1 Months intensive studying - book a course or not?

I have tried EMPOWERgmat, Magoosh, and Math Revolution. I personally preferred EMPOWERgmat and Magoosh the most, but all three are great resources for more prep.

Thanks to all of your replies and hi Rich!

1) I have scored 590 on 2 CATs (both Q39 and V32) and now 630 (Q39 and V37)
2) My test date is September 28th
3) directly afterwards during November so I can apply for the first round
4) LSE (global MiM), SSE Stockholm, WU Vienna and NHH Bergen
All have an average GMAT of about 680

You made a good point about quality instead of quantity.
That's the feeling I had when i worked through the MGMAT Books.
I have done 1 in 3-4 days fulltime studying with doing the suggested OG Problems as well.
So I worked through each on a deeper level but then went on to the next one without reviewing it again, so that I could just do the OG problems in the last week. Now I'm not sure if this was the best approach.

In Verbal I'm getting better and better, every day I read 1-2 articles from the HBR, some pages in a novel and listening to english audiobooks. Especially after learning the specific rules for SC my score improved drastically. I think I can keep this level or even raise it.

But when it comes to quant I'm stuck with my score.
By now I think I can do the isolated math operations and know the basics pretty well, but the questions mostly don't test isolated knowledge. My biggest problem is to translate the words into equations, so that I can perform the maths. And I'm not only talking about the standard word problems such as Rate, Speed, etc.

I'm pretty Ok at arithmetic but when it comes to working with variables and having to translate words into variables and not numbers I really suck.

That's also why I asked you guys about the Online courses.
I know im my case a private tutoring would be the best to tackle my major weaknesses (which are hard to nail down for myself).
But since I am a student and not an employee I can't really afford these private sessions.

My concern is, that I already have the MGMAT Books and that I am not sure whether a standardised online course, which doesn't tackle my specific problems will add any value to me in my particular situation.

Thanks
Dominik

Hi dominik93,

With your current Test Date, you would have about 5 weeks of study time remaining - and while that would still fall short of the 3 months that I mentioned earlier, you could still potentially improve a great deal during that time. To make sure that you're spending that time properly, I'd like to know a bit more about your recent CAT performance:

After reviewing each section, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hi Rich,

thanks for your fast reply!

I also posted the screenshots of the CAT so you can have a look, in case there's some other valuable Information to you.
All in all I got 19 questions wrong. (Quant only)

1) 9 Questions wrong because of (silly) mistakes or other minor issues I could just have done better
2) 4 Questions wrong because I couldn't remember some stuff
3) 3 Questions were just too hard
4) 3 Questions took me too long

When it comes to 3 and 4 it's pretty much the same. The tough ones cost me too much time.
And another correlation is, that 3 of the questions that took me too long/were tough, were also word Problems.
I really kinda struggle when it comes to variables. I often could do it, also with testing numbers, but mostly not within 2 Minutes...

Thank you
Dominik

Hi dominik93,

Based on the information that you've provided, your "biggest" issue right now is NOT 'word problems' - it's making little mistakes. You've just described how almost HALF of the Quant questions that you got wrong were questions that you COULD/SHOULD have gotten correct. To hit the type of score goal that you're after, you cannot afford to make that many little mistakes. If you missed a similar number of questions on your prior CATs for this reason, then you actually have to work on your 'precision' first (your note-taking, organization, etc.) before you work on anything else.

The goal to answer each Quant question in "2 minutes or less" is NOT a good goal. Certain 'gettable' questions will actually require upwards of 3 minutes of your time and certain questions should be 'dumped' immediately. Many Test Takers who use a "book heavy" study approach end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level - and it's possible that this has happened to you too. Even the best books are limited in what they can teach you; they also can't force you to approach questions in a certain way and their explanations are often one-sided. To significantly improve, you would likely find it beneficial to work with some new, non-book resources (so that you can learn the proper Tactics and methods to stay organized). Most GMAT Companies offer some type of free materials (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.) that you can use to 'test out' a product before you buy it. We have a variety of those resources at our site (www.empowergmat.com). I suggest that you take advantage of all of them then choose the one that best matches your personality, timeline and budget.

If you have any additional question, then just let me know.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich