How to Prepare for GMAT
Content
Month 1
Start with Math section first and focus just on math alone (you can do both math and
verbal but I suggest you put all attention into one). Both MGMAT and Veritas Prep have
numbered books, so all you have to do is open Book1 and just follow along to Book10.
Plan to spend 4 weeks on the Quant Portion.
Start using an Error Log - keep track of your mistakes and guesses -this will become your
study guide in Month 3. (Tip: dedicated post on how to analyze your mistakes)
Optional Step: If you are feeling the load is too heavy and you are really weak in Quant
or Verbal - get MGMAT Math Foundations or MGMAT Verbal Foundations book; it is
great in providing a more general overview of math concepts.
At the same time, start reading GMAT Fiction (see below for details on what it is for)
Get involved with the Math Forum - you will learn a lot esp. when you try to teach
someone or explain something
After you are done with the math section - start taking the math portion of the tests you
have.
Evaluate results and decided if you need to spend more time in Math and patch up certain
weak areas or move on to Verbal. This decision will be based on your target GMAT score.
If you are looking for high 600's and 700's, I would not move past Quant unless I was
able to score around Q44 and possibly higher. Quant scores have been inflated recently
with Q51 (highest possible quant score clocking a mere 97th percentile and Q49 is 81st),
so make sure you are up there. Do not leave a chapter or a section unless you were able to
solve 90% of the questions correctly in the allotted time. Don’t run away from your
mistakes – sooner or later they will catch up; the better strategy is to address them right
there and then and make sure you never see them again.
If you need additional help in Quant - refer to the Math Resources on GMAT Club or the
GMAT Math Books section. Another book you may consider is the PR 1012 - it contains
targeted GMAT practice questions, which could be helpful in honing one's skills.
Though may seem attractive, Advanced Quant book from MGMAT has received mixed
reviews from the users - many feel it is really too hard and is not representative of the
GMAT's difficulty. We did attempt to go through it and even for yours truly, it proved
discouraging and painful. Unless you are really bored, it may be a book better left for
another time.
If you are comfortable with Quant but want to get to Q50+, use the GMAT Club Tests they contain only hard questions and were designed as practice for high-level math
scorers. You can purchase them, earn a free subscription by earning 25 Kudos, or sign up
with a partner course (almost all come with GMAT Club tests as a bonus)
Another worthwhile resource for you may be this quant-focused discussion: how to get
from Q44 to Q50
Sidebar
At this time you will probably be wondering about questions such as “how many can I get wrong
and still get a Q50?” and other questions which really do not have answers. If you find yourself
wondering about these things at night, head over to the following discussions:
GMAT algorithm – how does it work?
What-If analysis of the GMAT Prep
Alternative ways to increase your score (i.e. not by studying)
How are GMAT scores calculated and what is a raw score?
Has anyone scored an 800? Yes, he has.
Month 2
Start working on the Verbal section. You can start with any question type, but my
suggestion would be to tackle Sentence Correction first as it is usually the most
straightforward
Error Log!
Sentence Correction Optional Step: If you are not a native speaker, you will need a good
grammar book or a verbal-intensive course such as the SC course by eGMAT that focuses
on concepts for non-native speakers. Several grammar books are recommended on the
Forum (best-gmat-grammar-book-for-international-students-79934.html). We have
created a book specifically for this need - Ultimate GMAT Grammar (it covers all of the
tested grammar topics on the GMAT, plus a bit more concepts that international students
seem to struggle the most (articles, etc). The best thing of all is that it is Free ). Other
books to consider are Kaplan Verbal Foundations and MGMAT Verbal Foundations. This
is for you to decide how much help you need or how much time you have. Also, take a
look at GMAT Club's Verbal Resources for many copies of study notes.
If you are short on time and can’t cover the MGMAT’s SC book, you can use the Kaplan
Verbal Workbook - it has good strategies and I have personally used it to prepare, so it
does work, though it is not as complete as the MGMAT or Vertas Prep books.
