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UPDATE: My study plan... feedback welcomed.

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UPDATE: My study plan... feedback welcomed.

by lux » Sun Feb 03, 2008 1:00 pm
Hello, I recently started my GMAT study prep. I plan to take the exam mid-March, and I was hoping I could get your feedback on my study plan.

Books I've purchased:
OG 11
Kaplan Premier
Princeton Review: Cracking the GMAT

Books I plan to purchase (maybe):
OG quant
OG verbal

I started my prep mid-January and have gone through all of Princeton Review and 3/4 of Kaplan Premier. Next week I plan to finish the rest of Kaplan. After that, I will begin tackling OG 11.. section by section. I plan to use that book for about 3 weeks or so. Then, the first week of March I will be going away on vacation (pre-planned) and when I return I was thinking of going through OG quant and OG verbal then taking the exam mid-March. What do you think of this plan? Should I do the OG supplement books before I do OG 11?

I study about 1-2 hours during the week. The past two weekend I have used to take CAT exams. My scores on those have been Princeton Review: 550. GMATPrep: 650. I appreciate your help. Thankyou.
Last edited by lux on Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by beatthegmat » Sun Feb 03, 2008 4:47 pm
It seems like you purchased the right materials. I recommend employing a study strategy that emphasizes identifying your weaknesses, analyzing them, and improving upon them. There are many resources available in this community to help guide you through this process, check out:

https://beatthegmat.blocked
https://www.beatthegmat.com/resources.html

Good luck!
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by beaterbeaterpumpkineater » Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:58 pm
Regardless of what you decide to do first you must finish and review OG 11! Don't leave it until the end.

You should schedule at least one full practice exam per week to help you pace. That also can help you figure out where your weaknesses are.
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by lux » Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:17 pm
beatthegmat: Thanks, I'll make sure to take a look at the links. Do you recommend I purchase the OG supplements?

beaterbeaterpumpkineater: Thank you for your response. I will take your advice and do one practice exam a week and complete OG 11 first. Do you suggest I purchase OG verbal and OG quant as well?
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by beatthegmat » Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:29 pm
I would hold off on the OG supplements. Purchase them only when you get to the point of needing more quality practice problems.
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by beaterbeaterpumpkineater » Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:50 pm
I agree don't get the OG supplements yet. BUT the Manhattan's SC is a great buy for all! I think that this workbook has been a useful refresher.
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by lux » Mon Feb 04, 2008 4:22 am
beatthegmat & beaterbeaterpumpkineater: Thank you for your quick responses. I'll hold off on the purchase.

beaterbeaterpumpkineater: Where can I purchase the Manhattan's SC? Also, how much is it? Thanks.
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by beatthegmat » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:15 pm
Check out: https://www.beatthegmat.com/books.html
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by lux » Tue Feb 05, 2008 1:31 pm
beatthegmat: Thanks for the link. I appreciate it. Do you know if the Manhattan 10% discount will work for the MGMAT SR book?
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by beatthegmat » Fri Feb 08, 2008 12:28 am
lux wrote:beatthegmat: Thanks for the link. I appreciate it. Do you know if the Manhattan 10% discount will work for the MGMAT SR book?
The discount will work on all products that an be purchased from the MGMAT website. You can learn more here, https://www.beatthegmat.com/discounts.html

Good luck!
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by lux » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:51 am
Hello, I wanted to update you on my progress so far. Things have been going OK. I finished Kaplan this past week and took the first Kaplan CAT. I've decided that I will no longer use the Kaplan CAT exams for practice. I know Kaplan underestimates your score by 50-100 points, but that CAT results was just a complete blow to my confidence. :cry:

So from here on out I'm going to be using PR CATs and MGMAT CATs (I ordered the SC book, btw - should be getting it in the mail soon).

Here's my plan for the remaining of my GMAT Prep:

* take the GMAT on March 21 or 22 (that's the plan, but we'll see!)

* spend the next two weeks (Feb 11-Feb 22) reviewing ALL PR and Kaplan mistakes as well as all answers from first GMAT Prep (I'm really, really bad at analyzing my mistakes. I still haven't gone over the problems from my GMAT Prep exam :shock: I know I know, this is bad!). Spend weekends taking PR and MGMAT CAT (only 2 weekends).

* spend week of Feb 25-Feb 29 cracking the OG 11 (each day i will work on a different topic - monday PS, tuesday DS, wednesday SC, etc.). Spend weekend taking MGMAT CAT (only 1 weekend).

