GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep : General GMAT Questions and Strategies

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highdiving

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

01 Sep 2012, 10:30

Is there a definite answer to when you should start practicing with full length tests regularly?

Apart from the third month (for a standard study plan) would it be appropriate to take one full cat simulation every weekend after the first month or so?

bharath737

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

03 Sep 2012, 11:50

teekays wrote:

Hello All,

First off I'm very nervous!! I haven't sat for a competitive exam in 10+ years. I'm 32, me and my wife just had a baby (1 year old), I have a good job in a medium size company but I've started to feel my career progression has stopped and I need to do study further to move ahead both financially and for moving to a better place (something more cosmopolitan than the rusty old town I'm stuck in).

I took my first GMAT prep test the day before yesterday without preparation and I got only 590 (Q38, V34). I'm kind of worried about this score. When I took GRE about 12 years ago, I was in the 99th percentile, but has age gotten to me so soon?? I have committed several silly mistakes in problem solving, couldn't organize data clearly to solve problems in quant, all solutions to sentence correction looks correct to me... the list is endless. RC was the only area I did well without mistakes, I pretty much sucked in all other areas.

My test date is exactly 3 months from now on Oct 24. Can I ever dream of getting 750+?

I have OG13 to start with, what else do I need? Any good recommendations for reading materials SC, PS, CR, DS? Online question banks? CAT tests? I've attached a question bank for RC that I found online today if anybody is interested.

Thanks a lot for your help!! I'll try to post my progress or otherwise regularly....

Hi

Lets consider 3 levels to reach your best figure.
With my experience and knowledge,Since OG13 have all the official questions Suggest it to use at 2nd level.

At start Analyze your 590 Mark test thoroughly figure out your worried locations.Your Quant score can be improved more.So would suggest to use MGMAT material for overviewing test strategies. Once you were done with it suggest you to go with some practice questions repeat the above until you cross 45 in Quant.

Once you reach 45 Mark you can use OG13 for solving questions and also parallely prepare error logs for it.

Use all the error logs and some practice tests in Level 3.

kandhasm

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

07 Sep 2012, 03:18

Thanks BB for this post. Must admit I entered into this community as a lost soul - with only my vision to do a masters. And GMAT seemed too complicated a maze to get through. Thankfully GMATclub makes average brains like mine feel at ease with GMAT prep.

I just need a help with the following. Though I am able to grasp almost everything I read, I particularly seem to have difficulty in deciphering percents problems. Like to clearly comprehend the wordings of Percents problems seems an uphill task and I end up spending 1/6th of an hour for even a simple problem (worst still I always end up referring to answers to understand the question and approach) Is there any particular advise to overcome this hurdle.

Also, I would like to take topic wise tests- Number properties, percents, probability, geometry etc - where should I begin with and is it advisable to buy access to all the tests than individual ones? Please help me. Thanks in advance.

Maryam787

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

09 Sep 2012, 08:35

hello,,,its maryam,,,i am already working on GMAT preparation from past 10 days and I've spent time on revising quantitative basics from Academy I want to work even more than what I am covering these days in Academy,,as I have to appear in GMAT by Oct 2012 my minimum score requirement is 553,,any suggestions for me as I can't follow 3month plan,,,I appreciate any useful suggestions,,,Thanks,,,

jaydotcee

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

24 Sep 2012, 09:36

Quick question - for those using the MGMAT strategy guides, do you go through 1 book at a time or do you alternate working through books? i.e. 1 day do 2 hrs with Number properties, next day do 2 hrs using percentages, decimals?

Thanks in advance!

abhinav11

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

25 Sep 2012, 03:50

Hello Guys,

I have been trying or pretending to study from past 2 months for GMAT, but just couldnot kick start in full throttle because of my job change.
Now after changing the job in new company I am almost settled and want to give GMAT in NOV -2012 .

(I know I am already running short of time)

I have only 2 months time I took GMAT PREP - I and scored a mere 590 and I aim to score 700 +

I am ok with quant only thing is CR and SC, slowly I am getting comfortable with both oof these topics but still far away from confident.
Can any one please help me what else I should study on the way.Following books I have been reading till now.

OG -12, OG 13
Aristotle SC GRAIL
Powerscore CR Bible
Manhattan Arithmetic guides 1, 2 ,3

What other boooks shall I refer for 700 + .

Any one else from Delhi, Noida and wants to joine me for study group please mail me or pm me.

Thanks in Advance
Abhinav
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Abhinav

GMAT 1 - 580 (Q47 V23) https://gmatclub.com/forum/a-tight-slap-on-face-149457.html

GMAT 2 - 670 (Q48 V34) https://gmatclub.com/forum/670-one-month-off-from-office-and-2-months-hard-work-163761.html#p1297561

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tiwarip

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

26 Sep 2012, 22:58

Hi bb,

I would like to make an attempt for GMAT but my verbal is really weak. Any suggestions on how to improve it.

