best way to prepare 48 days out

Question

Hi guys!

I Graduated from undergrad about two months ago and decided that I would spend my 3 months of free time before starting my job studying for the GMAT. I purchased Veritas preps self study course and I have enjoyed it so far. I’ve taken two Veritas practice tests and scored a 650(Q40,V39) and a 700(Q45,V41). So here’s my issue.

Quant is clearly my weaker side, so I want to spend most of my time studying for quant. And most people seem to agree that the best way to study quant is with a linear approach, focusing on problems of a specific type individually (overlapping sets, then ratios, then inequalities...etc). The problems in the Veritas question bank don’t enable me to do this. I can only choose from like : PS DS CR SC RC. I’m really on the fence regarding purchasing the GMAT club CATS because they enable you to sort quant questions very specifically. But some good friends of mine who used Veritas insist that Veritas by itself is enough. My other issue with the Veritas question bank is that the questions it throws at you are so randomized that you could get 10 straight 700 level quant questions. And it doesn’t make sense to be to be working on 700 level questions when I feel as though I haven’t mastered the 600 level ones completely?

Can anybody weigh In here? What would be the best way to study quant here. I truly appreciate the advice. Realistically I’m just aiming for a 700 score (a 710 would be sick tho).

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TooBig2Fail · Answer

VeritasKarishma  I would also really love to hear your opinion on this.

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LeoN88 · Answer

Hey, welcome to the Club!

Check this thread and let me know if it addresses your concerns:  The Definitive GMAT Study Plan - 2020 Edition

Tag me if you still need further resources, cheers!

globaldesi · Answer

you ca start focusing on 600-700 level and check you accuracy in Quant fro them. If its good then it clearly means time pressure. I would suggest then move to 700 level questions.
Gmat club has amazing filters by level and section ; leverage those filetrs

CAMANISHPARMAR · Answer

Firstly Q45 is not a bad score to start with. With one month's practice, you might be able to take your Q score to Q49+. At Q45 level, even if you get 1-2 questions right/wrong, you will notice huge fluctuations in your score. Also, have you completed the official guide questions and questions from official sources? There are some pretty good quality questions in the official guide. My advice to you is that give priority to questions from official sources not only quant but also for verbal.

Have you given an official practice test? If not then I would advise you to give one because official practice exams must be used to check your current level. Use the practice exams by various prep companies only for practice.

All the best!

TooBig2Fail · Answer

LeoN88

Hey! Thanks a ton this was extremely helpful. So would you say that the homework sections of the practice books like Veritas are enough to practice proficiently in each quant section? Or would you recommend also purchasing the GMAT club quant question bank for its section specific breakdown?

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TooBig2Fail · Answer

CAMANISHPARMAR

Hey! Thanks for that. I haven’t finished up the OG questions. A lot of people say to save them but a lot of people also say not to save them. I’m going to take a GMAT prep test on Monday to see where I stand. Would you say that the homework sections of the Veritas books are enough to practice proficiency in specific quant sections? Or would you recommend also investing in the GMAT club question bank for its section specific questions?

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LeoN88 · Answer

umm, this is too specific question,  bb  could you help?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi TooBig2Fail,

To start, assuming that you took these 2 CATs under realistic testing conditions, then you're clearly a strong overall critical thinker - which is great. Quant Scaled Scores in the Q40 - Q45 range mean that your overall Quant knowledge is quite strong, but you're making lots of little mistakes as you work through the Quant section and you're missing out on lots of strategy-based questions. The Quant section of the GMAT is NOT a 'math test'; it's a critical thinking test that requires lots of little calculations as you work through it. This is meant to say that to score at a significantly higher level in the Quant section (and thus, overall), you'll need to change how you "see" (and respond to) that section of the Test. With almost 7 weeks of potential study time, you could potentially improve a great deal.

