Self Prep Guidance

Question

Hey Guys,

I am going through an extremely difficult phase of my preparation. Need some guidance.

First mock score without prep is 400 (V30/Q13) taken in 2020. 
 My target score is 740+ to get a good scholarship. 
 Want to apply in round one this year.

Thanks in advance!

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi SpartanX.

The good news is that the GMAT can be a straightforward part of your life, sort of a safety zone. You can master one concept, strategy, and question type at a time to increase your score bit by bit until you achieve your goal.

Have you prepared at all since you scored 400 on a practice test? If so, what have you done?

SpartanX · Answer

Thanks a lot  MartyTargetTestPrep  for replying. It means a lot to me at this time.

I had borrowed the Manhattan All the Quant and Verbal from a friend. I have bought the OG 2015 edition. In November 2021, I started preparing the quant topics from the MGMAT book. Solved the questions in it and completed all the topics by January. Then the medical emergency happened and my prep got discontinued. I have made exhaustive notes on those topics which will help me recall those theoretical concepts. My weakest section in verbal is sentence correction so I started with the foundations book this Monday. I have planned to study all the foundational topics in SC by end of next week. Then move to the All the Verbal on SC followed by RC and CR. I have planned to revise and solve Quant in the morning and Verbal in the evening. This way I plan to complete all the theoretical concepts within 45-60 days. Then start solving official questions from gmatclub. Then take sectional tests from OG books questions. Followed by mocks 2-6. I believe I am missing out on practice. Kindly let me know if I am heading in the right direction and the resources which I can use for quant and verbal practice.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Your plan sounds pretty good.

However, there's one major thing I want to be clear about. I think, rather than learn all the concepts and then start practicing, you should focus on one topic at a time. So, you should learn the concepts for a topic and then practice that one topic. Then, learn the concepts for the next topic and afterward do practice questions focused on that topic.

In other words, for each topic, proceed in the following way.

- First, review the concepts and strategies a topic involves.
 
- Then, do practice questions involving that topic UNTIMED until you're achieving high accuracy.
 
- Finally, work on reducing the time per question until you're correctly answering questions involving that topic at test pace.

For more on how to practice for the GMAT for best results, see this post.

The Best GMAT Practice Methods

Also, to be sure that your approaches to mastering Quant and Verbal are going to be effective, you could read the following posts to get some key insights into how to master GMAT Quant and Verbal.

How to Increase Your GMAT Quant Score: Top 25 Tips

How to Score High on GMAT Verbal

Regarding sources of practice questions, the key is to find sources that (1) have good questions and (2) allow you to work on one topic at a time. The questions don't have to be perfect, but they do need to work. In other words, it won't help to practice using busted questions with two correct answers etc. So, do your research to find questions that are reasonably high in quality and categorizable.

SpartanX · Answer

Thanks a lot for your guidance and support.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi SpartanX,

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

1) From what you describe, your studies have been inconsistent over the last 3 years. Over the last 3 months, what type of study routine - if any - have you been following? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) Have you used any other study materials besides the books that you listed? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
3) You mentioned taking one CAT/mock back in 2020. Have you taken any others since then - and if you have, then on what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
4) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

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