Studying while still in school & general advice?

Question

I've been lurking here for the past few weeks or so and everyone seems really nice, so I'm hoping I can get away with asking the really basic question of how to study (I also have no idea what the best way to word this is, so please bear with me). The last time I posted on a forum like this was to try to get advice in HS about my ACT and they basically said why bother getting your score to that number and why bother going to college if you aren't going to an Ivy League school. So compared to them y'all seem a lot nicer so far lol

I am currently in the spring semester of my Junior year of college working towards a BS in accounting, so I'm already really busy with my 5 classes, working while I'm at school, and trying to keep my accounting GPA up. That is why I plan to take the exam over summer, so I can hopefully basically study all day every day for a shorter period of time. I have looked at & printed out the Magoosh 3 month plan but there's honestly no way I can do all of the studying/work from my actual courses plus what they expect in one day, while also going to class and work and just taking care of myself in general. Also, since I am an accounting major I am not looking for an MBA but to get my MS or MAcc (it depends on where I end up going to school). I am also not looking for a perfect score and to go to a top school, as I would prefer to stay in state and pay in state tuition. Currently my "dream" school is UF as all of the CPAs I've talked to in FL say that is where you would get the best connections, and I chose to go to a smaller school no one has heard of for my BS. UF is the only one I'm looking at that actually has easily accessible admissions stats for their MAcc program and their average GMAT score for those who did not complete their BS at UF for Fall 2016 admits is a 613 so I guess I should be aiming for the 600-700 range? (I can't post the link to the stats because I just now actually created/activated my account but if you are interested just google UF MAcc stats and one of the results should lead to the demographics PDF)

I'd also appreciate some advice on the process in general, I know most of y'all are going for an MBA but I'd appreciate it anyway. Is the GMAT kind of like the SAT/ACT? If so which one is it more similar to? Are your scores there maybe correlated to your GMAT score?

I would also appreciate some constructive criticism from someone who maybe knows about the graduate admissions process (preferably accounting I guess?) because my GPA isn't great. Basically I dual enrolled throughout highschool, graduated w/ my AA at 18 with a 4.0, which is great and all but it means my GPA at my current institution is pretty much only made up of upper level classes so my current GPA at my institution is only a 3.12, with a 3.0 accounting GPA. Does anyone know if places you apply to take your entire undergrad GPA (because I think it would be more like a 3.7 or 3.8 then?) or if they just take the GPA from your last institution. I know my GPA is lacking so what else besides scores can I do to try to stand out to UF?

So basically, sorry for all the rambling (I promise this isn't representative of how I'll do on the essay lol I just can never make myself be formal online) but does tl;dr: does anyone know of a good way to modify an existing plan or actually like has a plan that starts out with a little bit of studying each day and then you can turn it into a cramming session when I'll actually be able to spend 4 hours a day on this? And does anyone know what admissions people look at for MAcc/MS other than just scores, essays, and grades?

Vmacc · Answer

Hi, Studyeagle! I’m a first time poster, too, and also planning on applying for a MAcc or MSA.

Study advice: Studies show that studying consistently over a longer period of time is a better way to get information into your long term memory than cramming. Of course that’s not always possible in real life. So, given your situation, I think the best place to start would be to read up a little bit about the format of the GMAT, then take a diagnostic test just to get a sense where you are, both score-wise and topic-wise. I’d suggest the GMATPrep software you can download from MBA (dot) com. It’s from the people who made the test, from retired real test questions so it’s a good indicator of where you’re starting out. They give you two tests; save the other one for closer to when you’re going to take the exam. Figure out what you’re weak in, what math you’ve forgotten, etc., both through what you get wrong in the diagnostic, and through looking through a list of GMAT topics from a prep book or whatever you can get your hands on. Then make sure that that is what you’re studying now little by little over the semester, because it’s most important to get the stuff you’re weakest on into your long term memory. Give yourself the most time to really understand it. Also, consider using flashcards (gmat club has its own, so does Magoosh) so that you can fit in ten minutes of studying here and there between classes, on the bus, on your lunch break, with time you otherwise wouldn’t be doing anything productive with.

The Magoosh plans take a lot of the studies on pedagogy and how people learn best into consideration. So they’re basically making sure that you’re doing a consistent amount of work each day or each week. And they build in some repetition of new concepts. They pick a number of good resources or problems for you to work on, and then split it evenly over the number of days or weeks you have to study. You could do something similar for yourself based off of their plans. Given that the amount of material on their 3 month plan seems like more than you can get through, you might want to look at their one-month plan. Then try to split the work from the first two or three weeks of the plan evenly between now and your semester end (something like, trying to get everything they say for one day in one week). Then do the last week of their one month plan actually in a week when you have time over the summer. Try to have at least a few days to a week where you’re just reviewing and not trying to cram new information into your head. I might be able to make you a more specific schedule with more details if I have more specifics on your timeline - i.e. how many months between now and the end of your semester, and then how many weeks you have for your “cramming” time period. Feel free to PM me. I’m using the Magoosh 6 month plan; I really like having something specific due each week; it’s helping keep me on track on top of everything else going on in my life.

