Gmat Study Plan

Question

The following is my proposed plan of attack for the GMAT. Any insights and tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated especially from  bb !!

Gmat Study Plan

Time: 3 Months (July 01-Sept 31)
Test Date: Oct 1.

1. Do Diagnostic Testing on GMAT prep in order to assess weaknesses/strengths

2. Math: (1 Month)
Math Review For Standardized Tests (Cliffs Test Prep)
MGMAT's MATH 
A. Number Properties Guide
B. Equations Inequalities and Vics Guide
C. Fractions, Decimals, and Percents Guide
D. Word Translations Guide
E. Geometry GMAT Guide
Practice with Official Guide Math

3. Verbal:(1 Month)
Sentence Correction - Manhattan GMAT SC 
Critical Reasoning - Manhattan GMAT CR Book 
Reading Comprehension – Manhattan GMAT RC Book
Practice with Official Guide MathOfficial Guide for Verbal
Read Fiction Books as well as the economist

(LAST Month)
4. OG 12TH Edition

5. Simulate testing environment thru CAT Tests (MGMAT, GMAT Prep)

phoenix09 · Answer

Looks good to me. I made the mistake of over-preparing..around 8 months..by the time I took the test I was so burnt out that I performed well under my abilities.

bb · Answer

You have THE Perfect Plan by my standards. Solid plan - looks like you are going for 700+ or rather 750+. My only concern would be having enough time to complete this list. 3 months is not that long to cover all of the materials below - that's only about a month for verbal, a month for quant, and a month to piece it all together and work on weaknesses and test-taking skills (you need less than a month for test-taking skills but this is just roughly and allow for any surprises). If you can - take your GMAT prep and post your results here - I can see if we can tweak the plan. Then, what you can do is have a minimum must-have list and a nice-to-have list if you have time leftover at the end to add 10, 20, 30 points to your score. A few minor comments are below. This is very thorough - well done! I did review the Cliff's Math book (see link for my Review on Amazon) and it was very thorough but can be a turn off. I would recommend it but if your Diagnostic test gives you more than 35 in math, I would not bother. :idea:

Fantasic. Manhattan GMAT just released the 4th edition of their MGMAT SC book that is OG 12 friendly. I just got my copy in the mail today. I would recommend to start taking half-tests after you finish Math. So, take a Manhattan test but instead of taking the full test, just take the math portion. not sure if there are any issues with technology, but that's your measuring stick for your review level. Take a few tests afeter you are done with math. If you are at 42-45 level, you can move on to Verbal. Otherwise, go back and stay in math for a bit more. #5 is very important - simulating the tests and taking 4 hours rather than skipping AWA and just doing the multiple choice portion. P.S. let me know what fiction you end up reading - would be interested to hear your thoughts.

WMW · Answer

Thank You for your replies and tips,

I have lined up the following books for my reading:

The bastard of Istanbul
Water for Elephants
Three Cups of Tea

bb · Answer

Great! I have not read any of them, so look forward to your feedback. 
Once i hear your thoughts, i will add them to the list of my GMAT Fiction recommendations

swirvi · Answer

Out of curiosity, how much time should one devote to each topic? Should you split it up evenly between Verbal and Math? What if I am much better at Math than Verbal? Would I be shooting myself in the foot to spend, say, 5 weeks on Verbal and only 3 weeks on Math? I'm just curious because I haven't started the studying yet and I've seen the books. The MGMAT books look pretty thick and to go through all of them in just 2 months seems like a LOT of long days.

If I test strong in a certain area, is it ok to completely ignore that area of study or should I devote at least a little amount of time to it?

If I test strong in a certain area, is it ok to completely ignore that area of study or should I devote at least a little amount of time to it?

bb · Answer

Sort of. GMAT has a number of unique questions, such as Data Sufficiency, so you should do some practice, but if your math is great and you score well - why worry?
You should download GMAT Prep (2 free tests by the makers of GMAT) and check your level

Pathfinder · Answer

Seems like an excellent plan. I'm sure 3 months won't be sufficient for me, but I hope it will be enough to take you into 700 club. My ideal study time is more like 6 months, but I suppose the average time of sucsessful test takers is somewhere between 3 and 6 months.

Your list of resources is great, with the exception of MGMAT's CR and RC guide. I used their entire package and adored other six guides, but I'm sure their RC and CR guides are the weakest link of this company. Any resource for RC and CR that doesn't come from GMAT writters represents some kind of trap - you are failing to adopt the logic of GMAT, instead you are adopting the mind patterns of people from MGMAT. Of course, this is more than desirable for math and SC because 2+2 is always 4 and "either X or Y" is always correct, but if your assumptions are deeper than those in real GMAT and go out of scope - you are in the deep trouble. And that is the case with MGMAT - their CRs are flooded with some weird assumptions (I mean really weird - those people are much smarter than GMAT makers) and their RCs often tend to go out of scope big time.

These are just my two cents. Other than that, your plan is excellent.

trzaskm · Answer

WMW,

Any results of this plan yet? I am attempting close to the same plan, and I'm curious how it worked for you. How did you do on your diagnostic? bb has anyone found a way to do this? It would be awesome to take one portion only and still see your score for it?

