30 DAY STUDY PLAN VIA 8-MGMAT BOOKS OG AND MORE

[chipreno]

I tried the rest and now I am with the best. I studied for a few weeks and my score barely improved, so I decided to buy the 8 MGMAT books. I have one month before my official test day. I took my first attempt at the test a few days ago and got 500. I was testing around 580 on Kaplan CAT tests, but somehow dropped to a 500. I still have a few Kaplan CAT's and quizzes left. I would like to score a 600 at least, if not higher.

Anyways, I will be doing nothing but studying 8 hours a day for the GMAT in the next month. I am looking for a study plan involving the 8 MGMAT guides and the OG. I am not sure if I should just work through each book in order, jump through editions, take CAT's every couple days, or what? I want to lay out a study plan for the next month, but I don't want to just read through each book because I think that might drive me even more crazy than I have gone from this test. Are there any study plans offered by MGMAT or previous users that I could use as a starting off point?

[StaceyKoprince]

Good questions! We actually post our syllabus for our full program online, free to all, so you can use that. Look here:

http://www.manhattangmat.com/freegmatlearningforum.cfm
Under the highlights section, click on "Official Manhattan GMAT Course Syllabus [pdf]"

Customize the syllabus to your situation. For instance:

(1) You have 30 days, not 3 months, so you'll have to accelerate some of the work
(2) You're going for a 600-range score, so your focus should be on the General chapters, not the Advanced chapters. (The General chapters are the ones that are not labeled Advanced. :)
(3) Everyone has to prioritize based on strengths and weaknesses - you're not expected to do every last little thing on the syllabus. On stronger areas, spend less time and / or try more advanced material. On weaker areas, spend more time and don't try to go to more advanced materials. Etc.

Couple of other things. Don't study for more than 2h straight without taking at least a 30-min brain break (and ideally more like an hour). You will learn better / more efficiently; see below for more ideas:

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/09/ ... your-study

CAT exams are really good for (a) figuring out where you're scoring right now, (b) practicing stamina, and (c) analyzing your strengths and weaknesses. The actual act of just taking the exam is NOT so useful for improving. It's what you do with the test results / between tests that helps you to improve. Don't take one every few days - once a week at the most frequent (and only because you're studying all day every day - for anyone else reading this who's only studying an hour or two a day, 2 to 3 weeks minimum between tests).

And, of course, make good use of the forums - which you've already started to do!

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/05/ ... the-forums

[chipreno]

Where can I find/download the Study Organizer spreadsheet?

[chipreno]

Also, is there a study plan that is just for the books? The link for the study plan you provided only has a study plan for the online class with online labs.

[StaceyKoprince]

That's the only study plan - do what you have, basically, and ignore the other parts.

I think the study organizer is only available to class / self-study package students. I'm not sure, though - you can contact the office to find out. studentservices@manhattangmat.com or 800.576.GMAT

[chipreno]

I have a friends that is doing the same study plan as me and he wants to use the same plan that I used above, but it is no longer there. Where can I find that same plan since it is no longer on that link? The new plans don't have the same setup with page numbers and specific problems.

[StaceyKoprince]

The syllabus did get taken down accidentally, but it is back up again here:

http://www.manhattangmat.com/freegmatlearningforum.cfm
Under the highlights section, click on "View a Sample of Our Course Syllabus (PDF)"

Oh, no, wait! I just checked it and it's only showing the first 2 pages. It's supposed to be the whole thing - sorry. I'll ask our Student Services team to fix this; check that link in a few days!

[StaceyKoprince]

Bad news. We did used to offer that. I just spoke with our student services team and there's a new policy in place: now they offer the full syllabus only to those who sign up for a self-study program, a course, or tutoring.

If you have already signed up for any of those, then you should be able to find the syllabus in your student center. If you have not, then unfortunately you won't be able to access the new syllabus. :(

I know that's annoying. I also understand our team's POV (that the syllabus represents one of the major values of the program). So... yeah, it sucks that business decisions have to be made sometimes.