Hi guys,
How u'll doing?
This post is for those who are just starting to prepare for the GMAT and have budget issues and can't spend much on the online paid resources available.
Some suggestions regarding materials and strategies that i found really useful.
Let's start.
First something about me.
I took the GMAT last month and scored 730 (Q 50, V40). I am preparing to take it again in another 3 weeks (target 780)
So now let's start.
1. I am sure you have heard this a lot. Start by solving the
OG and the verbal review and the quantitative review.
But do not I repeat do not solve the questions from the book. Register your book on
https://www.gmat.wiley.com and use their online interface to solve questions in much the same way as it would appear on test. This will help you do two things.
a) It will help you get familiarized with time constraints, the overall gmat structure and all those things.
b) You can actually segregate questions in level of difficulty which you cannot do while solving questions from the book.
2. Analyze each and every question of the
OG, correct as well as incorrect. Note down the topics that you face difficulty in solving. Maintain an
error log.
3. After you are done with
OG, take a GMAT prep test, do not take one before solving the
OG, since there are only two official tests. OFcourse if you can afford you can purchase additional tests but my guide is for people who have budget issues.
4. Again analyze the test, maintain
error log for the same.
5. Now comes the time when you decide how to move forward. Look at your score. Analyze which part you need to improve the most. Lets look at the quant and verbal sections individually.
a) Quant: IF you have issues with some particular topic like geometry, algebra etc, try addressing those issues first, revisit those concepts, familiarize yourself with questions of those topics. If you have time management issues i will recommend dividing your 37 questions into set of 5 questions each with 10 minutes for the set. So after every 5 questions check the time, if its more than 10 minutes, just skip any question from the next set that you find difficult to solve. Don't take much time to decide which question to skip. Additionally don't take much time to decide which option to choose as well. Before you enter the examination hall just choose your lucky option. Pick the same option for all your guess questions. Saves important time believe me. Every second counts.
Be very active and helpful on gmatclub. Earn enough kudos/points to redeem
gmatclub tests. The gmatclub quant tests are excellent source to stretch your score from 49 to 51.
b) Verbal: For verbal recognize the section that you find to be the most difficult.
Sentence Correction : Ah!! I face the most trouble while i solve this kind of questions. My low score in verbal is mainly due to this topic. I will just share one tip that i found to be really useful to me. Do not directly jump into rules and s v agreement and all that while you solve the question, read the question and understand the intended meaning of the question. This will really help you weed out options that you would otherwise unable to do.
Critical Reasoning: Write down the conclusion in a few words. Simplify the premise and the conclusion. you will find that this will really help you with 700 level and above questions.
Reading Comprehension: Reading Comprehension was something that came very natural to me. I will suggest you draw map (kind of like a flow diagram) for each and every essay. After a while you will get the hang of it. It will really help with the inference questions.
As for more questions to practice, for verbal section do not practice any question outside of the offical gmat material. They are not of the same quality and are not just worth it. After
OG and verbal review questions, practice retired gmat questions that i think you can easily find in this forum. These will be enough. There is no need to solve more and more questions, just analyze your questions properly and that will be enough for a great score on the verbal section.
For time management issues in verbal. I will suggest the same as quant. Divide your 41 questions in sets of 5 each. Give 9 minutes to each set and follow the similar strategy as mentioned for quant.
6. 2 weeks before your exam, give your 2nd official gmat prep test. Analyze your score, if you are too far away from your target, reschedule your exam.
7. Reset the gmat prep tests and give both the tests again in succession(Since your score must have improved, you will find that most of the questions will be different).
8. After you are done with the tests, try to solve all the questions available in the gmatprep software for additional practice, the questions that didn't appear on your exam.
9. Reserve your last week to go through your
error log. Go through each and every question of your
error log and solve them again. Will really help boost your confidence.
10. Don't study much on the day before your exam. Relax
11. During your day of your exam. Don't worry that much. Just relax and go with the flow(Keep a target in mind, you only have 2 minutes in the exam to decide if you wish to cancel your score or keep it, if you dont reach that score. I had a target of 780 in mind and as i didn't reach the target, i cancelled my score instantly).
I really hope that this helps some or the other person like myself facing similar issues.
If you need any additional help you can pm me. I will be happy to reply.
Pardon my english. I am not a native speaker.
If you find my post useful, please dont hesitate to press the kudos button.
Thanks.