About your GPA/graduate admissions: on the applications themselves, for most schools, you’ll have to list your GPA separately for each institution you attended, so they will see the 4.0 for your AA and the 3.12 (or whatever your GPA ends up at when you’re applying). I suspect they’ll look at your 3.0 accounting GPA and sort of average your GPAs from your two institutions. But since you have a specific reason for the lower GPA at your current institution, that would be a great thing to mention, and to try to spin positively, in your statement of purpose. For example, if you could point out that you’ve taken some upper level non-accounting classes, and say that they were tough classes that you took anyway because you wanted to challenge yourself intellectually, that would sound great. Point out the fact that you’re working on top of a full course load. It gives another reason for your lower GPA and it shows that you’re motivated and hard working. You still have some time before applying, so if you’re not already, get yourself involved in a leadership role in an extracurricular if possible. Also, the more you can sound like you’ve thought about your career path and you have coherent, specific, and ambitious goals in your statement of purpose, the more you will stand out.

AjiteshArun · Answer

I'm not sure just how similar the tests would have to be to qualify as being similar, but the scores should certainly be correlated, so (for example) good performance on the SAT or the ACT should be indicative of good performance on the GMAT. Just keep in mind that the tests might not be very closely linked.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi studyeagle,

On a conceptual level, the GMAT has a number of aspects in common with the SAT/ACT, so someone who scored well on one of those pre-college Tests likely would have the capacity to score at a high level on the GMAT. Of course, it's still necessary to train for the specifics of the GMAT. Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores on the GMAT, so you might need to consider how you've planned out your tentative study plan. Thankfully, your score goal is relatively modest and you don't appear to be facing any type of immediate deadline. However, when it comes to the GMAT, 'cramming' doesn't tend to lead to great results, so you have to be careful about trying to train that way.

1) When are you planning to apply for the Macc Programs that you mentioned?

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

studyeagle · Answer

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone! I'm planning on starting grad school in Fall of '18 and it seems like the schools I'm looking to apply to have their deadlines around the winter of 17/18 so I definitely have time for a retake after summer, but summer will be the only time I can put my entire focus on the GMAT.

Also the reason for my grades isn't necessarily being busy with work/not studying as much as I should, it's just the nature of our program. It's great that my school has professors who really want to challenge us and weed out those who shouldn't be accounting majors, but unfortunately it means all of our GPAs are on the lower side and no one outside of this area of the state even knows our school exists let alone that we have a good program. Like as an example, no one in either section of Tax I has an A right now, there were no As in Business Law I, I've heard no one gets As in Audit I, I know no one gets As in Intermediate III, a lot of the classes in the program have a 30-50% fail/withdrawal rate because people underestimate it or think they can coast . I have friends at a state school that's much bigger than mine and therefore more well known in our state and they told me due to the size of the classes a lot of people get pushed through with curves up until Senior year and then that's when they see most of their kids change majors or retake a class.

Do you think it's a big setback to just start studying and not do a diagnostic? I started the diagnostic in the OG and the math depressed me so much. I think I'll struggle with that just because I took like the Algebra I, II and Geometry courses in middle school and we really don't use that much math in my major besides just like super basic algebra. I feel like if I took it and saw my projected score was awful because of the math section I'd be more discouraged than motivated to study.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi studyeagle,

Since it sounds like you're just beginning your studies, then it would be a good idea to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test (NOT the Diagnostic Test in the OG); you can download 2 for free from www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). If you want to do a little studying first, so that you can familiarize yourself with the basic content and question types, then that's okay - but you shouldn't wait too long to take that initial CAT. That score will give us a good sense of your natural strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. A FULL CAT takes about 4 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have those scores, you should report back here and we can come up with a study plan.

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

Vmacc · Answer

I think it’s okay not to take a diagnostic at the very beginning if you think it will be de-motivating. You know yourself best. I’d still try to take one at least sometime in the middle of your studies, as opposed to just at the very end. That way, you have enough under your belt to hopefully not get a scary demotivating score, but you have an idea where you stand and what you still need to work on while you still have time to work on it.

Actually, I think there’s a chance the “super basic algebra” you do in your major will be more of a benefit than you might think. E.g. do you still remember how to factor quadratics? Rules for exponents? Basic rules for orders of operations? Yes, there will still be lots you’ve forgotten, and even a little bit you may never have come across. But you won’t be starting from scratch. And you probably already have a decent intuition for numbers.

The GMAT has two types of problems - data sufficiency, and problem solving. The data sufficiency is unique to the GMAT, so you should try to practice some of those during whatever limited studying you do during the semester so you’re used to them. The problem solving ones are similar to the SATs (don’t know about ACT), but with slightly harder math and a slightly different emphasis. They don’t allow a calculator, so some of the test involves intuition with estimation, patterns with numbers, etc. So you may want to start re-memorizing the decimal equivalent of common fractions, tricks for doing multiplication and division easily without a calculator, etc.

There’s also some math you may not have come across before if you haven’t taken statistics. But if you’ve taken business statistics or something like that, that would cover most of it. It’s very basic stuff like mean median mode, standard deviation. A bit of probability (which might not be covered in business statistics?) - combinations permutations etc. If that all sounds unfamiliar to you, that might be a good place to start teaching yourself now during the semester. You could pick up something basic like Kaplan’s GMAT math workbook. You probably won’t be able to get through the whole thing on top of your studies, but you can make a plan for yourself to get through one topic or chapter a week and just select whatever topics you think you’re weakest on. Or pick two or three books from the MGMAT book series to get through. Maybe one of their verbal books, depending how comfortable you feel in verbal. Then you could find a 1 or 2 month plan you like and do that from start to finish over the summer. There are other ways you could break up your time; maybe others will have better suggestions.

RE: grades - if you can ask one of your accounting professors for a recommendation, that will help; they’ll be able to explain the grading system at your school, and say that you are doing well relative to your major.

studyeagle · Answer

Okay so sorry for not replying back but I'm planning on taking a diagnostic sometime over this weekend. I'm just taking this week to review some of the math stuff I've forgotten due to lack of use, so whatever I can make time to review this week for that I will. Whenever I take it I'll post my practice score here, but I'm not expecting for it to be a great one at all.

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi Studyeagle,

I graduated in 2013 with double major in Accounting and in Economics and currently pursuing Masters in Advanced Accountancy. I wanted to go for a second Masters and decided to apply to some top MIM (Masters in Management) programs mainly in Europe, and was accepted to all the programs however decided against it due to changes in the political environment. I can share some experiences that I gained while going through the process myself. Firstly, the requirements for admissions in Masters Programs are quite different than that in an MBA program. Most of the candidate for masters program are early career candidates with little or no work experience who are looking to kick start their careers. So the business schools generally focus more on academic background than professional background (although having some work experience internship or full time is always a plus). Secondly with regard to GMAT scores, even some top Masters program have an average score of 680 which is much lower than the that of a top MBA program. GPA’ s are given importance but if you have some great internship/extracurricular experience it can be offset.

I see you have decided which schools you want to apply to, however I would recommend aim a little higher. Although I understand the cost may be higher, in the long run the benefits far outweigh the cost. There are some great schools for Masters in Accounting in the US such as UVA, University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan etc which not only have great reputation but also have very high starting salaries. In terms of GMAT, if you aim at a score of 680+ you may end up with a scholarship at a top school and may also compensate for a low GPA. You can start by giving a GMATPREP test to know your base score and accordingly decide on the study plan and which GMAT course you should go for. In my experience MGMAT guides are some of the best in the market however there are some great on-demand courses such as EmpowerGMAT, Magoosh, e-gmat etc that can help you with your preparations.

Hope this helps. All the best.

Vmacc · Answer

Hi, studyeagle! Did you manage to take a diagnostic test over the weekend? Any more thoughts or questions about putting together a study plan for yourself? Just trying to hold you accountable/help you keep on track as much as possible during the semester.

Again, at this point, getting used to the format of the exam and building up the stamina to sit in one place for a 4 hour test is more important than the score you get. Also, figuring out what topics or question points are your weak points so that you can work on those a bit now during the semester. For me, I did study math in college, but pure math actually helps less on GMAT math than you'd think. Once you get past calculus, it's pretty abstract, number-free stuff. I'm in my early 30s now and the last time I took classes on GMAT-related math was.... maybe a decade and a half ago? Late middle school to early high school. So when I first started studying, my math scores were abominable, even though I consider myself to be a person who is "good" at math. I'm a few months into my study plan, and I haven't taken the official GMAT yet, but I'm seeing fast improvement on my math already. I hope you will, too!

studyeagle · Answer

Hey everyone! Unfortunately I have not had time to take the practice exam or study for the GMAT much, the weekend I was going to take it one of my prof's said they forgot to put a test in the syllabus and announced there'd be one that week, so I spent that weekend preparing for that. Finals are in two weeks and next week is full of tests too, so I'm thinking I'll take a practice test after finals whenever I really have time to sit still for 4 hours and do something elective, and I can make my plan after that.

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