alishahba1 wrote:
Good morning,
I would like to start off by saying that I really appreciate all the members of this forum. A little bit about my background and GMAT journey. I am an undergraduate student in my senior year at the University of Alabama.
I am not a native English speak however, I have decent spoken English and made an A in ENG 101 and 102 in college. I started studying in June 2020 where the first month was spent just getting to familiarize myself with what the exam entailed. I bought the
Magoosh course and 5-6 hours were spent watching videos and making notes. I took the first CAT and made a 350. At this point, I was not too worried as I know I get a better hold on concepts when I practice. So I spent the month of July and two weeks of August (5-6 hours )practicing questions. I practiced more than 1000 questions. I took the CAT at the end of July and had an improved score of 409. I continued to practice all I could as I thought this could eventually raise my score to a 700 which is my target score. However, another two weeks of practice only brought my score up by 10 points. Now I had no time left to study for GMAT as the fall semester had started. I took the GMAT on 24th November and got a score of 430. I canceled my score right away and begin to study again for the GMAT. After studying for two weeks in December 2020 I realized my score was beginning to get stagnant. I was stuck between 400 -450. (My verbal has always been worse than my quant especially the reading comprehension) At this point, I have realized there are loopholes in the fundamental conceptual knowledge. So now I am not sure how to proceed I only have about 3 months left.
What material should I use ( books, prep courses, or private tutors) for building solid conceptual knowledge?
What would be a good study plan?
If anyone has a good study plan for my situation that would certainly be appropriated.
What would speed up the process of increasing my score the most?
What are some different ways you could learn the concepts really well (Flashcards, notes, doing questions with notes)
If anyone has created a study guide for themselves and is willing to share that would be really helpful too.
If there is someone in the same boat as me or starting out on this road I would love to talk and maybe create a study group so we can all help each other through this.
This forum has always provided me with the knowledge and motivation one requires to get through the journey of taking the GMAT.
Thanks
Alishba
Hi Alishba,
I see that most of your preparation was around practicing questions. Even when your score was stagnant, you focused on practicing. That's not how you approach GMAT. No matter how many questions you practice, if you do not work on your weak areas and if you do not learn the right methodologies, your score remains stagnant. So, you have to change your way of preparation. Let me help you here.
The path ahead:
I understand that you have finished a course but your score suggests that there are certain conceptual gaps and that you are highly struggling with the application of concepts. So, the primary focus has to be to identify your weak areas and work on them. There is a certain structure which you have to follow while preparing.
- Identify if it's the concept of a topic or it's application that you are struggling with
- If it's the concept, revisit it and make sure you do it perfectly this time
- If it's the application, learn the right methods to solve question types tested from that topic
- So, you move to the next topic, only once you are confident about the concepts and methods of the previous topic
You can practice a few questions without any time limit to get used to the methodology. You start taking timed quizzes only once you are done with all the topics. I hope you have understood the structure.
Choosing the right resource:
Spend some time in checking out the free trials of the courses. Know in an out of them. Choose the one which suits you better. Choose a resource which can help you with the
- concepts
- methodology and strategies (Most important)
- detailed solutions (Because most of your learning happens when you analyze the solution and compare your approach with the right one)
- Study plan (Always helpful)
I would suggest you to check out the free trial of
GMATWhiz and then take a decision. It is a truly personalized course which has an integrated personalized study plan and helps you to work on your weak areas by suggesting you improvement modules. If you wish to know more about the resource or if you wish to have a detailed discussion regarding the study strategy, you can get in touch with me using the below link.
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04 Jan 2021, 09:53