* week of March 3-March 7 is vacation (= no GMAT studies). This was pre-panned and cannot be changed because of booked flights, hotels, etc.

* spend next two weeks (March 10-21) finishing OG 11, studying MGMAT SC book, taking last GMAT Prep. Spend one weekend taking MGMAT CAT.

What do you think of this plan?? Anything I should change/switch around? Anything I should add? By the time I get to OG, I'm going to attack the topics/sections from my weakest to my strongest (in that order). I will study about 1-2 hours during the week. I would love to break 700, but we'll see. I appreciate your help. Thankyou.
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by beatthegmat » Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:05 pm
Thanks for the update. The plan looks pretty good and your approach on how you will analyze your errors is great. My one recommendation though is to spend more time with OG 11, and REALLY take extra time to analyze these questions/explanations/errors. The questions in OG11 are more representative of the actual GMAT than any other test source you will practice with. Don't rush this book!

Good luck, and please keep us posted!
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by lux » Mon Feb 11, 2008 4:04 am
beatthegmat wrote:Thanks for the update. The plan looks pretty good and your approach on how you will analyze your errors is great. My one recommendation though is to spend more time with OG 11, and REALLY take extra time to analyze these questions/explanations/errors. The questions in OG11 are more representative of the actual GMAT than any other test source you will practice with. Don't rush this book!

Good luck, and please keep us posted!
beatthegmat: Thank you for responding. I appreciate your input. I'm going to take your advice and spend a couple more weeks on OG 11. My test day is not set, so I think the easiest thing to do is just extend my studies into april. I wasn't planning to spend so much time on PR/Kaplan, but I think it's important to review and analyze my errors. Also, I'm nervous about my vacations interruption (I don't really want to start OG before I head off for becuase i don't want to forget what I learn haha). You think this is a good plan?
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by beatthegmat » Tue Feb 12, 2008 4:55 pm
lux wrote:
beatthegmat wrote:Thanks for the update. The plan looks pretty good and your approach on how you will analyze your errors is great. My one recommendation though is to spend more time with OG 11, and REALLY take extra time to analyze these questions/explanations/errors. The questions in OG11 are more representative of the actual GMAT than any other test source you will practice with. Don't rush this book!

Good luck, and please keep us posted!
beatthegmat: Thank you for responding. I appreciate your input. I'm going to take your advice and spend a couple more weeks on OG 11. My test day is not set, so I think the easiest thing to do is just extend my studies into april. I wasn't planning to spend so much time on PR/Kaplan, but I think it's important to review and analyze my errors. Also, I'm nervous about my vacations interruption (I don't really want to start OG before I head off for becuase i don't want to forget what I learn haha). You think this is a good plan?
Yes, I think that this is a pretty good plan. Don't hesitate to keep asking the community questions as you go through your prep!
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by lux » Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:28 am
Hi All. Here's an update:

GMAT studies have been going OK. Yes, just OK. I seem to have lost a lot of my motivation. In mid-January (when I began my studies), I was really excited to "beat the gmat." Now, I just feel "eh" towards it. I think it's because my test date is so far away (early/mid April). But since I am taking a week-long vacation in early March, I really do not want to take the exam any sooner than that.

Anyway, this week my study schedule has been on and off. Most mornings I review my notes and go through old mistakes. In the evenings is when I usually do practice problems. However, this week I just stuck to my morning routine and didn't bother with any new practice problems. I think I'm beginning to fill a bit burnt out (and I haven't even started OG 11 - uh oh!). But I think it was good for me to pause - step back - and reflect on what I've done/learned thus far.

Today I also took my third GMAT practice exam: Princeton Review #2 CAT. As you may recall, the first GMAT practice exam I took was PR (scored 550). So, needless to say, this was a good opportunity to see how far I've come. Well... I scored a 610. I got about 8-9 questions incorrect on each section, I think. On verbal, most of my errors were made on sentence correction problems (good thing I bought MGMAT SC.. now just have to read it!). On math, I think most game from number properties, averages, etc. (almost all on DS).

THINGS I NEED TO IMPROVE ON:
* Obviously SC. I'm going to start reading my MGMAT SC book this week. I think I got 6 or so incorrect on the PR exam.

* Math number properties. Ugh, this is my number one weakness on math. Any suggestions on how to improve?

* My timing. I finished with enough time on Math (only a few seconds remaining at the end). However, I noticed that I spent SIX mins. on one math problem. On verbal, I finished with about 20 mins. left. Anyone else have this problem? I feel like I fly through this section.. so must learn how to slow down.

I guess that's it. Feedback welcomed! Thankyou.
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