Shaky Math Background, seeking Advice on Quant Section

Hi variableninja,

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?
2) Have you used any other study materials besides the books you've mentioned?
3) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?

Goals:
4) What is your goal score?
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Akela,

You are right about the practicing, I need to get comfortable with the areas that cause me the most grief. Thank you for these guides, I have taken a quick scan and they appear to be immensely helpful to my cause. I will certainly be going over them with my math tutor!

Hi EMPOWERgmatRichC,

Thank you for answering my reply, I have come across your posts on this forum and it's relieving to have an expert chime in.
Below are the answers to your questions:

Studies:
1) I started in a really rough shape, I couldn't do any math without a calculator - no divisibility concepts, square roots, you name it- it was all foreign to me. From September - January I completed a community college course that helped me get a solid foundation in the technical approach (9 hours per week).
I now spend 9-10 hours per week just on Quant with a math tutor, and I should definitely be adding in more time. We could say that my number one priority is improving my Quant score.

2) I have only covered the Manhattan Prep Foundations of Math, a 4 hour pre-recorded workshop that they offer for the foundation, a diagnostic test for my basic math knowledge (there's room for a lot of improvement), and I just started on their FDP guide.

I have purchased, but not used, the following: GMAT 2018 Princeton Review, Kaplan Foundations of Math, and the 2018 GMAT OG set, Manhattan Review Complete Set, and a rather dated ARCO GMAT/GRE book, I came across a post on one of the forums that it teaches the basics. Plenty of sets, but not up to speed on the quant to fully take advantage of them.

3) My first and only CAT was taken in October.
My scores were atrociously bad: 330 (quant 5th percentile, verbal 17th percentile, IR was 1). I ran out of time in the verbal section, and attempted to guess in most cases as I couldn't deal with the time pressure.

Goals:
4) My goal score is 650-700.

5) To be totally honest, I am unsure as to when I should take it. Would it be in my best interest to book an appointment when I feel that I am up to speed on both my quant and verbal (I am thinking of October, 9 months from now). Or, give myself a shorter time period to study (by June, 5 months from now) as furiously as I can and give it a shot?

6) I know that by the time I get the GMAT score back, or my ideal score back, I would be delayed in terms of the application process. I would be deferred by a year - and that's fine. I am prepared to fight for a good score, and if that means failing to succeeding, I am very cool with it.

7) IE, Cambridge Judge, Rotman at the University of Toronto, Ivey at UWO, and McGill as well - these are the schools that attracted my attention.

Hi variableninja,

Stick to your plan - consistency is the key in getting high score. I'd recommend preparing for verbal simultaneously with quant. You don't have to spend hours on verbal, just do it little by little consistently.

You can book an appointment in order to be more disciplined. For example, book your test for the end of summer, covering manhattan guides and CATs by the end of spring and taking gmatclub tests during the summer.

Here are some nice stories to read:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-st ... 98512.html

This forum has all the answers, just keep moving on until you cover all of the topics.

You'll get the score you want

Happy studying!

Hi variableninja,

Since you're not facing any impending application deadlines, you have plenty of time to hone your general Quant skills before you focus more on the GMAT specifically. Based on everything that you have described, you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections - but you appear to have that time (and the proper perspective on the overall process) - which is good.

I suggest that you continue studying as you choose for the next month, then take a new FULL-LENGTH CAT (with the Essay and IR sections) to see how comfortable you are facing the entire Exam. Once you have that Score, you should post back and we discuss how best to proceed.

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