Please serious help needed!

Well first of all, today or tomorrow do one of those practice tests. Do a free one from GMATPrep, or any other one of these free tests given online. See what questions you are getting wrong, and work on those first, rather than trying to review everything. After your review, take another test, and the review the concepts you got wrong. Do not move on from the review until you understand the concepts.

So for example, say you get 15 questions wrong in the Quantitative section. Out of those 15 wrong questions, say most of them are from Geometry. Then go into the OG Guide, go into your Manhatten books and search on this site for The Geometry chapters. Only worry about that for now, instead of going through the whole book, go through just the relevant chapters

First work on basic Math. I am guessing you have trouble solving quadratics, solving simultaneous equations, handling fractions etc.
Check out khanacademy.org (videos) and purplemath.com (practice tests). They have free resources. After that, go through a Math essentials book (Veritas has one and I guess other test prep companies would have some such book too. I can tell you about the Veritas one - It covers all the basic concepts you need to understand what the GMAT specific books are trying to teach you.)
After that, go through a complete set of books. Also, start working on Verbal side by side - basic question types etc
The process will take time and patience but there is no way out of it. At the end of it all, you should easily be cracking 550.

Don't give up hope.
The GMAT is one of the most challenging and difficult experiences in life but it will also make you a lot stronger.

Thanks for the heads up on extra math resources. I will check out the khan academy.org and also purplemath.com websites.

Thank you for the suggestions. I am trying to invest in the resources I currently have. I think I have the resources (Manhattan GMAT, OG 2012, Princeton Review) to score 550. I just need a proper planning and time. I will work on basic math before attempting any exam, then we will see where to go from there.

That seriously helped. You guys are great!

olwan,
You have a long way to go to reach your goal - you'll need help.

If you have all of those resources and you're still not seeing any improvement - you need a different type of assistance.

Private tutoring or online videos may help. If you learn by doing and watching, then videos may help you see things in minor tweaks that may improve your performance tremendously. There's something fundamental that needs to be solid before you focus on excelling. Take a look at the free videos on GMATPill and see if they help. There are other videos too - but you should decide for yourself what works and what doesn't. Obviously right now, the books are not helping.

Thanks for the reply. But I haven't actually started with the books(I just started today). I made the 2 exams before studying. I will take a look at the website.

Hi Olwan,

Firstly, I dont think there is much to worry. You have about 2 months time and you can plan accordingly.
I would suggest you to go through the MGMAT guides. Say, 3 days for each guide depending upon how many hours you can spend per day. Also, solve the corresponding OG problems based on your study. Importantly, go through the solutions in OG. If you can, time yourself while doing the OG too. Say 5 questions in 7 mins or so.
Secondly, about 2 weeks before your exam, take the practise tests from MGMAT(there are 6 of them). Review the tests thoroughly and see where you are making mistakes. Lastly, give a GMATPrep, see where you stand and go ahead for your exam ! I'm sure you would reach your target score
All the best !

Thank you so much for the reply. From now on till my exam I will live GMAT.

There are so many helpful posts here so I'll try not to repeat anything. The GMAT measures more than your ability to answer questions right and wrong. Like in the real business world, it'll measure your ability to formulate a plan, remain discipline, adapt to last-minute changes, and pursue what's important.

I noticed that almost a week has gone by. Any updates!?

I just started with the Number properties from manhattan GMAT. Although I am going through the material in a very slow pace, I think I am learning quite a lot. I honestly lost all the basics from school and it is I am studying the material all over again. I find the advanced sections of the book are hard, so I decided to to go all over them when I finish all the chapters.

I want to pay special attention to the first book of the guides, as I read from many members in the forum that it is nicely written and it has lots of details that are important for the exam.

My biggest issue is time. As I mentioned it is taking a lot of time to read everything and grasp what I do not know. On my slow pace, I am pretty sure that I will not finish all the books with a solid understanding with the material covered. I decided to give Number properties and Sentence Correction special attention, and read the other materials with less time invested.

My other issue is the questions in the end of each chapter, there is around 38 questions in the first chapter, and I have been answering them since yesterday, and I am all day depressed because I am not seeing progress.

Do you have any suggestion on how to plan my time? From today I have only 1month and 2 weeks for my exam. The deadline is approaching, and I want to be somehow ready for it.

