Getting started

[skrr]

I am looking to write my GMATs and don't have a planned date to write it on. I don't really know where to start from. What set of books should I study from? Are there any tutorials I should attend? How many days/hours should I invest into studying for my GMAT?

Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

[DavidG@VeritasPrep]

I am looking to write my GMATs and don't have a planned date to write it on. I don't really know where to start from. What set of books should I study from? Are there any tutorials I should attend? How many days/hours should I invest into studying for my GMAT?

Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

Start by taking a practice test so you have a benchmark. You can take one of the official practice tests here: https://www.mba.com/us/the-gmat-exam/pre ... tware.aspx

(Or take one from a prep company. Ours is here: https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat/free-g ... tice-test/

Once you have a baseline, you can start putting together a detailed study plan. Most study plans will consist of three elements:

1) Strategy/content (Every prep company offers free/trial materials. Sample some options and see what works best for your learning style. Here's our free app: https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-iphone-apps/)

2) Official Practice questions (The 2016 Official Guide)

3) Practice exams

The amount of time you spend each week will depend on your starting point, your goal score, and your work schedule. The more details you provide, you more customized our advice can be.

Keep us posted...

[[email protected]]

Hi skrr,

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.

I'd like to know a bit more about your timeline and goals:
1) What is your goal score?
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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

[OptimusPrep]

I am looking to write my GMATs and don't have a planned date to write it on. I don't really know where to start from. What set of books should I study from? Are there any tutorials I should attend? How many days/hours should I invest into studying for my GMAT?

Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

Hi skrr,

It is always a good idea to take a practice test before you start your preparation. You can download 2 free GMAT Prep CATs and sit for one of them. Post taking the test, analyse your test thoroughly and try to understand which problem type is troubling you:
The various question types are:
Quants: Ps and DS
Verbal: SC, CR and RC

You need to build the concepts/fundamentals before you jump in solving the problems. You can do so by choosing one of the following ways:

1. In person classes/private tutoring
2. Online classes
3. Self paced online preparatory course
4. Book heavy approach

Whatever you choose, make sure that you choose one. Because GMAT tests you on some concepts and fundamentals that you can learn from a course. Most of the preparatory companies including ours offer a free trial of our course. You can take the trial and see if the course suits your needs.
You can also get a free trial hour with our expert tutors here: https://www.optimus-prep.com/request-fre ... rial-hour/

In addition to the preparatory material, buy the Official Guides(both the Official Guide and the Verbal Review), Question Pack 1 and the 6 official mock CATs. They should be an indispensable part of your preparation.

You need close to 3 months to prepare well for the GMAT.

1. Understand the concepts and fundamentals before jumping into problem solving
2. Solve full length CATs including AWA and IR. You can get two free GMAT Prep mock CATs and can purchase 4 more from mba.com
3. Make sure you solve the official questions from the Official Guide

[nimi143]

nice

[skrr]

Thank you for providing me with a starting point. As for the 3 questions
1) What is your goal score? 700-750
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT? 2017 anywhere between June-Aug
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School? I would like to begin my MBA Studies in the fall of 2018.

With that structure, I was hoping I could develop a study plan to work off of.

[skrr]

Hi skrr,

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.

I'd like to know a bit more about your timeline and goals:
1) What is your goal score?
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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

Thank you for providing me with a starting point. As for the 3 questions
1) What is your goal score? 700-750
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT? 2017 anywhere between June-Aug
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School? I would like to begin my MBA Studies in the fall of 2018.

With that structure, I was hoping I could develop a study plan to work off of.

[[email protected]]

Hi skrr,

With the general timeline that you described, you have plenty of time to study for the GMAT and hit your score goal. That having been said, there was almost 4 weeks between your prior post and this one - so what have you been doing during that time? Have you studied at all? Taken a CAT yet? Etc. Any study plan that we discuss will require a certain degree of consistency on your part - you'll have to commit to a study routine that will likely last several months.

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

[MartyMurray]

Hi skrr.

Here's the deal.

The purpose of preparing for the GMAT is simple, and it's not to learn a whole bunch of stuff and prove that read about it. The purpose is to hit your score goal. So everything that you do should be driven by that purpose.

Generally hitting a GMAT score goal takes being familiar with the building blocks that the GMAT uses when creating questions, the concepts, and being good at figuring out answers to the questions.

For all you know you already know most of the concepts, and your skills in getting to answers may or may not already be sufficient for scoring close to or hitting your score goal.

Given all that, your best bet is to do some preparation, so that you have some idea regarding what the test is like and what's on it, and then take a practice test, preferably one of the official GMAT practice tests that are contained in the GMAT Prep software available for download here. https://www.mba.com/us/store/download-fr ... tware.aspx

There are actually some review questions in the GMAT Prep software, along with a basic review of most of the math concepts that appear in the questions.

Once you have familiarized yourself with the basics of the content and have done 10 - 30 questions of each type, maybe taking a week or two to accomplish that, then you could take a practice test to see where you stand.

THEN, you can look at the results of that practice test to determine what you have to do in order to hit your score goal. You may need to do a lot or you may not need to do much. Whatever the case may be, by getting warmed up for a week or two and then taking a test, you will have set yourself up to determine what you need to do.

For some more details on how to score above 700 on the GMAT, you could read this post. How to Score a 700+ on the GMAT - A Mini Guide for Success