Quant Study Strategy

Thank you both for your reply.

1. I honestly haven't taken a single CAT. I took a non-cat Kaplan test when I first started and bombed the quant and did ok on verbal. This was really discouraging as my background is in engineering (doesn't matter much I soon found out). Reviewing it, I realized a primary issue was I just didn't remember a lot of the foundations of the math topics covered. I'm hesitant to take a CAT till I've had a chance to refresh on quant material... Is this sound logic? Should I be taking CATS even if I haven't refreshed on the material covered? I don't want to waste a GMATPrep test because I didn't know a simple geometry formula.. I thought maybe it would be best to refresh on all topics prior to taking a CAT... I also have access to pretty much every CAT from every company - veritas, MGMAT, kaplan, etc, etc...

2. Goal score is 720+
3. I was planning in Feb but at this rate it seems like I need more time. Before April would be best. I've gone part time at work so I have tons of time to study..
4. First round 2017, so around September 2017.
5. Haven't really nailed down the exact schools. Top 10 is the plan, HBS, Kellogg, Columbia, Wharton all seem worth investigating more.. Stanford would be great but may be a stretch. I'm aiming high..

One problem I have is the practice resources everyone references as best (OG for example) aren't divided up into topics (arith, geometry, etc). The questions have all topics interspersed.. Making it hard to do this as a divide and conquer strategy.. Would it be best to run through a book like the Kaplan Math Workbook completely before jumping into practice questions?

Also, where the heck do people get GMAT-like MGMAT questions? I have their book collection but the first few quant books of their's that I've gone through seem to have questions that are more aimed at math foundations than being GMAT-like...

Last question. What questions are worth logging? Running through Kaplan Math Workbook and MGMAT math series of workbooks, these questions don't seem GMAT-like, a lot are very easy and I'm afraid to log them as they may skew results when mixed with more GMAT-like questions.... Should I not bother logging questions that aren't gmat-like? Logging is very time consuming as I go into quite some detail.

Thanks so much!

Hi Stephens,

You've asked a lot of good questions, but before we can delve into any of those issues, we really need to get a sense of your current GMAT skills. As such, it would be a good idea to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test; you can download 2 for free from www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). That score will give us a good sense of your natural strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. Don't worry about any of the Quant areas that you haven't covered yet - if you're unsure of how to handle a question, then just do your best (and take a guess if necessary). A FULL CAT takes about 4 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have those scores, you should report back here and we can come up with a study plan.

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

Thanks for the reply. I just did a GMATPrep CAT and my score was IR3 Q32 V25 total 490. This is pretty discouraging and leaves me kind of lost as to what to do..

Hi Stephens,

Many Test Takers are unhappy with their initial practice scores, but you really shouldn't be. It's just a measure of your skills right now - and we know that you're still in the early stages of your studies. That having been said, raising a 490 to a 720+ will take some serious time and effort - and you'll have to make some significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. You'll likely need at least another 3 months of consistent, guided study - so you will likely need to push back your planned Test Date. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. You might want to consider investing in a GMAT Course of some type (either Guided Self-Study or instructor-led).

1) How many hours do you think that you can study during a typical week?

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

I'm currently in a veritas course but have for the most part abandoned it because it was way too fast paced. Trying to cover all topics in 6 weeks - I felt I couldn't get a firm enough grasp on a topic before we were diving into the next... After this experience I'm hesitant to invest in another course. Plus the classes seemed to just recite material in the book with a few good nuggets of info here and there. I looked into private tutoring however from what I've read it can be really hit or miss even at the more popular companies...

I can study 4-6 hours on weekdays and 6-8 hours a day on Saturday and Sunday.

Hi Stephens,

If you're about to start up with a Tutor, then I suggest you follow your Tutor's advice - he/she will be able to see more of your work/results and offer pointed advice based on that data. You're still going to need to put in some serious time and effort over the next several months. After working with the Tutor, if you find that you're still a significant ways from your goal, then you should post back here and we can discuss how to improve.

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

I believe I didn't word that last post correctly. I am not starting a tutor.

I guess for now my plan will be to work through the MGMAT books and do the OG questions that go along with them...

Posted from my mobile device

Hi Stephens,

If you're not going to be working with a Tutor just yet (or at all), then I suggest that you finish the current Course that you're in, work through the assignments, etc. You'll likely have to go back to review certain concepts, but that's a common aspect of studying for most Test Takers, so it's not a big deal. You have plenty of time to study before April (and even more time when you consider that you're not planning to apply until Round 1 in the Fall). Once you've completed the Course, you should take a new FULL-LENGTH CAT so that we can gauge the work that you've done. We can then talk through how best to proceed from there.

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