Feedback on study plan

[RAHULZ400]

Hi Stacey,

Kindly refer my previous post on the diagnostic CAT (score 550 plan for 740 and over) for which I posted my analysis today only.

This is in continuation to that wherein now I need assistance from you for my study plan to prepare for GMAT and get that high score.

My weekly study plan would be as follows (starting march):

1. Do MGMAT strategy guide (Including practice questions at the end of each chapter). After that doing some sets of OG 16/Quant/Verbal Review (strategy sets) corresponding to the each guide chapter (will do 10-15 questions under time limit). Now in each guide it is mentioned we have some quizzes which need to be done (mid term, final quiz and full reference list of topics covered in the guides) which I believe is a mix of problems. I will do mid-term after a certain chapter mentioned in the guide and final quiz after finishing all chapters and then full topics when I need to do additional problems for review. The full topics I believe I can do even when I am working on some other guide. All these OG problems will be timed. I think for quizzes Manhattan prep categorizes problems into easy medium hard and then for entire guide there are problem lists which can be done in GMAT navigator however currently I do not have these sets since I have purchased used books. So can I follow this approach and create my problem sets with the timed approach of 2 mins per question? Also I will be soon purchasing one or more fresh guides for access to the CATs. So when I get access to these I believe I will have access to OG sets so will I inturn be covering the entire OG i.e. does manhattan covers all the problems listed in OG in their recommended problems sets from that particular topic (e.g. Algebra, SC etc.)

2. I hope to finish this exercise/approach for each guide(along with OG questions) within 1 week specifically for quant, and simultaneously I will be doing verbal taking each topic a day (SC, RC, CR) along with quant. For quant I will be going one guide at a time along with their OG problems (even quant review for that matter) and only then I will move to next guide.

3. I plan to devote 2-3 hrs per day on weekdays and 4-5 hrs on Saturday and review whatever I have studied on Sunday not devoting too much time (1-2 hrs).

4. I would devote half the time to Quant and rest to Verbal. Based on my analysis I plan to finish the guides in the following order:

a) Word Problems
b) Geometry
c) Algebra
d) FDPs
e) Number Systems

5. As mentioned earlier in Verbal I plan to work on all three areas simultaneously. I will alternate between RC, CR, SC in the week probably 2 days CR, 1-2 days RC and 1-2 days SC (guides+OG practice+general reading). I would try to sneak in some time probably half an hour to read articles/books as suggested by you in your forums.

5. I plan to implement this cycle until all MGMAT books are completed along with OG problems.

6. I plan to take a mock CAT after completing 50-70% or the 5-6th week (mid/end april). Depending on my performance I will work on my weak areas from guides already covered and continue with the plan to finish the rest of the guides.

7. I plan to finish the MGMAT guides in about 2 months. I might also do the advance portions if I feel like. Once I am through with all the guides along with the sets of problems in OG Review/Verbal, Quant Review I will start taking mock tests (May onwards) regularly within every week or two depending on my weaknesses. Meanwhile I have some other resources of GMATCLUB to practice which I can use after finishing the Manhattan/OG study material.

Now couple of questions based on the above plan:

a) Since I am not working anywhere as of now and actively searching for a job I can devote 3 hrs per week day and rest of the time and I can work on my job search. Once I get a job I would have to reduce the time to 2 hrs. Is this a reasonable strategy?
b) You said that one can take a day off then kindly advise me how to incorporate that (If at all I can take a Sunday off)?
c) Kindly advise how to review weekly work/study?
d) Kindly advise as stated above by what time should I finish each MGMAT quant guide by this approach (like 1-1.5 week or long). I have an overall 2 months timeline in mind to finish both quant and verbal material?
e) Shall I also create a weekly calender/metric listing day to day targets or just keep a weekly goal in mind? Can you suggest how to keep track of my progress

This is how I am planning to approach the GMAT preparation. Based on my diagnostic data and analysis kindly provide your feedback on the study plan and also responses to the questions so that I can start preparing accordingly. Since I am adopting a self-study approach hence I require a specific kind of guidance.

[StaceyKoprince]

First, some comments based on your buckets in the other thread. (If I don't comment on something, it means that I agree with your categorization!)

Quant
Overall, I agree with your decision to put geometry overall in bucket 3. These aren't as common overall as FDPs or Word Problems.

NP: Put probability and combinatorics in bucket 3. These are much less common than divis and prime, so lower priority.
All others are good.

About the really long problem with a careless mistake:

I believe with more practice and strategies I hope I will be confident and calm while tackling simple problems like
these without taking much time and using the right approach.

That's good! Just remember that you can make a careless mistake or get tangled up at any time in problems that you "should" know how to do. You need to train yourself to let them go. The goal is not to be able to do everything (you can't; the test will just keep getting harder, no matter what you can do). The goal is to be able to recognize when something is not working right now and to have the discipline to move on. (ie, the goal is to make a good business decision!)

I probably had to read the question multiple times

If by around the 1-min mark (halfway!) on quant you still don't understand the question, move on. Basic business decision.

So I need not be nervous and if I am strong in my basics I should calmly read the question and proceed with the steps.

You will be at least a little nervous. We all are! It's a nerve-wracking test. Again, remember that the goal is not to be able to get everything right. If you approach the test with that attitude, then you will get way too nervous (because it's impossible to get everything right) and everything will go downhill from there.

I felt I could have done those questions but then while solving I realised I wasn’t going anywhere and it would still take longer time and I might not be able to get it correct after all. I think I need to just leave such questions after 2 mins and just let go. This is perhaps the most difficult part.

Agree with everything except for "after 2 mins." Ideally, recognize this faster and let go faster. And you're right - this is very difficult to do.

In general, you are going to need to work hard to make sure that you are constantly assessing and approaching from a business mindset. This is not how you are used to taking tests. You'll need to get yourself out of that "old school" mindset and move yourself towards a business approach - but you already use that kind of approach at work, so you can do it!

I realized I could have done 10 more questions correctly (which meant 29 correct in total)

It doesn't actually mean 29 correct in total. If you had gotten some of those problems right, the test itself would have changed. You would have been offered different (and harder) questions after that. So you would still have missed about the same number of questions by the end of the section - but you would have missed harder questions instead of the ones you missed, and your score would have been higher.

I'm spelling this out because I'm getting back to that mindset thing again. Nearly everything in your analysis is pointing towards the old school, try to get more right bias. If you recognize that from Day 1 and work hard to overcome it, your studies will go much more smoothly.

Verbal

RC: Tone's not common at all. Feel free to leave those in 3.

CR: Think about what might tire you out. The end of the verbal section is hard because you're really mentally tired; it's easy to make careless mistakes. So if you know that, say, Evaluate questions tire you out more than the others, then you might want to put that in bucket 3. (Note: leave Find Assump and Strengthen in bucket 2, not 3 - these are quite common.)

Good analysis on verbal.

Okay, now I'm moving on to your post in this thread.

I'm checking with our Student Services team now, but the quizzes that are mentioned are part of a PDF that is made available to new book buyers (ie, not just class students). I know that you bought your books used. I'm trying to find out whether you can get access to the whole PDF (for all books) if you buy just one new book (I think you may, but I'm not sure). I'll let you know when I hear back.

Did I already give you this article?
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2015/07/ ... s-say-what

It's a good article to read and keep handy as you plan your study sessions. In general, while you will at first do OG problems based on the chapter or book you're studying right now, you want to start to add in a mix of topics as you get later in your studies.

For example, let's say that you do FDPs first (which I would recommend, by the way). And then let's say that you do Algebra after that. When you do a problem set for Algebra, toss in a couple of FDPs problems, too. This allows you to review and it also makes your problem set more test-like, since the real test will never clump together problems of the same type.

I'd do FDPs first, because other topics will build on these concepts. For the same reason, I'd do Algebra next. Then I'd do WP because that's your other bucket 2 item. You can do NP and Geo in whatever order you like. I like your plan to mix up verbal - you'll learn better that way.

I'd plan for tests approximately half-way through (50-60% is fine) and then again at the end. In general, the mid-way test will be used just to gain practice under testing conditions. Don't expect to have mastered whatever you have already studied; some will be good and some won't be. That will also give you an idea of where you may need to review or practice more.

I generally don't recommend taking a CAT more often than once every 2 weeks except at the very end of your studies, just before the real test (when once a week is okay for a week or two). The reason is simple: you don't really get better while you're taking a CAT. You use the CAT to diagnose your current strengths and weaknesses, and then you spend a couple of weeks working on those things before you take another. It's the same as this: Serena Williams doesn't get better while she's playing the final at Wimbledon. She gets better in between matches and in between tournaments, when she works on all of the weaknesses that she and her coaches have identified.

Responses to questions about your plan:
a) Timeframe / study hours. Yes.
b) Please do take at least one day a week off. That will give your brain a rest and you will come back to your studies refreshed. You can pick any day that you like. I generally give myself Friday off, and my study "week" runs from Sat to Thu. If I get done everything I'd planned, then I get to take Fri off. That keeps me motivated during the week.
c) Two things. First, big picture: keep a log of what you are doing and write down ~2 main takeaways at the end of a study session. (No more than 3! Big picture!) Review these takeaways frequently. Second, buy flashcards and keep them handy. When you a more specific takeaway hits you, note it on your notecard. Use the "When I see...I'll think / do" formula discussed in the 2nd Level of GMAT Study article.
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat
d) ~2 months is reasonable, although obviously it isn't the same for everyone. You may need a little more time or a little less - you'll just have to see as you go. Don't be afraid to give yourself a little more time if you need it, and don't be afraid to move ahead on something faster if you're learning it well.
e) I generally have an overall plan (roughly weekly) and then a daily plan just for the next week. I map this out on my calendar and check off the work when I'm done. I don't find it useful to plan daily more than a week out because I may change my mind based on how things went in the past week! I'm also not too hard on myself - if something takes longer to learn than I thought it would, oh well! Something else later on will probably take less time than I think. It'll balance out.

You've got a good plan - you've thought this out really well! Let me know if you have any questions on the above or any other concerns that you'd also like to discuss. Good luck and have fun!

[RAHULZ400]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for your valuable insights on my analysis and the action plan. Though I just have some specific questions:

1> As it is mentioned in each guide about the end of chapter quizzes, mid chapter quizzes and then finally full reference (topic list), I read somewhere that it is mentioned that there are lets say around 10 questions for mid and final quiz for easier/medium/hard category each which will obviously be a mix of chapters in a guide and then there is a topical quiz (full reference list) which has questions classified for the GMAT Navigator (which I have downloaded (basic)) which one can do anytime later (even going through some other guide). So I just wanted to ask that are these the questions (full reference list-navigator) that one could pick from if creating sets from two or more guides? Secondly after doing so many questions following this format are there still any questions left in OFFICIAL GUIDES corresponding to a Manhattan topic guide if one wants to practice later on? Also I believe you had mentioned in one of your articles that one should just do about 2-3 problems after each chapter in OG and move forward to next chapter. However if you attempt more than 8 questions then it should be from different guides in quant atleast, does that mean that I cannot do more than 8 questions even for a single guide in mid/final quiz? You can increase the problem set in mid or final quizzes. Summing it up if you could give me an idea of the number of questions I should practice at each phase (chapter,mid and final quizzes, navigator topics sets, and then when mixing topics from guides) then it will be great.

2> You mentioned that there should not be too many mock CATs and there should be a gap of atleast 2 weeks for each mock cat. Although I agree that there needs to be time for analysis and improving on the weaker points but don't you think taking less CATs would perhaps not enable a candidate to acclimate to the testing environment and the time management required since if one is giving CATs every week or even more frequently later on it will prepare him/her well to sit through the lengthy duration of the test and get used to it so as to not get fatigued and give it his best shot?

3> When I am interleaving my studies, I still have a bit of ambiguity. As far as verbal is concerned if suppose I read a chapter of SC one day but then I cannot devote more study time for in action/OG problems, and next day I have to study CR and then subsequent day RC since I need to be touch with all the 3 content areas, so I will come to the problems of SC on 4th day of the week to do the practice questions related to the theory. This cycle would continue for the other two areas as well. So do you think this way my practice will be effective since there is a gap of 2-3 days between reading the chapter and applying it? (Though it might not happen for all chapters I might be able to practice some time if I can finish reading quickly in a study session).

Kindly provide your insights on the above. I will try to plan and study the way we have discussed and will keep you posted if I get stuck in my approach. Thanks again.

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi, again

You should now have heard from Brie in our office - if you buy a new book, you will have online access to all of the OG problem sets and quizzes. (A new employee was mixing up two different resources - that's why you were told something else initially.)

1) Generally speaking, you want your problem sets to mimic the real test as much as possible - which means mixing question types (eg, DS and PS) and content areas. Sometimes, you are going to do sets that are limited to just half of a book or one full book, but you also want to put together sets that cover multiple books at once (when you get that far in your studies).

The big OG contains just over 900 questions, so yes, there are plenty of questions to continue to use. The two smaller supplemental books contain 300 each - but at that point, you'd be later in your studies and generally looking at doing only mixed sets. So then you might as well get the official GMATPrep problem sets (quant and verbal) or GMAT Focus (quant only), because they're online and you can basically just push a few buttons to get a mixed question set made for you. (This is if you want more questions. You may not. Just work with the big OG first.)

Generally speaking, I do sets of between 4 and 12. There isn't a hard-and-fast number at different stages; sometimes it just depends on how much time I have to study right now. The only real rule is: don't do 12 of the same type in a row. If you already know that every problem you're about to do is in XYZ category, then it's a lot easier to do those questions.

2) CATs:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... many-cats/

3) It's okay if there's a gap. You will retain information better if you set aside topics and come back to them multiple times. You can also, by the way, mix things up even more. You did SC yesterday and didn't have time to try a problem, so today try one SC as a review before you dive into RC (or whatever you'd planned to do that day).

In general: you're okay. Your overall plan is good. You don't need to have every last thing exactly planned out in advance, nor do things need to go exactly as you'd planned. Follow the challenges: if you realize you need more time on one thing but something else went faster than expected, that's fine - just shift some time / attention accordingly.

Good luck!

[RAHULZ400]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for the prompt reply. Well I began my study sessions today. This is what my study session was all about:

Quant:

1) Read 1st chapter (FDPs) and did the Inaction problems untimed, reviewed along with solutions. Then found a list of topic wise problems in OG and did 3 random problems from PS and 2 from DS involving Percentages (timed set) though the 'Percents' topic is still listed separately in the guide. Though the 1st chapter only deals with conversion among fractions,decimals,percentages I used that concept in these OG problems (e.g. 1,6 11 in PS, 10, 17 in DS). Separately I don't think there are questions covering conversion of fractions however those problems involved percentages. Here is the link from which I took a cue:
http://www.brighterprep.com/gmat-math-questions-topic-wise-split-from-official-guide/.
So is it fine if I keep doing 3-4 questions in OG from Percentages after each chapter (subsequent chapter are digits, decimals, test cases and fractions) or shall I wait till I cover more chapters?

2) I read the chapter SC process in verbal.

3) I plan to cover 2nd chapter of FDPs in the same way (unless you tell me when to pick up the OG problems). Then I will do CR.

Kindly provide your feedback on my study session so I can continue this way further.

Thanks,
Rahul

[RAHULZ400]

Hi Stacey

I am 4 days into my preparation and have done few chapters of fdp guide, SC, a chapter on RC and some basics of CR. Now I just wanted to highlight that while doing chapters from quant, FDP I don't always find chapter specific problems in OG since let's say if I am done with a chapter on fractions/SC foundation I might not find chapter specific problems on OG even after referring an OG mapped topic wise questions reference. So is it fine if I do the inaction questions, then some OG questions for other chapters for which I could find relevant questions in the OG guide since it doesn't directly have qued for a minor/foundational topic of fractions(e.g. conversion problems). So now when I am approaching the mid quiz chapter I will do the questions set as a mid quiz mixing questions in og (about 8-10) of the chapters covered till now. So finally I just wanted to confirm that if you are not able to find problems from OG in cases of a foundational topic it's fine to just cover the inaction questions and proceed.
Awaiting your response

[StaceyKoprince]

Yes, that is just fine. You don't necessarily need to do OGs chapter-by-chapter or concept-by-concept all the time. Everything you wrote sounds fine.

How do you feel about what you've been studying?

[RAHULZ400]

I think till now it has been as per the plan and I think have got a sense of a certain direction towards which I need to channelize my efforts. In addition to what I mentioned in previous post I have also been making flashcards after every study session for quant and verbal separately, just to summarize the important points so that I can review the concepts as and when I need to. Apart from this I have an error log where I keep recording the questions which I get wrong or unable to complete on time along with the reasons for the same. Though I am not working and have the entire day to myself, still I do not devote more than 2.5-3 hrs for my prep and plan to keep Sundays off or with minimal study or review. I think I will go through the extra chapters for each guide later on when I am done with all the guides, just to get a sense of the kind of advanced concepts/questions and see if I can find something additional which could add some sort of value. Should I do the extra chapters now while going through the guide or later, once I am done with the general chapters of all the guides?

[StaceyKoprince]

Good, I'm glad to hear that it's going well.

I think it's a good idea to leave the "extra" (more advanced) chapters for later. You want to be pretty good across most topics (so that your score is at a steady / consistent level) before you then try to decide which "extra" material might give you a boost in your stronger areas.

[RAHULZ400]

Hi Stacey,

It's been a month of GMAT preparation for me (quite some time since I posted to you). Just wanted to update you on my progress and seek some advice. I have completed 3 quant guides( FDPs, Algebra, Word Problems) leaving out the extra chapters for now. I did the inaction problems and the OG problems taking sets as per the mid quiz and final quiz with 2 sets of around 10 questions mixing topics for each quiz (taking reference from forums on the questions by topic choosing on the basis of difficulty levels not really the hard ones mostly crossing 700s but mostly sub 600 to 600-700 with a odd 700 question put in). I am doing these sets with he timer on based on 2 min per question time limit. In verbal I have completed chapters till parallelism from the SC guide and have similarly done the mid quiz. In RC though I have completed the guide I have done very few questions from OG (around 10) picking out random passages. In CR I have covered must be true, causality, weakening and basic CR strategies referring another resource and MGMAT guide also. Now based on this I have few questions:

1) It's been 5 weeks and I am into my 6th week of preparation. Shall I take my second CAT ( the first being the diagnostic taken at the start) now based on the topics covered above or shall I wait a bit more and start with my next quant guide/verbal topic? I have not bought the CATs till now and will do once you advise on the same. What about my pace of covering the topics? Is it fine or shall I speed up a bit.

2) Till now I have completed about 140 questions in quant (PS/DS) from OG 16 and in total my accuracy is 65% as of now. Is it a cause of concern at this stage? Mostly in a set I scored 55-60% initially and in later sets it was around 70% and sometimes it has gone to 80-90% as well with 1-2 wrong attempts in a set of 10-12( mostly in easier sets). But recently in word problems covering a moderate difficulty set it went down to 50% ( ) though In the earlier set of similar level I scored 75%. This was predominantly filled with statistics on which I have made a fair amount of errors. Analysing my error log till now my major share of mistakes have been careless errors and not reading the question or data and interpreting it(in case of DS). I think to conclude I am generally comfortable in FDPs and algebra and probably need to improve more in few topics of word problems ( still left with some sets of OG questions to be done). Kindly provide your comments on the same.

