Advice on my GMAT study plan :)

[ItaloP691]

Hello,

I was in a long job hiatus waiting for my work visa to be ready to move to Mexico when I decided to start studying for GMAT.

I want to do an MBA in the next 5 years in a top business school. I want to obtain a 700 score. I’ve been dedicating 4-6 hours per day to study, with one day off per week. I haven’t had the courage to do a practice test, but I know my score would be in the 350s (so I’m guessing about a 250-300 improvement overall). I’m willing to invest whatever time and effort necessary to achieve it. I’ve made this my personal priority for 2019-early 2020.

However, I have some doubts with my study plan, and I am afraid that without a solid strategy I might lose my motivation. Thus, I want to validate my strategy with an expert as well as share my experience so far.

I started my journey with Manhattan Prep’s book Foundations of Math on April 15th, as I needed to refresh my quant skills. I hadn’t reviewed most of the material since high school (around 10 years ago) so I found the book very helpful. On April 23rd, I started a 2-week GMAT course in my city that covered most of the subjects tested on GMAT (Q&V). The Quants section of the course covered one topic per class (3-hour classes): one class for algebra, one for functions and sequences, combinatorics, and so on. I found the course to be quite overwhelming due to the short time, but it allowed me to have a general overview of the content tested, as well as a better perspective of my strengths and weaknesses (there were mostly weaknesses at the time). Regarding the verbal section, I felt I was above average judging from the exercises made in class, so I decided to start focusing on quants.

On May 10, I started to do the OG 2019 (quants). Our instructor gave us a break down of the OG questions divided by topic. I finished all algebra and inequalities questions in about two weeks and kept an error log, essentially by making a column in my notebook where I write learnings and mistakes for each question. I did the exercises untimed, as advised by the instructor. I was struggling with word problems involving inequalities (approx. 50% accuracy) so I came across Manhattan Prep Algebra Strategy Guide and finished it. After completing this book, I repeated all the wrong Algebra and Inequalities OG problems I had done. I then proceeded with OG questions on exponents and functions & sequences, as these topics were all covered in the MP Algebra book. I’m halfway through MP FDP Strategy Guide and my next step will be to do all FDP OG exercises.

I’m halfway through the quant exercises of the OG (algebra, inequalities, exponents, functions, sequences) and still have 4 Quants Strategy Guides and half the exercises of the OG to finish. I feel that the Strategy Guides have been very enlightening. I'm feeling good overall (just a little tired )

Moreover, I’m moving to Mexico in about two weeks to start working and I will only have about 1-2 hours per day for studying until exam day. I plan to block 2 hours per day for studying when I start working. I think my success will depend on this.

As I said, I’d really appreciate an expert’s opinion on my study plan so far, as well as any potential improvements you may see.

My action plan for the next 3 weeks (till I start working):
- Finish the rest of Manhattan Prep Strategy Guides (Number Properties, Word Problems, Number Properties and Geometry)
- Doing the correspondent OG exercises after finishing each book (if I finish number properties, I’ll do all number properties OG questions)
- Doing Manhattan Prep Advanced Quants
- Resume my flashcards (which I stopped doing)
- Start with Manhattan Prep Strategy Guides Verbal
- Keep a daily journal

My daily schedule until I start working (8 hours per day):
- 2-3 chapters of Strategy Guides everyday (including exercises per chapter)
- Doing 15 new Q’s whenever I finish one of the strategy guides OR repeating 10 wrong OG Qs on the topics I’ve done (algebra, inequalities, exponents…)
- Doing 3-4 flashcards per day

What I’ve used/done:
- Manhattan Prep Foundations of Math
- Manhattan Prep Strategy Guide Algebra
- Manhattan Prep Strategy Guide FDP
- 2-week GMAT course
- OG 2019
- GMATQuantum.com for video explanations of each OG question

Thank you!

[StaceyKoprince]

Hello!

