Starting prep 6 months ahead of exam date?

Question

I'm in my senior year of college, and am planning to apply to bschool in a couple of years. I will probably be taking the GMAT some time before I graduate in May/June 2011.

Since I do not really want to spend my entire senior spring studying for the GMAT (I'll also be taking classes to complete my degree, albeit easier ones), I was wondering if spreading out a 3 months worth of studying over 6 months is a bad idea?

bb · Answer

I think it is not a great one but that's me - I tend to forget things quite a bit, so spending a long time vs. intensively prepping is not a good idea for my style. Yours may be different but I find most people are somewhat similar.... it can also will make your progress seem very slow and improvement un-motivating.... I'd say give it a shot and then intensify if needed.

On a side note, I have seen quite a few seniors score quite well without much studying. You may want to take a practice test and see how it goes.

On a side note, I have seen quite a few seniors score quite well without much studying. You may want to take a practice test and see how it goes.

whiplash2411 · Answer

I second bb. Personally, I thought about taking the GMAT a while ago (approximately 5 months back) and registered on this forum, took a free practice test (Not GMAT Prep) and kinda assessed where my scores were, and just answered questions on the Math forum because my Quant score was pretty high without preparation. This was during the summer. Once I got back to school, I decided I was going to start focusing on my preparation, took a GMAT Prep and really, now that I think about it, though I was constantly in touch with the GMAT, I've only seriously prepared for like 3 weeks till now. And I will be spending 10 days after finals intensively preparing for it before I take the exam on the 29th. Then again, this depends on your background - I'm an engineering student and math was never really too much of an issue. My verbal was decent enough too.

I would say that spending 2-3 months with full concentration > 6 months, because you might just forget some stuff unless you're really keeping up with it, which can get hard, considering it's your last semester

rishiraj · Answer

I agree with bb and whiplash.
Maintaining the momentum of your study over a period of 6 months is a difficult ,if not an impossible task . It's better to limit your preparation to around 3 months. 100 days is supposed to be the ideal duration for the preparation. However, what you may want to do before you start your preparation is try exploring more and more about the exam and if possible try to improve your weak areas before you actually start studying. For example, if you're weak at RC, you may want to read as much as possible. If you're weak at SC, you may want to explore about SC errors on the internet. Doing this will provide you a good launchpad to kickstart your GMAT Preparation formally.

drisss · Answer

I would suuggest you take a CAT test, and depending on your score, and on your target, you can decide by yourself:
if you score 790, and your target is 650, just wait until 2 month before the exam... 
but if you score 500 and your target is 700... maybe you should have a look at your weaknesses and start working on it ( reading is an excellent advice, as rishiraj said). 
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Starting prep 6 months ahead of exam date?

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