Hello GMATclubers !
I promised myself I would write a review to help test takers who, like me, struggle with Quant. While there are already great reviews on GMAT Club I couldn't find a lot of reviews focused on improving your quant score. So I thought it may help some people on GMAT Club to hear about such an experience.
If you want the short version, scroll to the bottom of the post for the General, Quant and Verbal Strategies.
A word of caution on GMAT debriefs (including mine!):
When I first discovered this forum I went through tons of debriefs. It provided me with the motivation I needed and with a clear idea of what to expect in terms of prep. But since the best GMAT debriefs mentions exams with stellar scores (750+) with dramatic time frame (100 points surge in 4 weeks) it somehow made it seem easier than it truly is. So don't be disheartened if you can't reach the 700 barrier right away or at all: it can take a lot of time and the scores mentioned above are truly exceptional. Scoring a 680 is already a great score on the GMAT.
It took me 6 months and 5 tests to obtain my dream score and much sweat, tiredness and exasperation but with perseverance, patience and focus I truly believe that it can be done.
Another word of caution: the strategies and tips listed in the debriefs might have worked for their authors but they may not suit you. You're the best judge of what works for you. So don't follow blindly a study plan or strategy but think about what will help you the most. So this goes for everything I listed below, I just hope that it gives you new ideas to study and motivation
. The other debriefs were great to give me new pointers and new ideas and how to improve.
Background
I have neither a business nor an engineering background and I hadn't used my quantitative skills since high school so Quant was definitely a challenge ! Even though I'm an international applicant, Verbal was not an issue. My goal: to obtain a 700+ with strong sub scores in Quant and Verbal to apply to Top 10 programs. I especially needed a high quant score on the GMAT since I had no other way of displaying my quant skills.
Materials
High school maths books
OG 16 +
OG Quant 16
MGMAT Strategy Guides
Magoosh ($99 offer with GMAT Club)
GMATPrep Question Pack 1 + Additional exams
Blog posts (see the complete list at the end of the post)
Chineseburned's AWA Guide : a must !My GMAT Prep:
Summer 2015 : cover the maths basicsI started my GMAT prep in June 2015 with Barron's GMAT book : do NOT use this book. It contains several mistakes and doesn't have clear explanations. It's not listed in my materials used since I recommend you not to use it. For me it was a waste of time.
I needed to get my maths skills up to level so I spent 3 months reviewing the basics with some high school maths books : how to do long division, solve linear and quadratic equations, deal with exponents, fractions, probabilities. I also did a thorough review of geometry, much needed in my case.
I then took a practice test and obtained a disappointing 560 (Q33 V34). By then I had discovered GMAT Club. Thank you so much GMAT Club, especially
bb and
Bunuel ! Thanks to all the advice, resources, free materials and GMAT Debriefs I designed a study plan and a strategy.
Fall 2015 : learn the GMAT strategies I decided to purchase the
MGMAT SG Guides but not to follow an online or in-person course. I identified Quant as a major weakness whereas I managed a relatively good verbal score without any preparation. I needed to focus all my energy on quant and could not afford to spend time on Verbal. At this time I also started to look into strategies relating to timing and guessing (see blog posts below).
It was important for me to have a dry-run to assess the environment at the test center and the exam conditions. I scored a 600. Because I knew the surroundings, the people and the test center contributed to my feeling more relaxed for the next tests. I was ready to pay the fee for it but I don't think it's a must and most people can certainly do without it.
I continued to focus on improving my Quant but I had reached a plateau in terms of score. I was unable to improve above Q40. At this point I decided to book 5 sessions with a tutor (online tutoring from
MGMAT) to get to the next level. This was a great decision. My tutor zeroed-in on my weaknesses, gave me great advice and truly built up my confidence. My next CAT scores improved:
MGMAT 2nd CAT : 620 (Q37 V37)
GMAT Prep #1 : 660 (Q40 V40)
Winter 2015 : improve the quant !GMAT Official Exam 2nd retake: 670 (Q42 V40).
This was still not sufficient in terms of quant so I kept on pushing and studying for Quant, mainly trying to stop silly mistakes and focus on easy questions to make sure I got them right.
MGMAT 3rd CAT 600 (Q39 V34) : Ouch ! My advice: don't take a CAT when you're exhausted. The results will depress you !
GMAT Official Exam 3rd retake: 700 (Q46 V40). I was very happy to have reached the 700 club ! Yet, my quant score was not in the 70th percentile range and I really needed to show my quantitative abilities to schools. So I kept going !
GMAT Official Exam 4th retake : I can't even remember my score but it was around 680 and most of all the Quant was not good. I was starting to loose hope but I decided to give it one last try. I did not want to have any regrets. During 3 weeks, I worked intensively on quant. What I did is actually not advised by the prep companies and by anyone but I did it with a family member who was a high school maths tutor: I spent hours going through all the Quant questions in the
OG 16 and the
OG Quant 16. If I got the question right I didn't spend much time reviewing, if I got it wrong I made sure I spoke out loud my take away : how would I approach this question the next time.
The goal here was to develop pattern recognition : even though every question is different it helps to recognize patterns and common difficulties. Seeing a variety of GMAT questions was actually more important for me than spending 15mns reviewing a problem. Don't get me wrong, it is very important to review carefully the questions. But what I personally needed to go from Q42 to Q48 was to expand the breadth of questions I had seen.
GMAT Official Exam 5th retake : 730 (Q48 V42) : I did it
General strategies:
- Solve the easy & medium questions first. Do NOT attack the hard/700+ level questions before you can solve easier questions with speed and ease. This is crucial since if you're able to solve the easy questions on test day, you'll never even see the hard questions.
- CATs: I actually took only 4 CATs on my entire preparation, all under strict test conditions. Because Quant was my weakness, I couldn't afford to spend 4 hours with only 75 minutes of Quant. I would suggest to use CATs if you have major timing issues or if it's your first try on the GMAT. But don't waste too much time on CATs because you get better by practicing and reviewing answers not just by taking a test. Also I needed to keep my strength for the real thing.
- MGMAT Scratch pad: Use the MGMAT Scratch Pad during your practice. You don't want it to be a surprise when you step in the test center.
- Tutoring: Once you have reached a good level (60th percentile at least), a tutor can be very helpful to help you grab the remaining points. I would not advise to hire a tutor early on since a tutor is expensive and I believe that you can easily improve on your own at the beginning.
- Ron Purewal's videos: once you've reached a certain level, this is a great resource to target your weaknesses. Ron is a MGMAT instructor who analyses questions in depth. Check out carcass consolidated download of videos (or search on MGMAT websites and you tube) and a very useful list of all topics with the links by Engr2012 (up to date until July 2015).
- Error Log: Target your weaknesses. Use the Error Log in the right way. Think about WHY you are building your error log : you want to know which areas you should improve on and which areas are strengths. I ended up doing a quick recap after each study session to list the areas I needed to improve and the stupid mistakes. I also took note of how to approach certain questions in a different manner. This helped me a lot more than to list questions with the precise timing, type of questions, link and so on etc.. But this sort of analysis can be useful with a CAT to see how your timing is.
- And the usual : sleep, eat healthy and practice sports .
Quant Strategies:
- Cover the basics first. This can take a lot of time to first build the basics (the bottom of the pyramid as mentioned in bb's study plan). It is important that you master the basic maths rules first. You need to know by heart the common rules and formulas so that you don't lose time on this. It will then be easier to focus on GMAT strategies such as timing, process of elimination and guessing.
- Get rid of your silly mistakes: they will weigh you down more than you think. List your silly mistakes and practice maths (non-gmat) drills on these (e.g.: solving linear equations or adding fractions) so that you don't waste OG questions.
- Mental Maths App : an incredible Iphone app to practice your mental maths skills. I recommend a daily use to build your mental maths skills and stamina.
- Bunuel's explanations on GMAT Club are a MUST. Always google them (type the beginning of the question + "gmatclub" + "bunuel"). They will often provide you with the simplest and quickest way to solve a question. They complement well your MGMAT Navigator or any Prep Company's explanations to OG questions.
- Read the GMAT Club posts on how to improve Quant : incredibly useful !
Verbal Strategies:
I can't offer specific advice since I managed to rise from a V34 to V42 mostly on my own and without books. It worked for me but it's probably not the best way for everyone.
I would suggest the following tips, which can apply to everyone:
- Read: the most important thing for me. For 6 months I only read in English and I read more than 200 pages per week. This truly helped me improve my vocabulary and syntax. It will also help you to read quickly Reading Comprehension. For books recommendation read bb's great post on GMAT fiction or listen to the BBC "A Good Read" Podcast. I would suggest to start with easy books and not to use a dictionary all the time, don't get hung up on every word you don't understand. Enjoy your reading and you will get much more out of it.
- Listen: I'd suggest is to listen to podcasts in English. Even though there is no oral test, this would still help you develop your ear and vocabulary. It will also come in very handy later on for interviews. Besides it can be easier to find the time to listen to a podcast, while doing your every day tasks or on your commute, than to read.
- e-GMAT free webinars, especially "CR-Prethink the Assumption". It helped me to structure my analysis of CR questions. I strongly recommend it to everyone.
Useful blog posts:
Thank you for reading.
Good luck on your GMAT and on your applications !