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740+ Study diary

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bgpower
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740+ Study diary [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 19 Nov 2012, 15:24
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Hi guys,

I'm the next of the long list of people, who would like to sit for the GMAT until June. I have already had some research (as you have probably noticed in the forum). It was July-August last year that I decided to take this step. I have already got the last editions of the following books:

Books:
OG12
OG Verbal
OG Quant

MGMAT Foundations Maths
MGMAT Foundations Verbal
MGMAT 8 Strategy Guides except CR, where I got Powerscore CR Bible
MGMAT Advanced Maths

Still unsure about - MGMAT Roadmap, Aristotle SC Grail and Aristotle RC99 (Interested if, in your opinion, they would be a good addition)

Background:
Non-native speaker, English level of around TOEFL 100-110. BSc in Business & MSc in Finance (in English). I suppose Quant and Verbal will be equally weak. I just scored 19 out of 45 in the GMAT Club Diagnostic Test This score can still be inflated in some way.

Target score:
I will start next week. While I probably won't apply for BS this year, I just want to put the check on exams as GMAT and TOEFL. My target G-date is End of May/Beginning of June prior to the switch. I would have about 3,5 months in which I will be able to dedicate at least the entire weekends and most of the weekdays. S about 5-7 hours on the weekends, and around 3-4 hours per day during the week. Concerning my goal - well, I would be somewhat happy to score above 700, but honestly, my real goal is somewhere 740 and above.

My strategy:
I will start with both MGMAT Foundation Books, which I hope to complete in about two weeks (till the end of February) and then perform a CAT Test (GMATPrep or MGMAT), and gauge my knowledge and define the sequence of the MGMAT strategy guides. I expect to be equally weak in Quant and Verbal, but let's see. Generally I want to mix Quant and Verbal in order to keep them fresh and will pass all MGMAT Strategy Guides first doing every chapter, then the MGMAT problems, and finally, the related OG problems. I will keep an error log with all problems (guessed and wrong) in order to revise them daily/weekly. Here I won't measure time, but build strong basics.

Once I have completed MGMAT Strategy Guides I will do another CAT(MGMAT) in order to see where I am and try to improve my weak areas through re-reading of MGMAT Strategy Guides. Once I feel ready with Quant, I will complete the Advanced Maths book as well.

The final stage of my preparation will include CAT's (GMAT Prep, MGMAT and GMATClub), error log analysis and working for speed and stamina -> perform morning CAT's (hope to get a morning GMAT date) and develop some speed strategies.

While studying I aim to also watch "Thursday's with Ron" and other similar GMAT-related seminars online, BTG and GC workshops, questions of the day etc. I will furthermore buy GmatClub's iPhone app ;)

Some questions:
What do you think about my general strategy?
How would you mix Quant and Verbal in order to keep both fresh?
Would you suggest buying the Aristotle products - SC and RC?
Would you recommend Jeff Sackmanns Total GMAT Math for further Quant problems or will MGMAT Advanced Math and GMATClub CAT's be enough?
What are the best stamina & speed rules for the final stage of the preparation?
Which other CAT's would you recommend?
How often would you revise your error log? Daily or rather Weekly?
Should one do OG problems as going through MGMAT books, or leave those questions for later?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Originally posted by bgpower on 12 Feb 2012, 11:19.
Last edited by bgpower on 19 Nov 2012, 15:24, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   12 Feb 2012, 11:58
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bgpower wrote:
What do you think about my general strategy?
How would you mix Quant and Verbal in order to keep both fresh?


you are comfortable time wise and prep material wise, i would suggest you to structure ur plan little different (though u must suit ur convenience)...Many people recommend mastering one concept at a time and then moving on to the next while doing some practice problem of the previous subject..i am currently following this plan and it has shown tremendous improvement( jumped from 600 to 710 in mgmat prac tests in 2 months :) ).
https://militarytobusiness.blogspot.in/2 ... -gmat.html
bgpower wrote:
Would you suggest buying the Aristotle products - SC and RC?

