You won’t correctly answer every Quant problem on the GMAT in the allotted time. Even 99th per-centile performers typically don’t do this. Through a 700, GMAT-takers are getting about 60% of the problems correct: that’s only three out of five! Even individuals who score a 750 are only getting about four out of five questions correct. That’s why time management is essential on the GMAT. Why spend time on a problem that you won’t get correct anyway, when you could invest that time on a problem where the time will make a difference?

As you are working through a GMAT problem, you also need to evaluate whether you are using your time efficiently. For instance, if you are attempting to solve a problem that you know you wouldn’t get right in ten minutes, let alone two, you are not using your time effectively. Likewise, if you are working on a problem and you know that you can get right, but that it will take five minutes, you are also not using your time effectively. Any time that you spend on a problem over two minutes is time that you are tak¬ing away from a problem that you have not even seen yet.

So how should you use your time? While no two problems will take you exactly the same amount of time to work through each step, using this timeline to structure your time working on GMAT practice problems will help you to make wise (but difficult) decisions on test day.

Note: While having a plan for a problem may mean an algebraic method to solve, it doesn’t have to. Back-up strategies such as plugging in numbers and picking smart numbers are just as valid approaches— and sometimes quicker!

Once you have used this strategy to work through a practice GMAT question, write down (or better yet, input into the OG Archer) your best guess. Then, draw a line under your scrap paper notes and continue to work on the problem until you have exhausted every potential line of your thinking. Providing your brain with the opportunity to think through new material most often takes more than two minutes. The trick is to do the heavy thinking now, during practice, so that on test day there’s very little new: all you will have to do is recognize, remember, adapt, and solve!

If you wanted to meet every neighbor on your block, you wouldn’t re-introduce yourself to your best friends who live a few doors down, or to the guy who has you over for a barbeque every fourth Sunday. Rather, you would identify which neighbors you don’t know, and go knock on their doors. The same is true for learning GMAT content. If you are already solid on a bunch of content, reading a whole book on stuff you already know and doing practice problems you could do blindfolded with your hands tied behind your back won’t improve your score. You need to identify the content that you do not yet know, or are still shaky on, and concentrate your efforts there.

The Strategy Guides are written to provide comprehensive coverage of GMAT-level content. It is your job to ascertain how to most effectively use the guides. Here’s what we recommend:

• If you know that you don’t know the content covered in a Strategy Guide chapter, are shaky and/or rusty on the material, or feel that there must be a faster way than how you currently approach the subject, read the chapter. Create a cheat sheet for the chapter by taking notes on key points that you want to remember, but don’t yet have memorized. Then, test your learning by completing all of the In Action problems at the end of the chapter. Make sure to check your answer and review the solution after completing each problem—not after completing the whole set. There is no better way to internalize how not to do something correctly than to repeat an incorrect method fifteen times in a row!

• If you know that you know the content covered in a Strategy Guide chapter, quiz yourself to prove it! Turn to the In Action problems at the end of the chap¬ter. They are listed from easiest to hardest, so try numbers 3 and 8. If you do not get those problems right, read the chapter. If you do get those problems right, complete numbers 11–15. Make sure to check the answers after completing each problem. If you get them all right, move on to the next chapter. If you get them mostly right, skim the chapter and focus in on the pieces of information that you need to fill the holes in your knowledge.

• If the Strategy Guide leaves you confused, it is likely that you have holes in the foundational knowledge on which the GMAT content is built. While reading the Strategy Guide, refer back to the appropriate chapters of the Foundations books, as needed, to fill in these gaps.

Okay, you have your study timeline mapped out. Now, how do you use your time most effectively?

Climbing the Mountain

Look over your study timeline (for many of you, that may be the syllabus for your Manhattan GMAT class). Look at the assignment you have earmarked for the following week. Get a calendar and block off the time periods during which you will study during the upcoming week. Next to each scheduled appointment, list tasks you intend to accomplish during that time slot. Prioritize the areas that address your weaknesses (as indicated by your CAT analysis results) by placing them earliest in the week. Assign only “make-up work” to your last study session of the week—trust us: there’ll be plenty of it to do.

