1. Plan Your Preparation
There are many materials available. Its important that you choose the right material and not regret on wasting time on some unwanted material. These materials are considered the best.
OG 10/11 by far the best books to start with. OG 10 has more number of questions. I would suggest starting with OG10 and going through OG 11 towards the end.
GMAT Prep: The new GMAT Prep by Pearson is the closest the real GMAT Test. Though some questions from OG are repeated, It has a v big bank of questions. The OE is not found and you will have to resort to Forums. It has 2 practice tests. However you can take around 6-8 tests by deleting the old ones. From third test on questions will be repeated but still, you are sure to encounter many new questions.
1000 Series: Some 1000 SC/ CR/ RC and Quant questions have been compiled by us. These contain questions from different sources and they are must do.
Most of the VJJ's are part of Sets. Don't solve VJJ's till the end. If you solve it before you solve sets, you end up knowing answers to them while taking time sets. Solve these VJJ's 2-3 days before your exam.
(DONT USE THEM)
1.1. Schedule: 20 Weeks to GMAT
A proper plan and commitment towards implementing is the next step. This schedule is just a sample that I followed. You can tailor it as per your convenience and competency level.
Some Tips:
i. Practice the material in the form of Timed Practice tests. Track the day, test, answers, accuracy, average time taken for each question in an excel sheet. Create a sheet for every test you take.
ii. Analysis is the most important part. Spend as much time as possible in understanding each and every option. Its more important to know why an option is wrong than why an option is right. GMAT OG explains why the other options are wrong. The very same concepts are tested. When you analyze make sure to:
a. Find why you went wrong. Check if you know tested concept? Check the
material on the tested concept.
b. Check if your reasoning for every option matches with the given reasoning.
iv. Check your performance time to time. Accuracy doesn't increase over night. It happens with time and practice. Be patient. It happens not by solving more questions but only when you learn from your mistakes.
| Week | Activity | Progress/ Time (Hours) |
| 1 | Familiarize yourself with the pattern, Quant/ Verbal guides by Princeton or | |
| 2 | Start with 5 SC/CR/RC. Take each section as timed test with short 5 min break. | OG-35/35/7 Test - 1 Hr Analsys-1 Hr |
| 3 | Take the timed sections with no breaks. | OG-70/70/14 Test - 1 Hr Analsys-1 Hr |
| 4 | Time to accelerate. Increase the number of questions in each section to 10. | OG-140/140/21 Test - 1 Hr Analsys-1.5 Hr |
| 5 | Time to take up Math Include Math from OG. Solve 50 Math in 1 hour. Take a 10 min break before starting Verbal. To make it more like a real test, Take Math, Break , 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC. | OG-210/205/35 OG-M-300 Test - 2 Hr Analsys-2 Hr |
| 6 | Change the Gears. Increase the number of questions in each section to 15. You would have done with OG-CR Math, Break , 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR OG 10 - COMPLETE. | OG-270/205/43 OG-M-600 Test - 2 Hr Analsys-2 Hr |
| | Check Point: Check if there has been an improvement on accuracy towards the end. If so time to take up 1000 SC/CR/RC. Else Re-Do OG 10. | |
| 7-8 | Time for 1000 SC/ CR/ RC. 15 SC, 15 CR, 3 RC. Increase the no of RC's to 3. Pattern: Maths, Break, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC. | 1K-200/200/40 M-600 Test - 2.5 Hr Analsys-2.5 Hr |
| 9-10 | Change the gears. Increase the SC/ CR questions to 20 Math, Break, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR, and 1 RC. | 1K-480/480/80 M-1200 Test - 2.5 Hr Analsys-2.5 Hr |
| | Check Point: Check if there has been an improvement on accuracy towards the end. If so continue with 1000 SC/CR/RC. Else Re-Do OG 10. | |
| 11-12 | Continue. Continue the same schedule. Re-Start the Math | 1K-750/750/120 M-600 |
| | | Test - 2.5 Hr Analsys-2.5 Hr |
| 13-14 | Re-visit OG. Refresh your basics. 25 SC/ 25 CR/ 4 RC. Pattern: 50 Maths, Break, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC. | Complete OG Test - 2.5 Hr Analsys-2.5 Hr |
| 15-16 | Continue with 1000 SC. Increase the no of questions to 25. 25 SC/ 25 CR/ 4 RC. 60 Math, break, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR, 1 RC, 5 SC, 5 CR. 1000 Series - COMPLETE. | 1 K-COMPLETE OG-M-150 Test - 2.5 Hr Analsys-2.5 Hr |
| | Check Point: Check for improvement on accuracy towards the end. If yes, Time to Move on to SETS else redo OG | |
| 17-18 | Start SETS/ MJJ's. Start with SETS. One set everyday. Spare one more hour for MJJ's. Take one GMAT PREP Test | SETS-12 GMAT PREP-1 Test-2.5 MJJ-1 Analysys-1.5 |
| 19 | Continue SETS/ MJJ's. Continue with SETS. One set everyday. Spare one more hour for MJJ's. Take one GMAT PREP Test | SETS-18 GMAT PREP-2 Test-2.5 MJJ-1 Analysys-1.5 |
| 20 | Continue SETS/ MJJ's. Continue with SETS. One set everyday. Spare one more hour for MJJ's. Take one GMAT PREP Test. Spare one more hour to do GMAT Prep. It won't take more than a hour as many questions will repeat. | SETS-24 GMAT Prep-Retake-4 Test-2.5 Hr MJJ-1 Hr Analysys-1.5 GMAT Prep-1 Hr |
| FINAL | Revise. Complete some more sets and Revise everything. VJJ: Check out the VJJ's | SETS-28 GMAT Prep-Retake-1 VJJ's - 1Hr |
1.2. Forums
There are many Forums on GMAT. These forums play an important role in bringing many people onto the same platform. Some of these members are dedicated and contribute useful information.Efficient usage of forums. Efficient doesn't mean over posting. Who cares how many 'A' or 'B' or 'Agree' you post? There is no award for highest posters, but there will be admirers for every good post. you end up wasting time for all those unnecessary posts. Your objective is to learn and not being highest poster.
Search: Make use of search instead of posting every question as new thread. There will be enough posts on every question. You will be able to read lots of queries and answers that you may not be able to by posting a thread.
Post your explanation clearly. Try to answers to queries, give full explanation. There could be some misleading information as well. If you differ from any other explanation, post it. By doing so, you can correct others, correct yourself.
Don't solve every post on forum. Don't solve them unless you have solved them as part of your schedule earlier. If you solve them now, you will know answers while solving them in timed tests. This will affect in checking your accuracy and progress.
Track Ur posts: Track all your posts through Excel. Create 4 columns: Date, Post link, Post type(query, explanation), Status( open, Resolved)