Critical Reasoning Optional Step: If you need additional help with Critical Reasoning Do not get both PowerScore CR and Manhattan GMAT CR - the books are virtually
identical (not really but kind of). Instead, you can get an inexpensive online course such
as SC eGMAT or GMAT Pill's CR Pill. You can also use the PR 1012 book for targeted
practice with Assumption or Conclusion questions or you can go very heavy weight and
use LSAT books, but that's a tad too hardcore and usually unnecessary. See BM’s review
of the LSAT resources.
Reading Comprehension is often the hardest area to conquer. Unless you strongly feel
that Reading is your forte, I would recommend you pick up a reading habit for the time
being. I have written a large post on what I call GMAT Fiction and its benefits - take a
look. I felt that reading books was a big contributor to my SC and RC abilities and gave
me a 96th percentile in Verbal (not too shabby for a person who spoke zero English until
12). There are no downsides to this really - worst thing possible is that you would have
read some great books. And yes - make sure you read them during your low productivity
time (at night, during transit, etc).
Verbal forum should be your hobby by now and we have a great feature – GMAT Club
Forum Timer. Use it! If you have not discovered it yet, you should – the timer will keep
track of all your practice and even more – it will suggest you questions (every day
Monday through Friday) that are at your level, and after about 10 questions in SC and
CR, it will even give you a daily estimated GMAT score.
Verbal Advantage – you may have seen badges and posts about it – make sure you use
this initiative. Every year for about 3 months, GMAT club teams up with the best verbal
prep companies to bring you the best experts, articles, and questions. You can use these
resources at any time and benefit from the previous years of work. Verbal Advantage
2013 and also the first season – Verbal Advantage 2012
Take the verbal-only portion of the tests to evaluate your progress (compare to how you
did in the diagnostic test).
Another worthwhile resource for you may be this quant-focused discussion: how to get
from V30 to V40
Month 3
This month should be spent on 2 things: taking full length tests (polishing your test taking
techniques, timing, stamina) and Reviewing your error log (going through your
weaknesses, making sure you understand why you keep making mistakes and how to
solve every problem you encountered). You can start using Error log earlier than this by
the way - the earlier the better.
You can also use this time to prolong your prep (we assume most will run about 4 weeks
late and will need this time) or you can use it to spend on digging deeper in some areas.
Schedule your test if you have not done so already.
Start taking full length tests (including AWA and IR ) - this is important for your test
stamina. Plan to spend a Saturday on this and then subsequent test review.
Spend a few weeks taking tests and drilling down into your areas of weakness. Create a
"black list of questions" that you continue to struggle with and find a way to solve them
with minimal mental effort.
For IR, there is always the big question of, how important is IR really, and the answer,
clearly, is – nobody knows. We expect that it will be more definite in 2015/2016 years
when the first IR test-takers have graduated and GMAC can trace patterns. Meanwhile,
go here for IR resources and practice.
The
BIG
Day
and
Final
Make sure you take a look at these before you take the GMAT:
Thoughts
What to do 30-14-7-1 days before the GMAT?
What to expect at the test center and 8 things not to do
Analysis of Patterns among those who scored 750+ and what they did
The best of GMAT Club’s debriefs – get inspired!
1. Dec 13 - Planning
2. Dec 14 - Dec 21 - SC Preparation
3. Dec 22 - 28 - SC Preparation
4. Dec 29 - Jan 4 - CR Preparation
5. Jan 5 - 11 - CR Preparation
6. Jan 12 - 18 - RC Preparation
7. Jan 19 - GMAT Prep Mock Test
8. Jan 20 - 25 - SC, CR, RC Fine Tuning
9. Jan 26 - Verbal Mock Test - GMAT Prep - 42
10. Jan 27 - 31 - Quant Preparation
11. Feb 2 - 8 - Quant Preparation
12. Feb 9 - 15 - Mocks - GMAT Prep
13. Feb 17 - GMAT
Start with Math section first and focus just on math alone (you can do both math and
verbal but I suggest you put all attention into one). Both MGMAT and Veritas Prep have
numbered books, so all you have to do is open Book1 and just follow along to Book10.
