HELP! Desperate to improve!

[EnriqueR905]

Hello, I would like to have some advice regarding a problem I have with my GMAT study plan and my overall preparation.

First,I will explain my situation.I am an international student wanting to apply for a masters in accounting and I made few years an MBA.Therefore I need to get a good score on the GMAT.Unfortunately my experience with this test has not been the best.

I started my preparation around October 2015 when I enrolled with Kaplan GMAT.During my course I can say that it did not fulfill my expectations,the instructor was not good and in the end I had no guidance on how to study whatsoever and I ended up practicing on my own with magoosh resources and my routine was practicing around 20-30 problems daily,but my scores were not high and my improvement as big either,the maximum I could score was a 610.

On January I decided to enroll with veritas,I was doing better but I did not take any test.Once the course finished I gave myself 3 weeks for reviewing and I actually spent almost everyday doing questions and trying to review every concept all over again.I felt tired and finally my performance fell to the bottom until the point that I did not answer even easy questions.

During my official test I felt overwhelmed and finally scored a disappointing 500...

Throughout my preparation I have felt overwhelmed,with too much pressure
On my shoulders and a little depressed
Because of this,I am really just working on this and doing nothing else with my time and nowadays I think this test is just impossible for me when I really understand the concepts and even a tutor told me that I have the abilities to be on the 80th percentile but I do not know how.

I need to retake the test since I have to apply for a program,I already scheduled it for April 11th and I have been reading all the MGmat guides and have taken 2 cat.However,I have spent 2 weeks on this but I do not what to do to actually improve and manage my time better for getting a real change.

I would like an advice from an expert to build a study program for the rest of the time I have.Right now I need at least a 600.

I think my overall verbal is strong,reading
Comprehension might need some improvement but cr and sc are generally good.

That can not be said about math.For some reason,I have done horribly on the quant side even though I have always been good at it and it is the part I dedicate more time.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

Thank You.

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry you're having a hard time with this test.

Throughout my preparation I have felt overwhelmed, with too much pressure on my shoulders and a little depressed

Let's start here. This is a big problem - this is going to hurt your studies and your ability to improve. So we need to address this first. Take a look at this:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... mat-score/

Are the symptoms affecting your daily life, not just when you study for the GMAT? Are you experiencing physical symptoms, too? Headaches, stomachaches, that sort of thing? If so, you may need to talk with a doctor or therapist.

Next, for the test itself, I want you to read some things and then do some analysis on your 2 tests that you took in our system, and then we're going to discuss.

First, read these two articles:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

Think about how what you've been doing does and doesn't match up with that and how you may need to change your approach accordingly. You might also want to read this article:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2016/02/ ... n-the-gmat

Then, use the below to analyze your most recent MPrep CATs (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour):
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Based on all of that, figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as any ideas you have for what you think you should do. Then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Your analysis should include a discussion of your buckets - you'll understand what that means when you read the last article. Part of the process of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

You mentioned timing issues. If you have access to our Interact lessons, then I recommend watching the Timing Strategies lesson in Session 6. I also recommend reading this 2-part article:
http://tinyurl.com/GMATTimeManagement

When you tell me your test analysis, please include any details about your timing problems that you think are important.

Finally, one more thing:

I need to retake the test since I have to apply for a program,I already scheduled it for April 11th

That is also causing you stress. Think about what would happen if you didn't take the test then, or you did but didn't get the score you wanted. You might not be able to apply to that program this year. But you can always apply next year. Or you can apply to a different program that has a later deadline.

You don't absolutely have to apply for this program this year. Even if you have already told people that you are planning to apply, you can tell them that you changed your mind. You are allowed to change your mind!

I mention this only because I think the depression and feelings of being overwhelmed are the most important things right now. Your health and well-being come before anything else. Take care of yourself.

[EnriqueR905]

Hello Stacey.Thank you for spending your valuable answering my post.
I was able to asses my CAT and i have a complete analysis i want to share with you.It is a little long (around 6 pages).However,since i cannot attach a word document here i will have to paste it.

