GMAT Strategy

I gave my first GMAT practice test on Saturday and scored 550. This score was after 2 week long (3-4 hours on weekday & 8 hours on weekends) studies of familiarizing with the GMAT questions and solving quiet a few without actually learning anything new. I consider myself very decent in Quant (except probability) but extremely weak in Verbal.

After I reviewed my quant wrong answers, I found that I did a lot of careless mistakes in selecting the answers and selecting an answer without analyzing other options. Verbal has never been my strongest link. I usually select what feels right at that time. If I do the same question after sometime, I will probably pick a different answer. I did worst in sentence correction. I'm very interested in learning basics of verbal and starting again. If anyone has any suggestion that can help me out that will be great. Or the best book that can give me a refresher of the verbal basics.

Time management was another big issue. I know that I can solve almost all of the quant questions in about 5-6 minutes but obviously that's not going to help in the exam. That's why I quickly picked answers without actually solving them. As a result, I finished both quant and verbal about 7-9 minutes before the actual time (and hence the low score).

Currently, I have: OG13 with both guides, Kaplan Premier book, Kaplan course book with pocket reference. Do I have enough or do I need more books to practice from? Should I buy MGMAT strategy guides?

I am scheduled to give the exam in mid-September and I believe I learn more when I study myself. That's the reason I'm not opting to take any prep courses. I can spend 4-5 hours everyday and 12-14 hours over the weekend. I am willing to work super hard to get a decent score.

Couple of questions:
1) Do I need to buy more study material?
2) What might be the best book/place for the verbal refresher?
3) Has anyone scored above 700 without any prep course?
4) Are the techniques taught by prep courses very useful and better than actually solving the questions? For quant and for verbal?
5) Given the information above, should I start with solidifying my quant score and finish that first and then take on verbal? Or verbal first then Quant? or both together?
6) Should I worry about time right now or should I focus more on solving the question while solving OG13 questions?

Thanks a lot!

I can't safely recommend any other book than the OG. Each handbook has its upsides and downsides.
Maybe an online course could be a solution? You can work at your own pace and whenever you want.

The techniques are crucial since time is precious and the more shortcuts you know the more effective you are.

You can start worrying about timing once you feel that you have mastered the theory.

Thanks for your response.

I really need to focus on verbal and more and more practice will be the key. Thanks again!

Beatthegmat has SO many good links. Read the articles on the different types of questions posted by the experts here. For example (https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/05/ ... -for-rates) or (https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/01/ ... r-question). I realized that I needed to have better METHODS for solving problems. Even though I knew how to do them, they took to long.

I didn't take a prep course and I got a 730.

Thanks for the links. They were helpful!

I have been practicing Quant strategies for a week now and I think I have def improved my timing to solve those questions. I primarily used Kaplan Premier book for studying the strategy and solved all the questions in that book and I will be solving OG13 Quant questions for next 3-4 days. I think I am comfortable with OG13 questions mostly except one or two questions once in a while.

I want to get a good score (720+), do I need to buy more advanced books? For eg: Kaplan Advanced 800 book? or OG13 along with OG Quant guide is good enough? I would think there is no additional topics in the advanced books just more harder problems on the same topics? Is that true?

Currently, I have Kaplan Premier book, MGMAT strategy guides, OG13 with Quant & verbal guides, MGMAT Foundations of Verbal. I studied Quant from Kaplan book and studying verbal from MGMAT books. Do I need more?

Chutney5493 wrote:Thanks for the links. They were helpful!

I have been practicing Quant strategies for a week now and I think I have def improved my timing to solve those questions. I primarily used Kaplan Premier book for studying the strategy and solved all the questions in that book and I will be solving OG13 Quant questions for next 3-4 days. I think I am comfortable with OG13 questions mostly except one or two questions once in a while.

I want to get a good score (720+), do I need to buy more advanced books? For eg: Kaplan Advanced 800 book? or OG13 along with OG Quant guide is good enough? I would think there is no additional topics in the advanced books just more harder problems on the same topics? Is that true?

Currently, I have Kaplan Premier book, MGMAT strategy guides, OG13 with Quant & verbal guides, MGMAT Foundations of Verbal. I studied Quant from Kaplan book and studying verbal from MGMAT books. Do I need more?

Hi Chutney,

THe answer to your last question depends on your definition of "topics." The OG 13, and also GMAT premier 2013, are comprehensive in terms of question type and basic math concepts. But some things will only appear in the harder of the hard questions. For instance, Kaplan GMAT Premier has a lot of problems involving reverse foiling--going from n^2 + n - 6 to (n + 3)(n -2). But it doesn't have examples on the extremely rare challenge of reverse foiling with a coefficient in front of the quadratic term--that is, 3x^2 - 8x - 115 to (3x - 23) ( x + 5)--because it's rarely covered even on Advanced questions, and never on a problem below 700 level! An Advanced book like Kaplan 800 will cover more of the corner cases and specific challenges and exceptions of the content you've already studied.

As for whether it's "necessary," that varies widely from student to student. But if you're at the level where such problems are occurring in your CATs, it certainly can't hurt to prep for them! Don't force yourself to work out of them before you are ready, though. Make sure you're consistently getting high 600 scores before you consider adding an advanced text to the mixed--basics first!

Good luck, and let me know how else I can help.

Regards,