3) I usually practice OG sets with a timer and do the sets religiously as per the overall time limit though on a few occasions have gone 1-2 minutes overboard. I have noticed that a lot of the questions which I get wrong are actually solvable when I attempt them afterwards without any time limit and would have gotten them right had I not really focused too much on timing(though I hardly guess but what happens is that at times due to the time limit I somehow tend to miss out on certain traps/nuances in a question and mark an answer which seems to be right on solving). Generally what is the maximum time limit you would suggest to set for a question before moving ahead in a a quiz/practice session with OG. Don't you think since this is the concept building stage so I can afford to spend time on the OG questions and actually focus on getting them right even if it means going a bit over the time limit though generally I try to follow your strategy to quickly attempt and move forward.

4) I think the error log is working fine with quant. I generally track the errors and classify them based on the type of error and their source as well. I also mention the exact error ( e.g. Did not focus on the data of 1st statement(providing the exact data as well) and the steps for improvement which are more or less same for similar errors(e.g. Reading the data independently and carefully analysing it ). Now I have also made a log for verbal but really find it monotonous and hard to classify errors and action plan for the same since in RC or CR there will be generally same errors of not reading carefully and inferring errors though I have mentioned errors for quite a few questions. In a nutshell I am a bit confused in tracking errors effectively in verbal and find it tiresome. Kindly let me know if it's really necessary to comment on the verbal errors or just recording the wrong questions would do. I would like to add that I generally go through my error log on quant on a weekly basis.

5) I usually have a rough estimate of the topics to be covered in a week however I always keep a daily track of my progress and plan on a day to day basis. Now in general my daily plan is to read and practice a chapter of quant( or if there is a mid/final quiz pending, complete that and analyse the questions) and a chapter in verbal (SC/CR/RC on alternate basis- have completed the RC guide 2 weeks back and now trying to revise and further strengthen my concepts and practice a passage each day). I have observed that I end up spending close to 4 hrs daily to cover my daily targets instead of just 2 hrs. Would you recommend reducing the daily target or is it fine. Just to update you I have got a job offer and will most probably join starting next week so need to adjust and streamline this schedule since I believe I won't be able to make such kind of daily progress once I get into that routine and he topics covered would come down. In addition I would point out that generally my best study period is usually early mornings starting 7-7:30 am following an early morning jog. I tend to slow down in afternoons/evenings when usually it is the verbal portion since I prefer to practice quant early morning( I did that word problems set in afternoon today and got only 50%). Kindly advise regarding this.

Since I have posted after almost a month that's why the post is a bit long. Eagerly awaiting for your responses and advice.

[StaceyKoprince]

timer on based on 2 min per question time limit

Just to make sure: do you mean that you pick, say, 10 questions, so give yourself a 20-minute time limit? That's good. Or do you mean that you actually hold yourself to a 2-minute limit on each question? That's not what you want to do. You can spend a little more on some because you'll spend a little less on others - so you just want the overall time limit and then you learn how to manage your time appropriately across that block of questions.

We assign the CAT in our classes after people have completed about what you have completed, so yes, I'd say you should take your next CAT in the next week or two.

Re: pace of covering the topics, this is more individual. Do you feel as though you are making progress? Are you keeping a good momentum going but also giving yourself enough time to really internalize / remember / recall the material? If so, then your pacing is good.

Accuracy on practice problems is...almost irrelevant.

In one sense, the percentage you reference is just about perfect. If I'm getting everything right...then I'm not actually learning as much about how to get better. (I can still learn some things...but I learn more from stuff I get wrong.) And if I'm getting everything wrong, then I'm trying to work at a higher level than is appropriate for me right now; I need to learn / get better at lower-level stuff first. The sweet spot is somewhere in the middle, and 65% is nicely in the middle.

So I want a mix of getting stuff right and wrong. When you get something wrong, you're about to learn how to handle whatever that is better next time. When you get something right, that's great - but there are still more things you can learn from that problem (how to work more efficiently, for example, or how to make a guess if needed on a similar problem in future, etc).

