400s in practice shooting for 650, GMAT date May 25th! HELP!

You need to start with the basics. The MGMAT series is the basics. Try to complete one chapter a day with all of the relevant questions in the book and the OG book. It sounds like you have sufficient resources in front of you to get a 600+ you just need to use them correctly. Also, I would watch some videos on time management and general test strategies.

Honestly, if you're in the 400's on practice tests you have a looooooong way to go.

The good thing is that it's not impossible. I'd like to understand why reading through a book isn't your cup of tea or why you frown on the MGMAT series. GMATPill is okay, but I don't know if I'd recommend it for everyone. You can probably get a 600 just by grinding, but you're going to have to master the basics first. May 25th is right around the corner. You need to start putting in at LEAST 3 hours of productive studying in per night. Consider a tutor as well (even though it costs a lot of money). For me the MGMAT series is going to be the best bang for your buck.

Dear uphillclimber

First of all, I agree with Big4Advisory and ohsballer --- the MGMAT books are superb. It's a shame they are not clicking for you. I would say --- think of them as reference books, like a dictionary. Few people read the dictionary from cover to cover, and that can be a hard way to go at the MGMAT books, but get to know their layout enough so that when you have a specific question, you can look it up in those books. That's one way to derive benefit from them.

Because you mentioned Magoosh, I'd like to put in a plug. With all due respect to ohsballer, I would think a live service that provides total GMAT prep with full online support that's considerably cheaper than the MGMAT book set might also be in the running for "best bang for the buck"!

Here's a three-month study plan:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-gm ... beginners/
Since you have a little over two months, you will have to condense this plan a bit.

Here are a couple blogs from the free blog you may find helpful:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/how-to-stu ... gmat-math/
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-sente ... questions/
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-sente ... trategies/
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/save-time- ... questions/

As you may know, we have 200+ video lessons and 700+ questions. We write our own questions and subject them to a rigorous statistical analysis, so I believe our questions are, on average, as good as MGMAT's. Here are a few practice questions for free:
A DS question
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/872
A PS question
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/47
A SC question
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/3292
A CR question
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/3137
When you submit your answer for each, the following page will have a complete video explanation. Each one of our 700+ questions has its own video explanation.

Please let me know if I can answer any further questions.

Mike
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I believe it doesn't click with me because I am a visual learner. If I can see someone do it with an example then I can comprehend it and repeat those steps with other examples. By reading it from a book I don't think my mind slows down and processes the information as efficiently as a visual "prop". Hopefully that makes sense. With that being said, I really appreciate everyone's time and considerations to reply. I think the most important thing is to find out which style of a learner you are and then setting up a plan accrodingly.


I really want to make it clear that I am thankful for everyone's time!

You do have a long way to go - but that's not a bad thing. You're going to see a TON of improvement if you're dedicated, so it will be that much more rewarding.

It really depends on how much money you're willing to spend and how much time you're willing to dedicate. If you're more of a visual learner- perhaps you would benefit more from a live setting - those can be a bit pricey though, but if you can afford it - it's always good to have someone who can give you direct feedback as you come up with a question.

Read the reviews on here and make your decision using those. Personally, I'm a huge fan of Knewton (and I pretty much tell everyone willing to listen ) They helped me with a 110 point increase (550 to 660) and, in your position, I think that their program would have a lot to offer you. Their 50+ point improvement guarantee is also a nice "What have I got to lose?" incentive. I'm happy to answer any questions relating to my Knewton experience if you're looking at their program.

Anyway - you're at a point where you just need to tackle everything. Getting into an organized class-type setting will definitely be beneficial for you, if nothing else it will give you a plan of action. You've got about two months and I think with the amount of time you have to dedicate - you should be able to make some progress toward your goal. 250 points in 2 months though? That's quite a jump!

Good luck!

I am with you. I'm a visual learner too, and it was torture going through the MGMAT books. I'm not saying they're bad, just wasn't conducive with my style of learning. I am currently enrolled in a Veritas online class, which is better for me. I know you said you were on a budget.. I believe Manhattan has an on-demand course for $700, and I know other companies offer similar items for less. Try something like that.

Hi uphillclimber, I'm sure you appreciate people's time, but the community also values you taking the time to share your experience and foster a conversation. It benefits a lot of people to read through experiences like this and draw takeaways from your experience. So thanks for taking the time to share.

As for learning, a lot of people learn the way you do, by seeing an example and identifying a solution strategy to be used. That's sort of the main strategy at Veritas, there's a lot of learning by doing. I haven't reviewed the material of all the test prep companies but what I've seen has consistently been good, so any option would be reasonable. The goal, however, is to use the best approach for you.

It seems that the strategy of looking at problems and drawing solution strategies from them would be best for you. Of course you need to have some notion of the basic concepts, but you'd probably benefit most by doing a few questions and looking through the solutions, more than slogging through a few books while your mind is daydreaming of something else. Feel free to give it a shot and see if your scores start to improve.

Good luck!
-Ron

If you are an visual learner then you should definitely try e-GMAT. We make good use of visuals in our courses. Try the "like" concept below. Also attend the free session this Saturday on how to master Sentence Correction. We also have a very generous free trial. Check it out.


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Hey I ll tell u an inexpensive way...since u r a visual learner, try Thursdays with Ron..... Many ppl both here and I.n big highly recommend those videos

To add to what Ron said, let me give you my suggestion of a zero-cost improvement method (though it's not visual) -
You might want to check out a high school Math book (dig up your old books or borrow from friend/cousin/library) or use a website such as purplemath.com before you start with any course. The concepts tested on GMAT are from high school. Just the application of the concepts is a little advanced. Your basic Math should be strong so that you can quickly follow what's going on in GMAT questions otherwise you will end up wasting a lot of time. You will be able to revise your concepts from high school books quickly since you have already gone through them before. Work through your concepts first and then take up the GMAT specific product that works best for you. It should work out well for you.
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