In summary,what i have seen so far is that i have big timing issues.In addition,it has been very hard for me to approach to some RC passages,some problem solving questions,especially in geometry and overall ps strategies which lead me to spend too much time and getting the question incorrect.Unfortunately,i have been reviewing all the MGMAT guides for 2 weeks already without practicing too much because i believe i had to change my studying method to improve but when i practiced last weekend it did not go well.Right now i have not finished reading all the guides and have not practice too much either and do not know what would be the next step for me.I also tend to spend all day reading them and i finish with my brain "Fried" because even though i might know what my weaker areas are,i do not know how to actually improve.Therefore,i would like to create a better study plan with your help.

This was my analysis:


MY APPROACH

For the past months, I have been approaching the GMAT in many different ways. First, I decided to quickly review most of the math concepts required without too much emphasis. After that, I practiced around 20-30 problems a day (mostly quant) without timing myself and my review consisted on looking at the answer.

My second method was to finish all the questions in the Veritas prep guides before jumping into CAT´S. However, I did not accomplish my duty of finishing all the problems in 2 or 3 days depending on the length of the book (without timing of course). Since I felt that some concepts were blurry I decided to spend 3 more weeks reviewing the material (again, mostly quant) and because there were too many books and the fact that I was not consistent due to tiredness. I managed to take 2 and a half CAT´S the week before my test.

I self-evaluate based on the number of answers I have correct and incorrect and the question´s level (easy, medium, hard or 300-500; 500-600, etc).I consider the questions I have guessed as a waste because I was just lucky to get it correct and for example I can answer (just like the article stated) 60% right and 40% wrong in a 10-questions drill and of those 6 that I answered correctly,2 or 3 were a guess, I consider the real score to be 70% wrong and 30% correct. The last time this happened was doing one of the question bank tests on MGMAT student center where I had 12 or 13 correct and 11 incorrect but I correctly guessed 3.

The way I approach a question when I am practicing is not consistent either. I change them based on new information I read or because I become frustrated with my results I tend to read many opinions and then try to use them but do not work. I recall that my last change of approach happened two weeks ago when I started practicing with Manhattan Prep guides. These shifts make the process a little more difficult especially when I am facing a reading passage.


CAT´S ANALISIS

Before going into depth, I want to state that when I tried to analyze a CAT in the past I created a sheet where I explained how the question was supposed to be answered.

CAT #1:
IR and AWA
Did you do the essay and IR sections?
Yes. But I did not finish the IR section; I only answered 4 questions because I was writing formulas and information that could have been useful in the quant section. I saw 2 medium level questions and 1 easy and 1 hard. I answered the medium level ones correctly. Naturally, I received a score of 1.7.

I spent from 5 to 10 minutes in each question and reached to the fifth question with only 1 minute and did not answer it and it was a medium level one.

Quantitative section:

Overall score: 15
I was not able to finish the section; I only answered 25 out of 37(12 DS and 14 PS) leaving #26 blank.6 DS questions wrong and 7 PS questions wrong.

Timewise, I spent in 16 questions more than the allocated time from 50 seconds to even 7 minutes more than necessary. From those questions, 6 were correct and 10 incorrect.

I had 4 strings of questions, two with 3 questions,1 with four questions and 1 with two questions.
The first was from question 5-7 which evaluated geometry and percents.The difficulty level was 700-800 and I lasted 11:54 minutes.
The second was from question 10-13, lasted 17:00 and asked mostly about word problems (ratios, overlapping sets and consecutives as well as divisibility).The difficulty was 600-700

The 4th string was from question 21-23 and asked about word problems, polygons and exponents. The difficulty level was 700-800 on the first one and 500-600 in the final two. The time spent was 8:00 minutes.

Analysis: I have a great problem with timing .I tend to become nervous and very discouraged when I have to skip a question and I tend to give up when I have spent more than 2 minutes. And so, I start the section strong but I tend to start falling behind timing wise and difficulty wise. And the problem with content might be from geometry and word problems.

Verbal section:

Overall score: 25

I was not able to finish the section; I only answered 39 out of 41(12 DS and 14 PS) leaving #40 blank.14 SC; 7 correct and 7 incorrect;13 CR,8 incorrect,4 correct and 1 blank ;RC 13; 5 correct 8 incorrect.

