Recommendation on Practices with OG 2021 ?

DisciplinedPrep

Thanks for your kind advices.

I might have skipped the step of reviewing OG questions & explanations for the first 10 problems I just did. Didn't think it's worth the time to review the solutions if I got the answers right. As you pointed out, that needs to change. I will work more on that.

Guess I underestimated the sheer volume of questions and studies required for GMAT. Lots study plans suggest 3 months in prep - I am still in shock after I got my study materials gathered together (thanks to the greatly helpful tips on GMAT Club!). Now I look at 1000s questions on OG and over 1000s on GMAT Club + hundreds of hundreds from Manhattan Prep, which would take me 90 days just to finish them all the first time round if I do 30 questions a day...... All these, in addition to the books and >6 CAT mock tests...are yelling at me that 3 months aren't gonna cut it.

But you are right... I just need some plan to calm me know

Hi emmaluo,

The overall process of training for the GMAT is a big task, but thankfully it can be broken down into lots of small easy-to-deal-with pieces. Many GMATers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent, guided study before they hit their 'peak' Scores (and during that time, many of those people will study 15-20 hours a week or more). You do NOT need to be a 'fast' reader to score at a high level on the GMAT, but you do have to work at a reasonable pace, 'attack' each prompt that you face (re: actively read, look for patterns, use Tactics, etc.) and take a reasonable amount of notes.

Since it sounds like you're just beginning your studies, then it would be a good idea to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test; you can take 2 for free at www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). If you want to do a little studying first, so that you can familiarize yourself with the basic content and question types, then that's okay - but you shouldn't wait too long to take that initial CAT. 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. A FULL CAT takes about 3.5 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have that Score, you should report back here and we can come up with a study plan.

I'd like to know a bit more about your timeline and goals:
1) What is your goal score?
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

That put my mind at ease. Really helpful. Thank you!!!

EMPOWERgmatRichC
Hi RichC

Thanks for your reply.

I see that you are working with EmpowerGMAT, great prep company! I did finished the 24-hour trial course and regret deeply that I didn't find EmpowerGMAT sooner before Manhattan Prep‘s Interact. I mean, MGMAT's books and on demand program are no doubt classic, but lacking something 'real' or 'alive' if I could put it this way Given my study plan on budget, I am still mentally debating on the costs/benefits of taking on another course. Would you reckon EmpowerGMAT could offer marginally higher value for the dollars?

BTW, where I want to go, I'd need AWA over 5 in general. However, I am not a native speaker. And after a decade working in Australia & the UK, I do not consider myself neat & quick in business writing. While GMAT is a result-oriented test prep process, I also want to gain more out of the study process - especially becoming better at reading and writing. Does EmpowerGMAT help with that? Or, are there alternative ways of improving writing skills?

=====Back to the topic of this thread======

And to your request, Yes. I did follow the prevailing advices on GMAT Club and did a CAT pretest with MGMAT (figured the MBA.com CATs are too precious to be wasted on my ignorance ) I attached the screenshot of the first test result - 600 Q39 V34 IR5.2 - and seeing the disappointing Quant results I was heartbroken. Your evaluation on the results are much appreciated.

In hindsight, I should've learnt about GMAT test formats before attacking the pretest (I was hopelessly confused by the logic behind DS answer choices. I got every easiest DS wrong with the 1st Quant lesson on MGMAT Interact. So it wasn't my basic math skills that are problematic). Now that I've familiarized myself with the AD/BCE grid strategy and some GMAT 101, I am going to do the 1st mock test on MBA.com and report here hopefully in 3 days.

My goal score is 720+. The higher the merrier, given my undergraduate and work experience background are of rather unattractive profile.

At this stage, I am planning to take the GMAT by the end of April. This would give me 3 months to prep. Also because I'm bound to write CFA Level 3 test in August, so wouldn't have the energy for GMAT during May to August. But that also means if I screw at the GMAT the first time, I wouldn't have time for retakes in at least 3 months.

With regards to the schools I have in my mind, frankly, I am still exploring for my options. Here is my post to another section asking for advices - so far sadly no response. Appreciate it if you would be so kind to comment: Am I being unrealistic in setting up the school criteria?

https://gmatclub.com/forum/risk-managem ... 46527.html

Cheers!

Hi emmaluo,

A 600 is a strong initial CAT score (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 550 most years) - and if you did not properly understand the 'format' of DS questions when you took your initial CAT, then there's a reasonable chance that you will score higher on your 2nd CAT (now that you understand the general aspects of DS questions a bit better). Once you have that next CAT Score, you should post back here (or you can feel free to PM me directly) and we can discuss the results and how you might best proceed with your studies.

As far as the AWA/Essay is concerned, most Schools expect you to be able to write a decently-organized essay in a short period of time (which shows your ability to communicate effectively with written words). Thankfully, the AWA is just as consistent and predictable as the rest of the GMAT is - meaning that you can train to write an effective essay and the specific ideas that the graders are looking for; there are a number of different 'templates' that you might choose to follow that make the task even easier.

The process of applying to (and ultimately attending) Business School will require a big investment of time, money and energy on your part, so you really should make sure that the Programs that you apply to match your career goals/needs. In that same way, you should not expect any strangers on a website to put together a list of Programs for you (it's YOUR future, so it's in your best interest to take responsibility for researching your options). There are a variety of factors that go into selecting the Schools that you'll apply to; here are some things to think about:

1) Is there a particular company that you want to work for or industry that you want to work in? Certain degrees are more appropriate than others if you have a specific career goal.
2) What do you want your MBA to do for you?
3) Do you want to go to School full-time or part-time?
4) Are you willing to relocate? Are you comfortable with working through a program that is primarily online?
5) Are you going to be applying for scholarships?
Etc.

It's okay if you don't have answers to any of these questions just yet, but you really should try to define all of the important variables in terms of your goals, so that you can tailor your entire approach to getting into the best School that matches what you're looking for.

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

Hi emmaluo,

I suggest you to follow a structured process for your GMAT prep. This will help you keep track of your preparation and at the same time make it easy for you to work on your weak areas. Let me elaborate.

• Learn the concepts of a topic (For example, prime numbers)
• Learn the right methodology to solve questions of that topic
• Practice a few questions of that topic to solidify your learning (You can use OG at this stage)
• Move to the next topic only if you are able to solve the questions using the right methodology. If not revisit the concepts and the methodology
• Once you are done with all the topic, start taking timed quizzes

Don't focus on the type of questions in quant. Learn the concepts topic-wise. Coming to verbal, you should obviously learn the concepts and the methodology for each module. Of course, there are sub-topics in each module such as Subject-verb pair and pronouns in Sentence correction. But make sure you practice at least 5 questions daily of the finished topics. For example, if you finished Sentence correction module and moved to CR module, make sure you practice 5 SC questions daily so that you don't lose touch with that module.

Hope it helped. Feel free to get in touch using the below if you have any more queries.