Now, I do want to know if, say, I miss every single coordinate plane problem, even the lower-level problems. Then I know I need to work more on coordinate plane at the lower level and I know I need to guess more quickly when I see a harder one. So when you noticed that a moderate set of Word Problems questions was problematic, that's a signal that you've got some review to do in that area.


For careless errors, it's super important to figure out what specific mistakes you made, why you made them, and what steps you can take to minimize a repeat of that type of careless mistake in future.
http://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/ ... -the-gmat/

You don't need to make a log that says I didn't read X carefully on these 18 questions...but you do need to figure out what new habit you're going to implement in order to make it less likely that you keep doing that (not reading carefully) in future. And then you need to go practice that new habit until it makes a difference. (For example, maybe you need to lift up your non-writing hand and use it to point to the sentence that you're reading, word by word, as you read it.)

a lot of the questions which I get wrong are actually solvable when I attempt them afterwards without any time limit and would have gotten them right had I not really focused too much on timing

Wrong focus. The GMAT is not about whether you could get more right if you had more time. It's about how well you choose to use the limited time that you have. It will ALWAYS be the case that you don't have enough time AND that you could have done more if you'd gotten more time.

You will NEVER get extra time. So don't go over - make yourself learn the painful lesson when you run out of time. And don't tell yourself, "Oh, I could've gotten these two if I'd had more time." That's like saying, "Oh, my new business idea could have succeeded if I just hadn't had to limit the amount of money I could have spent on stuff." This is the time you have. What are the best decisions to make about this set of problems, given that reality?

Now, after you've made your decisions and finished the problem set on time, please feel free to go back to any problems you like and spend as much additional time as you like trying them. Look stuff up in your books. Google explanations and read just far enough until the explanation says something that gives you an idea - then try again to solve the problem or go as far as you can with that new idea. Absolutely! That's a great way to learn. AFTER you've practiced making the decisions the way you will need to make them on test day.

(This is when you're doing a timed set, of course. If you're just doing a single problem and not actually timing yourself, that's fine. But if you're doing a timed set, the main point is to practice under test conditions.)

Congratulations on the new job! So, yes, you'll need to just try to get through less each day, since you aren't going to have 4 hours a day now to study. That's fine - that's how it is for many people. I do want to caution you about generally doing quant in the morning and verbal in the afternoon / evening, when you know that you are much better in the morning. Sometimes, then, you do want to switch that around - both so that verbal sometimes happens when you're most alert, and so that you get some practice doing quant even when you're mentally fatigued. The test is long; you're going to be at least somewhat mentally fatigued for at least part of quant.

Overall, it sounds like things are going well!

[RAHULZ400]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for the guidance and wishes for the new job. As you rightly pointed out it is going to be hard to maintain the pace as before. My new job requires me to travel to the location for about 2 hrs to and fro so I will have to leave early at about 7:30 in the morning and come back at around 8:30 pm (starting tomorrow). Earlier I used to finish 1 quant chapter in about 2 hrs in the morning and would work on verbal in the latter half of the day. Now it seems I would be able to devote a day's time to either one of those considering I study for 1.5 to 2 hrs everyday. Now ideally I think I should be studying in the morning as I would be more fresh compared to the evenings as I believe it will be hard to maintain focus after a long days work (9 hrs+4 hrs travel time). It will be a bit difficult to manage since I will have to get up at 4:30-5 in the morning which I am not used to right now. Any suggestions on how to plan out my study sessions so that I can properly focus?
Another point I wanted to discuss was the word problems sets in which I am making mistakes. I have completed the entire guide (general chapters) along with the inaction problems and have more or less have a fair grasp on the concepts though in the timed sets I tend to make mistakes (more careless/not reading/interpreting the question/data carefully probably due to time constraints. Since I have gone through the Manhattan material, done the problems and also OG sets shall I move to the next guide or still practice some more questions (though I have done the required sets already and would like to save other problems for later stage)?

