Hi everyone and thank you in advance for helping in anyway possible.
Background:My name is Fasih Ur Rehman and I'm a Pakistani. I graduated in 2018 with a BSc Honors in Accounting and Finance (3.2 CGPA) and started working for a small eCommerce company. I've recently taken a job at Friesland Campina and am aiming to apply for my MBA for the 2021 fall entry. I plan to apply in the top Ivy League schools as well as a few universities in Canada so my target GMAT is 730+ since that's the median for most high tier Ivy League B-Schools. I registered for my GMAT with about 3 months to prepare. I also bought the 7 Veritas practice tests since they were dirt cheap and I figured I would need them.
My job requires a lot of travelling and while the hours aren't long, there is a lot of physical activity and movement from city to city so I often spend a week in one city and then move on to another. As a result ever since I've started this job (which coincided with my registration for GMAT), I've been stressed and a little tired as well not out of exhaustion but just out of constant movement and adjustment to new places. I do get time and in fact I think I get more time then I would in any other job but I feel very stressed not just cause of the job but also because of the impending test date. I'm almost certain that impacted my performance on this first practice test.
Initial Study Plan:I started out from the
OG and began practicing but soon realized that was the wrong way to approach things. I then instead started doing the Manhattan Pack of Strategy guides and for about 15-20 days went through all of them barring SC which I'm yet to complete. While I wasn't completely prepared by any means I wanted to gauge my performance so I did the free
Experts Global test (I had heard good things about their tests and how they were accurate in terms of difficulty and scoring). I scored a 560 with a Q45 and V21. That brought a wave of anxiety and dread since I wasn't no where near my target score and with 2 months to go expecting a 150+ point improvement was by no means simple. While I believe I might be able to definitely improve my Quant with further practice, Verbal seems to be very challenging.
I've taken a few hours to get over the setback and am now considering the following options. Also note I didn't use the MBA tests because I had done them earlier but this a long time ago and I was just doing those to check what kind of questions come on the GMAT, I still remember most questions so the free tests would have been of no use to me.
Tentative Study Plans:Option 1:
Continue with the same study pattern and refresh the Manhattan material again with proper practice questions. Follow that up with the
OG questions and after a month of practice start doing weekly tests to see my progress. I believe this option would at most get me to a score that won't cross 700 or might even be a lot lesser.
Option 2:
Buy an online course or study companion and use those to further hone my theory. I've heard great things about the
Experts Global Online companion. I was considering purchasing their "Full Access" option for $165. While I'm more then ready to make this jump, this is only my second job and so I'd much prefer to buy the best option while maximizing value for money. Is
Experts Global a good option to go or are their better recommendations keeping my situation and scores in view.
Once armed with the appropriate course I would study for the next 45 days and if with 10 days left to the test date I still find myself horribly behind my target, I would consider to postpone the test date.
Option 3:
If you guys can suggest any better option I'd absolutely be delighted.