Regards,
Preeti.

sonivashisht

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

17 Oct 2012, 10:42

Hi,

I am new to this forum, I plan to take GMAT next year mostly and apply for admission to B-School by end of next year only. I want to give as much time preparing for GMAT. Considering that I have bulk amount of time, when does the universities starts accepting applications? I also need to know about the GMAT's strategies of Verbal & Quantitative. Is it similar to GRE Verbal. I am good at argumentative analysis and reasoning but not good at the verbal vocabulary section. Please advise for getting up to the vocabulary expected to get into a good B-school with Fedral Financial Aid Scholarship.

Thanks,
Soni Vashisht

worldofecofin

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

05 Nov 2012, 10:51

jaydotcee wrote:

Quick question - for those using the MGMAT strategy guides, do you go through 1 book at a time or do you alternate working through books? i.e. 1 day do 2 hrs with Number properties, next day do 2 hrs using percentages, decimals?

Thanks in advance!

I completed 3 of them within the past 4 days...now just picking up the 4th book....plan to finish all the 10 books within 10 days...let's see how that works...

RoyalTerry

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

14 Nov 2012, 05:41

Hi,
Planning to start off with my GMAT prep. Would like to know if there is anybody in Mysore who has similar Plans.

Felonx

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

18 Nov 2012, 04:42

Quote:

Common Mistakes with GMAT preparation
2: Starting with the Official Guide - waste of official GMAT questions
so by which books do I have to start?

Could someone please answer this question? What would you recommend? I am currently reading the Manhattan Guides (quant). Would you start practicing with the indicated questions of the Quantitative Review instead of the one of the Official Guide or are they both equally "valuable"?? So are there other questions than those?
I feel like just reading the strategies and not applying them immediately to real questions will make me forget most of the stuff soon.

Thank you!

vindhya3

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

09 Dec 2012, 20:39

Hi, I have just started with GMAT Prep. Can someone please suggest me the study plan how to approach solving pbms in Math, as I am not good at that?

pikachu

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

10 Dec 2012, 14:09

Hey BB,

Great post. I started prepping up for my GMAT in November and am done with the verbal section with both SC and CR. I will be jumping over to the Quant here pretty soon and have been using the outline you have put together. I was wondering in your step 2 you mentioned "Step 2: Take a practice test to find out how far you are from your target . Many believe it is a good use of one of the free GMAT Prep tests (I'll tell you to actually get more than 2 tests out of the package later)." but I don't see anywhere in your post on how to do so. Any ideas.

pikachu

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

10 Dec 2012, 14:13

vindhya3 wrote:

Hi, I have just started with GMAT Prep. Can someone please suggest me the study plan how to approach solving pbms in Math, as I am not good at that?

I would suggest you get some prep material like the Manhattan GMAT Data Sufficiency and Problem Solving books. Then take a prep test either through MGMAT, or GMAT prep or some other tests available online and find out, out of the two which topic area you are weakest on and start from there. I for myself know that I am weak in Data Sufficiency and would be focusing on it here in few days. Good luck on prepping.

vugi

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

13 Dec 2012, 07:35

Hi everyone!just quick question, i've read/solved the Quantitative preparation set of MGMAT within 3 days.Almost everything(except the sufficiency problems) was familiar to me, so i didn't have any difficulties solving them. However, i'm not sure if i'm on the right way, since according to your study suggestions I am supposed to spend about a month working on quantitative part. I was actually planning to start studying the verbal part and to solving tough math questions, since the verbal part is my weakness(i'm non-native speaker).So couldn't you please give me any advice regarding what i should better do now? I guess you are more experienced in it than i am)Thanks in advance.

pikachu

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

13 Dec 2012, 09:45

1

Kudos

vugi wrote:

Hi everyone!just quick question, i've read/solved the Quantitative preparation set of MGMAT within 3 days.Almost everything(except the sufficiency problems) was familiar to me, so i didn't have any difficulties solving them. However, i'm not sure if i'm on the right way, since according to your study suggestions I am supposed to spend about a month working on quantitative part. I was actually planning to start studying the verbal part and to solving tough math questions, since the verbal part is my weakness(i'm non-native speaker).So couldn't you please give me any advice regarding what i should better do now? I guess you are more experienced in it than i am)Thanks in advance.

