GMAT in 30 days - NEED HELP!

[costarica]

I have to take the GMAT exam next March and I need to score a 600 or more (625 - 650 is my target) in order to gain admission for a full-time MBA at Mannheim Business School in Germany. Last time I took the test, I didn't study at all and I got a 450 so I know I am capable of doing better. Nonetheless, I have very little time available to prepare for my next exam and I need your advice to prepare an efficient study plan to reach the 600 level. I am well aware of the structure of the exam and what it is like to take a GMAT, I have the newest Official Guide as well as the supplementary Quantitative and Verbal workbooks, I have all the Manhattan GMAT Prep books and I even have an account with Knewton. I will take the Diagnostic test in the next few days, but I need some orientation as to how I can maximize my available study time. I am currently not working or in school, so I can dedicate as much time for studying as needed.

I would greatly appreciate it if you all could give me your recommendations as to how to properly structure my plan for the next 4 weeks and if you have any special tips that can help me reach my target score.

[eternal_optimist]

If I remember correctly, the average GMAT score at Mannheim Business School Germany is around 650. However, since you belong to Costa Rica(I'm assuming that from your profile name) and business schools seek diversity,so you should be fine with 620. However, a score lesser than that may put you in a tight spot.
You have quite an aggressive target and even a more aggressive time line, so you have to ensure that you make the best out of whatever time is available.
I'd suggest that you take a GMATPREP test in a day or two. You don't have to take the score very seriously,but it is just to get a rough estimate of your current competency level and it will also act a reference point so that you don't keep going ahead with a vague idea about your current capabilities. Taking the test will also help see which areas do you feel slightly more comfortable and which areas do you find intimidating.
After that, you may want study for 6 hours a day dividing it into blocks of 2 hours each. Each day you may want to do 2 topics -one each from Verbal and Quant. For eg, you may wanna study one topic say Parallelism from Sentence Correction and one topic say Arithmetic from Maths.
This way you should be able to finish most of the topics in around 20 days. However, as I have mentioned in my debrief, analysis is the key to succeed on the GMAT. Just read through my debrief to get see the other pitfalls you may wanna avoid. I had a long term strategy ,so you may not find suitable for you but you can learn some lessons. One of the mistakes I had done on my previous three attempts is do a lot of questions without understanding the basics or without analyzing the concepts. That's not the way to go.The ideal way is to a block of questions in a certain time frame,check which ones did you get correct and which ones did you get wrong and then analyze why did you get the questions which you got correct CORRECT and why did you get the questions which you got wrong WRONG(That's actually a strategy I learnt from Ron Purewal,an amazing instructor here). I think if you go by this method you should be able to achieve your target

[costarica]

If I remember correctly, the average GMAT score at Mannheim Business School Germany is around 650. However, since you belong to Costa Rica(I'm assuming that from your profile name) and business schools seek diversity,so you should be fine with 620. However, a score lesser than that may put you in a tight spot.

Thank you very much for your post! Actually, I graduated from UT-Austin with a solid GPA, I have 6 years of work experience and I have already passed the interview with the Admissions Manager and did an excellent case study as part of their selection process. Basically, they told me I just need to get at least a 600 and I'm in since I'm very strong in other areas.

I will follow your advice and study plan to be able to improve my score rapidly. Thank you so much!

[tpr-becky]

With four weeks to study and a goal of the mid-600's you certainly need an organized plan. I would set up your study day into 1 hour blocks to maximize your focus - working toward longer blocks of time as the exam nears so you can build up your stamina. I would also be sure to define clear goals for each block - there are basically three main goals - assesment, study and practice with review.

Assesment is when you determine what you really need to study becuase you don't know the material - this would consist of timed drills and a clear review after to focus on what you do and do not know/understand. IN problem solving you would pick a group of 20 questions and try to complete them in 30 minutes - then look at the ones you got right vs. the ones you guessed on or got wrong. Identify the topics of the ones you did not understand and make a list for a later study time.

Study is when you are learning the math or verbal - you won't be doing as many problems in this session and you may focus on the basics and how they are applied or different techniques or structures that will help you to remember these facts.

Practice with review is lots of practice problem - always in a timed condition and then a very specific review - noting every step to a math problem, every technique that helped you get to an answer and a reason why every wrong answer in the verbal is wrong. This is the strongest type of practice and you will reap the most benefits from this part of your study.