Olwan,

Normally I would encourage folks to reschedule. However with 6 weeks, I think that a 550 is still very doable. I'm taking the exam the day after you.

With regards to how to spend your time, I'll have to discourage you from narrowing your study to two Strategy Guides. Your practice exams were too low indicating that you need to build your foundation. I would spend 30 days on going through all 8 Guides (move faster when you feel like you already know the material). It normally takes me about 6-8 hours to get through a Quant SG and half the time for the Verbal ones. That's 52 hours in 30 days.

I would finally conclude this plan with a practice CAT exam, which will give you a second chance to analyze your weaknesses. If you've done the work, it'll help you narrow where you should spend the rest of your time.

Being out of school for so long is even more reason that you should tackle the SGs as they go over basics. I hope others can shed some additional advice if I have missed anything. If you want this, you have to create time, whether through cutting leisure time or sleep time. There is no substitute for hard work. Good luck and let me know if you have any additional questions.

That is a good advice. Do you think I will be able to finish all the materials in 1 month?

I work full time and I discussed the issue with my manager and he was nice enough to give me 1 day off every week. So I have a total of 3 days entirely off. I can study 5-8 hours and more if my brain is functioning.

8*3= 24 hours /week
1-2 hours on weekdays, I will have to say 1 hour. I finish my job at 5, go to gym eat and it is suddenly 9-10. I cannot find time here.

So let's say 24+4= 28hours/week

With this I would have a total of 100-112 hours till the 15th of May. I am not sure if this is enough to cover all the materials.

I would then attack the questions on the OG, and do 2-3 exams till the day of my exam.


Advice, please.



I wish you the best!

With 28 hours, you have plenty of time to complete a few SGs thoroughly every week but please do so. I assume everyone is working full time here and must make sacrifices.

Your plan in the last post is perfect. Good luck and start now!

Hi olwan


Sorry for your score,but i have to say that if u brush up your basics then you could easily elevate your score,you should remember that GMAT is not a intellectual exam and u should be very through in you basics to really identify the question type and apply logical procedure you mentioned that you have Manhattan GMAT 8 guides, they are really awesome first you should learn the basics that are mentioned in 5 quants books and 3 verbal books and then try to solve the questions at the end of each chapter and remember until you are confident please don't' take advance section of each guide.First go through the basic level, if you feel comfort the go for advance level which will be at second half of the book and at the end of each guide there is list of og 12 problems related to that guide and try to solve them,continue this process until you are so confident about basics then after completion all guides take GMAT prep once again and see for improvement(definitely you will improve) and for additional practice there are so many problems in GMAT club try to solve them you can improve your quants and verbal score


i should say that i also got 270-300 in GMAT prep in my first attempt without preparation but now I am scoring mid 500's so believe me there is no substitution for hard work. Manhattan GMAT 8 guides are very good resource.

be positive .

Thank you very much for your encouraging reply. My exam is in 25 days, and I haven't tested myself yet. I am planning to finish the mgmat material and start doing mocks on the 15th, I hope I get my desired score. Did you read all the material from mgmat and started to test yourself or you started doing gmatprep during the process?

HI olwan, Yes i did all 8 guides thoroughly and read each & every word of all 8 guides,if you don't understand the topic once go read twice or thrice ,Please don't dive in to GMAT prep until Your are confident, Please try to read all Mgmat Guides ,they are good source ,as i mentioned earlier first you should be able to identify the question type and try to apply various techniques, there are great people here in this forum like Brunel,bb who always try to help people who are struggling with question type and techniques, after completion of reading or Learning all the 5 math Mgmat guides (Please concentrate more on Book 1 I.e Number properties and Book 4 i.e word translation guide) because Up to 40% of problems comes from these two topics and then if You are confident then try to solve the GMAT club Math Problems.These Problems are little bit tougher than official GMAT ,they are good Practice.First try to solve Problem solving then concentrate on Data sufficiency Because Problem solving is some what more easier compared to Data sufficiency,do all Og 12 problems , go to

GMAT Club Forum Index » GMAT » GMAT Quantitative Section » GMAT Problem Solving (PS)

and try to solve the basic problems i.e 500 level and see the responses from various people ,so that you can know various ways of solving a problem then opt the most easiest way you are comfortable , then if you are able to solve all 500 level problems then do 600 level problems and continue the process like that

Be confident, Be positive and believe Your self.