Beginning the GMAT Journey

Question

Greetings!

Today marks the end of my first week of studying for the GMAT. Although I'm quite rusty on  most  of the topics - I'm happy to see that there is some good progress being made and that concepts that I learnt years ago in school are coming back to me. I naively thought that studying for the GMAT would be quite straightforward but I'm starting to feel a bit overwhelmed.

I'm making this post in the hope of getting some clear guidance on what the best approach would be. I'm in a position where I can dedicate 5+ hours a day to study and I'm hoping to sit the exam in 3/4 months time. Is there a guide/excel doc that exists to shows  what  I should be studying on a daily basis? I have the O.G 2019 book as well as e-copies of all the Manhattan Guides.

Forgive me if a post similar to this has already been made, unfortunately I've been unable to find it (feel free to point me in that direction if it already exists!).

Thanks in advance for any help.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi johnnie760,

First of all, it is good that you started seeking suggestions in your initial stages of preparation. This will save you a lot of time and effort. Most students generally start self-study using random resources and realize half-way through that they need to have a proper study plan and use a standard resource to score well on GMAT and then start seeking advices. Let me share my insights here on what could be the best plan for you.

To understand what should be the approach while preparing, it is really important to understand what is it that is actually tested on GMAT. Because without knowing the destination, there’s no point starting your journey. Understanding what GMAT tests helps you plan your preparation properly.

What GMAT actually tests? 
If you are in a misconception that understanding concepts will help you score well on GMAT, let me tell you the harsh truth. GMAT is a test of application of concepts and it would require a strong conceptual knowledge and the  use of right strategies  to ace the test. You might not like this, but GMAT doesn’t just give you questions which require you to solve them using a formula. It goes far beyond that. To solve a particular question, it is important to understand what is it that the question is asking, identify the underlying concept and then apply that conceptual knowledge to get the solution. The reason why students take a lot of time to prepare for GMAT is because 
  they do not understand what is it that is actually tested on GMAT 
 so, they start their preparation by practicing questions from OG or a few random materials 
 When they take a mock, they get shattered on seeing the score as months of preparation could only get them the average score a beginner will get. 
 So, they start seeking advises regarding the study strategy and start their preparation from scratch.

As you see, a lot of time, effort and money gets wasted in the process. GMAT is a test which requires a considerable investment of all three parameters. So, it is important to make sure to invest them in the right manner and get the desired result.

What should be the right way to prepare: 
As you have just started your preparation, I recommend you to take an official GMAT prep mock and see where you stand. Identify your stronger and weaker areas based on the result. Once you do this, the ideal plan has to be to:
  Learn the concepts – one topic at a time (Start with your stronger area) 
 Learn the right methodologies to solve the questions of that particular topic 
 Start taking sectional quizzes and make sure to solve the questions using the methodology learnt 
 Make sure to move to the next topic, only when you get at least easy-medium questions right. 
 If you have less than 60% accuracy in any topic, identify the reason behind the struggle and work on improving it. 
 Once you move to the next topic, it is important to maintain the momentum that you had in the previous topics. Many students tend to forget the concepts they learnt once they start focusing on new topics. This is when when OG comes into picture. You can practice a minimum of 5 questions of a particular topic everyday so that you do not lose touch with that topic 
 Once you are done with all the topics, start taking mocks at regular intervals and see the score pattern 
 Once you start getting a consistent score, you are good to book a slot.

So, I suggest you to organize the topics and make a proper study plan. As you are a beginner, you might find it difficult to organize and plan your studies.  You can always sign up for a free trial with GMATWhiz and get your study plan for free . And as you see, OG comes into picture only during the practice. So, if you wish to learn the concepts and the methodology to solve questions, I would recommend you to look for a standard resource.  If you need any help with the methodology , you can go through our   series of webinars.

Hope it helped. If you wish to know more about the study strategy or want to discuss anything related to GMAT, you can schedule a free consultation call using the below link.

Click here to schedule a call

Russ19 · Answer

You might find the link useful: https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-study-plan-217827.html

monikakumar · Answer

Hi,

If you are clear about basic concepts and foundations in both verbal and quant, I would suggest you to start solving sub 600 level questions , then you can improve it based on your performance in it.

Thanks.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi johnnie760,

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.

From what you describe, your immediate study plan is 'book heavy'; unfortunately, many Test Takers who study in that way end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level. 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. There's no harm in starting off your studies in that fashion, but you'll likely end up needing to invest in some additional, non-book resources at some point.

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 and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

egmat · Answer

Hi  johnnie760

Thanks for reaching out on the forum, it feels good to see you coming out and asking for advice.

I would suggest you to start by taking a mock. This will give you your starting ability and you can plan your preparation basis on the mock result.

Majority of students falter in their GMAT exam because they start their preparation with OG.

This is a major mistake because if you start your preparation by solving OG questions, you are skipping to practicing questions without learning the concepts. This is a trial-and-error based preparation methodology which cause a two-fold problem:

1. It increases your preparation time by up-to 5X. 
2. You tend to miss out on concepts even after solving many questions.

We have helped more than 25,000 people in last 1 year in achieving their target of a good GMAT score. Maximum people attributed their success to the structured process which we suggested them. I suggest you break your preparation into 3 stages and follow the below plan:

Stage – 1 --> Learn the concepts
Stage – 2 --> Cement the concepts by practicing a sub-section in Isolation
Stage – 3 --> Become test ready (practicing all the sub-sections together)

If you follow the above approach you can expect your preparation to get over in a timeline of 2-3 months with 18 hours of preparation time per week.

You can also analyze your ability topic-wise and skip stages if you are good in a topic, this will expedite your preparation even further.

I would be happy to explain this Strategy in detail and create personalized milestones for you on a quick call. Please select a time slot that works  here .

Hope the above strategy get you to your target score

Karan
e-GMAT strategy Expert

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