GMAT Summer 6/2011-9/2011-my journey to 700+ as it happens

Question

So this is where I will post all of my updates on what is going on in my journey to over 700 on the gmat.

To start off, a bit of background. I am very good in math. I got an 800 on the SAT math section. I am much weaker in critical reading and writing, but still average. I am between my sophomore and Junior year and I devoted this summer to studying for the gmat. I am going to apply to top ten mba programs right out of college, so I need to do very well on the gmat.

After much research, I signed up for the $350 deal at knewton. I took the diagnostic test today and scored average. 33Q (36%), 32V (63%), 540 (50%). This surprised me because I am so good in math, but i guess the gmat has different math than i am used to. I have a lot of work to go to get to the top.

I bought the following books today to help me study over the summer. 
-Kaplan GMAT 800: Advanced Prep for Advanced Students (Kaplan Gmat Advanced)
-The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition 
-The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review, 2nd Edition
-The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition 
-Manhattan GMAT Test Simulation Booklet w/ Marker 
-Manhattan GMAT Set of 8 Strategy Guides, Fourth Edition 
-Foundations of GMAT Math: GMAT Strategy Supplement (8 Guide Instructional Series)

I also get access to the Gmatclub tests because i bought through this website to knewton.

I am following, if you are familiar, the hardcore plan because I really want to get well into the seven hundreds. i know that is ambitious but i have a whole summer.

A few questions I need help on.

1. Creating a plan, if anyone has any resources or recommendations that would be great.
2. When to do the work in each book. I was thinking of doing just knewton for 5 or 6 weeks then cracking open the other ones, let me know if there is a better idea.
3. I go back to school in mid september and haven't set a test date yet, any ideas on when would be good? Should i study for as long as i can. 
4. Any recommendations that can be helpful towards my goal of 700+.

mohater · Answer

1. Creating a plan, if anyone has any resources or recommendations that would be great.
- You have a plan above. Don't be afraid to change your plan when taking practice tests to gauge progress. Don't forget to keep an error log.
2. When to do the work in each book. I was thinking of doing just knewton for 5 or 6 weeks then cracking open the other ones, let me know if there is a better idea.
- You're paying for a class. Take full advantage of it.
3. I go back to school in mid september and haven't set a test date yet, any ideas on when would be good? Should i study for as long as i can. 
- 2-3 months should be good assuming you make progress.
4. Any recommendations that can be helpful towards my goal of 700+.
- There is no magic pill. Your score is only as good as your weakest section.

marymary · Answer

does knewton have a study plan? if I paid for a class I would expect some structure. MGMAT has a 10 week plan, if you are using their books you could possibly use that. I would try to use both knewton and mgmat concurrently rather than doing two back to back, use one to augment the other and so on.

the main study plan thread here says 6 mos is enough time to really buckle down and study so if you are not pressed for time then you shouldn't rush. maybe use one of the structured study plans for 3 mos or so, take the actual test or a diagnostic and see how you do, then go from there.

tarzanman727 · Answer

Okay, sorry i haven't updated in a while, but here is what has been happening

1. it is very hard to do this every day, i missed four days in a row because of family stuff, but i need to learn to sit down and just do at least one hour a day, because over four days that is an extra four hours, it is summer, so it is a bit easier because i have more time, but i am still very busy.

2. i looked through my homework that i have done so far. i missed a lot of the questions, at least three or four because i was going too fast and didn't read carefully. another one or two were very complicated and i tried to plug in numbers, but i have been learning to simplify very complex inequalities and equations. another thing i am struggling with is turning word problems into equations, but i am practicing. i am much better once i have an equation.

3. doing homework is teaching me some basic properties like the communtitive and associative properties that i forgot how to do. i think it is good to do hw because it exposes you to many many types of problems and concepts

4. i analyzed my diagnostic test from knewton and here is what i found out.
-in quantitiative, i missed fifteen out of 37 questions, and 11 of those were data sufficiency. i also missed five out of the first 10 questions, which is where you gain most of your big point increases as jose has said from knewton. i missed only very tough 700 level problem solving questions. this kind of shows me where i need work. i also finished with six minutes left, so i need to prioritize my time better. a few of the problems i also missed because i was going very fast and wasn't reading closely, which has kind of been a recurring theme
-in verbal, i missed 16 out of 41 questions, of which 7 were sentence correction, 5 were reading comprehension, and 4 were critical reading. in general i need improvement in this area, however, i am much better in improving math, but i am still going to work very hard on this as well, looks like i need to read the manhatten book that i bought on sc. i also missed 5 out of the first 10 Q's in this one as well, which isn't very good, so i need to try to do better in this area to get the huge point boost. it seems like my weaknesses were not being able to grab details and make inferences from passages as well as draw conclusions from them. i will work on this as well.

5. knewton did provide me with a study plan which i was worried about, so what i plan to do is for the first 6-8 weeks or so, until i finish knewton, find my weaknesses and through their resources and the mgmat 8 books that i bought, work to bring up my scores. after the ten weeks, i will start working in the og and the two supllementary books that contain more questions from the og.

Now this is where i need you guys on advice******

1. i have access to five more knewton tests, access to all of the gmat club tests (6 i think?), i have access to 6 of the mgmat tests and then there are the other 2 or 3 tests from mba.com or wherever people get them from. all in all, thats about sixteen tests to take in about 12 weeks. how should i spread them out? 2 per week? one per week then more as i get closer to the september 9 test day?

2. work on verbal then math, or both at same time?

3. what do you think of my study plan? any advice to improve?

tarzanman727

any responses would be much appreciated

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