GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep

I have planned to do intense study for 3 months but feel like its not gonna be enough.

I see for Manhattan, there are different books for Math. Don't they have only 1 book for Math?

There is Manhattan Review and Manhattan GMAT - two completely different companies and that confuses everyone.

It is usually the MGMAT Guides that are recommended.

Hi bb, Hi Everyone,

I just joined GMAT Club after reading your reviews of the Official Guide for GMAT on Amazon.
I'm planning to take the GMAT in late November this year.

After reading the study schedule guide posted here, I realized that I have less than 3 months to study.
This will be my first time taking the GMAT and I'm quite worried that I won't get a good score. I am aiming for 700+.

My Background:
It's been awhile since I've graduated from college. I have a B.A. from a "top-ten" university in History and a M.A. from another well-known college in Information Systems Management.

My Strengths and Weaknesses:
My stronger area is probably in Math, but my weakness is in test-taking. I have trouble with taking timed tests. I take too long to think about each problem and waste a lot of time re-reading the problem or just writing out my calculations. I also have trouble concentrating on the problems after about an hour (either from boredom, distraction, or frustration). As for Sentence Completion and Reading Comprehension, I feel a bit overwhelmed because there seem to be so many study guides out on the market. I think I can write a good essay since I'm a native English speaker, but I tend to think that essays are subjectively scored rather than objectively scored -- such as math scores.

My Goal is to Join the 700+ Club!
I would like to know if I stand a chance at 700+ on my first try. I'm able to study 5-8 hours a day, 7 days a week (I know that sounds drastic but I'm hardcore and I'm willing to do what is necessary!). I only work part-time at the moment, and I am also taking a finite mathematics course at a community college (to brush up on my math skills), so I've got tons of time during the day and on weekends. I'm the type who feels motivated to study when there are other people studying around me.

I've already purchased the following books:
- The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 11th edition (I know the 12th ed. is out, but I bought this book last year)
- Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction, Guide 8, 4th edition (I've started reading Chapter 2 today)
- Manhattan GMAT Reading Comprehension, Guide 7, 4h edition (haven't started yet)
- EZ Solutions Math Practice Advanced Workbook
- Any other books that you'd suggest for me to use within a 2 month study period?


In addition, I am reading The Economist every week to hone my reading comprehension, vocabulary, and "business-speak" skills.

I am also thinking of taking a Manhattan GMAT Online GMAT course. Do you think it is worth it (for someone in my situation with only 2 months but plenty of time in the day) to take a course like this? If anyone here has had experience taking a course with MGMAT in person or online, could you please share some of your experiences? Was it a good investment? How much of an increase in score were you able to obtain?

I realize that many of my questions have probably already been answered on this forum. I just joined and started reading all the posts - my apologies if I sound redundant.


I'd really appreciate your advice. Thanks!


700+ Bound...
bambie

Welcome to GMAT Club Bambie

Here is a collection of gmat prep class reviews to get you started: gmat-prep-courses-classes-reviews-ratings-and-comparison-78451.html
The class is often recommended, but it does not guarantee the score, so take it with a grain of salt, though MGMAT is definitely one of the best classes you can take.

I would recommend you take a gmat prep to get an understanding of where you stand and weaknesses, and we can see what you really need. Joining 700-club is definitely doable within your timeframe and resources.

Post after you have taken the GMAT prep and we'll go from there.

You will need to get your English up to standards. No use to get into strategies if you have trouble understanding.
Start learning vocabulary (get some english books), and start reading/speaking as much as you can - get interesting books, join some English language forums/wesbsites, get a tutor, etc.

You could, but it resembles running a race in winter boots
GMAT books assume that you are proficient in English already and are not designed to be ESL materials. The only one that could work for you is Kaplan Verbal Foundations - it is a grammar book that starts from scratch. Maybe start there, see how it goes, and then move on to MGMAT SC or PowerScore SC and other books.

WOW - you are are crazy
Two notes of caution - don't burn out and do not assume all the materials will do the job for you.
You must believe and fully dive into each book. Keep an error log and not move on until you are comfortable. I do think it is a heavy overkill - it is highly recommended to take less than 4-6 months to take the GMAT - otherwise you start forgetting what you have learned.



P.S. My mistake - the MGMAT Number properties book should be mentioned.

