Need Help, Totally lost.

Question

Hello Experts,

I have been an active member of the forum since June 2020, regularly solving questions and posting queries but now more than 6 months later I find myself in a quandary. 
My verbal and quant has overall improved vis-à-vis to last year but whenever it comes to quant, I feel highly underprepared. I originally thought practicing more questions here would help me cover topics and improve my quant but now I am getting the feeling that my approach could be wrong as I am always solving questions but every time I come across something new, which is fun to understand and solve but GMAT QUANT feels like an ocean and I don't think that despite the pandemic, I will have time to cover this entire ocean.

I would love to read some tips from all of you that will help me prep smarter and do justice to the time I have been lucky enough to have till date.

I haven't given any mocks till date, so I would like to know should I give the first free GMAC mock or a Manhattan Prep mock ? I bought the Manhattan Prep guides last march but the quant guides seem too simple compared to the questions I have found on this forum or maybe I am not utilizing the guides properly.

From all the time I can know that I am bad at Data Sufficiency and on 700 level Reading Comprehension questions.

I have to admit that I have committed the cardinal sin of solving the OG 2020 guides first without any preparation.

My target score is a 725 and above, I hope to finish with my GMAT before May/June.

Please help, Would love to hear from the best minds on the forum.

Thank you.

DisciplinedPrep · Answer

kntombat  - Solving questions without knowing the concepts is a horrible strategy, and doing so is counterproductive. You run a risk of losing motivation to study for the GMAT. I recommend that you enrol to a structured online course.

kntombat · Answer

DisciplinedPrep , thank you for the prompt reply, I know the basics of all the topics but nevertheless could you suggest some good structured online courses?

DisciplinedPrep · Answer

kntombat  - I sent you a PM. Please check.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi kntombat,

Based on your posting-history, you appear to have been studying for the GMAT for some time. As such, you really MUST take a practice CAT/mock sometime soon (perhaps this weekend), so that we can define your current 'ability level' in more detail. Make sure to take it in a realistic fashion that matches-up with what you will face when you take the Official GMAT (take the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, at the same time of day as when you'll take the Official GMAT, if you will be at a Test Facility, then wear a face mask, etc.). Once you have that Score, you should post back here (or you can feel free to PM me directly) and we can discuss the results and how you might best proceed with your studies. In addition, you should plan on taking CATs at regular intervals (a NEW CAT every 1-2 weeks or so) going forward.

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) What type of study routine have you been following? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used over the course of all of your studies?

Goals:
3) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

I just responded to your PM. I'm looking forward to chatting further.

kntombat · Answer

Hey Rich  EMPOWERgmatRichC ,  ScottTargetTestPrep ,  DisciplinedPrep

Sorry for the delay in getting back to all of you. I took your advise and took the GMAC Practice Exam 1 and scored a 580 - Q42(Got 17 correct out of 31) and V28(Got 22 correct out of 36) and a 4(5 correct out of 12) on IR. Well to be honest, I am not happy with my performance and on reviewing the Verbal Section, I realized that I got 6-7 wrong after narrowing them down to the closest two options and choosing the wrong one. Waiting to hear your analysis of my performance.

Now coming to the questions that you asked: 1) Well my study routine is pretty haphazard, I try to cover all four sections everyday doing a little bit of quant, verbal(SC, RC, and CR) and IR. I have mostly been practicing questions on these forums like crazy and I must admit I have neglected DS and RC from time to time as they scare the living daylights out of me. I study around 40-45 hours a week, I have no issue in increasing them if it means that I can finish with the GMAT faster.

2) Well I have referred to the Official GMAT Guides of 2020, The Manhattan Prep guides(All the Verbal, All the Quant, Integrated Reasoning and Essay, Foundation of Math and Foundation of Verbal), Critical Reasoning Bible 2017 and Gmatclub Grammar Book v20.

3) I want to wrap with my GMAT by the end of April/May, I do not wish to delay it beyond that.

