3-4 Months of full time studying. What study material should I acquire

Hayek,

I recommend that you take a GMAT Prep mock that provides an Enhanced Score Report. Once you take a mock, do the following:

1. Get you Enhanced Score Report to understand where (SC,CR, and/or RC) you need to improve.
2. Define the extent of improvement using GMAT Planner.
3. Start with the section in which you need the most improvement. Take ability quizzes to track your improvement.
4. Use analytics to identify and work on your weakness.

Also attend the Critical reasoning webinar that we have this weekend. Please click here to register for the same.

Regards,

Rajat Sadana

Hi Hayek,

Since it sounds like you're just beginning your studies, then it would be a good idea to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test; you can download 2 for free from www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). If you want to do a little studying first, so that you can familiarize yourself with the basic content and question types, then that's okay - but you shouldn't wait too long to take that initial CAT. That score will give us a good sense of your natural strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. A FULL CAT takes about 4 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have those scores, you should report back here and we can come up with a study plan.

I'd like to know a bit more about your timeline and goals:
1) What is your goal score?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
3) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Thanks for the answers.

Will take a practice test on saturday and report back here

I just finished the the tests here on gmatclub.

In quant I got a score of 34 (28th percentile) and for the verbal I got an 28 (55th percentile) with the majority of the wrong answers in SC. The quant I will be able to increase very rapidly because there were many terms that I just didn't understand and therefore guessed a lot.

My goal score is 710+ and I will be applying for a masters degree (not a MBA) in 2 years at Stockholm school of economics.

Hi Hayek,

From what you've described, it sounds like you took 2 GMATClub Tests instead of taking a FULL CAT under realistic conditions. If that's the case, then the score results aren't exactly what we need to analyze your current skills. By extension, you really should plan to take FULL CATs in the future. That having been said, raising these scores to a 710+ will take a significant amount of work - and you'll have to make serious improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. As such, you would likely find it beneficial to invest in a GMAT Course of some type (either Guided Self-Study or instructor-led).

1) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

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

Hi Hayek ,

Four months should be good enough to achieve your target score. I would encourage you take one of the two GMAT PREP practice test. You can know your weaknesses and work on them. If you are willing to study dedicatedly for that period, you are sure to achieve your goal. I believe you may benefit from taking a GMATPREP course. If you are willing, there are some great GMAT prep companies that can help you with your preparation.

In order to make an informed decision I would highly encourage you to go to their websites and try on their free trial and decide for yourself which one do you like better. You try out free access to EmpowerGMAT, Magoosh and Optimus Prep as they have great reviews on GMATCLUB.

Also for verbal, I would highly encourage you to consider e-gmat verbal online or the e-gmat verbal live course. They are both amazing courses especially designed for non-natives. They offer almost 25% of their courses for free so you can try out their free trial to decide which one you want to go for. Plus the e-gmat Scholaranium which is included in both the courses is one of the best verbal practice tools in the market.

You can also try out the MGMAT guides they are phenomenal and cover the entire syllabus really well. I must add that if you are particularly looking to discover and improve on your weak areas in quant; a subscription to GMATCLUB tests is the best way to do that. They are indeed phenomenal and will not only pinpoint your weak areas but also help you improve on them. Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, Manhattan GMAT tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have a good verbal and Quant section and will certainly help you point out and improve your weak areas.

Further another advantage of taking many mocks is to build up your stamina. Apart from the GMATPREP tests, taking practise tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that.

I would also encourage you to purchase the latest version of OG and the verbal review for some great additional practice. Here is a link that will help you with your decision.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ve ... 68383.html

Lastly, you can check out a very interesting article by Mike McGarry from Magoosh detailing a 3 month study plan

https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-g ... -students/. You will find it very helpful as it gives out a study plan as per your needs.

Hope this helps. All the best.

it is better to start with taking a CAT exam know starting point
3-4 month is pretty enough time so you can start with Best comprehensive material

1. Manhattan GMAT Quant Guides
2. Manhattan GMAT Verbal guides
or
Aristotle Verbal Guide
for CR critical reasoning bible is best book with 300+ pages of comprehensive Data

Start with quant, learn the concepts tested on GMAT
After learning, practice your learned section with times practice
You can also take quizzes to meet the pace of GMAT

1 Month for learning concepts and 15 days of practice and same with the verbal
when completed all the concepts learning and handsome practice
Take full lenght CATs, know your estimated score

Analyze the result with Correct/incorrect questions, pacing analysis
trace your mistakes and learn from them, make an error log to know
your mistakes in the previously attempted questions

Best CATs

1. Official GMAC (50+50$)
2. Manhattan GMAT (49$)
3. GMAT Club Quant CATs (80$)

Good Luck
Cheers

You should definitely pick up as much official material as possible. Unless you have a preference for a particular type of resource, both offline and online prep should be fine.

You definitely need the Official Guide as well as the GMAT Prep software for the test.

After those 2 - we would recommend at least 1 3rd outside resource. GMAT Pill provides this - or you can consider other programs as well.

If you want to progress at your own pace, an online course is likely the best route for you. Which one depends on your learning style.

See whether a video thought process approach such as this one works for you: https://www.gmatpill.com/sentencecorrect ... ythons.mp4

We provide additional sample videos on our homepage https://www.gmatpill.com as well as practice questions: https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-test

You will need a membership to access video explanations and core frameworks - but altogether, we would recommend at least 3 resources -- the 2 core mentioned above and a 3rd one.

Hope that helps.