Struggling with the GMAT

Question

Hello guys,

I am currently struggling with the GMAT material. I find it difficult to answer or understand most of these questions. My score is a 400 on the practice tests and I just can't grasp any of the concepts even after reading all of the Manhattan prep books. My exam date is Dec 29th but I will reschedule it to either end of Jan or middle of Feb.

Should I consider tutoring at this point even if it is expensive?

Thanks in advanced.

AkshdeepS · Answer

Hi, Don't get disheartened with a 400 score. GMAT is a long journey for most of the students. It seems certain that you have to reschedule your exam till Feb. But, that is totally dependent on what your target score is. But 2 months are required to score at least above 600+. You can opt for online courses for self study or join a coaching centre. For Quant I would recommend Target Test Prep + GMAT club quant questions. Also, you can practice questions from here : https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-math-qu ... 7/?fl=menu For Verbal : e - GMAT online course + Manhattan guides should be a good option. You can see the reviews from the review section given on the homepage of GMAT club.

akela · Answer

Hi  mookiemook315 ,

Welcome to gmatclub!

I had the same problem. I found a high school math tutor, and started from the basics. I solved the problems from high school math books and gradually moved to more advanced concepts. And it was much cheaper.

You can also read this thread:  ALL YOU NEED FOR QUANT ! ! !

Hope this helps!

CAMANISHPARMAR · Answer

Hi!

I’m sorry to hear that! I know it’s difficult - but you need to try and keep up your confidence and stay relaxed.

Could you please share more details about your mock score? How many times have you given mocks & various sources with splits?

How long have you been preparing? You have said that "I just can't grasp any of the concepts even after reading all of the Manhattan prep books. "

You should review your mocks, identify gaps in your understanding. There should be some takeaways from the mistakes that you are making. Are you maintaining a error log?

I would suggest you to first be thorough with your foundational knowledge. This will help you to improve a lot.

I feel the basic understanding could be developed from an online/live course.

With consistent efforts you should be able perform well in this exam.

All the very best!!

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi mookiemook315, Around 2 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. 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.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi mookiemook315,

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) What study materials have you used so far?
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 apply to Business School?
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi mookiemook315,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. So, before thinking about a GMAT tutor, the real question that you need to answer is why, after some amount of prep, you are stuck at a 400. Although a tutor certainly can help you improve your GMAT skills, the bulk of your prep will still be done independently. Thus, even if you end up working with a tutor, you want to ensure that you use thorough prep materials to improve your GMAT skills in between your sessions. With that in mind, I recommend that you spend some time reading  success stories of past GMAT students  as well as reviews of  various GMAT prep courses  to see what prep materials have worked for other test-takers.

You also may find it helpful to read this article about 
 how to score a 700+ on the GMAT .

If you have any further questions regarding your study plan, feel free to reach out.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Welcom to GMAT Club

Selecting GMAT Material for prep. is one thing while selecting an online course or tutoring is an other. It varies person to person depending on one's own efficiency, time available for the prep and any such related phenomenon. I didn't know much about personal tutor but i can tell you about some good rated courses on GMAT Club and good material for self prep.

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 2015-19
The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review 2015-19
The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review 2015-19

Best Courses (Budget)

1. e-GMAT
2. Empower GMAT
3. Math Revolution (Only Math)

Top CATs for Practice

1. Official GMAC CATs
2. Manhattan CATs
3. Kaplan CATs
4. GMAT Club Quant CATs

Have you ever tried any online course before?

Good Luck

MathRevolution · Answer

Hello, mookiemook315

It seems that you are having a hard time on GMAT studying. You would be very annoyed and feel stressed out because of your score. You’d better not hurry on taking GMAT. It would be much better to reschedule it to the middle of February and have 2-3 months to refresh and reset the basic concepts and skills of studying GMAT again.

If you just studied GMAT just by reading books by yourself, of course it is difficult to fully understand and apply the methods suggested on the book to the real question. I recommend you to have a tutor or guide to solve the problems you are struggling with. So, I’d rather recommend you to take online lessons to set a solid bases of the concepts, which is much cheaper that personal tutoring. After fully understanding those basics and jumped into advanced level, personal tutoring could be one good way to improve your score, because it focuses on your improvement.

We are offering online tutoring ‘MATH REVIEW’, on which you could set a solid base for the basics(arithmetic, algebra, geometry and word problem). This is ideal for GMAT takers who want to learn very basic math or sharpen basic math concepts. Always refer back to this whenever you need to refresh the concepts. Also, focus on 5 key topics (Integer, Statistics, Inequality, Probability, and Absolute Value) that account for 80% of the GMAT exam.

It is also important to understand trends of GMAT question, when you are trying to hit the great score. (https://gmatclub.com/forum/overview-of-11809.html)
It is too early to be frustrated. Slow and Steady win the game!

Please let us know if you have further questions.
You can reach us at info@mathrevolution.com

Success is within your reach,
Good luck!

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