GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep

1. There is no exact formula - it may vary for everyone depending on your level. My suggestion is to take the amount of work and split it into 4 segments and do it in a month for Math and for verbal. For me -moving from 540 to 750, this meant 2 hours in the morning, and 1-2 hours in the evening, so probably 20 hrs a week.

2. It is easy with verbal - what score do you need (650 or 700 or...) and you know your math score, so figure out what verbal score you need here: gmat-score-guide-to-gmat-scores-score-reports-83890.html

thanks for the guide! i will be starting this next week!

I absolutely agree with not taking more than 4 months for prep work.
I did it and I truly regret it. I took about 7 months in total, first 3 months just playing with 2 books (Barrons and 1 MGMAT book) and the last 4 months I took Kaplan classes and I was studying more than 8 hours a day sometime knowing that it's not efficient.
I got 630 on my Kaplan Diagnostic exam. Kaplan classes offer a lot of practice and I didn't even miss one quiz. I was scoring pretty high on the Kaplan CATS with a few 100 percentiles in Math and varying scores in Verbal but overall I had 4 out of 10 scores above 700 and the rest were not low. BUT.. the last few weeks before the exam I was totally burnt out, I don't know what exactly happened to me but I scored very low on all the exams I took over the last 2 weeks and I got 610 on my exam to everyone's surprise.
Which is why I'm going to retake the test now and this time I want to take 2 months hopefully. It's only been 3 months since my last prep so a lot of the basic concepts are still with me.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think that there is a lot to be learned from your experience.

Hi!

Thanks for outlining this detailed plan. I found it really helpful in this initial stage where the whole GMAT thing seems overwhelming, almost intimidating. I especially appreciate the nice extra concern for us non-American students. I started to read one of the GMAT fiction book (Moveable Feast), and wow, it's really interesting as well as a great help with English language indeed.

I just wanted to ask about one portion of the advice which explicitly says that you should focus on maths and maths alone first. I would actually find it more practical, if you study maths and verbal at the same time. The reason is that I think GMAT requires such ocused efforts, and it is really critical that you are in the right mindset while answering to GMAT questions. Your brain really needs to be tuned in the question types, strategies etc. while you're answering GMAT questions. I feel that if you perfect your maths first and then move on to verbal for the next month or two and then take the GMAT, you will have lost the momentum you built with the maths.

And I also find it easy to focus on multiple subjects simultaneously...but hey that could be explained by my female brain

Thanks again!

Can anyone offer tips for retention? I'm finding that I'll recognize different subtopics but won't necessarily remember a formula (ex. overlapping sets, motion problems). Right now I plan to review notes in addition to OG problems. DISCLAIMER: Not a quant person but not afraid of it either

Can anyone offer tips for retention? I'm finding that I'll recognize different subtopics but won't necessarily remember a formula (ex. overlapping sets, motion problems). Right now I plan to review notes in addition to OG problems. DISCLAIMER: Not a quant person but not afraid of it either

Yep - have one for you: overlapping-sets-should-i-worry-78112.html

I am beginning to research topics on taking the GMAT and I came across this website and I have found this group very interesting. It is good to see a consolidated location for many of the GMAT questions that I now have.

I am planning to take the GMAT around the end of October 2010 and currently I am researching everything I can about what books would help me and what methods I should focus on. After reading through the posts on this topic I have constructed a study plan and now I am looking for any type of feedback to help me fine tune it to my needs.

I have never taken the GMAT before and I am trying to break the 700 mark on the test so I have added in time to study some adv topics so my schedule may be a bit long. Also I added in an example date so everyone can get an idea of my timeline in action.

I have broken my study plan down into 6 different sections.

In the first section I am planning to use the OG-12 to begin my overview of the topics for study. Then I plan to take my first prep test to see what areas I should focus more on then others when I start my next study sections.

In the second section I am planning to spend 3 weeks studying the Quant section of the test using the MGMAT books along with the OG-quant review book. Then I plan to take a test focusing on that section of the test. After that I plan to spend a week reviewing the questions I missed.

In the third section I am planning to do the same exact setup with the Verbal section of the test using the MGMAT books along with the OG-Verbal review book.

