Study plan

[Henry2015]

Hello,

I am beginning to study the GMAT and would appreciate your opinion of my study plan.

Context :
- I am a non native english speaker. I took the GMAT in 2007 and scored 730 (50 quant ; 40 verbal ; but my Quant skills were fresh out of high school ! I studied 3 months)
- I am planning 12 weeks of study (~8 weeks to study quant and verbal ; 4 weeks to practice CATs and improve timing, stamina...) and targeting ~700+ score
- I took my first Manhattan practice test yesterday and here is the result : 620
Quant : 39 (43%)
Verbal : 35 (76%)

Looks like the quant part needs serious work. Verbal looks ok. (I have been working in consulting for the past years, partly in English, which may explain I am not too bad in verbal).

Key findings about Strengths and Weaknesses :
Quant :
1. Stronger weakness : FDP (<10 % correct + long time spent - ~2:40 /question)
2. Very Weak : Geometry (40 % correct + long time spent - 3:20/question)
3. Weak : Number prop. and Algebra (40% correct + 2:40/question
4. Not too bad - Word Problems (80% correct + ~2:20 / question)
=> Overall, I need work on almost all topics (for word problems I may have been lucky as it's usually a weakness)

Verbal :
1. Stronger weakness : RC (42% correct - 1:30 Right Answer ; 3:15 wrong answer)
Then CR looks not too bad (57% correct ; 1:30-2:00/question) ; SC looks ok (73% correct ; 1:30 / question)

I have 2 questions :
1. I will begin with a strong focus on Quant and am thinking of rewiewing the quant books of Manhattan Gmat in ~4 weeks. I'll begin with FDP. Shall I go directly to book on Geometry (2nd weakness) or shall I go in the normal order of MGMAT books (Algebra - Word - Geo - Number Properties) as I'll cover all the topics anyway ?

2. Shall I study some verbal in parallel in month 1 ? Although Verbal doesn't appear a strong weakness, I fear that if I begin Verbal in month 2, and begin with reading comprehension or CR, I'll have only 2 weeks practice of onen topic (ex : SC) when I enter the month 3 (CAT tests). Therefore, I am thinking of including a small review of verbal in parallel for the first month. What do you think ? Some websites recommand a focus on quant in month 1 and verbal in month 2 (with small practice in quant) ; some websites recommand to tackle both at the same time (to have enough time to strenghten the 2 skills) but I fear the work overload and in which order to begin

Do not hesitate if you have any comment or advice on my approach / questions.

Many thanks in advance.

[StaceyKoprince]

If you scored 730 before, you can likely get yourself back up to that level - you'll just need to do the necessary work to get there. :)

I would use the normal book order, just because FDP leads to Algebra and Word Problems, so it's good to do those three closer together. Geo is not as frequent on the test (and those are usually more about reminding yourself of all of the little rules), so that one can wait a little.

I do think you should also do verbal in parallel, yes. I'd plan to do verbal maybe every third or fourth study session - you don't need as much time on it, but you do want to improve there as well.

Your brain actually learns better with that kind of variation - focusing only on one thing for too long is detrimental to your ability to build strong memories.

I would also recommend keeping these handy as you study:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

Let us know how it's going!