Study Question - Taking Course

[terence.battle1]

Should I leave the 250 problem bank and most of the "advanced" stuff until after the course? I finish the course about 2.5 weeks before my actual GMAT and I'm wondering if I should leave this content until after the course if finished to provide enough questions to keep myself fresh before the exam? Otherwise I will begin working on the advanced ones during the week but fear I will be duplicating my study efforts my final two weeks. Thoughts?

[StaceyKoprince]

By "250 problem bank" are you referring to the Quant Challenge questions? Unless you're going for 98th percentile plus on the quant alone, you should ignore the Challenge questions entirely.

Generally, you can move to the advanced material when you have mastered the general material in that same category / topic area. So you may be able to do some of it during the course, in your stronger areas. Other parts you may need to leave for after the course.

What's your goal score? If you want a 600 or 650, you don't need much of the advanced material; you can just do that parts that are in your areas of strength. If you want a 700, you need to do a lot of the advanced material, but you can still leave aside your weakest areas (especially if they are not frequently-tested areas). If you want a 730+, then you need the vast majority of the advanced material as well.

The final 2 weeks should be much more about review than about learning new material, so you may also want to think about when the right time is to take your test. If you don't plan to start with most of the advanced material until after the course is over, that would be too much to do in 2 weeks.

There are two overall driving factors for the timeframe: goal score and deadlines (if you have any coming up). If you don't have deadlines, then don't have a hard date yet for your test; just see how things go with your score / progress. If you do have a deadline, then you're locked in, so you may have to be more flexbile with your goal score, depending upon the time you have available and how much progress you're trying to make.

[terence.battle1]

I'm aiming for Cornell, Columbia, UPenn, or HBS. My undergrad GPA was 3.93 and I work for a fortune ten company with solid career progression. My test is June 24th and I'm currently in week 3 of the study program. That being said I have about 9 weeks left and 6 weeks of course material remaining which puts me at roughly 3 weeks of review time. I will take the tip and start looking at the advanced material now as I believe I need to be in the 700-720 range to be competitive at the programs I'm looking to enter.

My first practice test was a 620 to which I had timing issues. Since beginning the course I've been successful at nailing all the homework from OG in the correct amount of time with fairly consistent accuracy (90-95%). Based on your analysis and my timeline I should begin learning the advanced material now in the areas I am strong in and review the rest when time permits?

Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

Yes, where you're already strong, move to the advanced material (assuming you also have time in your schedule, of course - if you have to choose between reviewing advanced material in areas of strength or your weaker areas in general, go for weaker areas first).