GMAT Strategy

I'm finally done with the GMAT with a 710 (48Q, 40V). Here's the history and the strategy I adopted.

After scoring borderline 690s and a crushing 650 last year, I was feeling quite dejected and my life was in a downward spiral. I dealt with negative thoughts. Every single day. May be, I'm not good enough. What if I never cross the 700 mark? All this was until I discovered Ron Purewal and the free Manhattan GMAT "Thursdays with Ron" sessions conducted by Ron Purewal.

Suddenly, the GMAT became an interesting game. Ron is the best teacher I've had. After you listen to him explaining a concept, you will never forget it. He just takes 6 to 8 slides to explain a topic over the course of a 90 minute session. But the way he does it is fascinating. Even if he was teaching the most boring subject in the world, he would find a way to make it interesting. His attitude towards the GMAT is simply awesome!

Here's my GMAT strategy:

1. I started my preparation from March 1st, 2012. For Quant, I used the following MGMAT Strategy guides: MGMAT Number Properties, MGMAT FDPs, MGMAT Inequalities, MGMAT Geometry and MGMAT Word Translations. For Verbal, I used the PowerScore CR Bible and MGMAT Sentence Correction guide. For practice, I used the OG-12 and OG review for quant and verbal.
2. The way I did this: I would read a chapter in the MGMAT guide and do the relevant problems in the OG-12 and OG Quant or Verbal Review for that chapter. Using an excel sheet that classifies OG problems by topics, I focused on the questions, chapter-wise.
3. When I made mistakes in the OG questions, I searched the explanation on the GMAT Club forums and Beat the GMAT forums. The GMAT Club Legend, Bunuel, with his patience and crystal clear explanations, was prompt in replying and clearing my doubts. To understand algebraic approaches, I referred to Bunuel's posts.
4. When I didn't want to do algebraic methods and wanted to follow shortcuts such as number plugging, I looked up the explanations posted by GMATGuruNY and Anurag@Gurome on the Beat the GMAT forums. These explanations were incredibly easy to follow.
5. On a side-note, Manhattan GMAT is not supposed to post OG questions, as the GMAC has explicitly asked them not to. If a guy like Ron explained all the problems in the OG, GMAC would be out of business.
6. I mainly listened to the FREE Manhattan GMAT study hall sessions "Thursdays with Ron". I'm a die-hard fan of Ron Purewal now. For me, the Timing considerations on the GMAT and backup methods sessions were CRUCIAL in breaking the 80th percentile in quant . I went through all the quant study hall sessions and all sessions for RC and CR. I had about 10 sessions remaining in SC, which I had to reluctantly omit because there was no time.
7. I took 2 GMAT Preps and one Manhattan GMAT test during these four weeks. I used the Manhattan GMAT forums to understand the GMAT Prep errors. GMAT Prep questions are allowed on the Manhattan GMAT. I scored 750 on GMAT Prep 1 and 720 on the MGMAT test and a 700 on GMAT Prep 2.
8. I used to alternate between Quant and Verbal. When I was tired of doing quant questions from the OG, I would read a chapter from MGMAT SC and do the OG SC questions, or read a chapter from the Powerscore CR bible.
9. I also made time to do one LSAT CR section a day. These were really hard for me. But I finished the verbal section 41 minutes ahead of time and I believe that my extensive practice using these super hard LSAT tests is one of the reasons. 
10. I did not do LSAT RC. I found that I promptly fell asleep if I read any of those passages. So used my  judgment here and skipped them.

1. Watch one session of Thursdays with Ron every day. Take snapshots of the class and put it into a word doc for later review. Try to complete all sessions, starting from the timing considerations and backup methods sessions and move on to sessions on your weak areas.
2. Do one LSAT CR section every day. Review your errors the same day. One LSAT CR section has about 25 questions.
3. Work on 2 quant chapters and the relevant OG questions every day. Search  the GMAT Club or Beat  the GMAT forums for explanations to the questions on which you made mistakes.
4. Work on one verbal chapter (either from MGMAT SC or PowerScore CR) and the relevant OG questions every day.
5. Take one Full Length test every week. Search the Manhattan GMAT forums for explanations, especially those of Ron for the questions on which you made mistakes.

If you have further questions, please let me know. I would be glad to help in any way I can, because I have experienced the pain and effort it takes to finally get there!

Clear Admit BoB!

Thank you Clear Admit, for considering my blog as one of the nominees. Now that my GMAT journey is officially over, I can focus on other stuff and am glad to be back on the blogging scene!

In the 700 club!

710 (48 Q, 40 V). When I saw the score on the screen, this was my reaction! With a neat 80 percentile on Quant and 89 percentile on Verbal, and with an overall 92 percentile, I'm SO happy! After the days of heartache of just missing the target at 690 twice and a lowly 650 once, I am relieved that I will not be taking this exam again. EVER.