Your next task is to take a practice test. I know, you don't feel ready! But that's because you're thinking about the score that you want to get—but you know you're not at that scoring level right now. Your score right now doesn't matter. What does matter is this:
(1) You need to assess your strengths and weaknesses across everything, and the best / easiest / fastest way to do that is to take a full practice test.
(2) You need to start to get practice, from Day 1, with the way that the GMAT works. Studying without knowing how the test actually works will cause you, in many ways, to study in the opposite of the way that you need. You will literally be making your job harder by not taking a practice test now and studying under timed conditions as you go.
(3) You also need to get "habituated" to the exam. These tests are stressful for everyone. The more you do it, the less weird / annoying / stresssful it will feel. So start to get over that fear / anxiety from Day 1.

Next, please do not continue to do all of the OG problems of one type all in one group, and please do not continue to do these questions untimed.

It's easier to do something when you're doing 20 problems only of that type, especially when you already know what that topic is before you start—but the real test is going to make you jump around from topic to topic AND it's not going to tell you which topic you're about to see. You have to figure it out for yourself, every time. So you need to practice in the way that the test is going to function.

That's also why you need to time yourself on OG problems—and you'll also need to move up to timed problem sets (where you give yourself a block of time for a certain number of questions and you have to choose how to allocate your time within that set). Again, your goal is to mimic test conditions so that you are learning to make decisions in the same way that you will have to make them on the real test.

You do *not* need to time yourself when you're working through a strategy guide—when you're first learning the material, just learn it. But when you move to OG problems, time yourself.

Read this:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... lly-tests/

And then this:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -the-gmat/

And then come back here and tell me why I told you to read those posts.

Here's more on time management:
blog/2016/08/19/everything-you-need-to-know-about-gmat-time-management-part-1-of-3/

And more about doing OG problems and problem sets:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2017/01/ ... est-part-1

Re: your study plan, I'm glad to see that you're so organized. (Also: Congratulations on the new job and the impending move!)

A few comments:
– Only do our Advanced Quant guide if you get your Quant score up to about 47 (out of 51). If your quant score doesn't get up to that level, then the AQ guide won't be a good use of study time.
– I wouldn't study more than about 6 hours a day—and I wouldn't do even that every day. Your brain can only learn so much new stuff at a time. If you're overloading it / tiring it out, then you won't learn the material as well...which is the exact opposite of what you're trying to do. You can literally learn better / remember more by doing less.
– It is definitely a good idea to do a little study almost every day, but it's also really important to take at least 1 day a week completely off—no study at all. Again, your brain needs this rest so that it can continue to work well on the other days.
– And, of course, factor in the stuff that I wrote above.

You mention lots of Q stuff but not V, beyond saying that V is your stronger area. If you want a 700+ overall, you're going to have to aim for an excellent score on your stronger area—40+ on Verbal (which is 90th+ percentile). So what are you planning to do in order to make sure that your V score is strong enough? (Or maybe it is already...but you can't know for sure until you take that first practice test... )

In a couple of weeks, we're going to have a new thing up on our website for anyone who has a free account—a bunch of free materials and some resources around developing a study plan. I'm not sure of the exact release date yet, so just keep checking back, but you'll be looking to be able to have access to our Atlas GMAT Starter Kit.

[ItaloP691]

Hi Stacey,

Thank you for your great advice and for your congrats! Looks like my visa will delay further, so.... More time for GMAT.

I'm planning on doing a practice test next week to know what my scoring level is now and to get the feel of the exam. Should I do one of MP's CAT or one of the two free exams from MBA.com? I understand one gives you a good analysis but is less similar to the real exam (MP), and the other is like the real exam but does not give you an in depth analysis (MBA).

In regards to the rest of the topics:

- I read all the articles. I have a different mindset on the GMAT already. I find particularly interesting that you can get the score you want and still have about 40% of the questions wrong, as long as you manage your time well. Although it sounds extreme, I feel that a good way to develop the mindset is to go to the exam as if you are not going to answer any questions, but just the ones you actually know how to do (hopefully I know how to do a lot of them). It's a matter of picking your fights and letting go, isn't it?

- I've stopped doing OG exercises untimed. However, I have some doubts about your advice on not doing exercises of only one type in one group. I have downloaded -and I'm starting to use- MP's Problem Sets PDF (to be used with Strategy Guides). As you know, these problem sets come in topics (i.e. problem sets for algebra, NP, FDP...). I also understand that, when you complete the PDF, you complete the OG. So... When when/how will I start doing mixed/across-books practice tests? Maybe I can do mixed problems with the 300 additional questions that come in the OG Review or with repeated questions of the OG. I also know I can build practice sets with the Wiley Efficient Learning but I haven't used this yet. In short, I'm a little lost on this.

