GMAT Journey - 1st month (Target score 655+)

Question

Initial Journey

Hi everyone! I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Quantitative Techniques from a French university in 2023, and I am currently preparing for a Master's degree at a top French business school. After two 6-month experiences on trading floors in investment banking, I realized that my current business school might not be renowned enough for my dream career. Indeed, to pursue a career at a top-tier investment bank in London, a Master's degree from a UK business school or another target business school would be a significant addition to my resume. Therefore, I've decided to take the GMAT to apply for Master's programs in January 2025.
Here is the list of schools I will be applying to: LSE / LBS / UCL / Imperial / Warwick / Bocconi / ESSEC
After a few discussions with friends and some research on the web, I discovered that I would need at least 645 to have a chance of joining these programmes. I'll give myself three chances with the GMAT (October, November and December). To prepare, i bought the OG bundle and subscribed to the Magoosh online prep, which appeared to be the most cost-effective prep for me. I am also using anki flash cards to study quant concepts and vocabulary. With a good preparation, I am targetting a score of 655+.

Study schedule

I am currently working on a trading floor from 9 am to 8:30 pm, which means I don't have much time left to study. Therefore, I decided to define a precise study schedule that is my absolute priority so I can study consistently until my deadline.
Week:
5:30 am : Waking up
6:00 to 8:45 am : Studying GMAT
9:00 am to 8:30 pm : Working
9:30 to 10:30 pm : Studying GMAT
Week-end: 4 hours per day (including a mock test from week 6 to 11)

Joining Magoosh (July, 2024)

I started my preparation with Magoosh 3 weeks ago. During this period, I studied the following subjects:
- 1st week : Arithmetic and fractions / percent and ratios (magoosh videos)
- 2nd week : Integer propeties / Algebra, Equations, and Inequalities (magoosh videos)
- 3rd week : GMAT Ninja RC videos (incredibly helpful) + OG RC questions
I didn't want to take an official mock test during the first week, so that I'm not demoralised from the outset. I think it is now the time to have a diagognostic to get an idea of what I can expect, and I will take my first official mock test on sunday (end of week 3).

What next?

I now have 11 weeks left until my first official GMAT test and it would be really helpful to have some of your advices !
About my study plan, I am planning to alternate each week between the quant videos on magoosh, verbal videos on the GMAT Ninja channel and DI questions (OG books). Once I've finished the course, I'll start practising the OG questions (I think it's more effective to practise them once I've mastered the concepts). Finally, I'll keep the 5 remaining official mock tests for the last five weeks (one per weekend).
I will post here the results of my first official mock test.
Let me know if you find anything to change in my strategy ! Thanks

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Including/mentioning your section scores (after you've done your first mock) could be helpful. You could also mention where your weak areas are (e.g. CR). Consider saving one or two official mocks in case you retake for any reason as well. Perhaps you hit your target score but feel you could score even better with a bit more prep/time.

How to score high on the GMAT. Why solving approach is important.

How to score high on the GMAT. Why solving approach is important.

bb · Answer

Congratulations on starting your journey!

1. What is your starting score? Your first GMAT prep?
2. Make sure you are reviewing your improvement daily and you feel you are doing better (do not take tests at this time besides that one diagnostic one) but just use questions to see if you are able to solve OG questions on the topics that you covered in the Magoosh course
3. Most of the improvement comes from you and you being able to absorb and digest the material, so the one to blame so to speak is the student

and you want to make sure you track your improvement daily and also review daily.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi RishiRamdani,

It looks like you have built out quite a schedule. I think seeing your first official mock score would be helpful regarding your path forward. Also, for some general advice and tips on how to structure your study plan, here is a great article you can check out:

The Best Way to Study for the GMAT

RishiRamdani · Answer

Hello  GmatKnightTutor ,  bb  and  ScottTargetTestPrep , thank you for your advice. I took my first practice exam this morning, and the final score is really disappointing: 435 (78 V / 70 Q / 67 DI).

Since I had very little practice with the questions, I found it very difficult to understand them quickly and associate them with a concept I know. I panicked quickly when I saw the length of some questions and the time I had left, especially in DI and Verbal. As a result, I chose to skip the longer ones to focus on the shorter ones, answering without really looking at or reading the text. That was clearly not the right solution, and maybe I should have focused on each question, even if I didn’t have time to finish.

The Verbal section was really tough for me, even though I spent the week practicing RC. When I’m in an environment without a time limit, I have a good percentage of correct answers on hard questions. I think the timer completely threw me off and pushed me out of my comfort zone.

The schools I'm aiming for seem really far out of reach now. I hope I'll be able to close the gap with enough practice on the questions and by understanding my mistakes.

Quant: 
10 correct / 10 wrong / 1 unanswered

Verbal: 
11 correct / 12 wrong / 0 unanswered

DI: 
9 correct / 9 wrong / 1 unanswered

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Checking out posted debriefs by people who've scored well/improved their scores (for example on RC) could be helpful. You could see what they did/used along the way and maybe take some quick tips as well. For time management, consider using question/time markers.

3 Reading Comprehension tips

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi RishiRamdani,

You may want to hold off on a couple of official practice tests, just in case you want or need to retake the actual GMAT.

All the best.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Thank you for the update.=11pt Seeing your score, it's clear you need to continue to find your holes and fix those to help improve your quant score. A great way to do that is with topical practice.

For example, let’s say that you want to practice Number Properties. You can do so by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc.

After each problem set, thoroughly analyze your incorrect questions. For example, if you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question?

By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to fix your weaknesses efficiently and, in turn, improve your GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant, verbal, and DI topics.

For some more tips on the best way to structure your studying, here is a great article:

The Best Way to Study for the GMAT

RishiRamdani · Answer

Hello everyone,

A quick update on my GMAT progress. Yesterday I took the second mock test and scored 605!

I felt much more confident in the quantitative / DI sections but I struggled in the verbal section (I couldn't get a clear picture of the passages).

The official date for my exam is 16 November, so I've got 45 days left to consolidate my quantitative score and practise the verbal section to build up my confidence.

Show Spoiler

Attachment:

GMAT-Club-Forum-ilofhojs.png [ 45.48 KiB | Viewed 471 times ]

	Manhattan Prep: $99 Bonus Score Higher on Your GMAT Exam. Guaranteed.
	Target Test Prep - Save up to $599 $400 Discount + $99 Bonus GMAT Club Tests
	e-GMAT: 60% Off on GMAT Focus Get to 735+ from any starting point
	Magoosh increases your score, guaranteed - 15% off ALL Magoosh GMAT plans with code GMATCLUB15 + Free GMAT Club Tests.
	Experts' Global - ~~$1720~~ $960 End-to-End GMAT Prep + App Support: 150+ Videos, 2000+ Questions, 15 FLTs +
	GMATWhiz - $299 ~~$499~~ Experience the course through a free trial.
	GMAT Club Tests - Free Included with every course purchase of $149+ View all deals

GMAT Journey - 1st month (Target score 655+)

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards