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14 Jun 2018, 06:49
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hello All!
So finally decided on taking myself to the next level on attaining my MBA.
My target school is IESE and the GMAT score I need is a 680-720. I have heard that high scores get you better chances of getting scholarships as well so there is extra incentive there.
Timeline:
Studying June - August - Ideal Exam time to take is end of August
I started studying at the beginning of June and would ideally like to take the exam at the end of August. I have not scheduled a date for the exam as I want to appropriate enough time to learn the strategies and tactics to nail the exam once. The latest I want to take the exam is mid/late september, and the earliest I could take it is probably the end of July (assuming I pick up strategies quickly). I have plenty of time after work and on weekends to practice and study (at least 3 hours after a night work; weekends sky is the limit).
With these I figure a week or two for each question type will get me to where I need to be. (1 -2 weeks for RC, 1-2 weeks for CR etc) Some may be less some may more but that's the gist I am going for)
On to the study materials:
I went with Kaplan books as I heard that they were typically harder than actual GMAT questions (and some questions were pretty tough, even in the practice sets within the book) - These include the Big Kaplan book "Kaplan Prep GMAT Plus" and then I purchased the Verbal and Quant supplemental books as they had more practice sets. The big book also has 5 CAT exams online.
I also downloaded the "From_GMATPrep" Q&A sets for Quant and Verbal as I knew i would need extensive practice, however I fear I may run out of practice problems.
Recently purchased a CR book "The PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible" as I was not comfortable with CR (you will see below)
I know I will need access to more practice sets however I've been unable to locate any outside of purchasing additional books (I will ask about specifics for books below)
Practice Exam:
I decided to take this practice test as a gauge to see where I needed work the most - I did not prep at all to get a true baseline. My Quant was 32 and Verbal 26.
I know I have an uphill battle and have been putting in the time.
Within verbal, I was able to finish this section, however I got really held up with reading comprehension, so much that I was relying on SC & CR to pick up time. I was unfamiliar with virtually all of the concepts in CR and used what "sounded/felt" right for SC; so I knew after the exam I was going to have to a heck of a lot of learning which was fine.
Within the quant i struggled with probabilities and ratios, and I did not remember a few formulas for geometry that could have been useful. I also was unable to finish the last 4 or 5 questions (as I did not know that guessing was better than leaving questions blank) so there is definitely room for improvement.
Within the IR section I made the error of basing the my calculations off of the wrong base number and that flowed through every question so I got all but 2 correct out of 12. Mental error that cost me quite a few questions. Aside from that the "Two Part" analysis questions I also found quite difficult.
The AWA I was quite comfortable with so this is the least of my concerns - If you have any recommendations of anyone here that can take a look at my sample AWA to see what they would mark it that would be great - so I could pinpoint on what I need to work on there.
CR Study:
Out of everything on the exam I felt most uncomfortable with RC and CR. The Kaplan book started with CR SO i decided to dedicate the next two weeks to learning the concepts of CR and practicing. After about a week and a half of studying this concept from the book and doing all the practice sets I felt I was learning the concepts the book preached, however, when I started to with the practice sets I was still getting around 50-65% of the problem sets correct -- and what's more unfortunate was that I was having problems recognizing where I was going wrong. I could not understand how the answer key corroborated with the question - I decided to halt studies here before I wasted more time and started to research another a book "The PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible". Since this book wasn't going to arrive within the next day or so I started to work on the RC section.
The questions I got wrong in Verbal were across the board however due to the last week and half (studying 3-4 hours per night) I have been able to hone my RC accuracy - now I am having trouble with the detail related questions particularly when the passages are extremely dense. The ones I have been struggling with here are the Weaken/Strengthen and Inference.
RC Study:
Fortunately with this concept I was able to learn and apply them to the questions. I have found that as long as a I take my time reading the first and last sentences of the passage gaining the gist of the story I have found myself scoring missing 1 or 2 out of 12-15 questions. Maybe the CR practice/studying helped (not sure) but now I feel quite comfortable with RC. There are some difficult passages I have seen in the practice sets, however, that totally give me the go around and I have to constantly go back to the passage because the wording of the questions and passages get quite dense. These passages tend to also be 1 or 2 paragraphs and I spend insane amounts of time trying to decode them. Are there any methods you recommend for these passages? I am able to get the Global questions after a couple of minutes, but the Detail questions are where I struggle with the "concisely dense" passages.
SC Study: I just started this last night. I feel like this is a concept I simply have to drill and keep verb tense/pronouns updated in my head. I started some the practice sets in the Kaplan book last night after running through a couple hours of RC and noticed I was making silly errors on SC so I called it a night. I will probably pick up SC after I go through the book for CR that arrived yesterday.
I will target the math piece once I am comfortable with the verbal as I feel I have more room for improvement on verbal.
I have also made a nice error log that locates the type of problems I get wrong (Inference, Detail, etc), as well as the reasons why I get them wrong (Careless, Hard, 50/50, etc).
This is how I've been able to pinpoint my weaknesses in CR and RC. In RC it started out that I was getting 50% of inference/logic questions wrong, but now I have I answer all the RC sets I do at a 90% success rate - The only ones I miss now are the Detail questions (usually comprised of careless mistakes).
As for CR - the percentages low for all types, however strengthen/weaken seems to be the highest at around a 60% success rate. The evaluate, Infer and logic are lower. I hope the book I mentioned above will assist me in understanding where I am going wrong.
This is my study plan thus far - trying to tackle the subjects that are hardest for me in the beginning (RC CR - then moving to SC and Q). I would like some guidance/recommendations on where to find additional practice sets for RC and CR since I am running low on these questions. RC I have a good handle on however I would like more practice. CR is my big issue - any guidance and assistance with finding materials is great here.
Is my plan of action okay to start? Any recommendations are welcome!
I'll also attach my Error log later tonight when I am home from work in case anyone else may find it useful for their own needs.
So finally decided on taking myself to the next level on attaining my MBA.
My target school is IESE and the GMAT score I need is a 680-720. I have heard that high scores get you better chances of getting scholarships as well so there is extra incentive there.
Timeline:
Studying June - August - Ideal Exam time to take is end of August
I started studying at the beginning of June and would ideally like to take the exam at the end of August. I have not scheduled a date for the exam as I want to appropriate enough time to learn the strategies and tactics to nail the exam once. The latest I want to take the exam is mid/late september, and the earliest I could take it is probably the end of July (assuming I pick up strategies quickly). I have plenty of time after work and on weekends to practice and study (at least 3 hours after a night work; weekends sky is the limit).
With these I figure a week or two for each question type will get me to where I need to be. (1 -2 weeks for RC, 1-2 weeks for CR etc) Some may be less some may more but that's the gist I am going for)
On to the study materials:
I went with Kaplan books as I heard that they were typically harder than actual GMAT questions (and some questions were pretty tough, even in the practice sets within the book) - These include the Big Kaplan book "Kaplan Prep GMAT Plus" and then I purchased the Verbal and Quant supplemental books as they had more practice sets. The big book also has 5 CAT exams online.
I also downloaded the "From_GMATPrep" Q&A sets for Quant and Verbal as I knew i would need extensive practice, however I fear I may run out of practice problems.
Recently purchased a CR book "The PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible" as I was not comfortable with CR (you will see below)
I know I will need access to more practice sets however I've been unable to locate any outside of purchasing additional books (I will ask about specifics for books below)
Practice Exam:
I decided to take this practice test as a gauge to see where I needed work the most - I did not prep at all to get a true baseline. My Quant was 32 and Verbal 26.
I know I have an uphill battle and have been putting in the time.
Within verbal, I was able to finish this section, however I got really held up with reading comprehension, so much that I was relying on SC & CR to pick up time. I was unfamiliar with virtually all of the concepts in CR and used what "sounded/felt" right for SC; so I knew after the exam I was going to have to a heck of a lot of learning which was fine.
Within the quant i struggled with probabilities and ratios, and I did not remember a few formulas for geometry that could have been useful. I also was unable to finish the last 4 or 5 questions (as I did not know that guessing was better than leaving questions blank) so there is definitely room for improvement.
Within the IR section I made the error of basing the my calculations off of the wrong base number and that flowed through every question so I got all but 2 correct out of 12. Mental error that cost me quite a few questions. Aside from that the "Two Part" analysis questions I also found quite difficult.
The AWA I was quite comfortable with so this is the least of my concerns - If you have any recommendations of anyone here that can take a look at my sample AWA to see what they would mark it that would be great - so I could pinpoint on what I need to work on there.
CR Study:
Out of everything on the exam I felt most uncomfortable with RC and CR. The Kaplan book started with CR SO i decided to dedicate the next two weeks to learning the concepts of CR and practicing. After about a week and a half of studying this concept from the book and doing all the practice sets I felt I was learning the concepts the book preached, however, when I started to with the practice sets I was still getting around 50-65% of the problem sets correct -- and what's more unfortunate was that I was having problems recognizing where I was going wrong. I could not understand how the answer key corroborated with the question - I decided to halt studies here before I wasted more time and started to research another a book "The PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible". Since this book wasn't going to arrive within the next day or so I started to work on the RC section.
The questions I got wrong in Verbal were across the board however due to the last week and half (studying 3-4 hours per night) I have been able to hone my RC accuracy - now I am having trouble with the detail related questions particularly when the passages are extremely dense. The ones I have been struggling with here are the Weaken/Strengthen and Inference.
