Need GUIDANCE for studying effectively to achieve my dream score!!

Question

Hello, I have finally decided to give my first attempt to Gmat! Because, this is something that's i cant keep my mind off and every now and then my mind wanders to my Mba dream. > Background: I have appx 5.5 years of experience in IT. I work 5 days a week and 12 hours per day including travelling which makes my day really short. Additionally i am enrolled into some PG course due to my interest which keeps running parallelly mostly on one weekend in a month. > My goal: I want to achieve 720+. And my target school is Insead mainly for next upcoming session. > Exam : 1st week of august > GmatPrep score for 1 sample test fully attempted : IR = 3 (ttl qs: 9) ; QA : 29 (ttl qs :37); V:17 (ttl qs: 40). (for AWA- i didn't got any score in the result) But just to inform, i gave this test directly after years and without any look on any kind of formulas etc so as to see how much i am at now. Also, due to my speed i have to guess some qs at end of QA and V and missed 1 question in both section due to time elapse. I have started prep from last week, mostly trying to study around 1.5 hr once i am back post office but a day or two , i kinda missed due to reason like - tired/hectic schedule/pg course assignment etc and felt bad

. I started with 1st module of mgmat quant and i think i am going bit slow but this book seems good for building or refreshing your basics. I have collected study material - mgmat study guides, power score cr, gmat club qs - taken from online sources(mostly versions are a year or two older) I would be indebted to good people like you who have given wonderful and practical suggestions to so many people who were in dilemma like me. Kindly suggest - > study plan (preferably for 1.5 month) [daily/weekend) > should offline study with books would be good or online courses (online courses are costly:(, if yes then preferably which considering quality n cost) > any suggestion or any advice to proceed further. Eagerly waiting for your response!! Thankyou! Regards, AB

Mkrishnabdrr · Answer

Hi, there,
Preparing for gmat vis-a-vis a full-time job is quite challenging due to work pressures. You can search for study plan in forums like magoosh.com. Studying with plain books is optimal if you practice the concepts and keep an error log as you complete the concepts. For practice, you the gmat club's tags wisely to build stamina. Best of luck for your gmat studies.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi AB,

Raising a 400 to a 720+ will be a challenging task - and you're going to have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. All of that work is going to take time (almost certainly more than the 1.5 months that you're looking to spend). As such, you should consider either redefining your score goal or redefining your timeframe.

1) What are the application deadlines for INSEAD after Round 1?
2) Are you considering applying to any other Business Schools?

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

AB0002 · Answer

Hi mkrishnabdrr,
Thanks for your revert. Yes, i should probably try to add error log, right now i am not. 
Thanks for referring Magoosh, i am checking their study plans to take adv for preparing my own!:)
Thankyou!!

Regards
AB

AB0002 · Answer

Hi Rich,
Thankyou for your revert. I have just started following on ur articles and one of the things that strikes me everytime i read you name is your tagline in signature, it is very very motivating!!
I know time is short and hence, i have accepted that fact that in case if score is not of my target then to give one more attempt in 2-3 week time but i don't want to go for later part.

1) Insead : 1st round :20/09/2017; 2nd round: 29/11/2017
2) yes, i will apply to others as well (mainly US/canada/singapore) depending upon my score (but as insead one was 1 year (so i am more inclined to it)

Regards
AB

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi AB,

With 1.5 months of study, there will likely be a limit to how much you can improve. I mention this because you seem to be focused on the timeframe and not the REAL goal - to get into your first-choice Business School (in this case, INSEAD). Highly competitive Programs expect applicants to score at a high level on the GMAT - so if you score at a lower level and can't 'compensate' for that with other strong aspects of your application - then there's really no point in rushing in an application that will likely get rejected. This is meant to say that if you really want to get accepted to INSEAD, then you have to put in all of the necessary work to put together the strongest application possible; if that means pushing back your application, then that's something that you have to consider.

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

umg · Answer

Here is what I'd suggest.. 1. Study Everyday for Atleast 1 Hour. No Matter What. Consistency is the key to crack the GMAT. So, studying 6 hours during weekends and none during weekdays is not going to boost your scores as much as possible. 2. Seeing your QA and VA scores, you need to build up the basic concepts. So, a dedicated effort is necessary. I'd suggest build up the concepts on weekends - 1 day for verbal and 1 for Quant, and practice questions, based upon those concepts, on weekdays. OG is the best initial source for that practice. 3. It does not matter whether you study from the books or online content. gmatclub has a lot of reviews of almost all the major prep companies. So, check yourself and make a judgement call about which from of study suits you best. BTW, if you enroll to an online course and that company has uploaded the lesson videos, Playing the videos at a faster speed, to reduce the time spent understanding a lesson, is also an option. :wink:

4. Because you are not giving yourself a lot of time to prepare, staying motivated is very important to achieve substantial gains. I am not trying to scare you but do understand that you want to cover a lot of ground in about 3 months. It can be done but not effortlessly. If your hectic routine hinders your prep, fix that irritant. You may even have to take some days off from work. Do whatever it takes to bring yourself to the study table with a focused and calm mind.

AB0002 · Answer

Hi BB, Thanks a lot!

I got your point. I will check for any revision or my approach ahead! Regards AB

AB0002 · Answer

Hi umg,

Thanks for your revert!
Yes, i have scheduled my day such that, on weekdays i would be giving appx 1.5 hr and on weekend - 6hrs appx.
I am figuring a way to balance office and other stuff as that seriously needs to be taken care now.
I know my target is very unrealistic but i have made up my mind now,so will put in my best efforts.

Regards
AB

umg · Answer

Your target is not unrealistic. Its just that you'd have to really put yourself into the prep.

AB0002 · Answer

Hi umg,
Thanks for the support! 
I will give my best!

-AB

GMATPill · Answer

When you study, I'd recommend studying intensely the sections you are weakest in -- assuming you already took a diagnostic test to get a sense of where your strengths and weaknesses are.

Dedicate an entire day to - say - Sentence Correction. The focused studying will help you maximize improvement.

But since the actual exam will involve different types of questions back to back - you will then want to mix up those questions - so you can get used to quickly changing your mindset between different types of questions.

For an online question bank - take a look at the Practice Pill Platform at: https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-test/

AB0002 · Answer

Hello GmatPill,

Thanks for the advice:) I will definitely try this one to see how much it is is beneficial to me.
Thnx!!

Regards
Aditi

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