How to study using Strategy Guides ?

[AP030984]

I am gonna start my GMAT prep. Thinking of beginning it with Stratergy Guides.
Is there any post earlier as how to use them ?
and how much time should I spend on each guide ?

[george.kourdin]

try reading them......

search for mgmat syllabus. its somewhere on this website or take the CAT exam, see where you are weak. go from there. read each guide, spending more time on the areas that are problematic. do the problems in the guides.

[StaceyKoprince]

Are you taking the class? Doing the guided self-study program? Just working from the books?

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

In general, follow that (whatever parts are applicable to you - you may not have access to classes, for example). Set priorities for yourself based on your own strengths and weaknesses - so you may spend more time on some things and less time on others.

If you are not taking the class, you may also want to read this article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... tudy-plan/

[RAHULZ400]

Hi Stacey

Should one purchase the entire set of the guides if appearing for GMAT for the first time irrespective of the comfort level with one or more topics? Would these guides coupled with OG be sufficient to score in the higher 700s?

[StaceyKoprince]

If I interpret "the higher 700s" to mean 750+, then probably not. Most people would need more than the main strategy guides + OG to get to 750+. But most people also should not be bothering to go for a score like that - no program out there requires that kind of score (not unless you want to teach for us!).

But if you mean an excellent (but not crazy) score, in the 700 to 740 range, then yes, people have scored in that range using the main straetgy guides and OG. I wil mention though: there's no guarantee that using any particular resources, or following any particular study plan WILL get you to 700+. Only about 10% of all test takers score 700+.

Next, whether you should buy all guides really depends on your strengths and weaknesses and your goals. If you want to score a 700, are already at a 650, and realize that there are just 3 or 4 main topics or question types pulling you down, then feel free to start with those. See whether that gets you to the 700. If not, then you'll have to expand your studies.

If, on the other hand, you are at something like 600 and want to get to 700+, then there's a pretty good chance that you'll need at least some of the things in each book. It's unlikely that you will have 100% mastered every algebra topic but be so poor at geometry that your performance gets pulled down that far. Things are usually more balanced than that.

Finally, I'll say that you have to make sure you actually know how to make decisions when taking the GMAT, from individual problems to test sections to the entire test. You're balancing a limited amount of time and mental energy, and if you aren't actually balancing those things well, then you won't score at your top potential. That means not trying to answer every last question correctly, etc. You won't read about that in OG. You will read about pieces of it in our main content-or-question-specific strategy guides, but a lot of the higher-level strategy is in our Roadmap guide or on the blog (or in class, Interact, etc).