I agree with bb, this is a absolute overkill ... and there is a lot of redundant books in the list you mentioned, like if you go for LSAT CR and RC then you need the GMAT CR and RC books ...

Remember GMAT prep is not about just doing all kinds of problems known in this world, but doing the right kind of problems .. u need to study smartly and not blindly ...

as bb said anything beyond 4-6 months you will surely tend to loose interest in it and the tempo would go down ...

Ok this is what I would do ...

Diagonstic test GMATPrep - to check out where you are ...

Step 1 ) Quant - 6-8 weeks - complete all 5 MGMAT guides along with the OG 12 and the OG quant review books that the MGMAT guides refer to ...

Step 2 ) Verbal - 3-4 weeks - Is your verbal really that bad ?. If yes then go over doing grammar/kaplan verbal foundation if not skip the doing grammar/verbal foundation and jump to MGMAT SC book, Power Score GMAT CR, MGMAT RC along with the OG 12 and the OG verbal review books that the MGMAT guides refer to ... this should take another 4 weeks ...

Step 3 ) Practice - 1-2 weeks - At this point take a MGMAT test ( you get 6 free test when you purchase any of their books) to check your score improvement and the areas you need to revise. Do PR 1012 for the sections you identified as weak and also complete all the question banks that MGMAT provides online along with the books for free.

Step 4) Practice more 4-6 weeks - you should have been in 600-650 range by now and the next step is all about practicing tough questions

Quant Practice resources - GMAT Club tests - 25 of them and also tests on individual subjects areas

Verbal Practice areas - LSAT CR, LSAT RC, Brutual SC doc, 180 SC doc and lots of practice questions at https://www.gmat-success.com/gmat-verbal.html

Also start taking more and more tests as you near your exam and gain confidence ... Make sure to keep an error log right from the beginning and also review them every now and then ...

prob. and comb. for dummies - my sincere opinion is that MGMAT Word Translation book covers this enough and do not worry much on this topic as most of the de-briefs I have read have either seen none or max of two (easy) questions from prob and comb topics ...

hope this helps ...

This is really helpful!

I just started my prep about 1 week ago. I will follow through the suggested study plan. I'm planning to do this in 5 months (1 month to broaden my vocabulary + 4 months GMAT study).

Hey bb, English is totally a different language from Chinese or Japanese, from your perspective how big vocabulary is necessary and enough for a non-English speaker test taker? I mean like ~10k? Thanks. BTW I'm Asian.

MGMAT Quant consists of 5 books - Number Properties/Geometry/FDP/Word Translations/Inequalities and Algebra

Good study plan. I have a question though. Whenever I do Kaplan CAT I see those hard probability/combination problem and I never get them right. Right now I am at 46 level with lots of silly mistakes. You think I should not worry about prob/comb problems? I am targeting for 49 Q as my verbal is weak.
Also I have taken 3 CAT and planning to do another 12 (total of 15). That should be enough right?

check out the recent debriefs half of them didnt get any probability/combination problem and the other half got a max of one or two which were suppose to be easy ... now ur target is 49 and u can afford to get 5-8 wrong for that score so if you can concentrate more on much more important topics like number properties .. inequalities and getting them right than spending on a topic like probability/combination which if at all appears is one or two and of moderate difficulty ... the problem with probability/combination problems are that they are tricky and unless u get a hold over the approach it can still be screwing in the exam ... if I were you and If i have problems with probability/combination, I would just work on MGMAT problems and problems from OG books and the ones which appear in the CAT exams you would take up later on and just hope for the best in the exam and concentrate more on the high frequency problems to make sure u dont screw up there ...

regarding the CAT exams ... the recent test takers have been most satisfied with the 6 exams of MGMAT and GMATPrep(atleast twice each one) ... so that would add upto 10 exams ... do take Kaplan but dont get discouraged by the low scores ...

Thank you so much for your quick reply. You are right I should not waste any time on probability problems. I am just going to take a chance.

do you why Powerscore CR is preferred over MGMAT CR?
What about 1000SC & 1000CR?

Power score has more examples and better structured

https://www.gmat-success.com/gmat-verbal.html ==> 1000SC & 1000CR & 1000RC

be careful about some answers as they are wrong .. discuss them on forums ..