HOW TO START, HOW TO IMPROVE, WHAT MATERIAL TO USE?

Hi Km2014,

Kindly do not be disheartened as GMAT is all about high commitment. It’s a good thing you have taken your exams. You can now know your weaknesses and work on them. If you are willing to study with high dedication for that period, you are sure to achieve your goal. I believe you may benefit from taking a GMATPREP course as you may be a bit weak with your concepts. If you are willing, there are some great GMAT prep companies that can help you with your preparation.

In order to make an informed decision I would highly encourage you to go to their websites and try on their free trial and decide for yourself which one do you like better. You try out free access to EmpowerGMAT, Magoosh and Optimus Prep as they have great reviews on GMATCLUB.

Also for verbal, I would highly encourage you to consider e-gmat verbal online or the e-gmat verbal live course. They are both amazing courses especially designed for non-natives. They offer almost 25% of their courses for free so you can try out their free trial to decide which one you want to go for. Plus the e-gmat Scholaranium which is included in both the courses is one of the best verbal practice tools in the market.

You can also try out the MGMAT guides they are phenomenal and cover the entire syllabus really well. I must add that if you are particularly looking to discover and improve on your weak areas in quant; a subscription to GMATCLUB tests is the best way to do that. They are indeed phenomenal and will not only pinpoint your weak areas but also help you improve on them. Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, Manhattan GMAT tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have a good verbal and Quant section and will certainly help you point out and improve your weak areas.

Further another advantage of taking many mocks is to build up your stamina. Apart from the GMATPREP tests, taking practise tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that.

Lastly I would also encourage you to purchase the latest version of OG and the verbal review for some great additional practice. Here is a link that will help you with your decision.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ve ... 68383.html

Hope this helps. All the best.

Hi guys,

Well, my GMAT exam is scheduled for June 7th morning, so I have 17 days to finish my preparation, and I am on vacation until June 7th afternoon so I can concentrate on my preparation.

In my first mock test I got 430 (Q36V14), that was before I start any preparation.
I was preparing 10 hours per week for 2 months, and I finished to review the Manhattan Verbal books. For Quant I am OK with the theory (I'm an engineer). Yesterday I took my Second CAT (from Manhattan) and got 570 (Q41V28). My timing was weak and I don't have enough time to answer about 5 quant and 10 verbal questions. I feel calm with the result as I understood my mistakes, and I think I can improve my weakness points and timing.

My target score is 700. I see another posts in the forum talking about what to do X days before GMAT, but none of these talk about when you are on vacations and can spend all your time to preparation.

Do you have any recommendations for me?
Is Ok if I spend all the time making mock tests?
Which resources do you think are the most useful?
another recommendations?


Thanks a lot for your comments, and have a nice day!

You can find usefull information here:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-study-p ... 80727.html
You can look for Study plan articles at GmatClub's Forum

In the end, there is no better prep than just putting in the time. I suggest two "study periods" a day, since you're on vacation. Either a 2-3 hour morning session, and then another 2-3 hour study session at night (so you have the afternoon's free), or a morning and afternoon session, if you prefer to have your nights (and of course you can change it around each day, depending). A twice-a-day "study block" schedule, that you can stick to though. is key.

There are no short cuts when you're this close to the test. Just go through your materials with a fine tooth comb.

Also, absolute best GMAT book/video/test package I can recommend is Kaplan's GMAT Premiere 2017: https://amzn.to/2r6bGra

In my opinion, that study package is better than all the rest. Hope that helps!

Thanks for all of your kind suggestions. They are very helpful. But if let's say I have GMAT Exam tomorrow, what are the three things that can help improve my score a little higher?

Let me tell you, i have been studying for 8 months now and i've finished studying whole Kaplan GMAT Premium 2017 book. So i am kind of mentally done with GMAT now. Any three helpful tips would be greatly appreciated.

KM

Hi JimPayments,

Assuming that your recent CAT score is accurate, then your goal is to increase your score 130+ points in just 2.5 weeks. Unfortunately, that goal is likely too difficult to be considered realistic (even if you can study a lot more right now - the type of 'cramming' that you're hinting at rarely yields great results in these types of situations).

You can certainly take the GMAT as scheduled, but you'll likely end up having to take it again (thankfully, Business Schools generally do not care if you take the GMAT more than once). You'll probably need another 2-3 months of consistent, guided study to hit that score goal though, so you might want to consider pushing back your Test Date. That having been said, if you're going to stick with this Test Date, then you shouldn't plan to take any more than 2-3 CATs in these next 2-3 weeks. A CAT is really a 'measuring device' - when used correctly, it will give you a realistic score and help define your strengths and weaknesses, but it will NOT help you to fix any of those weaknesses. To raise your scores, you have to put in the necessary practice and repetitions. The CAT will show you whether your studies are helping you to improve or not. This is one of the big reasons why you really shouldn't take more than 1 FULL CAT per week.

1) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
2) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hi EMPOWERgmatRichC and other guys, thanks for your comments.

Well I did GMAT Prep 1st free CAT and got 540 (Q48V17), I really improve Quant, But get worse in Verbal

I know my goal is far, but I see that my main weak point is my timing. I take too long reading the longer passages, and get frustrated and so do not have enough time to do the rest of the question. In the last CAT I made, the Verbal part starts with 2 passages, and took me the hafl of the time and I could not complete the last 10 questions.

What could you recommend to improve my timing? what sources of RC o others questions?

By the way, I planning to apply this September when the next 1st rounds start, and planning to apply to LBS or other international schools in UK or outside US. Could be some US' too. (I work in the Payments business in retail banking (half retail and half technology, and am Peruvian, engineer, 30 years old)

Regards

We have a post that addresses your question and probably goes way beyond reasonable in preparation for the test, but you can always ignore some of the bullets: https://gmatclub.com/forum/what-to-do-3 ... 52506.html

Hi JimPayments,

From what you described, you took 2 CATs on back-to-back days - and that was NOT a good idea. There were big 'swings' in your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores, so it's not clear which (if either) of those scores is accurate. Dropping from a V28 to a V17 implies that you are 'narrowing down the answers and "guessing"' far too often. Thankfully, the Verbal section of the GMAT is just as predictable as the Quant section is - so you CAN train to score at a higher level. With this new CAT result, I want to reiterate the point I made earlier: you likely need another 2-3 months of consistent, guided study to hit your score goal (and not just 2.5 weeks).

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hi all - I started studying in January and just took the gmat - 660, V35 Q45. I would like to get the score up to 700 or close to it

My official prac tests have averaged 660 with 680 being the most recent

Wanted to see what you guys think I should be focusing on and specific materials. I used the 8 manhattan guides, the OG, and the quant review

Look forward to hearing your guys thoughts! Thank you very much in advance

Posted from my mobile device

When you studied the OG, did you follow along an expert video walkthrough to make sure your thining is on the right track? Here's one resource for that: https://www.gmatpill.com/official-guide- ... ition=2016

Seems you do evenly well in verbal and quant - make sure you don't make any "stupid" mistakes as each one can make a difference.

If you are looking for additional practice questions, take a look at: https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-test/

The questions are free, but the expert video walkthroughs will require a paid membership.

Thank you. Sort of. I used Magoosh's video service, and then would Google other questions that werent on there..

Hi

First of all may your test day prove a luckiest day for you, by the way 7th June is my birthday
you should focus on verbal more than quant, in these 2 weeks you can take CATs and Quizzes also
You should carry on taking CATs (6-8) CATs, review each incorrect answer know your mistakes
if these mistakes related to any concept, review your concept, learn from your mistakes
try to review each question thoroughly, analyze your pace, try to meet the pace because real GMAT test
punishes hardly for not completing test.

Top CATs are:

1. GMAT prep.
2. Manhattan CATs
3. Veritas prep.

Good Luck
Cheers

Hi Guys
Thanks for your comments. Yes maybe I cannot get my target score and will have to retake the exam, but I will continue training and reviewing Verbal theory and do the best to achieve the higher score I can.

Regards

Hi nickcab ,
660 is a pretty decent score and your test day performance was the average of your GMAT Prep tests.You can raise your score from 660 to 700 with around 2 months of dedicated study.
- Order an ESR to analyze your weak areas
You can improve in either section to increase your score to 700

- For Quant - Manhattan or Veritas prep guides are good if you want to revise your basics.
- GMAT Club tests are fantastic for quant practice.
-Also, solve the questions in Bunuel's signature

SC - e-GMAT and Manhattan SC - It can be improved in the least amount of time. This is the best e-GMAT module.
- CR - Powerscore , e-GMAT , MGMAT Ron's videos
-RC - MGMAT or Veritas reading strategy


e-GMAT Scholaranium - Good tool for verbal practice.

Hope this helps!!

You have to reschedule for sometime in August. I don't think getting 700 is doable in your case. It would be if your score was around 650 but you have to improve your timing and verbal score.

Hi JimPayments

Given that you are so close to your GMAT, you should focus more on verbal as it may benefit you more. You can consider E-gmat verbal online or the e-gmat verbal live are both amazing courses that can really help you improve your scores.

I personally do not think one should Focus on too many different things. It may be nice to give a couple of mocks (the official ones) and work on your weaknesses, but trying something new might not work in anyone’s favour. However if you want to improve on any individual area such as Sentence Correction, you may subscribe to the course as you can finish the whole course in 10 days (with proper dedication). If however you are only looking to indentify and improve on your weak areas, I would encourage you to purchase the e-gmat scholaranium. It is without a doubt, one of the best practice tools for verbal and will indeed help you on the final leg of your preparations.

Hope this helps. All the best.