Plan to spend 4 weeks on the Quant Portion.
Start using an Error Log - keep track of your mistakes and guesses -this will become your
study guide in Month 3. (Tip: dedicated post on how to analyze your mistakes)
Optional Step: If you are feeling the load is too heavy and you are really weak in Quant
or Verbal - get MGMAT Math Foundations or MGMAT Verbal Foundations book; it is
great in providing a more general overview of math concepts.
At the same time, start reading GMAT Fiction (see below for details on what it is for)
Get involved with the Math Forum - you will learn a lot esp. when you try to teach
someone or explain something
After you are done with the math section - start taking the math portion of the tests you
have.
Evaluate results and decided if you need to spend more time in Math and patch up certain
weak areas or move on to Verbal. This decision will be based on your target GMAT score.
If you are looking for high 600's and 700's, I would not move past Quant unless I was
able to score around Q44 and possibly higher. Quant scores have been inflated recently
with Q51 (highest possible quant score clocking a mere 97th percentile and Q49 is 81st),
so make sure you are up there. Do not leave a chapter or a section unless you were able to
solve 90% of the questions correctly in the allotted time. Don’t run away from your
mistakes – sooner or later they will catch up; the better strategy is to address them right
there and then and make sure you never see them again.
If you need additional help in Quant - refer to the Math Resources on GMAT Club or the
GMAT Math Books section. Another book you may consider is the PR 1012 - it contains
targeted GMAT practice questions, which could be helpful in honing one's skills.
Though may seem attractive, Advanced Quant book from MGMAT has received mixed
reviews from the users - many feel it is really too hard and is not representative of the
GMAT's difficulty. We did attempt to go through it and even for yours truly, it proved
discouraging and painful. Unless you are really bored, it may be a book better left for
another time.
If you are comfortable with Quant but want to get to Q50+, use the GMAT Club Tests they contain only hard questions and were designed as practice for high-level math
scorers. You can purchase them, earn a free subscription by earning 25 Kudos, or sign up
with a partner course (almost all come with GMAT Club tests as a bonus)
Another worthwhile resource for you may be this quant-focused discussion: how to get
from Q44 to Q50
Sidebar
At this time you will probably be wondering about questions such as “how many can I get wrong
and still get a Q50?” and other questions which really do not have answers. If you find yourself
wondering about these things at night, head over to the following discussions:
GMAT algorithm – how does it work?
What-If analysis of the GMAT Prep
Alternative ways to increase your score (i.e. not by studying)
How are GMAT scores calculated and what is a raw score?
Has anyone scored an 800? Yes, he has.
Month 2
Start working on the Verbal section. You can start with any question type, but my
suggestion would be to tackle Sentence Correction first as it is usually the most
straightforward
Error Log!
Sentence Correction Optional Step: If you are not a native speaker, you will need a good
grammar book or a verbal-intensive course such as the SC course by eGMAT that focuses
on concepts for non-native speakers. Several grammar books are recommended on the
Forum (best-gmat-grammar-book-for-international-students-79934.html). We have
created a book specifically for this need - Ultimate GMAT Grammar (it covers all of the
tested grammar topics on the GMAT, plus a bit more concepts that international students
seem to struggle the most (articles, etc). The best thing of all is that it is Free ). Other
books to consider are Kaplan Verbal Foundations and MGMAT Verbal Foundations. This
is for you to decide how much help you need or how much time you have. Also, take a
look at GMAT Club's Verbal Resources for many copies of study notes.
If you are short on time and can’t cover the MGMAT’s SC book, you can use the Kaplan
Verbal Workbook - it has good strategies and I have personally used it to prepare, so it
does work, though it is not as complete as the MGMAT or Vertas Prep books.
Critical Reasoning Optional Step: If you need additional help with Critical Reasoning Do not get both PowerScore CR and Manhattan GMAT CR - the books are virtually
identical (not really but kind of). Instead, you can get an inexpensive online course such
as SC eGMAT or GMAT Pill's CR Pill. You can also use the PR 1012 book for targeted
practice with Assumption or Conclusion questions or you can go very heavy weight and
use LSAT books, but that's a tad too hardcore and usually unnecessary. See BM’s review
of the LSAT resources.
Reading Comprehension is often the hardest area to conquer. Unless you strongly feel
that Reading is your forte, I would recommend you pick up a reading habit for the time
being. I have written a large post on what I call GMAT Fiction and its benefits - take a
look. I felt that reading books was a big contributor to my SC and RC abilities and gave
me a 96th percentile in Verbal (not too shabby for a person who spoke zero English until
12). There are no downsides to this really - worst thing possible is that you would have
read some great books. And yes - make sure you read them during your low productivity
time (at night, during transit, etc).
Verbal forum should be your hobby by now and we have a great feature – GMAT Club
Forum Timer. Use it! If you have not discovered it yet, you should – the timer will keep
track of all your practice and even more – it will suggest you questions (every day
Monday through Friday) that are at your level, and after about 10 questions in SC and
CR, it will even give you a daily estimated GMAT score.
Verbal Advantage – you may have seen badges and posts about it – make sure you use
this initiative. Every year for about 3 months, GMAT club teams up with the best verbal
prep companies to bring you the best experts, articles, and questions. You can use these
resources at any time and benefit from the previous years of work. Verbal Advantage
2013 and also the first season – Verbal Advantage 2012
Take the verbal-only portion of the tests to evaluate your progress (compare to how you
did in the diagnostic test).
Another worthwhile resource for you may be this quant-focused discussion: how to get
from V30 to V40
Month 3
This month should be spent on 2 things: taking full length tests (polishing your test taking
techniques, timing, stamina) and Reviewing your error log (going through your
weaknesses, making sure you understand why you keep making mistakes and how to
solve every problem you encountered). You can start using Error log earlier than this by
the way - the earlier the better.
You can also use this time to prolong your prep (we assume most will run about 4 weeks
late and will need this time) or you can use it to spend on digging deeper in some areas.
Schedule your test if you have not done so already.
Start taking full length tests (including AWA and IR ) - this is important for your test
stamina. Plan to spend a Saturday on this and then subsequent test review.
Spend a few weeks taking tests and drilling down into your areas of weakness. Create a
"black list of questions" that you continue to struggle with and find a way to solve them
with minimal mental effort.
For IR, there is always the big question of, how important is IR really, and the answer,
clearly, is – nobody knows. We expect that it will be more definite in 2015/2016 years
when the first IR test-takers have graduated and GMAC can trace patterns. Meanwhile,
go here for IR resources and practice.
The
BIG
Day
and
Final
Make sure you take a look at these before you take the GMAT:
Thoughts
What to do 30-14-7-1 days before the GMAT?
What to expect at the test center and 8 things not to do
Analysis of Patterns among those who scored 750+ and what they did
The best of GMAT Club’s debriefs – get inspired!
1. Dec 13 - Planning
2. Dec 14 - Dec 21 - SC Preparation
3. Dec 22 - 28 - SC Preparation
4. Dec 29 - Jan 4 - CR Preparation
5. Jan 5 - 11 - CR Preparation
6. Jan 12 - 18 - RC Preparation
7. Jan 19 - GMAT Prep Mock Test
8. Jan 20 - 25 - SC, CR, RC Fine Tuning
9. Jan 26 - Verbal Mock Test - GMAT Prep - 42
10. Jan 27 - 31 - Quant Preparation
11. Feb 2 - 8 - Quant Preparation
12. Feb 9 - 15 - Mocks - GMAT Prep
13. Feb 17 - GMAT
