GMAT Preparation with GMAT Club for low income students.

Hello, Mck2023, and welcome to the forum. I have taken the liberty of chopping and channeling your post down to the two parts I would like to focus on to help you. I think seeking counsel from Businessconquerer above will do you a world of good. My two cents on the other parts:
Whatever plan you decide to follow, stick to it like glue. A less disciplined approach is likely to leave you feeling anxious and unprepared, and that combination will do your GMAT™ experience no favors. A small point: no one can guarantee that you will achieve a 720+. You have to believe you can earn such a score, and you have to be willing to put in the time and hard work to achieve it. Some people start a little further along than others and take less time, but a 720+ is not easy, or else top-tier schools would likely have higher admissions standards than the 730s or so. You will want to be systematic about your prep work, section by section, topic by topic, and get your proficiency up to a certain level across Easy, Medium, and Hard questions to give yourself a little breathing room on test day. The more you practice and track your performance, the greater the reliability of the data in hand.

As for earning kudos, there are plenty of ways to do so, but engaging with the community in a positive and helpful manner is the best way I know of. If you came across a question in your studies that you felt really good about, perhaps having worked out a complex problem in a simple way or seen something that most others might not have, then share your thoughts. Others respond to that, especially when your posts or responses are genuine. Some people seek kudos. You can see it in their signatures, along the lines of "+1 kudos if you found this useful," and that is fine. Some others post content in a question-specific forum, such as DS. Every time someone bookmarks that question you have created, that is a kudos for you. (Just ask Bunuel if you think I am making this up.) What it comes down to is engaging and assisting the community.

Good luck with your studies, however you go about them. (I can certainly relate to the low-income student part... the story of my life.)

- Andrew

Hello there, Namaskaar!!

So I joined this club like 2 months ago and I am pretty much in the same situation as you are, infact you can call it worse, since I have not been working for the past 5 months now. I would just like to give you a few pointers that helped me in this journey so far.

1) Take pointers from the various study plans that exist on the forum but finally create your own study plan since you know your skill levels better than anyone else in different sections there are in GMAT.

2) Take one section at a time, work on it till you master. I can suggest some for SC's for eg. - Search for "Thursdays with RON"; GMATNinja's Videos on Youtube; MGMAT SC is amazing but you really need to grasp everything including the subtle points it makes.

3) Once you do go through one of the sections, come here and engage in the may be "New Topics" or go to individual Forums and use filters for that section. Don't jump to 700 level questions directly. Solve sub-600 levels first, then 600-700 and then 700+ level. And keep track of you accuracy levels. You can access it in Error logs in Profile section.

4) Follow the various experts on the forum - you can take a clue of the number of experts I am following from my profile. You will get a notification whenever they post. Trust me you will get an insight on solutions that you might not have ever thought of.

5) There are few topics I follow in each sections such as "New Competition Mode", Project Butler - Moderators post 2 questions in each sections as a part of this project, "700 Level Questions" - These are usually posted by Bunuel, Generis, Sajjad Ahmed, Abhi007 to name a few.

6) Engage in the above projects by posting solutions. Even if you don't know the answer or got stuck somewhere post a query or present your thoughts. You will earn Kudos without even having an intention to earn some. And when you do earn a kudo trust me it will motivate you from within that yes you have what this GMAT really wants. Don't seek - earn it!!

7) See if you can manage to get some course. There are cheap ones available through GMATClub such as TTP, EMPOWERGMAT amongst many and start from 80-99$ a month. Taking a course helps in that you get a structured course in place and you just need to follow that. I opted for TTP and I must admit it has helped me a ton in getting my Quant skills up to the mark.

Finally, to let you know that I started posting with a sense of inferiority complex on the forum. But as I progressed I not only earned Kudos but also gathered a lot of confidence and motivation to keep on working on my skills. Remember, people on this forum are here to help and not judge. And as you do, I owe a lot to this forum as well already. I just hope to achieve my target score as well.

Finally All the best with your preparations. And hope you achieve what you seek.

