Some more advice please

This is somewhat tricky, as we don't have many options here. But many people have faced this challenge before. It's not so much as having time, but making time. Completing the OG, GMATPrep Cat's, and guidebooks is a necessity for a good performance. Nobody's study plan is perfect, but we should be able to identify a few solutions.

For starters, I would suggest that you skip the end-of-chapter questions in the MGMAT math guides and focus on the recommended OG problems instead. And reading while using the bathroom is quite productive (in the long term).

Bmillan01,

Thanks for the reply. I wanted to ask why do you think skipping those end of the section question is a good ideal? Once I have read up on a concept should I just try and go look for practice problems in the OG 12 and OG quant review? I kick myself for putting myself in this situation, I mean last round of app deadline is in april. So my back is against the wall. I believe just by having that mindset is a dangers to my score. That is why I came here to try and save my sanity as well as my score. I am not asking for a complete study plan, but more on the lines of an outline study plan. BB mention the 'NP' and 'WP' book.

While you're not in an ideal setting, it's not a death sentence either. You still have time to properly prepare. Just remain calm and stay focused on your goals. You can do it.

Yes, skip those MGMAT math questions and go straight to the OG problems that they recommend for each section (you'll find the suggested problems in a specific section). I personally didn't find the end-of-chapter questions very helpful. And I agree that one should aggressively reinforce concepts covered in the guidebooks. Simply waiting until you finish all the books is too passive and you can easily forget some things from book one (Number Properties) by the time you finish book 5 (Geometry). I myself made this error and it took a great deal of time and effort to correct it.

Ok, However do you think it would be possible do a chapter and go find problems in the OG review books? Cause the "NP" book doesn't refer you to the OG books for quite sometime. I would like to learn a concept and afterwards apply it to real GMAT problem.

Let's take the Number Properties guide as our example. Chapter nine contains a list of OG problems that correspond to the topics covered in the previous chapters. You can either (1) finish these eight chapters first, or (2) finish each chapter and find that section in chapter nine. It should be pretty organized and the questions, from what I remember, are already categorized in terms of topic and listed in order of difficulty.

Whatever you choose, pick the option that feels right to you.

HAHAHAAH, reading while in the bathroom! As funny as it sounds, it is indeed priceless advice!

Bmillan01,

I've been taking you advice but I am still struggling. I've been doing the problems out of the number properties guide for the OG Review 12 and the QR review 2nd edt. However I am getting hammered by the questions, it not that I don't understand the concepts because when I get stuck on a problem and finally decided to give in a look at the answer I get a "oh yeah that makes sense" moment, I come to realized that my main problem is not being able to understand what the questions is asking. These questions are worded in some of the most confusing ways, I mean when I look at the way they've got some of answers I can't help but ask "How the hell was I suppose to get that" I am keeping an error log but in my log I either did not answer the questions or I got them wrong(plain and simple). I'm asking myself "am I this bad come the hell on". How do I improve being able to understand the over-all question because not being able to understand the question so I can apply a concept will not do me any good, even if I do know the concept.

Some GMAT questions have tricky wording. Somethings that help me include:

(1) Writing down all the given information. Just looking at a problem and rereading it 3+ times will waste time. Start getting your pen moving and as you actually write down the numbers you may find certain relationships within the numbers that will help you arrive at the final answer.

(2) The MGMAT Quant Guides have a lot of formulas/techniques per chapter. For example, in Word Translation, they give a simple formula for average. If you see a problem asking for average, immediately write down the formula and try to fill in as much of the information you can. Writing down the formula will help things click much faster.

(3) A lot of the OG problems follow a certain pattern and test certain concepts over and over again, only after doing a lot of practice will you grasp these patterns.

(4) As you said, some of the explanations will show you a different way to attack the problem then how you did. I would put a lot of time learning the different ways to attack a single problem. Having multiple techniques on hand will help you grasp and start more problems quickly.

Last thing to add:

(5) When you read the explanation for an answer, don't just stop there. Do the problem over again. Reading explanations without actually implementing/incorporating them is pointless.

Honestly, Like you mention it's going to come down to doing a lot of problems an getting familiar with what these problems have in common and are asking. I have to be "real" with myself and the gmat community because I am not doing nearly enough problems in a day as I should be. Its just that after answering like 15 or so problems and only getting like 4 or 5 right I get upset with myself.

Are you working through the OG12 or the OG Quant Supplement?

If you have enough time, I would start with the supplement first. The difficulty of the questions is easier than that in the OG12. It will help you pick up pace and the OG12 will be less daunting after.

I started with the math foundation book and worked through all the chapters. I felt go going through them how I got to the OG review 12th and QR 2nd edt I felt like I never seen most of the stuff I ran across. I do have all of the MGMAT book, but since I am taking the test the first week of april I don't have time to read through every book. So I used the questions at the end of each gmat book to guide me in the OG review and QR. Right now I am only on the number properties book and working through Problem solving Part I and II. Like I am mention I am keep an error of my questions and making notes on each question on what I got stuck on.

Is the OG12 "daunting" by any means? Have you tried the GMAT Club Tests? If the OG is daunting then god only knows what the Club Tests are.

Some of the OG questions are tough, but for the most part they are very reasonable. For this reason I would say that everybody should at least pick up a few of the Manhattan GMAT guides, as they are far more difficult.