Before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

1) How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) On what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks? Have you taken any of the Official GMAC CATs yet (from www.mba.com)?
3) 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

shameekv1989 · Answer

TooBig2Fail :- Well, if you can, I would suggest you to opt for TTP course. It has a very linear structure, exactly the way you are looking for. Additionally, it has easy, medium and hard difficulty quizzes for each module. You can try out free trial as well. I seemed to have benefited from TTP course for sure.

All the best!!

All the best!!

TooBig2Fail · Answer

Hey Rich!  EMPOWERgmatRichC

First of all thank you for your response.

1.) i typically study about 5 hours per day so about 35 hours per week. However I understand that the raw number of hours means nothing unless the quality of my studying is adequate. That's why I'm trying to figure out how best to allocate my time!

2.) April 30th and May 6th. I am going to take an official practice test on Monday. My quant score has historically been in the 40-41 range. However as soon as i fixed my poor timing practices my score went up to a 45. I 1., stopped spending more than 3 minutes on questions and 2., skipped questions that I knew i either could not solve or would spend too much time on, in order to make more time for the questions I knew that I could solve. On that first practice test I literally spent 7 minutes on a question, which looking back was obviously extremely silly, and it caused me to have to guess on 7 questions in a row in order to complete all of the questions on time.

3.) I just finished undergrad, so i plan to apply to business school in about 4 years. I'm just taking the exam now because I know that I will never have 3 months of pure free time again. A boy dreams of attending the Booth school, however If i score a 680-700, I'll probably focus more on realistic schools like cornell, duke and georgetown. However, in my undergrad i studied finance and computer science and finished with a 3.8, and will be working for a pretty decent investment bank, so i think that these factors are on my side. Terribly sorry if i sound as though I'm trying to brag or compensate for my score, I'm just trying to most appropriately answer your question and give you my exact profile so that you can best tailor your response.

I truly appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to respond to me,

Best,
2Big

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi TooBig2Fail,

Studying for the GMAT now - well in advance of when you'll actually "need" your Score - is a really smart choice. With highly-competitive Schools such as Booth, you'll need a strong GMAT Score, a strong OVERALL profile AND you'll need to properly 'market yourself.' Thankfully, you have also given yourself plenty of time to build your overall profile. You might find it worthwhile to discuss your goals with an Admissions Expert. Those Experts should be able to answer your Admissions questions and help define the specific areas of your profile that should work on to help you properly 'fit' with what Booth will be looking for when you apply.

There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

Beyond those suggestions, it's also worth noting that many Business Schools view an Applicant's Quant Scaled Score as an indicator of how that Applicant might handle the 'academic side' of the Program - and a score in the Q40 - Q45 won't impress anyone. This is meant to say that by focusing on Quant Tactics, you'll be better able to increase your GMAT Score AND better impress how Business School Admissions Officers will view your potential to handle their respective Programs.

Going forward, you have to be careful about confusing "quantity" of study with "quality" of study. I've never asked anyone to study 30+ hours a week - and while it's great that you might have the available time to study that much, with that number of study hours, you would run the risk of 'burning out' before Test Day (and that is something that we want to avoid). If you are going to try to study that much, then I suggest that you take one hour "off" for every two hours of study. For example, you could study for 2 hours, then stop for an hour, then study for another 2 hours, then take an hour off, etc.

Once you've taken one of the Official GMAC CATs, you should post back here (or you can feel free to PM me directly). We can then discuss the results and how you might adjust your studies going forward.

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi TooBig2Fail,

Regarding HOW to study GMAT quant, you really hit the nail on the head. Ideally you want to follow a linear and structured study plan that allows you to learn each GMAT quant topic individually and then practice each topic until you’ve gained mastery. That said, since you are currently unable to study in this way, are you looking for advice regarding GMAT prep quant resources?

CAMANISHPARMAR · Answer

Hey! You are welcome.

