7-8 week study game plan - advice needed

[janechristine.ahn]

I've been studying for the GMAT on and off since mid-July. I still have trouble believing that it's already been 5 months since then.

I didn't prioritize well at all, and my study-strategy (or lack thereof) was very poor. Instead of starting out with the quant section (my biggest weakness), I spent 3 months (on and off) studying verbal. My "strategy" was to focus on my strength first so that I could 'get it over with' and then focus on my weaker section. In hindsight, I spent so much time on verbal because it was my way off putting off the quant section; the thought of tackling a section that I know is a big weakness for me was daunting.

So now, December is already here, and I feel like I still have such a long way to go. I no longer have time to mess around as my test date is scheduled for mid-February. I REALLY need to focus, and finalize a study strategy that will maximize my productivity for the next 8 weeks. I'm kind of looking at it as though I'm just now starting to study, as I feel that this 'fresh-start' mindset will really motivate me.

At this point, I feel that I have a solid grasp of each verbal section. I've gone through all of the MGMAT books and have practiced a decent amount, so it just comes down to constantly doing practice questions until test day rolls around. As for quant, I've only given the quant section a cursory glance thus far for reasons mentioned above. I bought the Barron's GMAT math workbook last week, and I've been looking through it alongside some of the MGMAT math books.

I'm just having trouble coming up with a study game plan myself, and this is where I could really use the help of all of you. If you have ANY suggestions and tips given my situation, I'd really appreciate it if you'd share them with me.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!

NOTE:
- I only need a 500 or so to get into the program I'm looking into, but I'd be thrilled if I could score in the 550-600 range.
- I have not yet taken a full-length practice test. I've only done a large portion of verbal practice questions in OG.

[StaceyKoprince]

We would be happy to help! You don't yet know your current score range, so I can't tell you whether 7-8 weeks is likely to be enough or whether you need longer. You need to take a practice test so that we can figure that out.

Also, and even more importantly, your study plan needs to be based on your strengths and weaknesses... and the only way to find that out with any accuracy is to take a practice test.

So! This week-end, take a practice test. Alright, alright, it's a holiday week-end. You can wait till Monday or Tuesday if you want. :)

Take an MGMAT CAT under 100% official conditions, including the essays. (I know you don't really care about the essay score, but you do care about the multiple choice score, and your multiple choice score can be artificially inflated if you skip the essays because the essays come first.)

Then, use this article to analyze your results:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back here and share your analysis (note: not just the raw data, you actual analysis) and we'll help you figure out where to go from there!

If you have timing problems, read this and start doing what it says:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

You may also want to read this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ould-i-do/

[janechristine.ahn]

Hi Stacey. Thank you for your response!

Yes, I do know that I really need to take a practice test.

However, I've been reluctant because when I looked through some of the quant questions in the OG book, I found that my math skills have gotten so rusty that I couldn't quite remember certain geometry and number property rules. Without even taking a practice test, I can confidently say that my quant score will probably be below average.

I was thinking that it might be a good idea to review quant basics to get refreshed before taking a practice test.

OR, should I just go ahead and take an MGMAT CAT?

[StaceyKoprince]

Which basics do you need to review and which don't you? You can answer that question really easily if you go take a practice test. :)

In particular, if you have a specific deadline (I think you mentioned 8 weeks), then you need to know your strengths and weaknesses TODAY and you also need to start practicing for the timing and stamina aspects of this test.

If someone else reading this isn't planning to take the test for months and months, sure, do the Foundations of Math (or Foundations of Verbal, or both!) first before taking your first CAT. But if you have a time limit... take a CAT now to get the data to help you prioritize.

[janechristine.ahn]

Hi Stacey,

I followed your instructions and took my first MGMAT CAT practice exam. My score was an abysmal 420 (Q15, V31).
I wasn't surprised in the slightest by my horrendously low Q score, as I guessed blindly on pretty much every single question. As I mentioned before, I am NOT a math person. I can do math if it's just about solving algebraic equations and such, but the problem with the Quant section of the GMAT is that it tests REASONING skills. As I'm not a math person, I cannot think/reason mathematically with ease. It simply doesn't come naturally to me. And, on top of that, the fact that I'm timed gets me nervous and I don't even know where and how to begin breaking down the question.

