Strategy for GMAT

First of, Welcome to the GMAT world and sit tight for some jolts. I would always suggest to go for Q and V side by side as it seems a more balanced approach than first Q and then V. You can alternate Q and V on week days and a combine study of both Quant and Verbal on weekend. Do RC daily without missing a day otherwise it will frustrate you all the time. IELTS and GMAT verbal are different though you may find some parts easier. e-gmat is a good course along with MGMAT guides. Earn kudos on GMAT club and access GMAT club tests and questions for each set of 25 kudos.

Some useful links are as follows :

https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-self-pr ... tml?f=menu

https://gmatclub.com/tests-beta/?fl=menu

https://gmatclub.com/marketplace/free-stuff?fl=menu

https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-flashca ... ml?fl=menu

https://gmatclub.com/forum/free-trials- ... ml?fl=menu

Be a regular user of GMATclub and get the dividends.

QZ

Hi lybeaver,

Many Test Takers are unhappy about their initial CAT Scores, but you really shouldn't be - it's just a measure of your skills right now and you're going to be learning content and Tactics over the coming months to help you to score higher. That having been said, you really MUST try your best to complete the FULL CAT each time (as we need to have a better sense of your natural skills, strengths and weaknesses). By essentially skipping the Verbal section of this first CAT, we are missing some important information about your current skills.

With 6 months, you could improve a great deal, but to raise this score 290+ points, you're going to have to make some significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. You will also find it better to study a 'mix' of Quant and Verbal each week (instead of the 'all of one, then all of the other' approach that you're thinking about).

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 your timeline and your goals:

1) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
2) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
3) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

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

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

Hi lybeaver,

6 months is good enough to improve your score. It’s a good thing you have taken a GMAT Mock once. You now know your weaknesses and work on them. If you are willing to study dedicatedly for that period, you are sure to achieve your goal. I think you need to solidify you base and adopt a proper technique to answer the questions. I believe you may benefit from taking a GMATPREP course. If you are willing, there are some great GMAT prep companies that can help you with your preparation.

In order to make an informed decision I would highly encourage you to go to their websites and try on their free trial and decide for yourself which one do you like better. You try out free access to EmpowerGMAT, Magoosh and Optimus Prep as they have great reviews on GMATCLUB.

Also for verbal, I would highly encourage you to consider e-gmat verbal online or the e-gmat verbal live course. They are both amazing courses especially designed for non-natives. They offer almost 25% of their courses for free so you can try out their free trial to decide which one you want to go for. Plus the e-gmat Scholaranium which is included in both the courses is one of the best verbal practice tools in the market. You can easily track your progress in that you can identify your strengths and analyze and improve on your weak areas.

You can also try out the MGMAT guides they are phenomenal and cover the entire syllabus really well. Just by going through these guides and solving the OG will help you reach 600+.I must add that if you are particularly looking to discover and improve on your weak areas in Quant; a subscription to GMATCLUB tests is the best way to do that. They are indeed phenomenal and will not only pinpoint your weak areas but also help you improve on them.

Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, Manhattan GMAT tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have good verbal and Quant section and will certainly help you point out and improve your weak areas.

Further another advantage of taking many mocks is to build up your stamina. Apart from the GMATPREP tests, taking practise tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that.

I would also encourage you to purchase GMATPREP QP 1 for some great additional practice. Here is a link that will help you with your decision.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ve ... ml?fl=menu

Lastly, you can check out a very interesting article by Mike McGarry from Magoosh detailing a 3 month study plan

https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-g ... -students/. You will find it very helpful as it gives out a study plan as per your needs.

Hope this helps. All the best.