Need advice on a study plan

[greystealth]

Study start date: 7/17/2010
GMAT test date: 11/24/2010
Studying time left: 124 days(about 4 months)

Other commitment: Full time student(taking a condensed 6-week semester course for the summer). 1 week break before Fall semester begins(12 upper division units in Psychology).

Hi everybody, this is my first post in this forum. I'm a Fall 2010 graduating senior and am determined to knock out a strong GMAT score(650-740) before my last semester ends(as indicated on my test date).

I'm currently enrolled in the 9 week online MGMAT course(which I believe finishes on September 18th). From there on I have about two months of self-study time.

For those two months I plan on reviewing and working steadily through about 200 700+ level GMAT questions. Besides the 3 OGs, and 8 MGMAT guides, I have the powerscore Bible of Critical Reasoning and the MGMAT Foundations of GMAT math(using concurrently with the guides).

My question is if you guys have any advice on how to make my study plan better? I am a little worried that the 2 month gap in between the MGMAT course and the GMAT test will cause me to get a bit rusty in my skills. Do you think working steadily on 700+ level problems will keep me "fresh", or should I consider moving the test date a month sooner?

I anticipate that my academic studies will occupy about 25-35 hours a week. Besides taking 12 units this fall, I have no other commitments interfering with GMAT studying. Besides that though, I am an ambitious 21 year old workaholic.

Thanks, Ashim

[StaceyKoprince]

Good questions to ask! You're just a little ahead of things, that's all. There isn't a way to tell this far in advance what you should be doing after the course is over. At the end of the course, when you take your third practice test, you will have an idea at that point as to whether you are close to your goal or whether you still have a lot of work to do.

For example, if you take your practice test under full official conditions (including essays!) and score a 700, for example, and your goal is to score 650+, then you may only want to review for a couple of weeks before taking the real test. If you score a 600 and want to score a 650+, then you'll know you have more work to do before you can take the test.

At the end of your program, you'll have the opportunity to request a Post Course Assessment (PCA) from your instructor. To qualify, you have to have taken the three practice tests listed on your syllabus. Your instructor will then take a look at your results and tell you what s/he thinks you should do between the end of your course and your test date. You can tell your instructor that you're not sure when to take the test and ask his/her advice, based upon your specific progress relative to your goal.

Finally, make sure you base what you do every day on your current strengths and weaknesses, not just your goal. It is rarely a good idea to work ONLY on 700+ questions, because it is rarely the case that someone will be able to master ALL of the sub-700 level questions. Even if you do get something right, you may also need to work on your timing - can you do it in the expected timeframe without sacrificing accuracy?

If yes, there's even another step: can you do it a bit more quickly than expected without sacrificing accuracy? If your current scoring level is 650, but you want to move to 700, it's not enough just to say, ok, I got the 650-level Qs right. If I'm going to perform at an average 700 level, then I will still get some 650-level Qs, and I will need to be able to do them MORE quickly than I did them before, because I will be seeing a harder mix of questions. As I get better, the questions that become my "lower level" questions on the test also have to be answered somewhat faster.

When your practice test scores are in the range that you want to score on the real test, you're ready to take the real test. NOTE: this assumes that you take the practice tests under 100% official conditions. If you skip the essays, or take longer breaks than allowed, or use the pause button, or deviate from official conditions in general, then your practice test scores might be inflated.

When you get closer to having to work on your own, these articles may be useful for you:

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/02/ ... study-plan
http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/09/23 ... tice-tests

Starting now, these articles will be useful for you:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/09 ... ce-problem
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/04/ ... our-errors

I also recommend that you read the free e-book in your Student Center account - it's called The GMAT Uncovered and it's already in there, waiting for you to read it. :)

[greystealth]

Thanks Stacey for all the advice!

I hate "playing it by ear", especially when it's so hard to book an afternoon GMAT exam on short notice(I'm at my best in the afternoons).

Another question I have is this: I've been powering through the drill sets of the supplemental Foundations of Math(I'm sure you know of the amount of these problems). Should I be finishing all the drill sets while learning from the strategy guides?

Or, should I only do half the drill sets now, and half later(in case I run out of material to study?).

I rather not re-schedule my GMAT at an earlier date for fear that I'll have to take the test at 8am(this means I'd have to wake up around 6:30am with Los Angeles Traffic). Thanks :)

Oh, and does 800 score offer 100% unique GMAT practice tests to purchase, or does MGMAT use questions from 800score?

[StaceyKoprince]

For Foundations of Math, you should do whatever you actually need to drill, not everything. If there are things that you're already good at, then you don't need to do the drills for those.

But, for the things you do need, you should do the drills sooner rather than later, because the work you do in the strategy guides builds on the Foundations material.

It's totally fine to sign up for the test now (I'm with you - I'm not a morning person either!). Do allow yourself some flexibility, though. If you have a suspicion several weeks before that you're going to need more time, then reschedule your test for a later date. If you feel like you're ready to go, but you're not scheduled to take the test for 3 more weeks, just check the schedule - maybe you can find something sooner that's in the afternoon! If not, you keep your old date.

We do not share any content with 800score, no. We just negotiated a group discount for our students. :)

[greystealth]

Thanks Stacey, that was really helpful!

I'm going to go ahead and tackle all of those drills as I need to increase me speed and confidence, as well as being able to notice patterns better within equations.

This is truly a superior GMAT preparation company, I will be referring this company's course and books for life. =D

[StaceyKoprince]

Thanks. :)

Good luck with everything - let us know how it goes!