Chao!!
Shameek

Hi Mck2023,

I realize that you are unable to use additional study materials, but one big piece of advice that I can provide is that regardless of which resources you use, it’s imperative that you follow a linear and structured study plan. In other words, follow a study plan that allows you to learn each GMAT quant and verbal topic individually, and then practice each topic until you’ve gained mastery. By studying in this way, you can ensure that you methodically improve your quant and verbal skills and leave no stone unturned. Certainly, if you’d like more specific advice on how to improve your quant and verbal skills, feel free to reach out. Lastly, you may find it helpful to read the following articles:

How to Score a 700+ on the GMAT — A Mini Guide for Success

How to Learn More, Learn Faster, and Retain More Knowledge While Preparing for the GMAT

Hello Andrew,
Thank you for your response.

I am convinced with your reply and, I will work on your tips.
I really want to be disciplined with gmat preparation; and stick to a single study plan like a glue. But I am lacking a solid personalized study and, I confess that I am not being able to make one myself.
So can you please help me make a personalized study plan for me with the use of materials I have mentioned?
Or will you suggest me to stick to the Daily GMAT Club
Study Plan by one of the gmatclub experts (souvik101990). I am finding it good though as it has reduced lots of stress out of me. However, I want to be 100% committed to a plan. So please guide me once.

No worries about the response, Mck2023. I like to help point new members in the right direction. I am unfamiliar with the plan souvik101990 outlined--do you have a link or a URL?--but if you have already started it, then keep going! A plan is only as good as you make it, as good as your ability to follow it, and there is something to be said about seeing a commitment through. I promise you, by the time you finish that plan, you will no longer look at questions in the same way you do now. And if you need help from the community at any point, just post. As I said to another student earlier today, concept mastery takes a different amount of time for each student, but you can only focus on the present and make your study time count right now. If you follow the path that another successful member has followed, using top-notch materials such as those you already possess, and if you dedicate your prep work to qualitative study over quantitative, x-hours-a-day-to-follow-a-blueprint study (probably dreading the process all the while), then there is no reason to believe you cannot make huge steps toward your eventual goal.

I see plenty of great tips above. Trust me when I say that this is a community that wants to see you succeed. Again, we are all just a question or a post away.

- Andrew

Follow the following study plan:-
https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-study-p ... ml?fl=menu
https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-self-pr ... tml?f=menu

Courses that can help with your prep:-
https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-co ... ml?fl=menu

Best books for Quants:-
https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ma ... ml?fl=menu
Best books for Verbal:-
https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ve ... ml?fl=menu

Best Gmat practice tests:-
https://gmatclub.com/forum/all-gmat-pra ... ml?fl=menu

You can do the things below to earn kudos:

1.making new posts
2.answering to the newcomers' posts
3.ontributing to the GMAT club sharing articles.
4.taking part in Competition Mode Questions every day.

Hi GmatWizard,
Thank you for your response.

I am following the study plan of which you have sent the link.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-self-pr ... tml?f=menu

I am pretty satisfied now. But can you please provide me more detailed review on this plan relating the target score of 720.

Posted from my mobile device

Hi MentorTutoring,
Thank you again for your response.

Here is the link of the study plan I mentioned.

Please provide the review on it relating with the target score of 720+.

Posted from my mobile device

Hi MentorTutoring,
Thank you again for your response.

Here is the link of the study plan I mentioned.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-self-pr ... tml?f=menu

Please provide the review on it relating with the target score of 720+.

Posted from my mobile device

Hello again, Mck2023. From what I have seen, the plan looks thorough, and yes, I believe that as long as it has been completed--responses to the initial post indicated that the series was incomplete--there is nothing recommended that would prohibit you from achieving a desirable score, provided you owned the resources. Remember, though, that there are no guarantees. Even GMAT™ courses that offer guarantees have fine print for test-takers looking to reach into the 700s. (An improvement from a 600 to a 650 does not require the same commitment as an improvement from a 700 to a 750.) If there are not recommendations for when to take practice tests during the two-month course, then you could also inquire here or in another thread. At some point during your course of study, you will definitely want to get on-the-spot data for where you would stand. Precious few people just study theory, go into the test center, and belt out a 720+. Yeah, I know, everyone seems to know someone... but there is a lot of information that does not get conveyed in such stories.

As always, if you have further questions, even about something specific in the course on a given day, feel free to ask. You can also tag me so that I can respond on that page. Good luck.

- Andrew