How would you advise someone in my situation to tackle studying for the quant section? I'm so overwhelmed, and I don't even know where to begin! Help!

As for the verbal section, I felt MUCH more comfortable. I didn't feel too stumped by most of the questions. When I got to the last question, I had a full 6 minutes to solve it, so I feel that my pacing on the section was pretty good. However, with a 31, I still have room for improvement. I can see that a good chunk of my errors were careless ones.

Out of 41 questions, I got 19 incorrect.
With only 3 incorrect responses in SC, this is clearly my strength. I don't plan on spending too much more time studying SC. I plan on keeping this consistent by doing a few questions per week.

In the verbal section of the OG untimed diagnostic exam, I scored really, really well in RC (only 3 questions incorrect). On this MGMAT CAT practice exam, I got a total of 6 questions incorrect.

With a total of 10 incorrect responses in CR, this is clearly my verbal weakness. I've already bought the Powerscore CR Bible, but I'm only a few chapters in. I've heard great things about this book, so I'm confident that once I get through it, my CR performance will improve.

What is the study strategy you'd recommend for me given all that I've said above? I especially need guidance for quant, but could also use some for verbal. At this point, I'm not expecting much more than a 25-30 on Quant, but I'm hoping to push my verbal score to at least a 38-45 (I'm confident that I can achieve this in verbal with the appropriate strategy). Remember, I only need to get a 500 or above, but for my own pride would love to score at least 550. I'm wondering if it's feasible to offset a low quant score with a MUCH higher verbal score to attain this 500-550 goal.

The application deadline for the school I'm targeting is on April 1st, but I'd really like to get the GMAT over with by March 1st. This gives me roughly 6 weeks. What would you recommend for someone looking to achieve a minimum 100 pt increase in 6 weeks? Is it doable?

THANK YOU!

[StaceyKoprince]

Let's see. 100 points in 6 weeks won't be easy - that is a decently large improvement to make in that timeframe - but you're also working on a deadline, so you'll just have to go for it! Keep in mind that you do have that buffer of the month of March, so do your best for 6 weeks but don't absolutely lock yourself into March 1st. If the time comes and you realize you could either (a) take the test March 1st but have the score be closer to 500, or (b) take 2-3 more weeks with a greater chance that your score will be 550+, then you can decide at that point what is more important to you and go forward accordingly.

For quant, start with the Foundations of Math book - if you don't have it, get it. You need to know that backwards and forwards. As you get better with specific areas from that book, you can then revisit the corresponding strategy guides (eg, after you feel really comfortable with the Foundations skills for fractions and percents, then you can move on to the fractions and percents chapters in the Fractions, Decimals and Percents strategy guide).

I'm betting you also likely had some timing problems on quant (almost every does), so read this and start doing what it says:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

As you get better with the facts and rules and skills (doing calculations, etc), you'll also be trying some OG problems, and you'll want to set up flash cards for yourself in this form:
one side: When I see .....
other side: Then I'll think / do .....

This will help you to learn how to reason your way through these problems. You're going to study / remember what to do or think about when you see certain words or phrases. Almost like learning how to translate a foreign language. :)

In answer to your question about verbal offsetting quant, yes, this is possible, but a school may also take a look at your subscores - they often do when there is a huge difference between the two subscore percentiles. So you should try to improve both - quant because the schools will want to see a better quant score and verbal because it's going to be easier for you to improve on verbal. (It's always easier to improve our strengths.)

But you're going to spend more time on quant - again, because it's lower and because it takes longer to improve our weaknesses.

On the verbal side of things, use the article I gave you in my last post to analyze the verbal side of the test and then tell me your analysis. I agree in general that it sounds like SC is your big strength and CR is your big weakness but I can think of things that would change that. (eg, did you miss some lower-level SC problems? Did you go too quickly on CR and that caused careless mistakes? Maybe you went too quickly on CR because you were too slow on SC or RC or both? Then maybe the problem is really a timing problem with a different Q type. Etc.)

By the way, on verbal you mentioned that you finished early and noticed a lot of careless mistakes. Going too quickly can be just as much of a problem as going too slowly, because it increases the number of careless mistakes you make. So work on that timing and work on being very systematic about your problem-solving process.

Read the careless errors portion of this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/error-log.cfm