Day 31 - Apr 15

 Plan (2Q, 4V, 3 sessions with Ron, 90 OG-Q, 130 OG-V inclusive)

1. MGMAT WT - Comb/Prob/Stats - Advanced
2. MGMAT EI - Formulas and Functions Advanced
3. Powerscore CR - Parallel reasoning, Numbers and percentages
4. MGMAT EI - Inequalities Advanced 
5. MGMAT questions on Advanced EI (chapters 10-13)
6. MGMAT questions on Advanced NP (chapters 10-12)
7. MGMAT questions on Advanced WT(chapters11-12)
8. MGMAT - Strategies for DS
9. Powerscore CR - Evaluate the argument, Cannot be true questions
10. MGMAT SC - Pronouns and modifiers - Advanced
11. MGMAT SC - Verbs and Comparisons - Advanced
12. Review OG errors, Ron's notes, GMATPrep errors, MGMAT errors, DS rephrasing
13. GMAT Prep 2 
14. MGMAT Test
15. Review AWA

Day 30 - Apr 14

Plan (6Q, 6V, 3 sessions with Ron, 200 OG-Q, 133-V inclusive)

1. OG CR - Strengthen - 26 qns
2. MGMAT questions on Overlapping Sets, Minor Problem Types
3. MGMAT WT - Rates and Work Advanced
4. MGMAT EI - Equations Advanced
5. OG PS and DS - Statistics - 55 qns
6. OG PS and DS - Overlapping Sets - 27 qns
7. OG PS and DS - Miscellaneous - 25 qns
8. Powerscore CR - Method of reasoning, Flaw in the reasoning
9. MGMAT EI - Formulas and Functions Advanced
10. MGMAT EI - Inequalities Advanced 
11. MGMAT WT - Comb/Prob/Stats - Advanced
12. MGMAT questions on Advanced EI 
13. MGMAT questions on Advanced NP
14. MGMAT questions on Advance WT
15. Powerscore CR - Parallel reasoning, Numbers and percentages
16. Powerscore CR - Evaluate the argument, Cannot be true questions
17. MGMAT SC - Pronouns and modifiers - Advanced
18. MGMAT SC - Verbs and Comparisons - Advanced 
19. Review OG errors, Ron's notes, GMAT Prep errors, MGMAT errors, DS rephrasing
20. GMAT Prep 2 

Day 29 - Apr 13

Plan (9Q, 7V, 3 sessions with Ron, 215 OG-Q, 163-V inclusive)

1. MGMAT NP - Divisibility and Primes - Adv
2. MGMAT NP - Odds and Evens/Positives and Negatives/Consecutive Integers - Adv
3. MGMAT NP - Exponents and Roots - Adv
4. PowerScore CR - Resolve the Paradox Questions
5. OG CR - Strengthen - 26 qns
6. Ron's Session on CR - Boldface questions
7. LSAT 14 - 50 qns, Review LSAT 13 errors
8. MGMAT questions on Overlapping Sets, Minor Problem Types
9. OG PS and DS - Combinatorics and Probability - 15 qns
10. OG PS and DS - Statistics - 55 qns
11. OG PS and DS - Overlapping Sets - 27 qns
12. OG PS and DS - Miscellaneous - 25 qns

Day 28 - Apr 12

Plan (9 Q, 8 V, 3 sessions with Ron inclusive)

1. MGMAT NP - Divisibility and Primes - Adv
2. MGMAT NP - Odds and Evens/Positives and Negatives/Consecutive Integers - Adv
3. MGMAT NP - Exponents and Roots - Adv
4. PowerScore CR - Strengthen and Assumption Questions
5. PowerScore CR - Resolve the Paradox Questions
6. OG PS and DS - Rates and Work  - 36 qns
7. OG PS and DS - Ratios - 21 qns
8. OG CR - Strengthen - 26 qns
9. Ron's Session on CR - Boldface questions
10. LSAT 14 - 50 qns, Review LSAT 13 errors
11. MGMAT questions on Advanced FDPs, Combinatorics, Probability
12. MGMAT questions on Overlapping Sets, Minor Problem Types

Skipped a day

Took a break. It seemed as if the whole city was on the roads due to the commotion caused by the earthquake tremors and the consequent Tsunami warnings.