- Regarding Verbal, I am reading like crazy these days. I'm also listening to a lot of podcasts in English (my first language is Spanish, btw). I've read that it helps a lot. But I do want to focus on Quants now. I will do the Strategy Guides on Verbal after finishing Quants anyway.

- I need a way to review the material I'm studying. I've started a list of flashcards I want to do and the content they should have (40-50 flashcards in my to do list already). Every time I learn something new and important I add it to the list. I want to start doing 4-5 a day. The only downside about the flashcards is that they take me A LOT of time to do (15-20min, which is like 1 1/2 hour a day) and I worry that I do not end up doing them. Any idea?

- I won't do Advanced Quants yet. Also, I've read mixed reviews about the book.

- I'm studying 6 days a week and I'm going to the beach next weekend, so all good with my leisure time

Here is my revised plan. Any suggestions at this point would be highly appreciated.

Next month
- Do a Practice Test (next week)
- Finish Manhattan Prep Strategy Guides Quants (Number Properties, Word Problems, Number Properties and Geometry)
- Doing the corresponding OG exercises timed, as it comes in MP's Problems Sets pdf (halfway through the book and after finishing each book)
- Resume my flashcards (any opinions/suggestions on this? Is it a good idea in your experience?)
- Start with Manhattan Prep Strategy Guides Verbal
- Fill the error log (found your article about how to do it)
- Maintain my daily journal
- Do another Practice Test (at the end of the month)

Daily schedule (7 hours per day, before I start working):
- 3 chapters of Strategy Guides everyday (including exercises per chapter)
- 2-3 Mid-book/final quiz of different difficulties (OG problem sets from MP's Problem Sets pdf)
- 3-4 past wrong questions (timed)
- 3-4 flashcards per day

Thank you, Stacey.

[StaceyKoprince]

I generally save official practice exams for pretty close to the real thing, since the data is more limited. Earlier, you want all of that analysis so you can use it to figure out how to get better. And tell yourself that as you take your next practice test. I know you want to see where you're at / how you're doing, but the *real* benefit right now is finding out what's not going all that well...so that you can make it better. So don't get disappointed / demoralized if you see a score you don't like (that happens to most people. Who cares? It wasn't the real thing. The point is that now you have lots of data to change that score.

It's a matter of picking your fights and letting go, isn't it?

Exactly. Just like the real world.

However, I have some doubts about your advice on not doing exercises of only one type in one group. I have downloaded -and I'm starting to use- MP's Problem Sets PDF (to be used with Strategy Guides).

Yes, and that is one reason I am reluctant to release those lists every year. Because it seems like we're telling people to do them in these groups. We're not.

Did you look yet at the article I linked in my last post about doing OG problem sets? Do what that says.

Flash cards. What are you putting on your flash cards? There are two good uses:
(1) Actual facts or rules you need to memorize (eg, math formulas)
(2) "Know the Code" takeaways

Here's what Know the Code means:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -the-gmat/
Here's an example of how to do that with a problem:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -problems/

There's one format lots of people use...and it's a terrible way to make flash cards: Putting an entire problem on a flash card. Never, ever do that. You're not going to see that problem—or even one mostly like it—on the real test. Your real goal is to learn how to think your way through new problems. Those new problems may share components or characteristics of a problem you've done before, but it will never feel like the same problem.

Your plan in general looks good—though be careful of two things:
(1) Burn-out. 7 hours a day, 6 days a week is a LOT. Make sure you're giving yourself good brain breaks on study days. Study for 90 minutes, then go do something else for an hour, then study again for 90 minutes, then do something else for 2 hours. Your brain processes memories made that day, in particular, while sleeping and exercising. So take a 20-minute nap or go for a walk or run or play something during your big mid-day break.

(2) Mix stuff up, as I was talking about before—yes, including your OG sets. Again, see that article that I linked in my last post. (It's got several parts. Read all the way through.)

Finally: Have fun at the beach.