[StaceyKoprince]

You may want to make some of your study sessions shorter - 30 minutes instead of 1.5 hours sometimes, for example. I wouldn't start by assuming that you'll do 1.5 hours in the morning and then have your 2-hour commute and then work - that's a huge difference in time of day and you may burn yourself out. I'd start by doing just 30 minutes and easing into the new routine.

Do you know much about the job culture yet? Can you take half an hour 2-3 times a week to have lunch by yourself (and study while you're eating)? You may not want to do this for the first few weeks, but if it's not considered weird to take half an hour by yourself occasionally, then this allows you to get some more studying in without having to do it all in the early-morning hours before work.

And what form is the travel? I'm guessing it's not public transportation where you could study some - or you would have said so. So possibly keep an eye out for carpooling situation, either with a new coworker or with someone else who lives near you and works near your job. Helps cut down on expenses, makes the drive more enjoyable, and if you don't get carsick reading / studying in the car, then you can get some study in that way, too.

Overall, give yourself a few weeks to make the transition. Expect your study time to drop possibly almost to nothing at first (during the week) and then go back up again as you get used to the new situation.

Re: careless mistakes on word problems, I think the biggest issue here is why you're doing it: you're feeling so pressured to be done with the problem that you're rushing the set-up. You need to start reminding yourself that finishing the problem isn't necessarily the primary goal. Sometimes, you're going to decide not to do certain problems at all, or to guess at a certain point and move on.

Next, when you do decide that you want to invest the time and effort to finish a problem, then it obviously completely defeats the purpose if you rush the beginning so much that you mess up the problem. So I'd encourage you to train yourself to think of your work on these problems in three discrete steps - and with the idea that, if the process breaks down at any one of these steps, then you're going to guess and move on.

Step 1: Understand what's going on. Glance at all parts of the problem. Read thoroughly. Jot down any formulas, etc. Your goal here is NOT to solve. It's just to understand the set-up. If you don't understand it, guess and move on.
Step 2: Come up with a plan. Reflect on what you've been given. Organize or think about how to combine different pieces of info. See whether you can make connections to things you've done on similar problems in the past. If you can't come up with a decent plan / approach, guess and move on.
Step 3. Solve. IF you make it through steps 1 and 2, you can finally try to solve that thing. But don't be in such a hurry to get to this step that you mess up one of the earlier steps. Sometimes, you should be deciding that you're never going to get to this step. (And that decision reduces the time pressure for the problems on which you do get to step 3.)

Here's more on this process:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... ly-part-1/
(It works for more than just quant, by the way! The overall principles are universal for all parts of the GMAT.)

Let me know what you think.

[RAHULZ400]

Hi Stacey,

As recommended I gave a mock cat in the past weekend. I got a 590(Q42,V30), not a major improvement though(40 pts.). I will analyse the CAT the coming weekend since a lot of time needs to be devoted at once so in the weekdays I am mostly continuing with the study guides. I have started getting up a bit more early(4:30 am) though its hard but still I manage to devote about 1-1.5 Hr. I don't think I should be appearing for any more CATs till I complete the study materials including the other two OGs as well so that a good amount of practice is done. It might take a good amount of time but I want to be more prepared for my next CAT attempt.

[StaceyKoprince]

I'd caution you against waiting a long time to take another CAT. Don't think of the CAT solely as a way to gauge your performance / progress and so you don't want to take it until you can show a big improvement. A practice CAT is also a way to get used to sitting and taking a test for 3 hours, and to gain experience with making all of these decisions that you have to make - when do I keep going; when do I cut myself off; can I make an educated guess; etc.

There's huge value in that. Pushing that off because you want to see significant improvement first is like saying: I'm going to learn to play tennis but I'm not actually going to play any matches until I'm good enough to beat the club champion. Obviously, that's not how it works - you need to play (and lose!) a lot of matches to get good enough to beat the club champion some day.

In other words, you're going to get better at taking the CAT by giving yourself multiple chances to practice that whole process and learn from it.

Finally, 40 points IS a really good improvement! Don't undercut or downplay your progress!
Good luck!