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Hello all,

I posted about a month back regarding my history (ex tennis player, Pepperdine undergrad). I believe it was BB who responded at the time. I began studying for the GMAT with the big Kaplan book about a month ago. I quickly realised that my quant was going to be a major issue as my fundamentals were completely off. So, I changed course and bought the big set of MGMAT books, including "Foundations of GMAT Math" and "Advanced Quant" (obviously as a final prep).

I have spent the past two weeks going through the Foundations book and I feel much more confident (although I wish there were more practice questions in the book and the question bank wasn't so easy). My plan now is to re-review the concepts I had slight difficulty grasping (some of the simplification involving roots/exponents and fractions). Then, I will begin on the MGMAT books, starting with book 1 which I believe is "Fractions, Decimals, & Percents".

I plan on taking the test around April/May but my goal is above 700 so I will not take the test until I am consistently scoring that in my practice CATs. I am going to be focusing on Quant for the most part as when I took the test in the front of the Kaplan book I scored a 20 out of 37 on Quant and got a 15/5 on the Verbal before I stopped bothering with it (I realised that my quant was way too weak to worry about Verbal at that time).

Once I move through all the MGMAT books I plan to work my way through the official guide questions (some say they are too weak?). I will also try to do a CAT once a week (I have about 12 of them through the books that I have purchased).

Does this sound like a decent plan? If not, what is missing? How could I best use this forum to help my progress?

Thank you in advance.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi bgbeidas,

Since you've been studying for a month already, have you taken any FULL-LENGTH CATs (including the Essay and IR sections)? If you have, then how did you score (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)? If you have not taken one yet, then you should plan to take one soon (maybe this weekend). That initial score is really important - it helps to define your current strengths and weaknesses. Right now, we don't know if your plan is actually properly organized or not (relative to your current skills).

With your planned Test Date, you have plenty of time to study and achieve your goals, but we have to make sure that you're approaching this whole process in the proper way.

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

bgbeidas · Answer

I actually have not. I could plan to do one on Sunday and post back here when I get my score back. I am just slightly worried about the confidence hit I might take. Also, do you suggest I do a specific one? As in, does the feedback differ between them?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi bgbeidas,

There really is NO substitute for taking FULL-LENGTH CATs at regular intervals. We need data to determine how effectively you're studying.

The most realistic CATs on the market are the 4 GMAC CATs (the 2 free ones and the additional 2 that can be purchased). While there are other CATs that are 'close-enough', the reality of that initial CAT is important - since that score result provides a baseline and defines your initial strengths and weaknesses. In that way, having the MOST accurate initial assessment is important. To that end, you should also plan to take the FULL CAT (including the Essay and IR sections), so that we can see how you handle the endurance/fatigue 'challenges' of the Full Exam.

Some Test Takers become overly concerned about 'wasting' one of the GMAC CATs on the first attempt, but there are 3 other GMAC CATs and a variety of 3rd party CATs that you can use during the course of your studies, so that concern seems more emotional than practical.

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

AjiteshArun · Answer

Try to get both Exam Pack 1 and Question Pack 1.

bgbeidas · Answer

So, as suggested I took a CAT today on the GMAT Prep app (I take it that is the GMAC test you were referring to). I scored a 680, despite feeling like I absolutely bombed it. I gather that this is how people generally feel after taking the test as you are constantly at the limit of your abilities.

Q 42(57th percentile)
V 41 (93rd percentile)

As I suspected all along, I need to work on my math. At times it felt like Chinese to me. To be fair, I have mainly been focusing on the Foundations of GMAT Math book and haven't seen any of the problems that the test threw at me today. Data Sufficiency in particular was quite alien to me.

How would you suggest I proceed from here given I have 3-4 months before I take this test?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi bgbeidas,

A 680 is a fantastic initial CAT score (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 540-550 most years). Test Day is a rather specific 'event', which you can train for; you'll want to make sure that each of your practice CATs mirrors Test Day in as many ways as is reasonably possible though. To that end...

When you took this CAT:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take it at home?
3) Did you take it at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CAT that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?

Given your natural strengths in the Verbal section, some concentrated attention on the Quant section might be all that you really need to score well into the 700s (and you won't necessarily need 3+ months to hit that level). With all of the time that you have, you can afford to stick with your current plan for now OR you can invest in some different study materials if you don't think that your current materials are helping you enough. With a Q42, you were pretty good at the 'math' questions that you faced on this CAT, but you did make some mistakes and you missed out on LOTS of 'strategy-based' points. As you continue to study, an emphasis on Quant Tactics will likely help you a great deal.

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

bgbeidas · Answer

Thanks again Rich. I took the full test and yes, I took it at home.

I definitely felt as though I had not seen any of those types of questions before while studying from the MGMAT books. Once I have worked through them, I plan on getting either Targetprep or eGMAT to help me with the actual problem solving. I have heard great things about the tests on this forum so may have a go at those as well. Will try to get involved on the math forum too.

Do you think I should be focusing on 600-700 level questions for the most part?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi bgbeidas,

After taking each CAT, it's important to do a full review of your performance.

After reviewing the section, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math that you just didn't know how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?

Once you have a better sense of WHY you're getting questions wrong, you can focus on those issues and do some targeted studying. Many Test Takers become overly concerned with the implied 'level' of a question and don't address the larger 'issues' with how they deal with the prompts.

Most GMAT Companies offer some type of free materials (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.) that you can use to 'test out' a product before you buy it. We have a variety of those resources at our site (www.empowergmat.com). I suggest that you take advantage of all of them then choose the one that best matches your personality, timeline and budget.

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

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