In the fourth and fifth sections I am planning to spend two weeks each on the adv topics followed by a test and a week of review.

In the sixth section I am planning to spend 4 weeks going over all my week areas and my error logs in an attempt to strengthen those areas.

Days Date Action
Mon, September 27, 10 GMAT Test Date
------------------------------------------------------
1 Sun, Sep 26, 2010 Prep Test 6
6 Mon, Sep 20, 2010 review errors
1 Sun, Sep 19, 2010 Prep Test 5
6 Mon, Sep 13, 2010 review errors
1 Sun, Sep 12, 2010 Prep Test 4
6 Mon, Sep 06, 2010 review errors
1 Sun, Sep 05, 2010 Prep Test 3
6 Mon, Aug 30, 2010 review errors
1 Sun, Aug 29, 2010 Prep Test 2
------------------------------------------------------
6 Mon, Aug 23, 2010 review errors
1 Sun, Aug 22, 2010 adv verbal test
14 Sun, Aug 08, 2010 adv verbal review
6 Mon, Aug 02, 2010 review errors
1 Sun, Aug 01, 2010 adv math test
14 Sun, Jul 18, 2010 adv math review
------------------------------------------------------
6 Mon, Jul 12, 2010 review errors
1 Sun, Jul 11, 2010 verbal test
21 Sun, Jun 20, 2010 verbal review
------------------------------------------------------
6 Mon, Jun 14, 2010 review errors
1 Sun, Jun 13, 2010 quant test
21 Sun, May 23, 2010 quant review
------------------------------------------------------
1 Sat, May 22, 2010 Prep Test 1
11 Tue, May 11, 2010 start review
2 Sun, May 09, 2010 review study plan
------------------------------------------------------
Total Study Time: 05 months & 20 days

Hey guys, I scored a miserable 520 on my GMATs back in late August and took a 2 month break for personal reasons.

I'm back now and ready to start my prep again and my target is 650 on the actual exam.

My main weakness is Math. Verbal, I feel that if I study properly, I can improve my score (my error was a lack of study strategy going into it the first time so I did pretty terrible).

So, my question is this - what do you guys think of this study plan - is it reasonable?

Premise: I will be studying 4-5 hours per day, 7 days a week (28-35 hrs per week)

1) I was planning on re-starting where I'm mentally a bit more comfortable so that I can gain back my lost confidence, so:
a) Week 1 and 2 on SC & CR theory and hard core SC, CR practice as the focus (while doing 1 RC passage per day)
b) Week 3-6 (basically 4 weeks) on Math practice, while doing some CR, RC, SC questions per day to keep in touch
c) Week 7-8 (basically 2 weeks) on Practice tests and brush ups (I will be doing practice tests starting in Week 5 though - 1 per week once Math study is well underway, with more intensive test taking conditions being simulated in Week 7 and 8.

A) Total time devoted: 8 wks - is this reasonable given that I have 28-35 hrs to devote (approx 240 hrs) ?
B) And, should I be investing more time in SC, CR theory instead of just 2 weeks?
C) And, should I be starting with Math first and not Verbal?

Would GREATLY appreciate your valuable advice. THANKS!

Hi Clestia

I am a barely a day old on this site, so new i couldn't find where i posted my first message a couple of hours ago, i am sure i will find it later.

Anyway i am kinda in the same boat or worst then you since i only got 500 on my first cat test (Gmat prep1) 2 days ago, even though i had spent 3.5mths revising for it. Do you mind if i asked how long did you spent preparing for the actual test, and were you spending serious time studying for it during that period.

hi all,

Guttered, defeated and was really down and under, and feelin maybe gmat is just not my game .

I'm a totally new (< 1day old) on gmat club; i stumbled across this website yesterday, read several treads for a couple hours and it made me feel a little better (and learnt a lot of useful tips like error log, gmat timer, etc)....