Aristotle SC or mgmat SC, either is ok...must see free concept videos of egmat(also download this file..
5-strategies-that-gmat-uses-to-distort-meaning-124296.html#p1011027
..very helpful).. i feel the structured approach of egmat is good, yeah supplemented with Ron's videos :) )
bgpower wrote:
Would you recommend Jeff Sackmanns Total GMAT Math for further Quant problems or will MGMAT Advanced Math and GMATClub CAT's be enough?

once ur done with mgmat foundation + 5 books + mgmat advance + 25 gmatclub tests, then u must check ur standing and what score ur getting at that moment...i think these books are more than sufficient..if u have time , Jeff's book is worth it's value...
bgpower wrote:
What are the best stamina & speed rules for the final stage of the preparation?

If i have to answer in one word, my answer will be

PRACTICE

we all know it.
bgpower wrote:
Which other CAT's would you recommend?

take gmatprep as many times( until u start seeing too many repeats)
there are a number of other tests available, u can check out their reviews here
all-gmat-cat-practice-tests-links-prices-reviews-77460.html?fl=menu

bgpower wrote:
How often would you revise your error log? Daily or rather Weekly?
Should one do OG problems as going through MGMAT books, or leave those questions for later?

once ur ok with the concept, u may revise after a month, but initially it's better to revise every week till one understands the concept..again that's totally my opinion
og questions are the BEST and there is no comparison , do them as many times as possible( till u actually remember the question)
i would recommend to do them along with mgmat topic wise and subsequently sequentially..
i hope this helps.
regards.
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   13 Feb 2012, 12:33
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I would go like this:
-start with VERBAL section first, 1 guide
-2 guides quant (i believe you should pick here FDPs and Geometry, at least the two chapters seem easiest to me)
-1 guide verbal
-2 guides quant
-1 guide verbal
-1 guide quant

Note that it is probably better to start with verbal rather than quant because the guides will better distributed and the material will be more fresh. As far as the rest of your questions are concerned, I do not have anything to add. Your strategy seems great, you are ready to dedicated enough time and you got some nice answers from people.

One last thing, I recently discovered the advantage of reading non-gmat stuff to improve my verbal skills. The only thing I regret in the past two and a half months of studying is the fact that I did not start reading english books/articles as soon as I start to prepare for GMAT. Therefore, I recommend you either GMAT Fiction or any other material written in good English, preferably books. Three to five months of reading will definitely help you out. I would not count time spent reading as actually studying for GMAT. Here is the GMAT Fiction thread:

books-to-read-improve-verbal-score-and-enjoy-a-good-read-76079.html

Hope it helps :)
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   10 Apr 2012, 07:10
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Once you have finished OG 12/OG V2, you can practice from other sources, SC grail has 100 question. Manhattan Review has 250 SC question. I liked Manhattan Review better. The point is to use these additional questions as a cushion/net practice so that you can truly internalize OG questions.Since you have finished the OG, you can focus on quant + some sporadic SC practice and when you start to forget the OG 12 answers, you can solve these questions again using all the MHSC concepts simultaneously. You would need to review the MHSC book once before attacking these questions, so that concepts are fresh for applying multiple concepts together. OG is the Bible as far as SC is concerned.
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   12 Apr 2012, 01:01
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@kapac: Each person has different strategies:). I am glad that you found one :D
@bgpower: https://thousandsc.blogspot.com/ Here it is :D. I used to do 50 SC1000 a day until I reached question 800... Check the answer and find online explanation for the questions. If some questions are debatable, forget them and move on. Hope it helps :).
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   12 Feb 2012, 19:43
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bgpower wrote:
Thanks for the E-GMAT links. Will have a look on them - especially the free videos and their 5 strategies. Have you used some of their paid serviced?

