GMAT Study Plan Advice

Question

Hello all.

I have had a very strange journey with the GMAT. I'll start from the beginning. 2007, immediately after graduating from college, I took a Kaplan face-to-face course, and ended up scoring a 700, with a quant score ~70%ile and verbal score ~90%ile. Fast forward to early last year, I decide I want to improve on my score, get it up to a 720. I took the test two times last year, scoring 690 and 700 (same EXACT splits as 2007). I used all the MGMAT materials.

Now today. After going through R1 apps, I am wait-listed at my top school. I feel that raising my GMAT score, maybe even by just 20 points, could tip the scales. My goal is to get my quant to the 80-85% range, as I know I can keep verbal at 90%+.

I have 35 days to make this happen (my schedule won't allow taking the test after early March). Any suggestions? Even though I took the test early last year, I still feel comfortable with the material so I don't need to start from scratch.

cecilpaladin32 · Answer

Try to find the hardest quant questions that you can. I am in a similar situation. One of my friends recently scored a 730 and told me that the Manhattan series coupled with the official guides is good enough to get a person in the 680-700 range, but were not good sources for scoring over a 700. My friend's advice was to take as many CATs as possible from various sources, and then look at the 700+ rated difficulty questions from each of the CATs only. I have been fairly confident with my prep with these sources, but am worried that during the actual exam, I will see questions far more difficult than what I have seen in these places.

I think there is a place on this forum where a person isolated questions considered 700-800 to range in quant and uploaded a zip file containing these questions. I have not yet had the time to look at these, but it couldn't hurt to try. Good luck!

I think there is a place on this forum where a person isolated questions considered 700-800 to range in quant and uploaded a zip file containing these questions. I have not yet had the time to look at these, but it couldn't hurt to try. Good luck!

chromium73 · Answer

Thanks, makes a lot of sense. I am capable of answering the 700+ quant questions, but have a tough time doing it in a reasonable amount of time. I end up blowing time on the early tough questions, and try to make up time by guessing on many of the later tough ones, to make sure I have time for the ones I know I can get right. Working in finance, I have no issue with numbers/math, but answering these 700+ questions in 2 minutes is difficult...

cecilpaladin32 · Answer

Yeah, it's very challenging. One thing that I am trying to do right now, albeit with limited success, is trying to answer "easier" quant questions in 60 seconds or less. My friend told me that the hardest 2 quant questions he received took him about 4-5 minutes to solve, but due to the time he saved on the earlier quant questions, he managed to have the time to answer these questions AND finish the whole section. For what it's worth, my friend scored a 50 on the quant.

bb · Answer

Try the GMAT club tests (I don't mean to engage in a shameless self-promotion but that's why we created them) to help people at 45Q level to get to 50 and 51. You can find countless testimonials and reviews in the forum.

You can also pick a copy of the MGMAT Roadmap and MGMAT Advanced Quant - both are good and I have reviewed both (see my signature).

Finally, Total GMAT Math is good but it is really long and really intense (not sure if 35 days is enough)

Best Regards,
BB.

chromium73 · Answer

Thank you very much. I'll give them all a shot!

wallstreetbarbie · Answer

I too suggest the GMAT club tests... the Roadmap book can help you with timing as well. However, the best way is to just practice practice practice until you begin to recognize patterns. When this happens you will begin to recognize them and become faster at solving within the time limit.

chromium73 · Answer

Hopefully the general support of this board will help me as well. I'm not thrilled to be taking a run at this test again, but I got specific feedback in my WL that I should raise my GMAT score. I guess I owe it to myself to try...

cecilpaladin32 · Answer

@chromium73: It definitely doesn't hurt to try. You should be very proud of the fact that you already scored a 700, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at. Hopefully with a bit more focus on math, you can raise your math percentile to a place where you will crush the GMAT. Best of luck moving forward

@bb: How long would you suggest to dedicate to the Total GMAT Math book? If 35 days might not be enough for someone to go through the entire book comfortably, it must be quite time intensive/challenging!

geometric · Answer

Do you think MGMAT Advanced Quant is better than Total GMAT Math?

chromium73 · Answer

Total GMAT Math is awesome. Thanks for the recc. It's definitely do-able in a couple of weeks, as I am just skipping the drill section and focusing on my weaker areas.

cecilpaladin32 · Answer

I noticed on his amazon review, bb mentioned 100 700 level GMAT questions are in the Total GMAT Math book. Can anyone enlighten me as to whether or not these questions are marked by difficulty/increase in difficulty throughout a particular section/the book at large? I'm on the fence as to whether I want to order the book or not. Thanks!

chromium73 · Answer

Not really. Each section, of which there are over 50, has both practice questions and "challenge" practice questions. The "challenge" questions are probably 650+ level questions, with some, but not all, being 700 level. I guess it really depends on the section (i.e., simplifying expressions v. combinatorics).

cecilpaladin32 · Answer

@chromium73: Ah, thank you, that's very helpful. The fact that the "challenge questions" are separated at the end is enough for me. I intend to go through the book cover-to-cover, but will likely spend the bulk of my time on my weaker areas.

chromium73 · Answer

Good luck. I find it useful. Hopefully it will help change the ugly red and yellow highlights on my profile.

cecilpaladin32 · Answer

Good luck to you, as well. I hope that you can get into the schools you're aiming for. With the profile that you have, I'm sure that you have a great shot!

Kansas · Answer

That's a wonderful post and I was searching for something like this. Could you suggest some books which contain drills and problems in the range of 760 and above. And yes, I heard that Total GMAT Math is also not enough. U have to go through Extreme Maths Challenge (by the same Author). And do anybody of u have an idea about the EZ solutions..?

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