Cut the long story short, i felt seriously troubled having attempted my first cat test (Gmat prep 1) yesterday, and only got 500 (Quans 34; Verbal 25), i am embarassed to say, even though i had revised for 3.5 months and been to a prep course with veritas prep which i paid (in the UK) nearly double the price of what was suggested on this website. I did have to pick up (not recap) a lot of basic math on my own during that period though bcos i didn't do high school maths. Unfortunately I also skipped the first year of my undergrad (where maths was covered) to complete a 3 years degree in 2, since I haven’t had enough money then to pay for the extra year.

My problem now is, is it realistic for me to obtain the 700 region on gmat.

I have laboriously gone through all the questions on the prep course material (except the last book which is a review of quants lessons) ensuring tat i know how to do nearly every single one of them (i say about 97%) during my revision - but i can't remember everything nor am i fast enough to solve them under timed condition. I was a little angry because i was given the impression that if i went through all the prep course material and can do all the questions, i would be capable of managing at least 600+.

I only have 2mths left on the online resouce (mainly the CAT tests) before it expires, and I think Veritas is going to ask for more money if I need to extend it. My initial plan, assuming I would have been at 600 level by now, was to use the next 1 month to practice on CATs to get me up to 700. Now I am at a loss with what is the best thing to do. You said it isn’t advisable to spend more than 6 mths, is my time up, is gmat not my game after all?
Would it be a realistic or sensible way forward if I went through my prep course material again (hopefully 2nd time round sticks in my memory better) - 2 weeks on Quans and 2 weeks on verbal, and use the last remaining month to do practice CAT. Or should I restart using BB's GMAT Study Plan for GMAT Novices?

In terms of where is stand on my quans and verbal skill level, may be best describe by the following illustration:

I can’t solve and not sure where to start with this question:
If a > b > 0, then SqRoot[a^2 - b^2] = ?

I know the principle I should use (Iso. triangle sides = x : x : SqRoot2)to solve this question but I can’t figured out how to solve:
The perimeter of a isosceles triangle is 16 + 16 * SqRoot2. What is the length of its hypotenuse.

I can figured out how to solve this but it took me 7 mins!!:
If 5^21 * 4^11 = 2 * 10^n. What is n?

As for my verbal skills I got 12 out of the first 15 questions correct on the Gmat Prep 1 test but it took me over half an hour to finish just 15 questions!! The remaining questions I was not unable to carry out proper analysis for SC and CR nor did I have time to read RC questions properly, and got most questions wrong, wrong wrong, wrong…..
I am not a native English speaker and is a slow reader averaging 150words per min to read and understand a passage that is not too convoluted or filled with technical terms

Anyone with rescue tips or advise for me (BB would you be able to advise?

I am following this study plan closely and I have few questions regarding to the statements below.



Does that mean the CAT test for quant section? What about the non-CAT tests?

I assume you should take all the non-CAT tests for math practices and then take the CAT ones for evaluations. You will then be left with verbal portion of the CATs.

After you are done studying verbal, you would then take the verbal portion of CAT which you skipped while studying math.

Finally, you will be doing CAT tests with full length (include AWA) and reviewing error logs.

Which means you should not take all the CAT when you are studying for math/verbal otherwise you would not have any tests left for full length practices?

Any suggestions guys? I am looking at bb

In addition, when is the best time to start using the OG? Should you be doing all OG12 math section and OG Quant after you finished studying Kaplan strategies but before taking the tests (GMAT prep, Kaplan, Priceton... etc)?

Thanks.

There are plenty of tests - you can take any non-GMAT Prep test and do only the Math/Verbal section - you only need 2-3 of them, max.

In terms of OG 12, you can do it in parallel if using the MGMAT books or if not, you can also use gmat-club-guide-to-the-gmat-official-guide-12th-ed-85956.html to find target practice problems or you are welcome to leave it for after the practice.

Make sure you use an Error Log/GMAT Timer to stay on track.

Thank you for the quick response and links. I already have my error log set up. Regarding GMAT timer, I am under the impression that you should use it for tests only. When you are doing practice problems (MGMAT, OG, Kaplan), it would be better to try think through and solve it rather than being unsure and guess due to time constraints. Is that a correct understanding or should I develop the habit of solving everything under 2 min even in practice problems?

This is the way I'm doing because I'm still in the process of learning.