GMAT prep

[bs8]

Hey guys,

I'm going to take the GMAT at the beginning of April and I'll have seven weeks to prepare for it. I took the GMAT already twice last year but, unfortunately, I only scored 540, however, I need to reach at least 600 to apply for my desired master program (650 up to 700 would be perfect). So I'm very familiar with the GMAT itself and don't need to start from scratch. But I also have to say that I've never had any efficient study plan or strategy. Now my problem is that I do not really know how and what to start with, that's why I'd like to ask you guys: "How can I best learn for the GMAT?."

By the way, I've a lot of study material (Manhattan, Offical GMAT Guides, Kaplan) so I think I'm equipped well?

Thanks for all your support and advices!

Kind regards,

bs8

[[email protected]]

Hi bs8,

With a 540, you're not that far from a 600+. To raise your score to 650+ though, you'll have to put in some serious work. I have a few questions about your studies so far and your overall timeline/plans:

1) What were your scores on each of your Official GMATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
2) How long did you study before each attempt at the GMAT?
3) What resources did you use before each attempt?

4) An early April Test Date is about 11-12 weeks away, but you say that you have only 7 weeks to study. Is there going to be a period in which you can't study? When will that be?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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

[bs8]

Hey Rich,

first of all, thank you very much for your quick response.

1) I'm not quite sure because I don't have my results at hand, but I think I scored around 30-35 on both Verbal and Quant.
2) All in all I was studying two up to three months, whereby I intensely worked over a month (6-7h per day)
3) I primarily used Kaplan for my first attempt as well as Mannhattan and the Offical Guides for the second attempt.

4) Yes, right now I'm interning until mid February.
5) My application has to be submitted at the end of May at latest, however, I plan to do another internsip beginning in April.

Greetings,
bs8

[MartyMurray]

Hi.

It sounds as if you were "studying" a lot. What about practice tests? How many did you take and how did you use the results?

The GMAT is like a game, a big ol' video game, and I am wondering how much you actually played the game during your preparation.

Also, when you say that you studied, what does that mean exactly? I am looking to get a sense of what you could be doing differently to get more questions right and get a higher score.

[bs8]

Hi Marty,

thanks for your response, too.

I was studying quite hard I'd say but I think I didn't study truly effective and efficient. I took 5 to 8 GMAT prep tests and reviewed all my mistakes but I didn't really figure out what particular type of question was wrong. Maybe I should identify my weaknesses and then work on them?

And I more or less rushed through the Manhattan books and the Offical Guides even though I liked these books more than I liked Kaplan.

Regards,
bs8

[MartyMurray]

I was studying quite hard I'd say but I think I didn't study truly effective and efficient. I took 5 to 8 GMAT prep tests and reviewed all my mistakes but I didn't really figure out what particular type of question was wrong. Maybe I should identify my weaknesses and then work on them?

Yes, that sounds good. You need to make this entire project about seeing how well you play the game and then directly addressing your weaknesses so that you are sure to play better next time.

Also, in case you are not already, do practice questions as slowly and carefully as you need to in order to get RIGHT answers consistently. You need to develop habits that consistently lead to right answers, and burning through questions and getting many wrong, and then reading explanations is not the way to achieve that. Moreover, if you have gone over most of the underlying content, likely your days of using explanations are largely over. At this point, either you get a right answer the first time or you go back to the question and get a right answer the second time, without looking at any explanation, because you need to get skilled at seeing on your own how to get right answers. Reading explanation after explanation is not really going to do that for you. Sure, sometimes seeing how someone does something can be a way to get ideas, but in general you are at the point at which you need to really focus on getting into "I have to figure out a way to get to the right answer." mode. There aren't any explanations on the test.

[[email protected]]

Hi bs8,

Although you have not explicitly stated it, I'd like to confirm a couple of aspects of your timeline:

1) You won't be studying during your current internship or your future internship? By extension, you're doing little or no studying now?
2) Your next internship is 'locked up' at this point?

If all of the above assumptions are true, then you're going to have to be really efficient with the 7 weeks of time that you will have. Given your needs and timeline, I think that you would find the EMPOWERgmat Total Score Booster to be quite helpful. Most of our clients complete that Study Plan in well under 2 months, so the time commitment wouldn't be that bad. We have a variety of free resources on our site (www.empowergmat.com), so you can 'test out' the Course before setting up an Account.

If you have any additional questions, then you can feel free to contact me directly.

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

[bs8]

@marty:

So what do you recommend? Doing 10 questions my weaknesses, checking my answers and repeating those questions which are wrong? And while following this strategy ("I have to figure out a way to get to the right answer", I've to get faster and faster?

