GMAT Preparation Strategy and Material
Here is the preparation strategy and material that enabled me to score very well on the GMAT. Good luck and reach out any time for advice.
- RB
Preparation Strategy:
Put in a minimum of 120 hours of prep if you want to ensure a top score relative to your potential.
MBA.com is the official GMAT preparation material source. I recommend you buy their online prep package that comes with two official practice exams and a bank of practice problems. The latest GMAT official guide book is a must-buy resource as well.
When I was preparing for the test, Veritasprep.com had a prep package with seven online practice exams and MBA.com offered two. The accuracy of the MBA.com practice exams better reflected that of the real test, so I recommend you do Veritas' tests first. Save the MBA.com exams for the weeks before the real test.
How you start prep is up to you. Diagnostic tests in the official guidebook are good, and I started with these. In the early days of prep, it is critical to learn and become extremely familiar with how the test is structured. Map out all of the problem topics and sub-topics and get comfortable with what these are. Start thinking about what sub-categories give you trouble.
Quant contains two problem types: Problem Solving (get to an answer) and Data Sufficiency (logic, you don't actually compute the answer), spread across these topics:
Number properties
Ratios
Rates, speed, and distance
Percentages, %change, money problems
Algebra
Geometry
Sets & statistics
Combinatronics & counting methods
Probabilities
Verbal contains:
Reading comprehension
Sentence correction
Critical reasoning
I may be missing one or two in Quant. Map all of these out. Keep figuring out your weaknesses categorically while memorizing & working with the standard formulas that apply to each problem type.
Getting comfortable with recognizing the “approach concept” for a problem type along with the standard equations is absolutely key. You should do enough problems of each concept that you can recognize and do the problems intuitively. I can't explain these concepts in this introduction. A tutor can help you get intimate with concepts and approaches once you have built a decent understanding of the test structure and your own strengths and weaknesses within that structure.
For verbal, sentence correction skill is the easiest to improve as it is essentially memorization of grammar rules combined with pattern recognition.
This is an approximation, but I spent my prep time in a ratio of 60/40 math/verbal. Within verbal I spent significantly more time on sentence correction work. This time split is founded in my mental strengths & weaknesses, so I am just passing this on should it be useful
I hired a Manhattan review tutor. 12 hours, 6 classes @ $1500 or so. Online 1 on 1 meeting. It's beneficial, but it would have been more valuable if I had come with a target list of concepts to work on. See my earlier point about figuring out your weaknesses by problem type. Manhattan has some prep material that reviews concepts & approaches. This comes with the tutor package. It’s strong. If you do not want to spend money on a tutor and you are able to figure out which concepts give you trouble, dedicate large chunks of time to practice problems within those problem categories, and do this one category at a time. Do this until those problems are intuitive to you. Getting to this point with each concept will also help your psyche. The mental game of the GMAT is incredibly important, and eliminating concern before and stress during the test will directly improve your score.
Back to the practice exams. I did one at the start of prep to get a baseline, one three weeks in, and four spread across the last two-and-a-half weeks to get into a rhythm. The last four practice exams were done at an unfamiliar location and timed, in order to create a real-test stress scenario. These tests honed my sense that would tell me to skip a problem and move on. This ended up being a critical skill on the real test: I skipped a problem on quant after ~20 seconds of looking at it and still scored very well.
I went as far as buying the laminated test workbook to use in practice, and the three days before the test I was up @ 5:45 AM walking the dog, visualizing my test day, and getting into a rhythm. This helped me; it may or may not help you.
Attached is some material. Settle in to the preparation grind, gain confidence from your effort, and you will do well. Don’t hesitate to reach out for advice or if you simply need someone in your corner.
Richard Burroughs