Any Advice As I Begin Prep?

Question

I am currently a junior in college who plans to study from May-Aug while working a full time internship.

I hope to reach around 225 hours in prep. My goal is around a 680 in hope at a Top 15 Masters in Finance program.

I am really looking for advice on the best courses or resources as I am in the dark with GMAT prep.

Thanks you for any help!

Posted from my mobile device

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Welcome to GMAT Club!

You should better focus on a solid study plan with sound strategy. Here is a study plan for you

Best Books

For Concept Learning

Manhattan Quant Guides
Manhattan Verbal Guides
For CR: The Powerscore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible
For RC: Aristotle RC Grail

For Practice

The Official Guide for GMAT 2015-19
The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review 2015-19
The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review 2015-19

Best Courses (Budget)

1. e-GMAT
2. Empower GMAT
3. Math Revolution (Only Math)

Strategy

You can start with Quant or Verbal which suits you. If you have started with Quant then Start with the Arithmetic but if started with verbal then start first with Sentence correction. One month for learning Quant concepts and one month for practicing question and same practice for Verbal. During you Practicing question don't forget to make an error log to track your weak areas after practice. Once you know your weak areas revise your Concepts related to those areas and do some more Practice. 6-8 CATs are enough for practice the real tests. Make your Stamina for sitting 3 hours in the test and don't study more than 2 hours in one sit and 4 hours per day

Top CATs for Practice

1. Official GMAC CATs
2. Manhattan CATs
3. Kaplan CATs
4. GMAT Club Quant CATs

Other Helpful Posts

Best GMAT Courses

https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-co ... ml?fl=menu

GMAT Study Plan

https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-study-p ... ml?fl=menu

https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-self-pr ... tml?f=menu

Best Books

Quant

https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ma ... ml?fl=menu

Verbal

https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ve ... ml?fl=menu

All GMAT CATs

https://gmatclub.com/forum/all-gmat-pra ... ml?fl=menu

GMAT Timing Strategies

https://gmatclub.com/forum/timing-strat ... ml?fl=menu

Good Luck

AjiteshArun · Answer

You could spend 1 of those 225 hours reading this post . Just kidding, but that post does link to a lot of material.

u1983 · Answer

Great post AjiteshArun ... the shortest possible and the most informative one

.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi mtm131,

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 take 2 for free at 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 3.5 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) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
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

mtm131 · Answer

Thank you for the response. Immediately after my final exams end on the 7th I will take a CAT and see where I stand.

I plan to take my exam on August 12th after about three months of prep.

I will begin applying to Master in Finance programs for their first application periods in late October

After having my profile evaluated on the forum I will be targeting Vanderbilt, USC, UT Austin, Imperial and a few more given I achieve a 680. If I can break a 700 I will have more opportunities.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi mtm131,

Based on the timeline that you have described, you'll have a little over 3 months of study time - which is good. Studying for the GMAT is a big task, but it can be broken down into lots of small, manageable pieces. Once you have that initial CAT result, we can figure out how to best plan all of that out for you.

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

gmat1393 · Answer

Hi mtm131,

There are many prep companies such as Veritas, Empower GMAT, egmat.You can have a free session with any of them and choose the most appropriate one according to your satisfaction.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi mtm131,

I’m glad to see you plan to take an official practice exam to get a baseline score. Once you take that exam on the 7th, feel free to reach back out, and I’d be happy to provide some advice regarding your study plan.

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Any Advice As I Begin Prep?

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