RC Study:
Fortunately with this concept I was able to learn and apply them to the questions. I have found that as long as a I take my time reading the first and last sentences of the passage gaining the gist of the story I have found myself scoring missing 1 or 2 out of 12-15 questions. Maybe the CR practice/studying helped (not sure) but now I feel quite comfortable with RC. There are some difficult passages I have seen in the practice sets, however, that totally give me the go around and I have to constantly go back to the passage because the wording of the questions and passages get quite dense. These passages tend to also be 1 or 2 paragraphs and I spend insane amounts of time trying to decode them. Are there any methods you recommend for these passages? I am able to get the Global questions after a couple of minutes, but the Detail questions are where I struggle with the "concisely dense" passages.
SC Study: I just started this last night. I feel like this is a concept I simply have to drill and keep verb tense/pronouns updated in my head. I started some the practice sets in the Kaplan book last night after running through a couple hours of RC and noticed I was making silly errors on SC so I called it a night. I will probably pick up SC after I go through the book for CR that arrived yesterday.
I will target the math piece once I am comfortable with the verbal as I feel I have more room for improvement on verbal.
I have also made a nice error log that locates the type of problems I get wrong (Inference, Detail, etc), as well as the reasons why I get them wrong (Careless, Hard, 50/50, etc).
This is how I've been able to pinpoint my weaknesses in CR and RC. In RC it started out that I was getting 50% of inference/logic questions wrong, but now I have I answer all the RC sets I do at a 90% success rate - The only ones I miss now are the Detail questions (usually comprised of careless mistakes).
As for CR - the percentages low for all types, however strengthen/weaken seems to be the highest at around a 60% success rate. The evaluate, Infer and logic are lower. I hope the book I mentioned above will assist me in understanding where I am going wrong.
This is my study plan thus far - trying to tackle the subjects that are hardest for me in the beginning (RC CR - then moving to SC and Q). I would like some guidance/recommendations on where to find additional practice sets for RC and CR since I am running low on these questions. RC I have a good handle on however I would like more practice. CR is my big issue - any guidance and assistance with finding materials is great here.
Is my plan of action okay to start? Any recommendations are welcome!
I'll also attach my Error log later tonight when I am home from work in case anyone else may find it useful for their own needs.
14 Jun 2018, 09:11
Kudos
Bookmarks
Studious1
Best Books
For Concept Learning
Manhattan Quant Guides
Manhattan Verbal Guides
For CR: The Powerscore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible
For RC: Aristotle RC Grail
For Practice
The Official Guide for GMAT 2015-18
The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review 2015-18
The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review 2015-18
Strategies
You can start with Quant or Verbal which suits you. If you have started with Quant then Start with the Arithmetic but if started with verbal then start first with Sentence correction. One month for learning Quant concepts and one month for practicing question and same practice for Verbal. During you Practicing question don't forget to make an error log to track your weak areas after practice. Once you know your weak areas revise your Concepts related to those areas and do some more Practice. 6-8 CATs are enough for practice the real tests. Make your Stamina for sitting 3 hours in the test and don't study more than 2 hours in one sit and 4 hours per day
Top CATs for Practice
1. Official GMAC CATs
2. Manhattan CATs
3. Kaplan CATs
4. GMAT Club Quant CATs
Good Luck
14 Jun 2018, 11:19
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Studious1,
Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so you might end up needing more study time than you have currently planned for. Since you've been focused on your Verbal skills for the last couple of weeks, it would help to see how well you are progressing. As such, I suggest that you take a new FULL-LENGTH CAT this weekend and make sure to take it in a realistic fashion (take the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, take it away from your home, at the same time of day as when you'll take the Official GMAT, etc.). Once you have that score, you should report back here and we can discuss the results.
As an aside, many Test Takers who use a 'book heavy' study approach end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level. Your Score Goal is above the 90th percentile (so it will be a challenging goal regardless of how you choose to study) - and while it's too early to know whether you will get stuck or not - you might end up needing to invest in some new, non-book resources.
1) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
2) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so you might end up needing more study time than you have currently planned for. Since you've been focused on your Verbal skills for the last couple of weeks, it would help to see how well you are progressing. As such, I suggest that you take a new FULL-LENGTH CAT this weekend and make sure to take it in a realistic fashion (take the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, take it away from your home, at the same time of day as when you'll take the Official GMAT, etc.). Once you have that score, you should report back here and we can discuss the results.
As an aside, many Test Takers who use a 'book heavy' study approach end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level. Your Score Goal is above the 90th percentile (so it will be a challenging goal regardless of how you choose to study) - and while it's too early to know whether you will get stuck or not - you might end up needing to invest in some new, non-book resources.
1) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
2) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
