I will be the first to say that I was/am pretty weak in the quant area of my GMAT studies. I had quite the reality check when I took my first GMAT diagnostic test (through
Manhattan prep) two weeks ago. Going into this test, I was only vaguely familiar with the GMAT and had not spent much time studying.
I took my first test and when I finished, I was disappointed to see a
490 flash across the screen (Q-26/V-32). I had scored particularly low in the quant, coming in at the 10th percentile. In that moment, I knew that I had to spend significant time restudying basic math principles.
Over the last two weeks, I have:
1. Studied on average 2-3 hours per day, taking 2 days off each week
2. Started a GMAT math foundation course through Udemy; the purpose of this course was to help me refresh math skills that I have forgotten in recent years. My studies these past 2 weeks were dedicated almost solely to quant.
3. Practiced problem solving/DS questions in the
OG and
Magoosh; I was averaging about 10-15 questions per day. If I got a question wrong, I would log it in my
error log and try to really understand why I got the question wrong. I would revisit these questions a few days later.
4. I noticed in the last few days that my study time was becoming a bit unstructured. I would sometimes do math and verbal practice. I would sometimes just watch the Udemy course. I decided I needed a bit more structure. This prompted me to purchase the 7 day trial through
Target Test Prep. I have loved it so far.
5. My new modified plan is to utilize
Target Test Prep as my main resource in my GMAT studies. On the days that I focus on studying verbal, I will supplement my quant practice with practice questions from
Magoosh/the
OG. I will continue utilizing my
error log.
Now for the moment you've been waiting for. In 14 days, has my studying been effective? The answer is
yes! Albeit, it is not a score that will get me into my dream school quite yet, it is a drastic improvement from my first practice test.
My most recent practice test score was a 530 (Q-32, V - 32)! A 40 point improvement in only 2 weeks! I was not surprised to see that my verbal had stayed exactly the same. With this in mind, I have decided to supplement my studies with a bit more verbal to hopefully improve that score as well. I was super excited to see that my quant had increased from a 26 to 32! I attribute this to being more familiar with the format of the test and being familiar with more math basics!
I have decided that I will continue studying the way that I have for the next few weeks because it seems to be effective. I plan on taking practice tests every 2 weeks for the next three months (my GMAT test date is the end of December!) Wish me luck and please share your tips that have helped you increase your scores the most!!