Desperately need guidance for preparation.

You can prepare your quant basics from MGMAT guides or through GMAT Club posts. But I would strongly recommend GMATClub Quant tests. They are the most close replica of what we can expect in actual exam.

Hope this helps.

Hi sidsrinadhuni,

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:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) On what dates did you take these CATs/mocks?

Goals:
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
5) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Hi EMPOWERgmatRichC,

Thanks for replying. I have started studying in January. But I did not start from the basics. I jumped into solving problems and soon I realized I needed to brush up my basics. I study for about 2 hours during a weekday and about 4 hours during the weekend.

~ For Quant, I have referred to MGMAT guides for concepts (not thoroughly), Magoosh video lectures and practice, Math Revolution for practice, GMAT Club (for concepts) and a little bit of OG.
~For Verbal, I have been making an error log for the SC and CR problems that I've been solving from the OG. For SC and CR, I have only taken Magoosh's lessons and practice.

*My mock dates were, 15th June, 23rd June and 25th June.

* For the second round of applications during the start of November/December. I am planning to apply to Tepper, Duke, Stern, Johnson, and Ross.

Hi sidsrinadhuni,

Since these 3 CAT/mock results are from the last 2 weeks - and you appear to have been studying for the last 5 months - have you taken any OTHER practice CATs/mocks during that time (such as either of the 2 free Official GMAC CATs)?

Given the 'swings' in these 3 CAT Scores, you will likely need at least another 3 months of consistent, guided study before you can get to the point that you can consistently score 680+ (and you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections). Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. You will likely need more time than you have currently allotted, but since you're planning for Round 2 application deadlines, you have plenty of time to continue studying - which is good.

"Review" is an exceptionally important part of the GMAT training process; your ability to define WHY you're getting questions wrong is essential to defining the areas that you need to work on (and the specific things that you need to 'fix'). As such, I'd like to know a bit more about your last CAT. While a full Mistake Tracker would provide a lot more information, there are some basic questions that you should be able to answer (and the more EXACT you can be with your answers, the better):

After reviewing each section of this recent CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?
5) How many Verbal questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices' but still get wrong?

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

Hi EMPOWERgmatRichC

I have taken the diagnostic test from the Official GMAC CATs. But apart from this diagnostic test and the three tests from Veritas, I haven't taken any other full-fledged mock tests.

* I agree with what you said about preparation timelines. I can sense that I will not be able to give my best on the allocated date. But what I do not understand is, Am I doing this right? What if I am practicing it wrong or I got the whole process wrong? While I am 100% into training hard for GMAT, I still am not sure if I am doing the prep right. Probably I am better off with a customized study plan and I stick to it religiously?

* Because of calculation mistakes - I got about two 550-600 difficulty level problem-solving questions wrong. 3 or maybe even 4 DS questions wrong.
* There were a bunch of questions from Quant where I was stranded and it seemed like there's no way forward but to guess and move on.
* I have solved the last mock's questions today. I was able to solve all the quant questions except maybe one or two. So now I really don't know if the questions were hard or I was cracking under pressure.
* I have narrowed down to two options in almost all SC questions. I have skipped a passage because I was running out of time and I thought that I would capitalize on anything but RC. But then, CR questions crept in and the time was running out. I guessed them too. So overall, I guessed the last 5 questions out of which I got only one correct.

Hi sidsrinadhuni,

If you've been studying fairly consistently over the last 5 months, then it's understandable that you might question if you have been studying in an effective fashion. These CAT Scores certainly imply that you are 'stuck' in the 500s - and it will take some considerable time and effort to get 'unstuck' - and to the point that you can consistently score 680+.

Between the Quant and Verbal sections, there are only 67 questions in total - and if your analysis shows that you got 6 Quant questions wrong because of silly/avoidable mistakes and you're getting many SCs wrong because of 50/50 guesses, then we could be talking about approximately 20% of the Exam. You cannot afford to miss out on that many 'gettable' questions and still hit 680+. Thankfully, you can train to handle all of these questions in an efficient, organized fashion - and pick up most (if not all) of those points. Right now, it's unclear whether your current study materials are helping you to do that or not. Since you're using a bunch of different products, is there a specific Study Plan/Syllabus that you're following; do you know what you're going to be studying each day or are YOU deciding what to work on?

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

Yes, EMPOWERgmatRichC, I have had an instructor for verbal and he developed a study plan for verbal. For quant, however, I do not have a study plan. I am deciding on the fly as to what to study. My areas to focus, ordered from level okay to underconfident, are Straight lines, Remainders, Compound Interests, Mixture problems, Inequalities and permutations and probability. I was hoping to find a study plan that would boost my confidence in these and other areas in Quant.

Hi sidsrinadhuni,

From everything that you describe, there are a number of different issues with your studies and timeline:

1) With your current Test Date, you only have about 1.5 months of study time remaining, but you will likely need far more time than that to hit your Score Goal. While you don't have to change your Official Test Date just yet - and there's no harm in taking the GMAT as scheduled - you will almost certainly need far more time than you've allotted to hit 680+.

2) The Verbal Study Plan that you're currently following doesn't appear to be leading to improvement. Maybe that plan is fine and you're not properly following it... but maybe it's not a good plan at all.

3) You don't have a Plan for approach the Quant section - and with the exception of 'Inequalities', most of the subjects that you listed are relatively rare (meaning that you'll likely see each just once on Test Day. By extension, there are almost certainly other areas in the Quant section that you should be working before you put too much energy into any of those listed areas.

This is all meant to say that you would likely it beneficial to invest in a GMAT Course of some type (either Guided Self-Study or instructor-led). Most GMAT Companies offer some type of free materials (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.) that you can use to 'test out' a product before you buy it. We have a variety of those resources at out site (www.empowergmat.com). I suggest that you take advantage of all of them then choose the one that best matches your personality, timeline and budget.

If you have any additional questions, then just let me know (and you can feel free to contact me directly at any time).

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