My plan and strategy to tackle the GMAT-beast

[Smarty23]

Hi together,

I am planning to go back to university after 2 years of work-experience. From 2010 to 2013 I did my bachelors degree in Vienna without taking the opportunity to gain some international experience and therefore swore to myself that I will do my master`s degree in a more international context (meaning at least not in Vienna...).

Due to this and in addition also to the fact that the concept of the GMAT really seems interesting to me I will now start my journey. It will be a hard and a tough one, but I am 100% sure that I want and will go through it. I need a good result to be able to do my masters degree at a good business school. But even more I want to prove to myself that I can do it and to personally grow with this challenge.

I am aiming for a 700+ score, with the absolute goal to beat 720.
My first draft of personal plan is ready, but I still want to challenge and improve it.
As many experts recommended, I started with the first of my MGMAT CAT to diagnose, where I am standing currently and where to focus on.

My plan is to go in general through the 3-month plan from Magoosh (https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-gm ... -students/) and to focus on some special areas in more detail whenever i think it is necessary.
I now want to share my results from the first MGMAT CAT with you and would appreciate, if I get some feedback or any kind of input from you guys. Unfortunately the result was in general a little bit below my expectations. I really noticed that I couldn`t remember some basic stuff that i once did know. Due to this fact and due to the fact that i really did not start any prep before, i also missed some easy questions.

My first diagnosis test (MGMAT CAT) was a 530 with Q37 and V26. My personal feeling was that my verbal was worse than my Quants, but actually my performance was stable between 500 - 550. This showed me that my prep should be balanced across all areas and it proved what i actually expected. My detailed analysis told me that i was generally a bit better at sentence correction and a bit worse in reading comprehension. Timing was better than expected, although for sure i also got stuck in some difficult questions (which i actually really tried to avoid) and hurried way to fast on some easy questions.

You can find my detailed results of my first CAT in the attachment.

It would be really kind of you, if you could provide me some feedback, or any hints that you think could help me. I know that i have a hard way in front of me, but also that many people did it successfully before me. Specifically it would be nice, if you could go through the results of my very first diagnosis test and add any additional remarks to my own analysis. I tried to do it myself, however I would also be very happy, if you could provide me an expert opinion, as i am quite new to the whole GMAT-topic and you will for sure find some details that i missed.

I want to thank you upfront and hope that i will get some support from you

BR,
Patrick

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HI Patrick,

Since you're not planning to take the GMAT until January, you've given yourself plenty of time to study, which is good. A 530 'baseline' score is good (the average score on the Official GMAT is 540-550 most years).

It sounds like you've done an initial review of this CAT, so you know some of the areas that you're going to need to improve on. There's not much more to be done with this CAT result YET, since you haven't started studying yet. You've chosen a study plan, so you should proceed with it. Periodically, you should come back to review the questions on this CAT (and the other CATs that you will eventually take), so that you can use your new knowledge and training on these questions (that you got wrong or guessed on).

My guess is that your Course should offer you the advice that you're looking for. If it doesn't, then you should post back in the Forums as you see fit.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich