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Need help to plan study strategy

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asdert
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Need help to plan study strategy [#permalink] New post   09 Oct 2007, 21:56
Hello all!

I'm a newcomer to this forum and reading all this info from people trying to accomplish the same thing I want is really motivating.

I've got a bunch of questions and hopefully you guys can help me plan this a little better.

First, the objective. I want to have a great gmat score (700 would be great) by the first week of December, which gives about a couple months to prepare for a test that I've never taken before.

I've studied for the past 3 months without consistency. I read Princeton's Review a couple months ago, then almost stopped completely for personal reasons. I just got the OG11 and apparently did well on the diagnostic test, got excelent and above average in all 5 sections, but I don't consider this to be a good reference. Is it?

My plan is to study at least a couple hours a day and prepare for a first test to warm up at an official center. Get the feel of it and to learn from it for my December attempt. Does this make sense to any of you? Or it just a waste of time/money?

The study part. I've also finished the math review and about to start solving problems. Should I do that? Or should I review verbal at the same time? What's the strategy you think I should follow given my situation?

Thanks for your time and hope you good luck (unless you are applying to the same place I am ;) !

Tomorrow. Bunch of 'Planning my Application' questions (maybe some other forum?)
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Calamity Jane
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[#permalink] New post   10 Oct 2007, 18:48
Welcome to the forum! This is an awesome place to be. You will learn a lot!

To answer your questions...

The OG is an excellent resource. It's a must-use book. The tests are paper tests, not computer-adaptive ones, so the score won't be overly helpful. However, the questions are great practice, so definitely use this book. Take the GMATPrep official practice tests. There are two and they're free; you download the software from https://www.mba.com.

Also use your PR book for strategy and take those tests too. The PR tests are very close to the real thing. I like the answer explanations also.

A couple of hours a day for studying is a good plan. Do practice questions on weeknights, one question type at a time until you've gotten into a good groove for at least 10 minutes. (i.e. you might work at it for 20 minutes and then it kicks in and you're cruising and getting them right, so keep at it for another 10 minutes at least.)

Do a full practice test each weekend and carefully review your answers. Are you getting the same question types right/wrong in practice and on the tests? Use that review to finetune your plan...whether you need to work on fundamentals (same question types wrong on tests and in practice) or timing (right in practice, wrong on the timed test).

I would not take a test at a test center as a practice...it is definitely a waste of money and pointless to do without seeing your score. And if you see your score, so do any schools you send any score reports to. If you want to take a proctored test to see what it feels like, go to one of the free diagnostics that Princeton Review or Kaplan offers. (Although I'd do the PR one over Kaplan; Kaplan's tests are much harder than the real thing, so it's not a good gauge.)

btw two good resources for info about the application process are https://www.businessweek.com and https://www.review.com. I'm on those sites all the time. review.com has a good amount of articles. Plus you can get books about applying to b-school, with more detailed info.

Hope this helps!
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vivekbalaji
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error log [#permalink] New post   12 Oct 2007, 05:51
Also, does anyone have a excel error log they can upload to track mistakes in different sections and performance.. I remember seeing one a while ago and i can't find it now..

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asdert
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[#permalink] New post   12 Oct 2007, 18:42
Thanks Jane for your detailed response. It does help, a lot. Think you have time for a couple more questions? :wink:

The practice tests from mba.com, should I do them after I'm done with the OG? or one now, one later?

When you say practice one type of question for 10 more minutes after I'm doing ok, you mean lise SC then after that happens jump to RC, for example?

Finally, do you do think that PR is a good gauge?

Thanks a lot for your help and your time!
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Calamity Jane
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[#permalink] New post   13 Nov 2007, 13:11
Hey there. I'm sorry this reply is so late...I didn't see your post but just stumbled back on this thread. My bad!!

What have you been doing the past month, how have you been studying?

I don't know if it matters how you do the OG with GMATPrep. And yes, I meant doing like just SC for a while, then DS, etc.

PR definitely gave me a good feel for how I was doing, and was close to GMATPrep.

Give me an update, and again, I'm sorry I missed your post a month ago!!!
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