Not yet, though i intend taking their SC course once i am through with quant( may be after couple of weeks)..Although they are new in the market, but they are really structured and organised ...Also their concept pattern is generally on the lines of mgmat( IMO)..but really cheap..
one thign about OG, i am going through all three OGs( 10, 11 and 12)...there are a number of question which are not repeat, so that gives a good amount of prac of official material..Also there are files that are compilation of all gmatprep question( CR, SC,PS and DS), worth downloading because u never know tomorrow the link may be removed(it's there on gmatclub download material)...again they are a great compilation , but do them only after u have exhausted the gmatprep software by giving the test multiple times
If u can't find them, lemme know.
All d very best ...enjoy ur gmat journey..it's only then our best performance comes out....
regards.
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   13 Feb 2012, 12:18
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I'm following a similar plan to the one you have detailed out. I have finished all five of the main MGMAT math books. Now, I plan to study for the verbal out of the MGMAT books (except substituting the Critical Reasoning Bible for MGMAT, just as you are) while using Total GMAT Math on the side so as to keep the math concepts fresh. Once I finish my initial verbal prep, I will try to target my weak areas as to strengthen that particular raw score, and it will be time to target CATs for stamina/endurance at the end. Good luck on your quest for a 740!
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   13 Feb 2012, 13:46
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I know that the depth of knowledge within areas vary among every person but to more accurate, I will provide some extra insights based on my experience. Go as follows:

-RC guide
-FDPs and Geometry
-CR guide
-Number Properties + Equations, Inequalities & VICs
-SC guide
-Word Translations guide

I did not follow this strategy but I wish I did. If I were at the beginning, I would start with RC because it is a section hardest to improve, especially for non-native speakers like you and I. You will probably go through this guide much faster than other ones because there are not too many details in it, just general strategies. But you will know on what to work on and that is where the GMAT Fiction kicks in (more on it later). The next two math guides are IMO easy and there should be less stress in them than in other guides as these two guides are more basic (at least to me). Then, move on to CR which is easier than RC but harder than SC. By moving on to CR you will also gain some benefit from reading outside material because you would hopefully try to find an argument, strengthen/weaken it, find the assumption etc. in the material you read. After that, move to NP because it is not very hard, though it has many details. The guide with VICs is IMO starting the challenge because that is when I started to struggle. However, by following these steps you will probably get extra benefit from previous material (algebra especially). Sentence Correction will be tough but easiest to improve in. It has many details but they will be fresh in your mind when you get done with all the 8 guides. Plus, by reading outside material you have developed an ear for English grammar. Finally, word translations is the toughest guide because it requires good reading and good algebra.

As far as GMAT Fiction is concerned, the outside reading does not need to be limited to fiction but it MUST be limited to English. I am from Serbia and you and I speak languages that are very similar. Thus, as someone who has graduated in US and speaks a similar language like you, I can tell you that reading in Bulgarian will have no advantage in your GMAT efforts. It should be noted that reading good articles such as WSJ, NYT, HBR and other similar stuff will help you if, while reading, you pretend that you read an actual GMAT problem in verbal section. There is only one thing that you need to keep in mind. Outside reading is a tedious process; BB recommended in the topic whose link I posted, that one should read around 2000 pages (probably much more within 3-5 months). So it might be kind of hard to stay engaged while reading tons of random articles. That is why GMAT Fiction seems as a better choice. If you are confident that you actually can stay focused on reading so many articles, go for it! If not, I would recommend you to combine them.
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   13 Feb 2012, 14:02
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That's unbelievable ;) Thanks very much!

Concerning the sequence of books - it really makes sense to me! To have SC in the end and have it fresh, also start with things, which are not going to discourage you! Thanks for the suggestions! I will definitely incorporate them in my approach!

And about GMAT fictions - I'm pretty sure I will be able to find something, which is interesting to me! You're right that staying focused for 2000+ pages will be tough. Even more - why not mix fictions and high-quality sources as WSJ, NYT, HBR etc. But again - all will be in English that's for sure. It was more than a coincidence that you turned out to be from Serbia (a country that I praise high), the world is quite small nowadays!

BTW: I very much like your signature - "Set your aims high, carpe diem"! That's true!
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   14 Feb 2012, 13:53
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@bgpower: I just ordered the Total GMAT Math book. I am awaiting shipment on the book, but as of now, I plan on using it to keep doing math problems/review weak areas while I target the verbal section of the exam. I have just finished going through all 5 of the math books in MGMAT, so hopefully, extensive review won't be something I need, other than what I know are major weaknesses of mine (VICs, advanced geometry and especially similar triangles, and combinatorics)...

