 11th quant I will be able to solve OG12 and OG 10 later. Wish me luck!:D

The link to the quant OG11th videos is this: https://www.khanacademy.org/gmat.jsp
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by Akis » Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:11 am
Oh and the by the way. How many hours of studying would u say i need per day? I was thinking sth around 6.
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by Akis » Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:38 am
Oh and I probably should have mentioned that my pacing was too quick! I had like 20 mins to spare in each section. I'm in trouble arent I ?
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by Stacey Koprince » Thu Jun 17, 2010 12:29 pm
There's a lot to do, yes. :)
I know it's not legal so let's just pretend i never said that!
Last thing on this, and then we'll move on. When we download stuff that we really should be paying for, then the people who made that stuff aren't going to have the same resources to continue making that good material in the future. You're benefitting from the people who paid before you, so that the companies could afford to continue to do the research and publish new stuff. Just think about that, that's all. (And, yes, I practice what I preach. I've never even downloaded a single song illegally!)

Okay, moving on. What was the source of the test you took? If it was an MGMAT test, use that article from my last post to evaluate your results. That will give you a good idea of where to focus your time and energy. Also, do read the e-book The GMAT Uncovered right away. A lot of the things you mention in your study plan above are really not the best way to go about this.

For instance, you're talking about concentrating on your weak areas only at first, and you're talking about reviewing your mistakes in August. You don't want to review only your weak areas - you need to make a list that takes into account both your weaknesses and the frequency with which stuff gets tested on the exam. Maybe you feel you're "good enough" at divisibility, exponents, and roots (all Number Properties topics) already, but these are VERY commonly tested, so you'd still want to study those areas. You also don't want to wait until August to review your mistakes. Reviewing your work should happen EVERY SINGLE DAY! In fact, you should be spending more time reviewing your work than doing problems in the first place. The review time is where you learn about 80% of what you're going to learn! Finally, you don't review only your mistakes; you review EVERY problem you do, even if you got it right and felt completely fine with it. (You might not review it for as long, but there are still things to review!)

Take a look at this article; it describes what you should study / review for every problem you study:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/09 ... ce-problem

See how much is in there? It typically takes me anywhere from about 3 to 15 minutes to fully analyze a single problem - and I can easily spend 10 minutes even on some problems I got right!

There are more articles about how to study in my archive of BTG articles - you may want to take a look through. It's really important to make sure that you're studying in an effective way; otherwise, you're not getting the "return" that you should be getting on your investment of time!
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/manhattan-gmat

Re: the books, you only need to buy one book in order to get access to the 6 CATs. For the question banks, you have to buy the particular book in order to have access to the question banks for that book. It doesn't matter whether you buy the books as a set or individually - as long as you have a book, you can access the question bank for that book.

[We just recently launched a new product, by the way, that provides explanations for every quant problem in OG12. It comes in book form or online-access form.]
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by Akis » Thu Jun 17, 2010 12:44 pm
Thank you so much for the info Stacey. It was the GMAT Prep. I will review my mistakes on a daily basis, what i meant to say is, that in the end i will review all the mistakes. I hope i can make it . But after walking with u i feel more confident.
I can not thank you enough. You have given me the right mind-set and motivation. We will speak as soon as i get the books cos im really gonna need some help there! :D
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by Stacey Koprince » Fri Jun 18, 2010 11:15 am
Great!

FYI for you and anyone else reading this: I'm leaving for vacation on the evening of 22 June and I will not be back until 6 July. I will not be working at all during that time, so if you do have more questions for me, either ask another instructor or be patient until I return. (It's probably going to take me the rest of that week to get through all of the PMs, etc.)
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by uwhusky » Fri Jun 18, 2010 11:33 am
Stacey Koprince wrote:Great!

FYI for you and anyone else reading this: I'm leaving for vacation on the evening of 22 June and I will not be back until 6 July. I will not be working at all during that time, so if you do have more questions for me, either ask another instructor or be patient until I return. (It's probably going to take me the rest of that week to get through all of the PMs, etc.)
NO STACEY! You are not allowed to go on vacations!!!
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by Stacey Koprince » Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:17 pm
lol :)

Then I'll come back nice and rested and I'll be able to give you better advice!
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by akhpad » Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:51 am
Good discussion!

BTW, what is the full form of lol and IMO?
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by intellijat » Wed Jun 23, 2010 3:05 am
akhp77 wrote:Good discussion!

BTW, what is the full form of lol and IMO?
LOL:laughing out loud/laugh out loud/lots of laughs

IMO:In My Opinion
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