4) I plan to apply to B-schools in 2021 R1, I am mostly looking at European B-schools like WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, Mannheim Business School, HEC Paris, Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University, HHL Leipzig. 
Asian B-schools like NUS, NTU.
Australian B-schools like University of Melbourne.
I haven't made any list of the American B-schools I would like to apply to as the fees of most of the good schools are really high and until I do not get an amazing GMAT Score, there is no chance of getting any scholarship. Now with President Biden taking office, I am not averse to the idea of doing an MBA in USA and working there.

Would love to hear from you as and when possible.

Thanks,
kntombat.

kntombat · Answer

AndrewN , would love to hear your thoughts also.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello, Spawn... er,  kntombat . I agree with what others have written above. A topic-by-topic approach to Quant might suit you, and an online course might prove more efficient than self-study at this point. 40-45 hours a week of study without getting anywhere near your target score reveals that you have placed too much emphasis on working through questions, not enough on review. If Quant concepts are a problem, you may want to check out Target Test Prep; if you lack a test-specific approach, you may consider EMPOWERgmat or Math Revolution. That said, self-prep is still an option. Have you checked out All You Need for Quant or The Ultimate GMAT Quantitative Megathread, either of which can be found in the signature of   Bunuel  ? You ought to consider pulling back from piling on the questions so that you can shore up your conceptual quant knowledge first. You will also want to  go back  and revisit the questions you missed from the OG, since you blitzed your way through that already. Can you look up the questions in the forum to your satisfaction (i.e. do they make sense, or could  you  work through the steps on your own)? There appears to be a disconnect between the time you are spending and your application of GMAT™-specific knowledge. Finally, in Verbal specifically, review, review, review. You can learn more from any given 100 questions of RC, CR, or SC than you could by working through 10,000 such questions without adequate review. You have to teach yourself not to seek the correct answer so much, but to understand how to disqualify incorrect answers. Again, a course can help you along these lines, but ultimately, even the best platform, program, or teacher can merely point you in the right direction. It is up to you to open the door of understanding in your own mind.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do. You are close to a 600 now. Make that your next intermediate goal. Once you have that in hand, see if you can hit 650. I can tell you this: you cannot close your eyes and hope that the stars align to give you that 720-730 score. Rich from EMPOWER and I agree on this point: you have to  earn  the score you want. If you need the help of others to achieve it, then humble yourself and learn everything you can from such resources. And, of course, feel free to ask questions along the way.

- Andrew

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi kntombat,

I've sent you a PM with some notes and additional questions.

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

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi kntombat,

It's okay to make mistakes in your preparation. Most students start with OG and focus more on practicing questions, not knowing that it's the methodology and the application they have to focus on. But it's never too late to go in the right direction. Let me help you here.

The right way to prepare for GMAT Quant: 
You don't have to solve too many questions to get comfortable with the types of questions tested on GMAT Quant. Instead, learn the right methodology and the strategies to solve questions. This will help you solve questions with ease. There are certain traps in DS questions. So, you need to be very careful while choosing an option. There are certain cases which you have to consider and certain assumptions which you should not make.

So, it all comes down to the methodology and the strategy part. I would suggest you to focus more on these and once you are confident about these, you can dive into practicing questions. I'm not sure how you prepared till now but I would suggest you to choose a standard resource from now on and stick to it. You can check out GMATWhiz for that matter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL1pmGSHO2Y

If you wish to have a detailed discussion on this, you can get in touch with me over a call using the below link.

Click here to schedule a call

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi kntombat,

580 is actually not a bad start. I know we have been PM'ing, so we can continue to chat further.

egmat · Answer

Hi kntombat ,

For a structured approach to Quant, you can check out the Quant 2.0. You can check out the details of this here (GC Post) or here (e-GMAT blog).

Feel free to reach out to our team at [email protected] to know more or consult the experts for a plan to reach your target score.

Regards,
Aditee

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