I have been debating whether or not I want to buy the Advanced Quant book from MGMAT. I may order it as I get closer to my exam, but as of now, I don't plan on it. I am hoping Total GMAT Math in addition to the completion of the normal MGMAT books will be enough...(and hopefully some GMAT Club Diagnostic tests, if I can get enough kudos/posts by mid-April ^_^)
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   15 Feb 2012, 21:11
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bgpower wrote:
I have another one concerning the types of questions I will use in the different stages of my preparation. Here I would be very much interested in your opinion. If I complete the questions MGMAT provides after every chapter as well as the OG questions of every chapter, which questions should I do the following weeks in order to have 10-20 questions per day from the previous topics? One suggestions still is the error log (re-do old questions), but what about others - maybe OG Quant and OG Verbal?

You can do og 10 , og 11( many questions are not repeat) , og verbal , og quant , 1000 series( they are official questions) and repeats of og 12
Best would be to exhaust the official material.
they are the ones most close to what ur likely to see on D day. :)
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   16 Feb 2012, 20:30
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bgpower, I'm also using the MGMAT guides. My strategy for these has been to do all the OG guide questions at the end of each booklet, but save the OG Quant questions for when I want to diagnose myself after completing all of the Quant booklets. It's a similar strategy that I hope will help re-enforce the concepts that I have trouble with.
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   18 Feb 2012, 01:28
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Hi guys!

Thanks again for the valuable support! I think the thread made it in the GMATClub newsletter, because of your awesome answers! You contributed 99% to all this! Again, thank you!

@Yekrut: That's a good suggestion you have here! Saving the questions from OG Quant might help you have real GMAC questions afterwards to keep the knowledge fresh! I might think of doing that as well!

In a nutshell:
Thanks to your wonderful suggestions, I will complete by the end of this month both MGMAT Foundations books, install GMATPrep and see the devil in the eyes! The results will help me understand which sequence of the 8 strategy guides to follow! I'll then start with the weakest area, continually move forward towards the area, where I feel strongest, and every day dedicate time to revise my error log and do new questions for the already passed sections! Hope that works! I'll definitely keep you updated on this!

In the meantime, I'll be happy to hear some other opinions as well. Or why not questions from people who need help?

Regards,
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   19 Feb 2012, 21:57
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@bgpower: I look forward to seeing your thoughts on Total GMAT Math. I will begin to go through that book starting tomorrow (hopefully) as I continue to go through my Verbal preparation. Thank you for the kudos you have given me, as well. I greatly appreciate it.

After starting my verbal preparation after doing solely math initially, I am beginning to think that mixing the two together at an early stage may be more advisable, as Laker7 suggested earlier (at least with Sentence Correction). What has prompted me to say this is that while going through sentence correction, there are many subtle grammatical rules which will take some time to memorize but, with enough repetition, will slowly sink into the subconscious.
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   20 Feb 2012, 00:08
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Hi cecilpaladin32!

I 100% agree with your opinion that Quant and Verbal should be mixed. I've seen many GMAT debriefs, where people achieved high scores, because they:

1. Trained their weak areas more than their strong areas (and this is logical - we do it with every other topic we have to study)
2. Kept all areas of the exam up-to-date and have found the way, which worked for them, to do that (did new questions to keep knowledge fresh etc.)

But it should definitely be a customized approach in which you implement techniques, which work for you ;) There is not panacea. But I agree - there are certain areas which might not be that weak but just need time to sink into the subconscious. So the sequence proposed by Laker7 is a viable one as it incorporates exactly the sequence of topics, which need time in order to be internalized. I intend to mix his list with the results I'll get from my first CAT in 2 weeks and then decide on my final sequence of topics.

Regards,
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   20 Feb 2012, 02:11
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sdas wrote:
Books are not constraints - its books with basics that matters. I gound quant of MGMAT very grounded and liked it. Now I will look for some advanced strategy books (rajeev/Laker - any suggestions???). Practice, should be content with OG/GMAT prep for now. Jeff Sach not the right time now, may be later closer to test.


If you are comfortable with 5 books of mgmat quant and want some more material esp advance, then you may consider mgmat advance quant, i have heard great guns about this book. As far as practice with og 12 is concerned, i doubt if the questions are 700 + representative barring 40-50 that are at the end of the chapter. So i think once the concepts are clear and one is able to score above 45-46 in practice tests, that is the right moment to move onto gmatclub tests or may be jeff Sackmann's 1800 questions.
I am ok with gmatclub tests and advanced quant.... :) ..don't practice with gmatprep material now, it will inflate ur quant score once u will give the gmatprep test.
Regards.
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740+ Study diary [#permalink] New post   20 Feb 2012, 12:15
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bgpower wrote:
I'll be very happy if you again provide me with your feedback. So...

