GMAT Strategy

Hi everyone,

I am a french research assistant currently working in a US University in NYC. I work for a professor who advised me last week to apply in fall to US programs. I have to take the GMAT by the 15th of November if I want my applications to be complete by the 15th of December (right?). That leaves me roughly 2 months of preparation.

I took a Kaplan diagnostic paper test with no preparation last saturday. I was very rusty in quant, didn't remember many of the formulas. Here is my result:

- Quant: 27/37
- Verbal: 36/41

I did not really pay attention to time, and I feel that my Quant score is artificially low. I definitely suffered through the test. Kaplan provides a grid that gives me a score in the range 610-660. I have worked on my mistakes in the diagnostic test, took it again with 4 careless errors (that's one of my big problems. Any advice?).

I bought OG13 and started working on the Quant section monday morning. Here is what I have started to do, and what I plan for the next few weeks:

- Every morning: I start working at 8AM for 4 hours to build stamina. My test will be at 8AM too. I plan on working only on my math skills the first month, because that's where i need improving. So far, I am doing 40 questions in a row, within 80-90 minutes, to get used to the rythm. After that, I take a break, and start correcting my questions and learning the concepts that I don't know well enough.
- Every evening: I start working at 8PM for 2 hours. I basically do again the series of questions I did in the morning, to make sure that I master all of them. At this point, there should only be 2-3 questions that I need to work on again. In OG13, there is typically one about Orange Juice that I have problems understanding. I'll get there.
- Every saturday morning: I start at 8AM for 4 hours and do a third time the questions I did during the week, with a break every hour. The purpose is to make sure that my brain knows how to process these questions without too much effort.
- Sundays: I plan on going out on saturday evenings and not working on sundays.

Here are my questions:

- I need to have a score superior to 700 to be considered to the programs I am applying to. Does that goal seem reachable to you?
- I definitely see the value of doing OG13 questions multiple times in order to make sure that I really master them. But I am not a GMAT expert. What do YOU think? Am I learning to answer GMAT questions, or am I just learning to answer specific OG13 questions?
- I don't want to take any CAT test the first month. I feel that CAT tests are useful to build stamina and getting used to the system, not to learn new concepts. I don't want to be depressed by artificially low scores. What do you think?
- People around here say that OG13 is too easy. That is making me anxious, because I am learning a lot from this book. I feel that I need to master 0G13 before I can go to harder questions, and not the other way around. What do you think? What other book would you advise me to get?
- I was originally planning on taking the GMAT on October 15th in order to have another chance to get a good score. However, I feel that one month won't be enough for me to reach 700+ and I don't see the point in taking a test without being ready. What do you think? Do people usually take the times 2-3 times before reaching their score?
- One reason people seem to like taking the test twice is that they can get used to the testing center and the interface. I am planning on regularly taking CATs during my second month of preparation, to get used to the pace. I also have to take the TOEFL in october, so I'll see the testing center. Are the conditions similar?

Thanks a lot for your help!

It's great that you are trying to get used to the pace of the exam. However, it would be advisable to focus more on accuracy currently and work on your timing later, 2-3 weeks before the exam. The more time you spend now on remembering and learning the theory the faster you will be in a month. So don't worry about your timing at present, try to go through as many theoretical lessons as possible so that you will be able to find a method to deal with all tested question types.

Thanks a lot for your answer!

- I need to have a score superior to 700 to be considered to the programs I am applying to. Does that goal seem reachable to you?

You should probably take a diagnostic CAT exam to determine where you really are. Paper exams are pretty different from adaptive tests, so taking a CAT exam will more accurately give you an idea of where you are on the scoring scale at the beginning. Plenty of prep companies offer free diagnostic CAT exams.

- I definitely see the value of doing OG13 questions multiple times in order to make sure that I really master them. But I am not a GMAT expert. What do YOU think? Am I learning to answer GMAT questions, or am I just learning to answer specific OG13 questions?

This doesn't seem like a great strategy, since you will just be "mastering" OG questions, and I can guarantee you that none of those questions will appear on your actual test. What's important is that you can recognize the underlying concepts in these questions, and that you can see those concepts in other, new questions (that you've never seen before). Questions centered around the same concept will not look the same, but they'll have the same concept -- so looking at one OG problem multiple times will not help you, unless you're getting a lot more out of it.

- I don't want to take any CAT test the first month. I feel that CAT tests are useful to build stamina and getting used to the system, not to learn new concepts. I don't want to be depressed by artificially low scores. What do you think?

You should probably take at least one CAT exam to determine where you (roughly) stand, and what a realistic goal score is.

- People around here say that OG13 is too easy. That is making me anxious, because I am learning a lot from this book. I feel that I need to master 0G13 before I can go to harder questions, and not the other way around. What do you think? What other book would you advise me to get?

Realistically, the questions in the OG will be most like the questions you see on the GMAT. Take that how you will.

- I was originally planning on taking the GMAT on October 15th in order to have another chance to get a good score. However, I feel that one month won't be enough for me to reach 700+ and I don't see the point in taking a test without being ready. What do you think? Do people usually take the times 2-3 times before reaching their score?

The test does cost $250 to take, so that should factor into your decision. Reaching 700+ will depend on a number of factors, including where you start at and how you study. If you don't think you'll be ready to take the test at that time, you may want to reschedule.

- One reason people seem to like taking the test twice is that they can get used to the testing center and the interface. I am planning on regularly taking CATs during my second month of preparation, to get used to the pace. I also have to take the TOEFL in october, so I'll see the testing center. Are the conditions similar?

It is a good idea to try to take the test in "normal" study conditions. For example, if you usually wake up at 6 a.m. to study after eight hours of sleep, don't wake up at 3 a.m. after five hours of sleep on test day. Likewise, if you usually wake up at 1 p.m. after six hours of sleep, you should probably schedule your test later in the day and get...six, not eight or 10 or 12, hours of sleep the night/day before. Timing is an issue, and that's where taking CATs will really help you (as well as allowing you to benchmark your progress). If you take the TOEFL in the same testing center, then I assume testing conditions will be the same.