To start preparation for GMAT

Question

Dear Experts,
I would like to have your expert advice regarding my planning for GMAT preparation. I have almost 11 years of work experience and working as product manager presently with a MNC. I know as next step to go in the management and be successful either I should have the MBA from the esteemed institution to jump in my career for 5 years in fast track and be ready with competencies required for the management.

So my objective is clear for doing the executive MBA.

Now regarding the preparation, I had no connection with the quants, verbal preparation after the collage placement. So almost 11 years therefore you can consider me at level 1 in the scale 1-10 now.So I have to start the preparation from scratch.

My strength are fast grasping of concept and logical thinking so if someone explain me the concept so that fixed in my mind completely therefore if i get some very good tutor who explain the concept clearly so I am very good student to follow and learn fast.

Negative point from my side that I am very proactive guy to prepare and follow the study plan by myself but very good if I get some friends with me in preparation. I have never done the preparation with online study material so not sure how it goes.

So I told you everything about me and would like your opinion on the following:
1. If I can crack the GMAT exam with the above mentioned attitude
2. If not so what I must have to understand and change
3. What will be the best preparation way for me?

Note: Presently I am working outside India.

Waiting for your response.

Posted from my mobile device

Princ · Answer

Rishabh2019 please check below link for the study plan https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-study-p ... ml?fl=menu

DisciplinedPrep · Answer

Quant section in the GMAT does not test high-level math concepts and therefore you do not necessarily need to put in a lot of study hours; instead, you should focus on practicing as many questions as you can. Most of the topics are limited to high school mathematics. That said, it is of prime importance that you have concept clarity. I would recommend that you enroll in an online course. Verbal, on the other hand, might require more time.

Given your busy schedule, I would recommend that you sign up for an online course that offers both Quant and Verbal coaching. Personally, I highly recommend EMPOWERgmat. The course covers concepts very effectively and offers some of the best strategies for both Quant, and Verbal, and is one of the main reasons I have comfortably score 700+ in all practices tests. With a disciplined preparation of 3 months, you can get a 650-700 score, to be honest. All the best!

TheUltimateWinner · Answer

Hi  Rishabh2019 
The following materials definitely will help you for the quant section!
 For Quant: 
You can choose any one from below. They're good enough.
1/ Target Test prep  click here 
2/ Wizako  click here 
3/ GMAT Quantum  click here 
4/ EmpowerGMAT  click here 
5/ MathRevolution  click here

and.....
click on  ULTIMATE GMAT QUANTITATIVE MEGATHREAD  posted by bunuel.
All the best for your study.
Thanks__

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Rishabh2019,

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; you can take 2 for free at 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 3.5 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.

I'd like to know a bit more about your timeline and goals:
1) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
3) Which Schools would you like to apply to?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Rishabh2019,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. Since you are just starting out, you should first  familiarize yourself with the GMAT  and then take an  official GMAT practice exam . Once you take that practice exam, you will get a better sense of your starting point as well as what you will have to accomplish to reach the finish line.

Regarding how to move forward, while I understand your desire to work alongside other GMAT test-takers or work with a GMAT tutor, you must realize that a large majority of your test prep will be done on your own. Thus, you will need dig deep and find the motivation you need to also commit solo self-study, OK? A great way to stay motivated when self-studying is to use an online self-study course. Most self-study courses provide a detailed study plan, so your studying stays organized and focused. Take a look at the  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 the following article about  how to score a 700+ on the GMAT .

Feel free to reach out with further questions.

egmat · Answer

Hi Rishabh2019 , It is absolutely fine if you have been out of touch with quant or verbal for some time now. GMAT Verbal is not all about grammar rules. Similarly, GMAT Quant is not all about formula and tricks. It will test you on a few core skills and logical thinking ability. As you are already good at logical thinking it should work in your advantage. See how Mayank aced GMAT even after he lost touch with academics. Diligent planning and execution led him to get admits from UC Berkeley HAAS part time EWMBA program and Booth's Evening MBA program It is also a good thing to start from scratch. It will save you the unlearning part that may be required for someone who has not been learning it the right way earlier. I understand you have concerns regarding the online study material. Many students have found online courses to be very effective and less time consuming than private tutoring. You can go through the reviews on GMAT Club to understand the same. An interactive course will help you in staying engaged with the course and motivate you to come back to studies every day, even in the absence of a study group. I have shared few free resources towards the end of this article so that you understand for yourself if an online course would suit you. Let us now look at what is the best approach to tackle the test. What does it take to ace GMAT? Consider GMAT as a project where you need to first plan it out well and then take one step at a time. I have listed out the steps below, 1. Create a plan This is the first and most important step of your preparation. Using the Personalized Study Planner tool you can create a plan that is personalized to your starting score, target score, strengths and weaknesses. You need not worry if you do not now your precise starting levels yet. The tool estimates the same and gives you a plan which can be refined later. Learn how you a first-time test taker can reach from a 590 to 710 using the Personalised Study Planner . The key takeaways from the tool are, 1. Clear milestones (target percentiles) for each sub-section tailored to your strengths, and weaknesses 2. Estimate of the overall time required to reach your target score and a tentative GMAT date 3. The sequence of study and an estimate of the time required for acing each sub-section The image below shows how your plan would look like. You can edit the sequence of study, study hours, off days etc. as per your requirement. https://e-gmat.com/blogs/post-1/ 2. Execute the plan Planning is only half the work done. You need to stick to the plan and execute it diligently. I am sharing some of the free resources to get you started with preparation. You can get access to a lot more of these videos and practice questions once you sign up for the Free Trial . 1. Verb-ed Phrases - Verbs or Modifiers 2. Roles of Verb-ing Words 3. Pre-Thinking- Concept 1 - Logical Gap 4. Main Point Concept 1 If you need further help you can reach out to us at acethegmat@e-gmat.com. Regards, Zinnia

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi Rishabh2019, Welcome to GMATCLUB. You should study for around 3-4 months to achieve your score. You should start by taking a GMAT Mock once. You can then now know your weaknesses and can 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 TTP as they have great reviews on GMATCLUB. If you are looking for a good course in 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. 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.

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