GMAT Strategy

Hello everyone!

I have just started studying for my GMATs and would like to get some input on the study schedule I created. I work full-time so I created an extended schedule. Please let me know if this makes sense:

1) Take the OG diagnostic in April (to find areas of improvement)
2) Take the OG 1st CAT in April (to find a starting point, just completed this and got a 650)
3) Study for GMATs on my own from May - August to get myself to the 700 mark
- Use the 8 Manhattan GMAT guides to focus on my weaker areas (1 book per week) and do the corresponding practice questions in the OG guides
- Take a practice CAT every 2 weeks (identifying weak areas and reviewing the questions I got wrong)
- Review advance quantitative strategy if time permits
4) Take a Kaplan course in the fall to break from 700 to 740 (I have already registered for Kaplan)
5) Take the GMAT in January (so that I can take full advantage of the fact that the GMAT score is viable for up to 5 years)

I know this seems like an extensive plan BUT I do not plan on studying on weekdays. I will only be studying on weekends so I need something slow paced.

Thanks for the response!

I will try to fit some studying in on the weekdays when possible but I did not want my plan to be dependent on that. Since I am a consultant and work at home on Fridays, I will definitely have time to study from Friday - Sunday. Below are my answers to your questions:

1) Quant: 41 (54th%)
Verbal: 39 (88th%)
2) I took the full CAT with everything. IR: 4 (37th%)

I am unsure why I did so well on verbal since I have always considered math as my strong point. The IR I did pretty bad in mainly because of time management but I am sure I can get that up with some practice.

scarlet wrote:Hello everyone!

I have just started studying for my GMATs and would like to get some input on the study schedule I created. I work full-time so I created an extended schedule. Please let me know if this makes sense:

1) Take the OG diagnostic in April (to find areas of improvement)
2) Take the OG 1st CAT in April (to find a starting point, just completed this and got a 650)
3) Study for GMATs on my own from May - August to get myself to the 700 mark
- Use the 8 Manhattan GMAT guides to focus on my weaker areas (1 book per week) and do the corresponding practice questions in the OG guides
- Take a practice CAT every 2 weeks (identifying weak areas and reviewing the questions I got wrong)
- Review advance quantitative strategy if time permits
4) Take a Kaplan course in the fall to break from 700 to 740 (I have already registered for Kaplan)
5) Take the GMAT in January (so that I can take full advantage of the fact that the GMAT score is viable for up to 5 years)

I know this seems like an extensive plan BUT I do not plan on studying on weekdays. I will only be studying on weekends so I need something slow paced.

That plan doesn't look unreasonable, but as Rich noted, you'll ultimately want to tweak your study regimen in response to how well you're doing on practice tests - if you're hitting 740 on practice tests in July, you surely don't want to wait until January to sit for the test! And it's a good idea to try to sneak in some time on the weekdays. (There's actually plenty of research about how we learn better with more frequent, shorter study sessions.) Your weekday work could be something as simple as taking 20 minutes to review notes or watch a video from an app while you're on the subway. Here's our free app if you're interested: https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-iphone-apps/

Last, I'd also suggest working in some additional practice questions beyond the Official Guide. There's the Question Pack from mba.com: https://www.mba.com/us/store/store-catal ... ack-1.aspx

And we've got our own free question bank: https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-question-bank/

Hello Scarlet,

Thank you for trusting Kaplan to be part of your GMAT journey! I would like to add a bit of advice on how you could work some of your Kaplan resources into your early months of self-study. While you are in the stage of focusing on refreshing your knowledge of various topics, check out the video-based workshops in the Additional Resources of your online syllabus. These workshops are designed to review content and teach strategies, and each workshop is accompanied by a brief quiz that you can use to reinforce what you learned.

Also, why are you aiming for testing in January specifically? Scores are good for 5 years from the day of your test, so waiting until January if you are ready in October, for example, does not gain you much more time for your scores to be valid. Having said that, taking full CATs regularly will be the best way for you to monitor your progress, choose topics to study, and decide when you're ready to take the GMAT.

Best,
Jennifer