WMW · Answer

Hey,

Well i didn't quite go through with the plan ! I tried to do the self studying thing but I wasn't disciplined enough to go through with it....
So i signed up for an MGMAT 9 week online class which will end this Dec 5th. So far my last diagnostic on MGMAT CAT has been 570 and ill update you guys with the rest of the story as the D-Day approaches (Dec 30).

Good Luck!

bb · Answer

Thanks for the report back - would be interested to hear more about the classroom experience - we are trying to gather as much feedback as we can. Good Luck (interesting date you have

BB

trzaskm · Answer

Thanks can't wait to here how everything pans out. Good luck.

aquila · Answer

hi all, Guttered, defeated and was really down and under, and feelin maybe gmat is just not my game :cry:

. I'm a totally new (1hr "year old") on gmat club; i stumbled across this website today, read several treads for a couple hours and it made me feel a little better (and learnt a lot of useful tips like error log, gmat timer, etc).... Cut the long story short, i felt seriously troubled having attempted my first cat test (Gmat prep 1) yesterday, and only got 500 (Quans 34; Verbal 25), i am embarassed to say, even though i had revised for 3.5 months and been to a prep course with veritas prep which i paid (in the UK) nearly double the price of what was suggested on this website. I did have to pick up (not recap) a lot of basic math on my own during that period though bcos i didn't do high school maths. Unfortunately I also skipped the first year of my undergrad (where maths was covered) to complete a 3 years degree in 2, since I haven’t had enough money then to pay for the extra year. My problem now is, is it realistic for me to obtain the 700 region on gmat. I have laboriously gone through all the questions on the prep course material (except the last book which is a review of quants lessons) ensuring tat i know how to do nearly every single one of them (i say about 97%) during my revision - but i can't remember everything nor am i fast enough to solve them under timed condition. I was a little angry because i was given the impression that if i went through all the prep course material and can do all the questions, i would be capable of managing at least 600+. I only have 2mths left on the online resouce (mainly the CAT tests) before it expires, and I think Veritas is going to ask for more money if I need to extend it. My initial plan, assuming I would have been at 600 level by now, was to use the next 1 month to practice on CATs to get me up to 700. Now I am at a loss with what is the best thing to do. You said it isn’t advisable to spend more than 6 mths, is my time up, is gmat not my game after all? Would it be a realistic or sensible way forward if I went through my prep course material again (hopefully 2nd time round sticks in my memory better) - 2 weeks on Quans and 2 weeks on verbal, and use the last remaining month to do practice CAT. Or should I restart using BB's GMAT Study Plan for GMAT Novices? Anyone with rescue tips or advise for me (BB would you be able to advise?).

tejal777 · Answer

Aquila:
Let me personally welcome you to GMATCLUB!It's great to have you here!If you read few posts in the forum you'll realise how much this site has helped people..stick with us and we'll try to help you in whichever way we can!

First off,do not feel disheartened..EVERYBODY gets low scores..you need to learn how to handle it properly..Analyze,Analyze,Analyze..WHERE and WHY you are going wrong,your strengths and weaknesses,the problems you got right BUT exceeded the time,the questions you got wrong(WHY?Are you familiar with the topic or do you need to work on it).

Secondly,we aim for a target of 700 because it is a nice,round figure.Which schools are you planning to apply to?Will a 680/690 help?This way you are not setting yourself up for disappointment.

Thirdly,do not loose heart.Remember it is quality over quantity..you do not need to just blindly study..you need to study the RIGHT way.

As for the veritasprep..I am not familiar with it..somebody who knows more about it will be able to guide you better..but my suggestion would be instead of doing new stuff go over what you have learnt..since the math is relatively new to you,it will take time to sink in..

Hang on buddy!Just forge ahead!

aquila · Answer

Thank you very much for your kind words of welcome and encouragment. It was really nice to a get reply :>

I am still a little disorientated on this site. After i posted this mail, i couldn't find where it was and tho i had not posted it properly!! I then posted it again elsewhere.... ah well, never mind i since realise i get an email and also on the top right hand i cud view my post!!! I ought to get a new pair of glasses!

Anyway my post has been moved onto a new discussion topic (i haven't figured out how to attached a link here but the topic is "study plan question - Is 700 realistic"); can you visit it, i have got me new plan there. It willl be nice to see wat u think.

Do you know how to move this whole lot over to the new topic, just so that this discussion is kept on one location. Sorry i got off to a messy start on this website.

In answer to your questions, my quans weakness is that bcos a lot of stuff are new to me, it takes time for me to recall the rules when i see the questions. A lot of the question i know i can solve but i can't solve in 2 mins.

As for verbal, it is the same, since i am not a native speaker, i need to think about where are the verbs and adjectives and etc are on the sentences before i am able to idnetify the SC errors. By the time i had done it, i t could take me as long as 5mins!!

As for the schools, it is mainly Insead or LBS. Although they do take in 680, but i have got a pretty low GPA so having spoken to the schools at open day, they suggest that if i want to ensure i get an interview upon application , my gmat has got to be strong. I assume that means 700 region

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