If you are planning to study for more than an hour at a time, be sure to mix it up. Either work on a different content area during each hour (e.g. first hour Critical Reasoning, second hour Geometry) or do different types of assignments during each hour (e.g. first hour reading and taking notes on a Strategy Guide chapter, second hour working through and reviewing practice problems). When you do practice GMAT problems, plan to spend two-thirds of your time reviewing the solutions to those problems.

At the end of each study session, jot down what you did that day, what you think went well, and what you think needs more work. If something didn’t go as well as you’d hoped, then feel free to adjust your calendar. At the end of the week, review your journal and set up your plan for the next week. Repeat.

Preparing to Summit

By the time you finish working through the Strategy Guides, you will have learned an enormous amount of material; it’s only natural that you will need some time to review.

First, make sure to gain an in-depth understanding of your own particular strengths and weaknesses. The easiest way to do this is to use Manhattan GMAT’s CAT analysis tools to analyze your practice exams and the online Official Guide problem tracker (OG Archer) to analyze your work on Official Guide practice problems, although a “gut feel” analysis can also be very helpful. Manhattan GMAT students in the 9-week class can request a post course assessment (PCA) with their instructor if they have completed 3 practice tests by the last week of class, including the initial one taken by the second week of class, for help with structuring this review and final exam prep.

Next, set up a schedule. Spread your review evenly over the time you have until your GMAT, leaving the last 5–7 days open, just in case you fall behind schedule. During your review, you will need to make decisions about how you are going to handle each type of question on the test based on your strengths and weaknesses, and you will need to plan your time management strategy accordingly.

People often see improvement on a second exam simply because they know what to expect the second time around, but this improvement, by itself, usually isn’t enough to justify retaking the test.

Don’t Forget to Enjoy the Climb!

Mountain climbers enjoy the climb as well as the summit. Marathoners enjoy the run as well as the finish line. Make sure you find ways to enjoy your GMAT journey. Doing so will help keep you motivated along the trek and keep your mind focused on the learning instead of distracted by thoughts of the other fun things you could be doing. Some ideas of how to increase your study enjoyment include treating problems as puzzles, celebrating mini-victories along the way, and creating a study group. If you have a study partner (or two), you can keep each other on track and answer each other’s questions. A study buddy also serves as a reminder that you really aren’t the only one making sacrifices to achieve your goal.

Missed part 1 of this series? You can find it here.

The Foundations Of GMAT Verbal Strategy Supplement is designed as an easy-to-follow primer on the basic principles of GMAT Verbal, including grammar, logic and reading. Filled with practice problems and examples, it explains a variety of verbal topics, from subjects and predicates to lists of idioms common to the English language and the GMAT. The book also includes online access to extra banks of questions.

The Advanced GMAT Quant Strategy Supplement focuses on the other end of the spectrum. It was written for students who are already scoring a 650 or above on their practice tests, and who are consistently scoring in the 70th percentile on the quant side of the exam. It provides students who are already familiar with the concepts in Manhattan GMAT’s eight strategy guides with the advanced knowledge and skills needed to perform at the highest level on the quant section.

Both books will be available for sale starting June 1. They are available for presale this week from the Manhattan GMAT Store.

Though Manhattan GMAT already has classes in London (http://www.manhattangmat.com/london-classes.cfm# ), they recently started offering classes in Paris as well, with the first class scheduled to begin on January 18 (http://www.manhattangmat.com/paris-classes.cfm# ).

Cognizant of the vast numbers of test-takers further East, Manhattan GMAT has also begun to address those students’ needs with an online class specifically scheduled at a convenient time for those in India (http://www.manhattangmat.com/india-online.cfm ) and the Middle East (http://www.manhattangmat.com/prep-dubai.cfm ).

For those whose time zones make even the India class inconvenient, Manhattan GMAT is also offering a class specifically scheduled for students in China (http://www.manhattangmat.com/prep-china.cfm ), Taiwan (http://www.manhattangmat.com/prep-taiwan.cfm ), Japan (http://www.manhattangmat.com/prep-japan.cfm ), Korea (http://www.manhattangmat.com/prep-korea.cfm ), Hong Kong (http://www.manhattangmat.com/prep-hong-kong.cfm ) and Singapore (http://www.manhattangmat.com/prep-singapore.cfm ).
For a full listing of locations for Manhattan GMAT, check http://www.manhattangmat.com/gmat-prep-programs.cfm .