Timewise, I spent in 16 questions more than the allocated time from 50 seconds to even 2 minutes more than necessary. From those questions 6 were correct and 10 incorrect; SC 4 with 3 correct, RC 7 with 5 wrong, CR 5with 3 incorrect.

I had 4 strings of questions, two with 4 questions,2 with 2 questions and 1 with 7 questions.
The first was from question 4-7 which evaluated mostly RC.The difficulty level was 700-800 and 600-700.I lasted 10:00 minutes.
The 4th string was from question 28-34 and mostly was RC and SC. The difficulty level was from 500-600 to 700-800.The time spent was around 12:00 minutes.

Analysis: Although I am quicker in this section, I feel very tired once I start and this makes me answer some questions really quickly without paying attention to some details. In addition, when it comes to RC I simply cannot approach the passages appropriately and since I feel overwhelmed I tend to guess too much or spend too much time trying to understand the passage and the question itself and I lack the concentration to actually answer most of them correctly.
In summary, timing was my main issue. This happened because I tend to feel discourage when I have to guess or when I do not understand an specific question and that affects my performance of the test as a whole. The verbal section can be a tiring mostly because of the Reading Comprehension passages.

CAT #1:
IR and AWA
Did you do the essay and IR sections?
Yes. Happened exactly the same as in CAT#1.

Quantitative section:

Overall score: 24
I was not able to finish the section; I only answered 24 out of 37(11 DS and 14 PS) leaving #25 in blank.4 DS questions wrong and 8 PS questions wrong.

Timewise, I spent in 13 questions more than the allocated time from 50 seconds to even 3minutes more than necessary. From those questions, 5 were correct and 8 incorrect with 10 PS questions;3 correct and 7 wrong and 3 DS questions;2 correct and 1 worng.

I had 3 strings of questions, 1 with 3 questions,1 with four questions and 1 with two questions.
The first was from question 4-6 which evaluated geometry and percents.The difficulty level was 700-800 and I lasted 15:00 minutes.
The second was from question 17-20, lasted 17:00 and asked mostly about geometry and algebraic translation and exponent. The difficulty was 600-700 and 700-800.

The 3rd string was from question 22-23 and asked about algebraic translation and algebra. The difficulty level 600-700. The time spent was 6:00 minutes.

Analysis: Timing was the main problem, again. I invested too much time on questions I eventually got wrong and most of them were about geometry which it has been difficult for me to answer quickly and accurately. Also I had issues with algebra and word problems.Also,my high percentage from wrong question comes from problem solving. I believe it is because it tend to solve a question and many times the answer I have does not match any answer choice and also because I tend to change the method of solving a question once I have started answering.

Verbal section:

Overall score: 31

I was not able to finish the section; I only answered 38 out of 41(12 DS and 14 PS) leaving #40 blank.14 SC; 7 correct and 7 incorrect;13 CR,8 incorrect,4 correct and 1 blank ;RC 13; 5 correct 8 incorrect.

Timewise, I spent in 18 questions more than the allocated time from 50 seconds to even 2 minutes more than necessary. From those questions 9 were correct and 9 incorrect; SC 6 with 3 correct, RC 5 with 3 wrong, CR 7 with 3 incorrect.

I had 4 strings of questions,3 with 2 questions and 1 with 3 questions.
The 2nd string was from question 9-11 and the questions were 3 from a RC passage. The difficulty level was 700-800.The time spent was around 6:00 minutes.

Analysis: Even though I could not finish the section, I feel that my abilities are better in this section,However,I struggle with RC a lot and this makes me have most of the strings I have. Also I have to work a little more on timing.

In summary, My overall experience with this CAT was better.However,I am not satisfied with the results. My timing stills very off and I do not understand why I still get so many PS questions wrong in a row and my RC abilities have not improved either and I do not know what is the next step.

[StaceyKoprince]

(Apologies in advance for typos. Typing with a big bandage on a cut finger and it's hard not to hit multiple keys at once!)

...which lead me to spend too much time and getting the question incorrect.

The remedy for these problems is to get them wrong faster. Literally. Get your weaknesses wrong faster and spend that time on things that you are more likely to be able to answer correctly.

I consider the questions I have guessed as a waste because I was just lucky to get it correct

On the one hand, it's good to consider these wrong in the sense that you do need to study something about these. BUT it's NOT a waste. The GMAT Q and V sections will always give you 5 multiple choice answers, so you will always have a 20% chance of guessing correctly. That will be true on the real test, too - so, in that sense, this is not a waste! You will get lucky sometimes on the real test.

As you said, you have significant timing issues - and these timing issues are actually a symptom of your overall mindset. You are trying to study for and take this test as though it's a school test. You think you need to learn everything and you become demoralized when you can't learn everything. You think you need to try to answer everything, so you spend 7 minutes on a single question - and then you only get through 25 of 37 questions. And so on. And, since the "school test" approach is not working, you get even more upset and anxious and that makes the whole process worse.

So you need a fundemental overhaul on how you think about and approach this test in the first place.

Read these every day for the next week:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -the-gmat/
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2016/02/ ... n-the-gmat

Some of it is saying the same stuff. That's okay. Keep reading. Every day! And, every day, write down how you need to change your overall approach / mindset to this test. At the end of the week, reply to my again, telling me what you think. (And you then may need to keep re-reading these, say, twice a week.)

This is not a school test. You are not going to learn how to do everything. You are not going to answer every question correctly. You are going to work strategically, as a business person does, and you are going to pick and choose the best opportunities as you see them throughout the test. And you are going to discard the bad opportunities without a second glance.

On Verbal, you think you've been making progress except for RC. Is RC universally hard, or are there certain topics (business, science, social science) or question types (main idea, detail, inference, other) that are really the worst? If the latter, then those are the ones you skip. If RC is universally hard, then we're going to have to work more strategically to see where we can eke out some points. Either way, RC is your weakness, so you can get more of those wrong faster.

On quant, I'm less concerned about geo, because usually you'll see 3 to 5 of those on the real test. Word / story problems are more important because any topic can come in the form of a story.

Try these for story problems:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... them-real/
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... ms-part-1/

If that kind of approach makes sense to you, first go back over old problems you've already down to try to look at them from this new "make them real" PoV. Practice that, then you can test yourself on new problems.

Finally: I don't see anything in your post about how you are going to try to address the nerves / anxiety / depression / feelings of being overwhelmed. You don't have to tell me what you're planning to do, but I do want to make sure that you are taking some steps. Yes?

[EnriqueR905]

Hello Stacey. Thank You again for your response.

Regarding your question about what is my problem in RC, i would say that i do not have an effective approach for the passages,i only read everything,take some notes and expect to answer the question correctly.However,when i do understand a passage,i do not have too much trouble but of course this does not happen everytime. In addition,specific detail questions are the hardest for me.

About my feeling of overwhelmed.I am starting to meditate everyday,but since i cannot concentrate during my studying sessions because i feel very tired and i actually feel like i do not want to see another GMAT guide ever again, i feel a little desperate.

[StaceyKoprince]

Your description indicates that you're suffering from significant mental fatigue. This stress / mental fatigue has made it so that you can't learn effectively - so we need to address that first.

First, is your test still scheduled for April 11th (3 days from now)? If so, this is what I want you to do.

You've already paid for the test, and it's too late to reschedule, so take it assuming that you are just going to do your best but you don't have any real expectations for what score you're going to get. It's just practice / a way to gain some more experience, that's all. In the next 3 days before the test, don't do any more GMAT problems. You can review facts (formulas, grammar rules) and processes (how to answer different types of questions, how to manage your timing in the section), but that's all.

You already know what you know. What you don't know - you aren't going to learn or make hugely better in 3 days. So let that go. Continue with your meditation, even if it feels hard / like it isn't helping.

When you take the test, feel free to just guess and move on when you hit an RC passage that doesn't make much sense and you get a specific detail question. It's completely okay to do this.

After the test, you are going to take 2 weeks off. This isn't a suggestion; it's an order. No GMAT, on my orders. If you find yourself thinking about it or feeling guilty or anxious that you aren't studying, I want you to tell yourself, "Stacey told me that I'm not supposed to be studying now. It's okay that I'm not studying now." Say it out loud.

Note: a lot of people worry that, if they take time off, they will forget everything they've studied. You won't! Not in a week or two.

If you've rescheduled your test, then just start your 2-week break right now.

During your break, consider whether you need to talk to a doctor or therapist to help you with some coping mechanisms to help decrease stress.

After your break, come back and tell me - and we can talk more about RC and these other areas. (I don't want to write about it now - because I don't want you to be thinking about it during your break.)

[EnriqueR905]

Hello Stacey,

Thank You for your response.

I managed to take the 2 GMAT PREP tests scoring 580 on the first one and 550 on the second one.I feel that i can handle the quant section better.Unfortunately, the few questions i get wrong i believe they are easy because my actual score does not increase too much and i do not have siginifcant strings of questions wrong.

On the verbal side,i feel strong on critical reasoning,on sentence correction i believe that i lack a good approach and reading comprehension,well what i have mentioned in previous post.

I feel a little more encouraged for my test.However,after seeing that 550 from my second test and considering that in my quant i only had 14 questions wrong and 17 questions wrong on the verbal section with 2 large strings i am not sure whether i will achieve the score i need which is 600.In addition,i feel that i have thoroughly studied all the content for the test and i do not know what to do to improve in the case i have to retake it again.

[EnriqueR905]

Hello Stacey,

I want to let you know that i took the test and unfortunately scored worse than my first attempt.I got a 460 which i obviously canceled.

Based on that,i do not understand why my performance on this test has been so bad.I have always been a great student and with practice i have achieved most of my goals and i do not know what to do.Right now i am thinking on studying for the GRE,but consistently,i do not know what to expect from the everything that is happening so far.

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry that you had a frustrating test (and study) experience.

From what you have described, I believe that burn-out and mental fatigue are creating a lot of the problems that you're having. When your brain is that mentally tired, you are going to underperform. Anyone would.

As I said in my earlier post, I think you should take 2 weeks completely off. Don't think about whether to switch to the GRE, don't think about what you should try next time, etc. Give yourself permission not to think about this for 2 weeks. In that time, do things that help you to reduce stress - exercise, hobbies, spending time with friends and family, whatever you normally do. (Especially things that you used to do but haven't been doing much lately because you've been so busy and stressed out.)

And, during that time, consider whether you need to get some outside help in terms of employing some stress-reduction methods so that when you start your studies again, you have some mechanisms to help you handle the stresses and potential burn-out that come with this kind of test.

As I mentioned in my last post, I do have some ideas about what might be happening and why. I'll give you some high level ideas now, but I'm not going to get into what you should do about it because I don't want you to be thinking about this during your 2-week break.

I see this a lot: someone did well in math (for example) in school by doing practice problems until they'd memorized the steps for that type of problem. Then they got a good score on the test, because the test problems consisted of the exact same type of problem but with different numbers. In school, the math practice problems you did for homework were nearly identical to the problems that showed up on your math tests. Does that sound familiar so far?

So people try that same approach for the GMAT, but it doesn't get them very far. This is because the GMAT is not really a math test, at heart. It's testing your ability to think your way through problems, and those problems aren't going to be near-identical to what you've already seen. So there isn't a "memorize these steps and you'll always get this kind of math question right" path.

In short, a test like the GMAT requires a different kind of approach to studying in the first place. From what you've described, that's where we need to start - but not until you come back from your break. (Because you're already very mentally fatigued / burned out, you're not going to learn anything very well right now, even with the best process in the world. You need to clear your brain out a bit so that we can make a fresh start.)

[EnriqueR905]

Hello Stacey,I hope you are doing well.

I appreciate the support you have given me in these weeks.

I would like to update on what I have been doing recently.

From the moment I wrote the last post and today,I believe that more than a month has passed and during this time I had to move to a different apartment,had to adapt to a different area and virtually change most of my daily life.I have not done everything I have wanted to do during my "break" but I have been able to calm myself a little.Unfortunately, I feel very scared when I think about the test,I still do not want to go through that experience again,maybe it is because all the environment and moments I had to experience during that time,but anyways,I will talk to a specialist next week.

The main point I want to address is that since I need to get into a school to get a masters degree because I am not a US citizen and do not have a job offer.Therefore,I need to take this test but every time I think about it just makes me consider the idea of switching to the GRE but I would like to know your opinion on what would be better.Even though I have always been a hardworking student,I am not accustomed to standardized tests and in addition,I consider this instead of a 2-3 months process that will not be repeated, a trial that decides whether I live or die,which is absurd.Maybe,just maybe my new routine and environment can provide a different outcome but I am scared of taking the same risk.

Nevertheless,I think I have repeated the same may times.

Thank You for your time and kind words. I will be expecting your response.

Enrique.

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm glad to hear from you. I'm also glad that you will be talking to a specialist soon. The level of pressure that you are facing would be too much for almost anyone to handle - once things become that intense, it is extremely hard to learn new things and get better at a test like this one.

It's possible that the GRE would be a better test for you. The GRE adapts only by section, not by each question, so the timing pressure doesn't feel quite as intense. That can be a very good thing for someone who is experiencing significant anxiety during the test.

It may also be the case that the GMAT is now so associated with this stress in your brain that, if you start to study for that test again, you might immediately go right back to that super-stressful state of mind - like a trauma. If that's the case, then I think it would be better for you to get some help from your specialist first and then, when you feel better able to cope with the stresses, you can switch to the GRE. It can be a fresh start.

But don't jump into the GRE quite yet. If you don't yet have good coping mechanisms, then you will bring the stress with you to the GRE. Try to develop good coping mechanisms first, before you start with the GRE.

Let me know how things go.

[EnriqueR905]

Hello Stacey, thank you for your advice.

I started seeing a specialist and for now,that is helping me to calm a little bit.Of course,there is still some work to do but i believe i need to picture what i will do in the following months .

I took a CAT from Manhattan GMAT and scored a 520,which of course is not a great score,but considering that i have forgotten some of the things i learned for the test and the fact that i need to score 580 in order to apply in an acceptable standard, made me realize that it would be better to resume my preparation for the GMAT instead of start preparing for the GRE which would be a longer process considering that i would have to learn vocabulary and overall strategies.Therefore,i would like to have your opinion regarding how i should start my preparation ,how long do you think i should study,how should my time be manage in order to learn as much as possible,what methods would be appropriate to improve my score,and what resources are the most appropriate because i do not want to make the same mistakes i did Those mistakes were:

1)Too many resources to grasp: -Magoosh online course
-Official guide
-Official quantitative guide
-Official verbal guide
-Veritas Prep guides
-Manhattan prep guides
-Powerscore CR Bible

2)Constantly changing study plans: I used to create an"appropriate" study plan everyweek and by the third day,i had given up on it.

3)Extremely tiring study sessions: although i spent all day at the library,i started to waste time and finally what i accomplished was virtually nothing and i kept spending the same amount of time everyday without rest.however, i still sometimes believe that it is the only way of improving.

As a side note,my overall schedule in a normal week is: mondays and wednesdays i have all day to study,tuesdays i have the morning and afternoon to study since i am studying japanese at night,thursadys and fridays i have mornings and afternoons busy and saturdays and sundays are free as well.Of course,i have to spend maybe 2 or 3 hours a week in cooking,1 hour a day (except thursadys and fridays) to exercise and of couse,spend some time reviewing my japanese lessons.

Thank You for always answering my inquiries
Best,
Enrique.

[StaceyKoprince]

Thanks for your update. Sorry for the delayed reply; we are swamped right now with the new 2017 OG editions that just came out.

I agree that you need to change your process this time around, starting with not doing too much and getting overwhelmed. Let's set an overall mindset to start: your goal is not to learn everything. Your goal is to do what you need to do to earn a 580.

You're not that far from your goal. Yes, there are some more things you need to learn and get better at doing...but you don't need to learn everything. (For anyone else reading this: this is true no matter what your goal score is. You don't need to learn everything to get a 650 or a 700 or even an 800.)

I think part of the reason you would abandon your study plans was that you would get overwhelmed thinking you needed to do everything, so you didn't trust your study plan.

You would also get mentally exhausted because you were trying to do too much, and that made matters worse.

So, from now on: one study session will be somewhere between 10 minutes and 2 hours. When you finish a study session, you are required to break for at least as long as that study session lasted. (Yes, if you study for 2 hours, you break for at least 2 hours.) You can have up to 3 study sessions a day BUT for a maximum of 5 hours total. At least one day a week, don't do anything GMAT related at all.

Why am I giving you these limits? Your brain can only create so many new memories a day. If you try to do too much, you will either create bad memories or fail to retain the information in the first place. In other words, you won't actually learn - so your study time is wasted.

Next, of the materials you used, which ones did you think were the best for your learning style? Do keep any official products in the mix, but narrow down the other stuff. You can mix and match between companies - if you thought one company's quant materials were the best but another company's SC materials were the best, that's fine.

Your next step is to come up with a study plan. You just took a CAT, so analyze it using this:
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Do NOT put everything in bucket 2 and avoid putting things in bucket 3 (read the article to know what buckets are). The goal here is simply to figure out which things have the best return on investment (ROI) for the next few weeks. That's all. Your buckets are not permanent. When you take another CAT, you will figure out your new buckets, and you will likely move some things from bucket 3 to bucket 2 at that point.

Remember the mantra: you are not trying to learn everything. You are just trying to learn enough to get to 580+. If you can get there just based on the things in bucket 2 right now, then you never have to worry about the harder stuff in bucket 3. If you get closer to 580 but not all the way, then you will later decide which things you want to move from bucket 3 to bucket 2.

Come back here and share your buckets with me, as well as what subset of your resources you're planning to use. Use that information to come up with a 1-week study plan. (Read on for more.)

During that week (and maybe the next week), analyze your bucket 1 and bucket 2 questions from the CAT (all of them, regardless whether right or wrong):
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

This analysis is your starting point to know what you need to do to get better at a particular thing. Did you lack some specific skill or rule or knowledge? Did you know what was being tested but do the work inefficiently? Did you fall into a trap? Did you make a careless mistake? Etc. Depending upon the answers, go back into your books and other materials to study or practice whatever you need in order to make that specific weakness better for next time.

You can also apply that process to recent OG questions. At first, you'll likely feel slow - as though it's taking forever to get through one problem. That's okay. You're learning how to learn deeply from these problems and that takes time. You'll get faster over time (but this is always slower than the way most people study - most people jump to new questions much too quickly, before they've really figured out what they need to learn from the current problem).

[EnriqueR905]

Hello Stacey,thank You for response.

Before reading your post,i read the gmat roadmap guide's advice on how to create a good study plan, and something caught my attention;it stated that you need to develop computing and RC abilities.I was actually thinking on improving my computing skills and by practicing with RC passages,i can develop the comprehensive skills.On the other hand,i do not own the GMAT math foundation book,do you believe i should get it and start studying with it or jumping directly into the material? and if i need to use it,how long is it appropriate?is that book enough to improve my computing skills? i feel a little time constraint and so,i would like to focus on the things that can boost my score and my timing.

I would also like to answer some inquiries before starting my studies:

-How regularly should i take a practice test? should i take the GMAT prep ones or MCAT?
-If i study 2 hours,should i spend 1 hour reading the theory and 1 hour practicing or should i study a subject and then jumping into other?
-If i switch between content every hour,do i have to switch from quant to verbal or could it be from quant to quant?
-Should i practice with the OG 2016 or should i get the new 2017 one?
-How should i structure my practice? how many drills? and from what resource?

After analyzing the CAT what i could get out of the assessment was:

Quant: I only had one string of 5 questions wrong,in which,i spent most of the allotted time.The reason for this string was that i did not understand the first question,became intimidated and did not understand the rest either.

I had 3 questions that i answer very fast without knowing they were correct.

The conclusion: I have a large timing problem since i left 6 questions unanswered
Most of the questions i got incorrect were in which i spent most of the time and these questions were mostly problem-solving type and the subjects were rates and work,divisibility and primes,fractions,ratios,algebraic translation,overlapping sets,percents and linear equations,polygons,triangles,coordinate plane cylinders,inequalities and exponents and roots.

