Been studying for 3 weeks and seeing no results

Question

Hello everyone.

I have been studying for the GMAT for the past 3 weeks and have not seen any improvements on the quant. section. I usually study using the OG 12 along with the the Official quant. review. I was hoping you guys could give me some tips on how to study better for the quant. section. I try my best by studying 2-3 hrs. a day, 5 days a week, but it simply isn't working. I struggle the most with geometry and number properties. I understand the concept but when I see a question I stare at it for a good 2 mintues trying to figure out what its asking. And then half the time I don't know how to approach or what the first step is.

Some good news though, I'm making great improvements in the verbal section. I'm really good with SC and CR, but when it comes to RC I'm a bit lazy so I don't do as well.

Again, any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also, if it makes any difference I'm not shooting for high 600s or 700s. I'll be more than happy with a low-mid 600.

Thanks!

EBM · Answer

Get some books that teach you how to break the problems down, rather than just working a bunch of OG problems and not really understanding the reasoning behind them. The MGMAT books are good for starting at very simple concepts and building up. From what it sounds like the number properties guide alone would do you a lot of good, but the rest of the quant wouldn't hurt either.

bb · Answer

You have only used OG? That's not studying... that's solving problems.

KarishmaB · Answer

If you do not want to go through a prep provider's complete set, I think you should first take a GMAT Prep Test as a diagnostic tool. It will tell you your specific weak areas. Get specific books for those weak areas and work on conceptual understanding. OG and Quant Review do not help you build fundamentals. After going through the theory, work on problems from the book and problems on OG. Keep a log of new concepts you come across and go through it occasionally. 
If you are doing really well in Verbal, just following the posts on a forum and doing a set of 20 questions occasionally may be enough. Else, you may want to get a book to understand the strategies required in these sections too. (Some people are intuitively comfortable with these question formats so I wouldn't say that everyone should get into strategies/methodologies, but many people benefit out of them.)

BM · Answer

As the previous comments already highlighted, the OG, while essential, is simply not enough. And three weeks is probably too short of a timeframe to notice any large improvements.

Purchase some GMAT guidebooks, such as the Manhattan math series. And for RC practice, look into LSAT passages. Those will build up your RC abilities overtime. Also, practice verbal questions on GMATClub's verbal forums.

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Been studying for 3 weeks and seeing no results

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