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Overwhelmed and not knowing where to start!

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deebee29
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Overwhelmed and not knowing where to start! [#permalink] New post   09 Jun 2011, 18:29
Hi everyone,

I have done one of the GMATprep tests and got a 500 (27V/32Q) with no studying at all. Aiming to do the GMAT in late August and I need a 550 to apply, but would like higher of course. I received the materials today, and I'm really unsure as to how to begin tackling the studying. I got the three official guides and the eight manhattan gmat guides. Any suggestions on where I should begin and how to develop a plan of attack? I've looked at some threads that talk about this, but still unsure... Thanks!
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Re: Overwhelmed and not knowing where to start! [#permalink] New post   11 Jun 2011, 06:06
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You're not far from your goal, so the first thing to do is relax. If you're not relaxed, then you won't be able to stay focused and perform at your best while studying or taking the test.

Your score doesn't reveal a huge imbalance, and that's good. But I would place the most emphasis on math at this stage, since it's relatively easier to improve. This will bring confidence and momentum to your studies. Manhattan's math guides are excellent, but I'm not a big fan of their end-of-chapter review questions. I usually recommend people to skip those and just use the OG questions to reinforce the concepts covered in the guidebooks (there's a section that tells you which questions to do for each topic). If you still want some extra math practice, look into Manhattan's question banks and the six online tests. Since you have all eight books, access to these questions should be free.

For verbal, read everything and complete all the exercises in the book. I suggest re-reading the SC book, since it has so much in it.

Other general advice includes incorporating a simple error log and reading all of the OG explanations.
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jinkev
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Re: Overwhelmed and not knowing where to start! [#permalink] New post   11 Jun 2011, 08:14
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bmillan01 wrote:
You're not far from your goal, so the first thing to do is relax. If you're not relaxed, then you won't be able to stay focused and perform at your best while studying or taking the test.

Your score doesn't reveal a huge imbalance, and that's good. But I would place the most emphasis on math at this stage, since it's relatively easier to improve. This will bring confidence and momentum to your studies. Manhattan's math guides are excellent, but I'm not a big fan of their end-of-chapter review questions. I usually recommend people to skip those and just use the OG questions to reinforce the concepts covered in the guidebooks (there's a section that tells you which questions to do for each topic). If you still want some extra math practice, look into Manhattan's question banks and the six online tests. Since you have all eight books, access to these questions should be free.

For verbal, read everything and complete all the exercises in the book. I suggest re-reading the SC book, since it has so much in it.

Other general advice includes incorporating a simple error log and reading all of the OG explanations.


Hi bmillan01,

I was wondering why you recommended poeple to actually skip the end of chapters questions in the math MGMAT guides. I am currently studying these guides and I feel that the questions are unrepresentative of actual GMAT questions. I even sometimes tend to think that these questions are harder than the GMAT questions (maybe that's just me). I was thinking of ignoring these questions myself. Yet, I did not want to take the chance of skipping them as I thought they were important. But now I might just skip them and go through the OG, verbal review and quant review questions instead.
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Re: Overwhelmed and not knowing where to start! [#permalink] New post   11 Jun 2011, 09:22
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Thanks for your input, jinkev.

For the math books, the questions were unrepresentative of the test and only frustrated me. It took too much time to finish a section with the questions and I felt exhausted afterward. It's much better to use that lost time and energy re-reading and practicing with GMAT-style questions.
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Re: Overwhelmed and not knowing where to start! [#permalink] New post   15 Jun 2011, 17:22
Thanks for the input! :)

I'm a little bit concerned, I just realized that the latest possible date (due to availability) for the GMAT is August 18, so it looks like I'll be writing it then. I've been trying to keep up with my work schedule and also do some studying every day. I've gotten through the normal section of the number properties book (but I still want to write up some notes from it), and have the advanced section left to do. Not sure if I should be doing the advanced section or not, since time is limited. In the number properties book, I've been doing the OG questions that are not part of the diagnostic and keeping an error log. I'm now wondering if I have enough time to prepare properly...
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Re: Overwhelmed and not knowing where to start! [#permalink] New post   15 Jun 2011, 19:22
Hi,

I am posting my "where to start" thing in this thread because of the thread heading.

Its been 10 years since I left college. I have been reading various forums and guidelines on the GMATclub and they are great. I think I need to start from scratch. I did not give any practice test based on my thought of loosing confidence if I am facing a test with no preparation. I am following the study guidelines mentioned in this club and I am going to start my first month with a full concentration on maths (apart from my working hours). I have following confusions:
1. You have great review about Manhattan set of 8 guides and I am going to follow you on that. However you also talked about MGMAT math foundation if one needs to prepare for fundamentals. I am confused should I start preparing from MGMAT 8 strategy guides or should I first start from MGMAT math foundation.
2. In the study plan, 1st month is selected for maths and the 2nd for verbal. Can I assume the first month of math preparation (from MGMAT set of 8 strategy books) will also cover quantitative, reasoning kind of categories?

Sincere appreciation for all the support I am and will be getting from GMATClub.

pinkjosh
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djabhi
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Re: Overwhelmed and not knowing where to start! [#permalink] New post   16 Jun 2011, 22:25
@ deebee29
i dont know how long you plan to study but if u have planned to study for 3months then i would suggest u take a look at this
https://www.gmating.com/gmat-prep-guide/ [that is , if u already havent]
i myself am following the schedule given there .. and trust me its awesome :) very detailed , informative ,well structured and nicely planned and well thought out :) it will really help you ..
if you need more help let me know.. i'd be happy to help :)
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gmatclubot
Re: Overwhelmed and not knowing where to start! [#permalink]
16 Jun 2011, 22:25

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