Gonna start with GMAT prep, some help and guidance!!

[ab06598]

Hi guys,

Im planning to give my GMAT sometime mid-next year, with thorough prep. So any bit of guidance would be of great help.
Brief intro:-
Im an Indian - so the typical engineer, already an MBA and working with an investment bank. Its been 20 months of experience. I have decided to give my GMAT (atleast give a shot at it early) to pursue another masters (in finance or Exec. MBA) 2-3 years from now. I want to move to a buy side role (PE/VC) and hence the need for a global degree. Still have time to pick the college(s) since will work for a few years more before enrolling. Just want to give my GMAT before hand.
Im a little lost as to where to start from. Giving myself a few weeks to align my study plans and work to give the entire thing a systematic and timed approach. So to start with, books, what subject to start from, strategising and planning etc.???? I want this effort to be a worth while one so need your guidance.

Thanks

[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

Cheers,
Brent

[[email protected]]

Hi ab06598,

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) How many hours do you think you can study each week?

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

[Bara]

Rich is right. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200: Take a diagnostic test ASAP.

Then you can identify your strengths and weaknesses and plan accordingly. Knowing your score goals, school requirements, etc, you can create an action plan to master content, employ best test taking strategy and get into the best mindset while taking your test.

Keep us posted!

[Scott@TargetTestPrep]

I agree that starting out with a practice exam is a great idea. The results of that exam will provide you an accurate depiction of what to expect on the GMAT as well as your baseline GMAT score.

Once you have your baseline score, you may consider mapping out a study schedule to keep organized and efficient throughout your prep. When devising such a study plan, you must remember that the GMAT is so challenging in part because you are presented with only 37 quant questions and 41 verbal questions on any given GMAT, yet those questions come from a huge topic pool.

For instance, when presented with GMAT Sentence Correction questions, you are not just being tested on the basics of grammar; rather, you are expected to apply the rules of misplaced modifiers, subject-verb agreement, idioms, parallelism, and more. Furthermore, if you have not developed the particular tactics necessary to attack questions testing these principles, you will find it difficult to efficiently and accurately answer Sentence Correction questions.

Similarly, on quant, when presented with Geometry questions, for example, you are not just being tested on the basics of Geometry, such as the area of a square or triangle; rather, you are expected to tackle questions involving inscribed shapes, shaded regions, similar triangles, arc length, and more. Once again, you must develop the tactical knowledge to swiftly attack such problems. Can you recognize when a right triangle is inscribed in a circle? Do you have a process for how to attack a question testing you on an equilateral triangle inscribed in a circle? Can you easily recognize a question about similar triangles? By developing tactics to attack such problems, not only will you increase your accuracy on GMAT quant, but also you will increase your speed and efficiency.

To develop your tactical skills for each individual topic, you want to strive for linear and targeted learning. In other words, you want to master one topic prior to moving to the next.

For example, if you are learning about Percents, you want to make sure you learn as much as possible about Percents: percent less than, percent greater than, variable percents, and percent change. Then it will help to do numerous practice problems on Percents (50 or more). After completing the problems, do a thorough analysis of those you incorrectly answered and fix any issues needing more attention. Once those issues have been addressed, move on to the next quant topic. Ideally, you want to follow a similar process for the verbal topics: Sentence Correction, Critical Reasoning, and Reading Comprehension.

When selecting a study resource, be sure that it allows for such focused learning and practice. If you plan to study on your own for the GMAT, you may consider an online self-study course. Self-study courses typically provide detailed study plans and have granular analytics, so you can easily track your progress as you move through the course. By being able to track your progress, you will remain more engaged, and you'll be able to more accurately forecast when you're ready to take your real GMAT.

I wrote a detailed article that explains some more steps that you can follow to help achieve your GMAT score goal. .

Once you begin your study, please keep us updated and reach out with any further questions that pop up.

Good luck!!!!