Study plan total length: 14 weeks until the 28th of Mai
Target Exam date: 21st of May - 28th of Mai
Hours per day: 3-4 hours on weekdays and 5-6 hours on weekends

[February] Weeks 1-2: Foundations with MGMAT Foundations of GMAT Math and Foundations of GMAT Verbal
[March] Weeks 3-4:
[March] Weeks 5-6:
[April] Weeks 7-8:
[April] Weeks 9-10:
[May] Weeks 11-12:
[May] Weeks 13-14: Review (error log and notes) and CAT's. EXAM

Regards,


Few points bgpower

* You are over complicating the process by reading too many debriefs and trying to integrate evrything into your plan. Everyone is different and what applies to A may not apply to B. Recall how have you studied in the past:
Just because people have said that mixing topics is good doesnot mean this is the only strategy. This will only work if you have a habit of managing more than one topic in 1 week. Juggling topics is a good strategy in the 2nd half of your prepration not the best while you are just starting out. The stumbling block in GMAT Prep is the conceptual understanding - at least initially.

* Its good to have a rough idea/plan but be flexible with your plan, see why its important:


"Don’t create a grandiose initial schedule. For those of you familiar with Scrum you’ll note that this is similar. You have 2 week “sprints” in which your workload and prioritization are fixed. During this time you simply “play”. At the end of the two week sprint you look back at what you did, pick an improved, intermediate goal state and then decide what you want to try in order to get there. You are flexible and near sighted. It is true you do have an overall goal in mind (usually something like “score a 730” or some such) but there is NO WAY anyone can say what specific steps are needed to get from their current state to the goal state in a complex game such as this."


* I would suggest you to just study the foundation books well and then give a free GMAT Test from Knewton(or MBA.com). Knewton scoring is not accurate but you will get an idea of your strengths/weakness.
You can also try the OG12 Diagnostic untimed test at the beginning of OG12 to find your relative strengths and weakness.

* Last but not the least how badly do you want a 740+ score, would you be happy with a 700 ?
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   28 Feb 2012, 09:11
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Hi AbhiJ,

thanks for your suggestions! You're right, I wanted to incorporate too many things into my study plan. If I look back I'm sure of just two things: I'll dedicated much time to the GMAT and therefore would like to achieve a very good/excellent score (just for the fun, don't believe GMAT has that much of impact on applications - 700 would do it, but I'd love to see a 740 and above) and, second, I'll write down many things - that's what worked for me in the past. Write down notes, revise, then write down on flashcards, revise and so on. That's what it's going to be with the GMAT as well.

I do believe that I started broad with both Foundation books, which I hope to complete these days, then see what the CAT says, and then just study the weakest (one) topic at a time - make notes - and revise (notes and error log). That's what I intend to do, but stay flexible. I hope you guys will help throughout the journey!

Once I get to around 700, then I'll need to more specificly focus on certain areas, but there is a long way to go, as I expect to be somewhere around 590 :D

Regards,

PS: @rajeevrks27: I haven't forgotten my promise ;) I'm working on it and it'll be burning.
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   28 Feb 2012, 09:49
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BTW, when ru planning to give a CAT ??
It's very important to incorporate CATs during regular intervals in our journey.
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink] New post   02 Mar 2012, 11:36
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bgpower wrote:

@AbhiJ: Do you think it will be better to save up a GMATPrep/MGMAT exam and do after the Foundations a free Knewton/Kaplan CAT?

@all: Do you think diagramming and note-taking can be important in Verbal?

Regards,


I gave a free Knewton test as a diagnostic. You can give GMAT Prep also because believe you can repeat each test twice without too many repeats.

Diagramming can be beneficial in RC. Not sure how it would help in CR - As you are expected to understand and answer the question in 1 min 45 sec. It may help you initially in organizing your thoughts but later you can get rid of it.
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Re: 740+ Study strategy [#permalink]
02 Mar 2012, 11:36
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