Hi,
Per your question, here is some info in regards to GMAT study courses offered by The Economist:
(For reference of our site:
https://gmat.economist.com/plans)
In order to begin, you simply need to click "Start a session" and follow the program. Let the system guide you instead of choosing only Quant or Verbal. This will allow you to keep a balanced approach to your studies. You can certainly choose a Quant or Verbal only scenario if you do not feel like doing one of the sections at a particular time, but be sure to keep it balanced.
Furthermore, how you study will matter. Make sure you work at a proper pace--not too fast! You want to ensure that you do not miss details and that you are reading the explanations fully. The idea is NOT to go through as many questions as fast as possible, but to understand WHY you make certain errors. If you can get rid of an error type or silly mistake, then you should be able to perform well on that error type/question type every time you see it. You want to be as systematic as possible in your approach, always attacking questions from a knowledge base and less from intuition.
Also, review your work, take notes on lessons, and ask for help when you need it. Each learning plan includes one-on-one tutor sessions that you should schedule if you are stuck on a particular topic or lesson. Ensure that you have already covered the topic so we have some context from which to work.
After you reach about 50% of the course, you can start taking sim tests. Make you utilize the sim tests starting no later than two weeks before the real test. You can then take another sim test after every 10%-15% of progress and perhaps as you near the last 7-10 days before the test. It will be crucial to review your completed sim tests and have a debriefing with yourself to note what you got wrong and why.
On average, it takes our students 80-120 hours to hit the 90% progress mark on our course. At this point, you will have finished all the lessons, and we will switch you to maintenance mode for the remaining 10%. In maintenance mode, we present you with problems to review what you've already covered. You will get a mixture of new and older question to hone your skills even further. The practice exams will require an additional 15-30 hours.
As you can probably tell, there is a lot of material we need to cover for the GMAT. We've worked hard to condense the theory so that students with little time can finish our course quickly without missing what they need. We will close whatever knowledge gaps you may have without wasting time on material and practice items that are irrelevant.
Our program is more efficient and effective than any other program, saving you both time and energy in your studies. Even in a short time on our program you will learn quite a bit more than you would with books or classroom courses because you will not spend time practicing items that do not make sense to practice at a particular time or level. Part of the innovation we have created is in the adaptiveness of the program which has a clear curriculum integrated to the person's abilities, levels and time needs. We even assist you through our support system. Every student goes from A to Z, but the journey you take to get there will differ completely from any other student's experience.
Sincerely,
Evan