What is "enough" for one might not be "enough" for another. There are plenty of resources to choose from and Veritas is a reputed brand. What I would suggest is if you are finding the Veritas question bank useful then you may continue with your prep using the material. After your Monday's official practice exam, keep giving official practice exams evenly spread out during your preparation period. If you see stagnation in your prep and your scores are not improving then you may want to switch to another material.

Also keep in mind that it is not only practicing more questions, which will help you but also the approach you develop in solving questions will help you a lot. For example, check out this post:  Click here

Again I would like to reiterate that as far as possible spend more time with official resources. 48 days (maybe even less now) will go like a breeze and you will not even realize that time has passed by so quickly.

All the best!

bigge2win · Answer

The Veritas homework problems should be sufficient. If not, Manhattan has good drills (not to be confused with the actual gmat style questions). You could also use the OG with tracker on those questions through Manhattan Navigator if they still have that.

Doing real GMAT questions isn’t ideal if you don’t have the concepts down. The homework drills will allow you to develop a firm understanding.

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TooBig2Fail · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC

Absolutely! Thanks a ton. I'm going to take tomorrow to brush up on probability and combinatorics and then I'll Take the test on Tuesday and update you with the results!

KarishmaB · Answer

Looks like I am quite late to the party! The backlog after the weekend takes days to clear off!
Let the question bank be for the time being. Go through the skill builder, the skill builder quiz, theory of your book and the practice problems. The solutions are given on your solution station with video explanations for many and discussions on many questions. Ensure you understand everything very well. If you feel you still need some practice, then practice some topic specific questions using search and topic tags from the forum.

Once you are done with most of the topics, you can practice mixed questions from the question bank and eventually start taking full length practice tests too.

TooBig2Fail · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC   VeritasKarishma

So I just took an official practice exam and the results were beyond shocking.
Q45  V27  590. I have never seen a verbal score so low in my life. Granted I'm happy with the Quant score, and the truth is that since my last practice exam in which i scored a Q45 V41 700, I haven't been looking at verbal much at all. But the last time i took an official actual gmat exam my verbal score was v38. Do you guys have any tips on what on earth to do about this or how to feel? Definitely going to take the day off and go for a walk though.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi TooBig2Fail,

The scoring algorithm on the Official GMAT is far more complicated than most people realize. Since that algorithm is proprietary, no GMAT company has an exact match for it, thus CAT scores can vary a bit based on the 'biases' involved in their respective designs. The most realistic CATs available are the 6 from GMAC, but the CATs from Kaplan, MGMAT and Veritas are all 'close enough' to the real thing that they will provide you with a relatively realistic score assessment (assuming that you correctly take the CAT in a realistic fashion). Thus, while your Veritas Scores might be a bit biased, that potential 3rd party 'bias' is probably NOT enough on its own to explain your drop in Verbal Scaled Score.

There are a variety of factors that can impact your performance though, including the time of day you take your CAT, how well-rested you are, the testing environment, how thoroughly you are taking notes, etc. While these results are understandably upsetting, have you had a chance to review this CAT in detail yet. How many Verbal questions did you get wrong because of silly mistakes? How many times did you "narrow the answers down to 2 choices - but then 'guess' wrong?" It's possible that you just had a 'bad day' when you took this CAT, but this result might also be an indicator that some of your Verbal skills are not quite as strong/consistent as you originally assumed (meaning that you'll have to put in some Verbal study time as well as you continue to train for the Quant section).

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

KarishmaB · Answer

The thing that makes GMAT especially hard is the time pressure. Given a free hand, many people would do quite well on GMAT.
What makes you faster on Quant - a strong foundation
What makes you faster on Verbal - a strong foundation and practice

The moment you let go regular practice, you are not in the zone! You start faltering, you start questioning yourself, you lose confidence, you start taking more time to read, you end up re-reading a question multiple times because you lose stamina etc.

That said, analyse what happened there. Too many mistakes in a particular question type? Then you have found your problem! If the mistakes are all across the board and there is not much you can takeaway from them, then it is lack of regular practice.

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