Hi Vugi,

The one month suggestions is based on an average test taker's experience. Most people need that much time to go through Quant. But if you were able to cover it in 3 days with enough confidence then good for you. I would suggest you take a quick prep test to see if you are scoring in the high 40 range for Quant to assess your skill levels. If not then you may need to dig deeper and figure out areas where you are weak in the quant section. If you score good then move on to verbal and focus on that part.

vugi

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

13 Dec 2012, 10:00

pikachu wrote:

vugi wrote:

Hi everyone!just quick question, i've read/solved the Quantitative preparation set of MGMAT within 3 days.Almost everything(except the sufficiency problems) was familiar to me, so i didn't have any difficulties solving them. However, i'm not sure if i'm on the right way, since according to your study suggestions I am supposed to spend about a month working on quantitative part. I was actually planning to start studying the verbal part and to solving tough math questions, since the verbal part is my weakness(i'm non-native speaker).So couldn't you please give me any advice regarding what i should better do now? I guess you are more experienced in it than i am)Thanks in advance.

Hi Vugi,

The one month suggestions is based on an average test taker's experience. Most people need that much time to go through Quant. But if you were able to cover it in 3 days with enough confidence then good for you. I would suggest you take a quick prep test to see if you are scoring in the high 40 range for Quant to assess your skill levels. If not then you may need to dig deeper and figure out areas where you are weak in the quant section. If you score good then move on to verbal and focus on that part.

hi pikachu, thanks for quick response. i have just taken the gmat club free test on quant and got :Valid answers:28 / 37Session score:98% / Q51Average answer:1 min 56 secTotal time:71 min 54 sec. i guess chatting on skype and scoring so high at the same time is some kind not reliable. Do you know if this test reliable enough?I can hardly believe it could of relevant difficulty.Thanks in advance.

pikachu

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

13 Dec 2012, 10:12

vugi wrote:

pikachu wrote:

vugi wrote:

Hi everyone!just quick question, i've read/solved the Quantitative preparation set of MGMAT within 3 days.Almost everything(except the sufficiency problems) was familiar to me, so i didn't have any difficulties solving them. However, i'm not sure if i'm on the right way, since according to your study suggestions I am supposed to spend about a month working on quantitative part. I was actually planning to start studying the verbal part and to solving tough math questions, since the verbal part is my weakness(i'm non-native speaker).So couldn't you please give me any advice regarding what i should better do now? I guess you are more experienced in it than i am)Thanks in advance.

Hi Vugi,

The one month suggestions is based on an average test taker's experience. Most people need that much time to go through Quant. But if you were able to cover it in 3 days with enough confidence then good for you. I would suggest you take a quick prep test to see if you are scoring in the high 40 range for Quant to assess your skill levels. If not then you may need to dig deeper and figure out areas where you are weak in the quant section. If you score good then move on to verbal and focus on that part.

hi pikachu, thanks for quick response. i have just taken the gmat club free test on quant and got :Valid answers:28 / 37Session score:98% / Q51Average answer:1 min 56 secTotal time:71 min 54 sec. i guess chatting on skype and scoring so high at the same time is some kind not reliable. Do you know if this test reliable enough?I can hardly believe it could of relevant difficulty.Thanks in advance.

I haven't taken the GMAT club tests so don't know anything about them. The other thing that comes to mind is if you have the official guide go through the Diagnostic test at the beginning of the guide. If you get most right you are on the right track. Good Luck.

Shini1

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

02 Jan 2013, 05:15

New Year Wishes to Everyone!!

I have question on GMAT strategy. How would you recommend study plan for a month? I have all one month to myself (read GMAT) but nothing after that.
Apologies to those who find it blasphemous..but I need to do it in a month. One's with "U need more time" Sorry I am not addressing the query to you..
Only crackers with a yes may please share strategies/ study plans/suggestions/own experiences (of success only).
I am looking for 'go for it' strategies . I have browsed through the content nd I am am fairly fine with both quant and verbal.
All I have is a complete month nd lots of fire...
Awaiting inputs ..

pikachu

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Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

02 Jan 2013, 10:37

Shini1 wrote:

New Year Wishes to Everyone!!

I have question on GMAT strategy. How would you recommend study plan for a month? I have all one month to myself (read GMAT) but nothing after that.
Apologies to those who find it blasphemous..but I need to do it in a month. One's with "U need more time" Sorry I am not addressing the query to you..
Only crackers with a yes may please share strategies/ study plans/suggestions/own experiences (of success only).
I am looking for 'go for it' strategies . I have browsed through the content nd I am am fairly fine with both quant and verbal.
All I have is a complete month nd lots of fire...
Awaiting inputs ..

Shini,

Without knowing whether you can focus on studying for GMAT full time or part time during this month its hard to tell. Better off start with GMAT prep exam see where you are and focus on your weakest area.

pikachu
PS: kudos please if you like my post

gmatclubot

Re: GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep [#permalink]

02 Jan 2013, 10:37

GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep

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