[bs8]

Hey Rich,

1) You won't be studying during your current internship or your future internship? By extension, you're doing little or no studying now?
2) Your next internship is 'locked up' at this point?

Yes, I'm not studying during my current internship (until mid-February) and I won't be studying during my next internsip (starting in April).

[bs8]

What I'm actually looking for, is a stuy plan describing how to make the most of every day (i.e. what to learn) - Something like the 60-Day-Study-Guide.

[MartyMurray]

What I'm actually looking for, is a stuy plan describing how to make the most of every day (i.e. what to learn) - Something like the 60-Day-Study-Guide.

I think you are beyond that at this point. You have gone over pretty much everything, and anyway the GMAT is not as much about what you know as it is about what you can do with what you know.

So what do you recommend? Doing 10 questions my weaknesses, checking my answers and repeating those questions which are wrong? And while following this strategy ("I have to figure out a way to get to the right answer", I've to get faster and faster?

That's basically the idea, but redoing the questions is not the only thing. You need to redo the questions and then do more. Sometimes you will need to do 30 or more questions in a category. Also, you need to do some research on the category you are working on. Go back and see what your guides have to say about it, look at what people on Beat the GMAT and other sites have to say about handling the question type, and really develop understanding and skill.

That's how you will make the most of every day.

For instance, if you were to want to learn about how to handle questions involving three overlapping sets, you could go over what is said in the guides, what is said here

https://www.beatthegmat.com/pizza-hoagie ... 85217.html

and what is said here

https://gmatclub.com/forum/advanced-over ... 44260.html.

Then do as many questions as you need to, referring back to the information as necessary, in order to become totally facile with handling three overlapping sets. Doing this may take working on it once, moving onto other things, and them coming back to it again.

Do the same with triangles, assumption questions or whatever you are finding challenging, and remember that more than studying to learn concepts, you are training to play a game. So focus on figuring out how to get answers and be on the lookout for ways to hack questions. Often even if you have no idea how to do the math that seems necessary for answering a question, you can plug in numbers or something and get the answer anyway. In verbal, without knowing every sentence construction concept under the sun, you can hack your way to answers to SC questions.

You can tell from your practice tests and other resources what you need to work on and when you have done enough. If you want some analytics, use the Manhattan practice tests. After you take the tests, you can use Manhattan's analytics to click your way to your hit rates for each question type and start to identify exactly what to work on.

In all cases, by working on what you specifically need to work on in order to get more right answers you will be doing what's optimal for increasing your score.

You want to solve business problems and strategize? Make this your next project.

If you need more ideas in a week or two, you could come back and discuss this further.

[bs8]

Wow, thank you very much Marty. Your "strategy" is exactly what I've been looking for. I now have a perfect idea of how to study in the most efficient way. I only need to know what to start with? I've done many prep test already. Can I redo the Manhattan tests? If so, I'd do one of these tests because they provide the most detailled result, right?

Cheers,
bs8

[MartyMurray]

I now have a perfect idea of how to study in the most efficient way. I only need to know what to start with? I've done many prep test already. Can I redo the Manhattan tests? If so, I'd do one of these tests because they provide the most detailled result, right?

Yes, you can reset and retake the Manhattan tests, and you may not even have to do that right away, as likely you could run the analytics on the tests you have already taken and get a pretty good idea of what to work on. By the way, don't go back and redo the test questions right away if you do run the analytics on the past tests, as you would be better off doing other, similar questions so that later you can go back and use the Manhattan tests again.

For more quant questions, you could go to the GMAT area here, https://bellcurves.com, and set up a practice account. They have in each category the dozens of questions that you need for doing topic by topic practice.

For verbal, there are other question banks that you could use, although it sounds as if you have yet to exhaust some of the materials that you already have.

[[email protected]]

Hi bs8,

However you choose to proceed with your studies, you should plan on taking NEW CATs (and not retaking any CATs that you've already taken).

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" and unrealistic your scores can become. By retaking a CAT, skipping sections, taking the CATs at home, etc., you won't be properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience.' Thankfully, there are several different'blocks' of CATs that you can purchase that provide reasonably accurate score results (when used properly) - so you won't have to retake any of the CATs that you've already taken.

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

[bs8]

Hello everybody,

I've been studying since two weeks now. I watched maths and SC videos on www.gmatprep.com and did test questions from the OG 2015, mostly 10 to 15 questions in a row. Attached you can find my improvement chart.

I think I'm still far from scoring over 600 though.

What do you recommend next? How shall I proceed?

Thanks!

Benni