GMAT PREP STRATEGY

[rahulzlpr]

Hi All,

After going through some of the comments in the forums I have figured out some of the following material that will aid me in getting a good score (700+ and around 750). These are as follows:
a) GMAT OG REVIEW 2016
b) Manhattan SC guide
c) Aristotle SC,CR,RC Grails
d) Manhattan Quant guides
d) Manhattan advanced quant (please share your views on this)
e) For testing purpose using MGMATs, gmatpreps, gmatclub tests

Kindly let me know your views on this and how to go through these materials and if at all you could help me with a study plan of 3 months using these materials that would be highly appreciated.

Thanks
Rahul

[[email protected]]

Hi rahulzlpr,

This is essentially a list of commonly-used books, but many Test Takers who take a 'book-heavy' study approach end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level. That may or may not happen to you, but we won't know until you get a bit further into your studies.

Since it sounds like you're just beginning your studies, then it would be a good idea to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test; you can download 2 for free from www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). If you want to do a little studying first, so that you can familiarize yourself with the basic content and question types, then that's okay - but you shouldn't wait too long to take that initial CAT. That score will give us a good sense of your natural strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. A FULL CAT takes about 4 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have those scores, you should report back here and we can come up with a study plan.

1) Have you scheduled your Official GMAT yet?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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

[HaleyBrooke]

The OG 2016 is a collection of absolutely excellent GMAT practice questions. By all means, use the best resources all that is very important.

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[MartyMurray]

Hi Rahul.

As Rich indicated, probably the best way to go is to do some preparation to familiarize yourself with the test, and how it works and to maybe do some quant review and some initial work on verbal, and then take an official GMAT Prep practice test to get a sense of where you stand and what you need to work on.

The materials you mentioned sound good, but you may not need all of them, depending on what you need to work on. Also, as Rich alluded to, the GMAT does not exactly test book type knowledge. It's more a reasoning game that contains questions that generally involve the use of certain concepts. So be careful to not prepare for the GMAT as if it were some kind of math or grammar test and as if it were the case that all you need to do to score high is to make sure to remember what's in some book.

While what's discussed in those books can be useful, you need to learn to play the game, and often the best way to do that is to do use online practice questions as you prepare, to regularly take practice tests and to a degree to allow the practice tests results to guide your preparation. In any case, whether you are reading a book, doing practice questions or taking a practice test, remember that what you are doing is learning to play a game. So the idea is to see what you have to do to get better at the game and thus score higher.

On another note, I always recommend using e books rather than paper books as I find the use of e books to be less destructive than the manufacture of paper books, and so using them is also better karma.

[GMATinsight]

Hi All,

After going through some of the comments in the forums I have figured out some of the following material that will aid me in getting a good score (700+ and around 750). These are as follows:
a) GMAT OG REVIEW 2016
b) Manhattan SC guide
c) Aristotle SC,CR,RC Grails
d) Manhattan Quant guides
d) Manhattan advanced quant (please share your views on this)
e) For testing purpose using MGMATs, gmatpreps, gmatclub tests

Kindly let me know your views on this and how to go through these materials and if at all you could help me with a study plan of 3 months using these materials that would be highly appreciated.

Thanks
Rahul

The choice of study material looks apt. So the only word of caution is "Don't practice anything in isolation, i.e. keep practicing both Quant and Verbal"

Also keep in mind that working on strength is as important as improving the weaker parts so keep working on them both and exploit the best of your strength.

Start from the basic understanding of concepts EVEN IF YOU KNOW THEM.

Solve as many questions to practice as needed to get you confidence.

All the best!!!

[rahulzlpr]

Thanks for the assurance regarding the materials. Can you suggest a rough study plan on a weekly basis to complete the GMAT preparation using the above materials (manhattan and aristotle) so that I can take reference and follow this accordingly. Any guidance regarding this will be highly appreciated.

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

You might consider signing up for Beat The GMAT's free 60-Day Study Guide (https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-guide). Over 40,000 Beat The GMAT students have already done so.
Each day, you'll receive an email with a series of learning activities that guide you, step-by-step, from Day 1 to test day. This will ensure that you will cover everything that the GMAT tests.

Here's an outline of all 60 emails: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-guide-outline

If that plan doesn't work for you, we have one here as well: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/learning-guide/overview

Cheers,
Brent