Verbal: I only had one string of 4 questions wrong,Mainly because the first question was a CR reasoning i did not understand and afterward i received a whole passage.

The conclusion: I have a small timing problem even though i did not answer the last question
Most of the questions in which i spend most time i get them incorrect
My main problem would be inference and detail questions in RC,In CR reasoning mainly know how to understand better the argument and in SC mostly know idioms and how to understand the structure of the sentences.

Based on all of this,i can summarize that my problems tend to be spending time in useless attempts and when seeing a problem i can either understand it thoroughly or just do not understand it at all,which leads me to the other two weaknesses i have,lack of some skills or not knowing some concepts that might provide me shortcuts.

I do not know how to start my first week of study,there are too many things to consider.I am thinking that perhaps if i focus on improving my computing abilities and try to attack verbal first in order to get it out of the way and maybe improve on that area that tends to be strong in CAT but weak on the real test.However,i would like to know your opinion as an expert.I believe that i can start by memorizing idioms,practicing RC passages,improving my grammar and reading the chapters linked to those.How long do you think it should take me to know everything i need to improve.

Would it be difficult to schedule a quick chat to discuss some of these issues?

Thank You

Best,

Enrique.

[StaceyKoprince]

We offer free help via the forums. We offer one-on-one help / meetings via private tutoring. I'm currently booked through the summer but we have plenty of other excellent, highly-trained teachers who could help you. If that's of interest to you, see here for more: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/prep/tutoring/

I will try to answer some of your questions below but just note that developing a fully individualized study plan is really the work of a private tutor. Tutoring is very expensive, but given the questions that you are asking, it may be valuable for you to work with someone. This should also help to ease your concerns / anxiety because you will know that you have a good study plan and are doing the kinds of activities that you should be doing.

It is likely that the Foundations of Math (FoM) material will be useful to you, yes. Timing is certainly an issue, so it may be the case that you already know certain material but are just slow with the actual computations—in which case, learning certain techniques and conducting drills out of FoM should be beneficial.

I can't remember whether our Basic Math Diagnostic test is free, but it might be. Log into your student center and look under CAT Exams & Diagnostic. Do you see a link to the Basic Math Diagnostic?

If so, try it. If you score below 75% correct or if you take more than about 30 minutes to complete the diagnostic, then consider working through Foundations of Math.

FoM will help you to solidify your baseline skills but there are higher-level skills you will still need to master for the test.

Until you get close to the real test, a practice test should be taken only once every 2 to 4 weeks or so. When you take a test and analyze it, you should be able to come up with at least 2 to 4 weeks' worth of things that you want to improve. When you have worked on those things and feel that you have made pretty good progress, then it is time to take another CAT. We recommend taking MPrep CATs for this portion of your studies; save GMATPrep for closer to the real thing.

Any 2 hour study session might look completely different from others. I wouldn't spend an entire hour merely reading, though. Whatever you do should involve some amount of hands-on work and practice, even if it is just the in-chapter practice problems. And when you are practicing, you can and should be jumping back into your books and other study materials whenever needed. Your materials are all there: go where you need depending on whatever you are trying to figure out right now or whatever you are struggling with right now. For instance, if you tell yourself that you are going to work on fractions for the next 2 hours, you might read a section or two of the book, jump to the end of the chapter to try some problems to check your skills, come back into one or both of those sections to re-read something, make yourself a flashcard of something you want to remember, go back to the practice problems again, ...and so on.

You can switch from one type of quant to another or from quant to verbal and back again—it's up to you. If you're getting sick of quant, switch to verbal. If you're feeling good about quant but want to try something else, stick with quant.

If you already have OG2016, use that. If you don't and have to buy something, you might as well buy OG2017. Only about 15% of the questions are different; the books are basically the same.

The reason for this string was that i did not understand the first question, became intimidated and did not understand the rest either.

The next time you see something you don't understand, what would be a better response?

Most of the questions i got incorrect were in which i spent most of the time

You said this about both Q and V. Next time, how can you get at least some of these questions wrong faster? Where should you spend that time instead?