Day 27 - Apr 10

Plan (12 Q, 8 V, 4 sessions with Ron inclusive)

1. Powerscore CR - Strengthen, Assumption
2. OG - PS - VIC, Formulas and Functions - 42 qns
3. OG - CR - Weaken - 23 qns
4. OG - SC - Advanced Parallelism - 22 qns
5. MGMAT  WT - Overlapping Sets
6. MGMAT WT - Minor Problem Types
7. MGMAT FDPs - Advanced Strategy
8. Ron session - Backup Methods

Day 26 - Apr 9

Plan (15 Q, 9 V, 4 sessions with Ron inclusive)

1. Powerscore CR - Strengthen, Assumption
2. MGMAT WT - Combinatorics
3. MGMAT WT - Probability
4. MGMAT WT - Statistics
5. OG - PS - VIC, Formulas and Functions - 42 qns
6. OG - DS - Inequalities - 22 qns
7. OG - CR - Weaken - 23 qns
8. OG - SC - Advanced Parallelism - 22 qns
9. Ron Session - Backup methods

Unfinished Topics

Every time I decide to take the GMAT, I start with MGMAT guides. I want to complete the following, but always find that I am not able to complete it. This is because I get interrupted by other stuff. As soon as I take the GMAT, I'm usually mentally exhausted, that I don't feel like looking at GMAT books for a while. But this time, I need to go with the flow and complete the following. Here are the topics that are unfinished.

1. 4GMAT
2. LSAT tests
3. Gmatclub tests
4. Kaplan tests
5. Kaplan 800
6. All of Ron's sessions plus taking notes on quant sessions 
7. MGMAT SC - Idioms
8. Quantum CAT

Day 25 - Apr 8

Plan (18 Q, 10 V, 4 sessions with Ron inclusive)

1. MGMAT SC - Parallelism Advanced Strategy
2. MGMAT EI - VIC
3. MGMAT WT - Rates and Work
4. MGMAT WT - Ratios
5. Powerscore CR - Strengthen, Assumption
6. Ron session on backup methods

Day 24 - Apr 7

Plan ( 10 V, 20 Q, 5 sessions with Ron inclusive)

1. Ron session - Flexibility in problem solving
2. MGMAT - WT - Algebraic Translations
   
3. MGMAT - EI - Inequalities
4. MGMAT SC - Parallelism Advanced Strategy

MGMAT Test 1

Took MGMAT Test 1 with 720 - 43 Q, 45V. Made 18 mistakes in quant and 6 mistakes in verbal. Analyzed the mistakes. Have to start taking gmat club tests to improve my quant.

Day 23 - Apr 6

Plan (20 Q, 12 V, 16 sessions with Ron inclusive)

1. Powerscore CR - Cause and Effect
2. MGMAT Test
3. MGMAT - WT - Algebraic Translations
4. MGMAT - EI & VICS - Inequalities
5. Ron's session on RC - More on Inference

Day 22 - Apr 5

Plan (12 V, 22 Q, 16 sessions with Ron inclusive)

1. Powerscore CR - Cause and Effect
2. 4GMAT Quadratic Equations
3. Equations, Inequalities - Formulas
4. Equations, Inequalities - Functions
5. Ron's session - More on main idea
6. MGMAT Test
7. LSAT 13
8. RC 4 passages from the OG

Skipped a day

Skipped a day as I was catching up on the OG backlog in my study plan. Still have a bunch of weaken questions to practice and time is fast running out.

Day 21 - Apr 3

Plan (12 V, 25 Q, 16 sessions with Ron)

1. MGMAT test
2. Powerscore CR - Weaken
3. 4GMAT - Quadratic Equations
4. MGMAT Inequalities - Basic Equations
5. MGMAT Inequalities - Exponents
6. MGMAT Inequalities - Quadratic Equations 
7. Ron session: More on Inference in RC
8. LSAT Test 13 
9. OG - RC - 4 Passages
10. GMAT club test

Day 20 - Apr 2

Plan ( 13 V, 27 Q)

1. Ron's session - RC, Inference
2. MGMAT test
3. MGMAT SC - Odds and Ends
4. 4GMAT - Quadratic Equations
5. LSAT 12 
6. FDPs - Percents
7. FDPs - FDP strategy

Day 19 - Apr 1

Plan ( 13 V, 33 Q)

1. Ron's second session on CR- Problems with Numbers and Statistics 
2. MGMAT test
3. MGMAT SC - Odds and Ends
4. 4GMAT - Quadratic Equations
5. MGMAT Geometry - DS
6. MGMAT Number Properties - DS
7. LSAT 12 
8. FDPs - Fractions

Day 18 - Mar 31

Plan

1. 4GMAT Simple Linear Equations
2. MGMAT Geometry - Advanced Geometry Strategy
3. LSAT Test 12

Day 17 - Mar 30

Plan

1. 4GMAT Simple Linear Equations
2. Powerscore CR - Main Point
3. MGMAT SC - Comparisons
4. GMAT Prep 2
5. MGMAT Geometry - Coordinate Plane Strategy
6. MGMAT Geometry - Advanced Geometry Strategy
7. LSAT Test 12
8. Ron's session on CR: Problem's with numbers and statistics

Skipped a day

Skipped a day as I was catching up on the backlog in my study plan.

Day 16 - Mar 28

Plan

1. 4GMAT Simple Linear Equations
2. Powerscore CR - Must be True questions
3. MGMAT Geometry - Lines and Angles
4. MGMAT Geometry - Strategies for DS
5. GMAT club test
6. LSAT Test 11 - Review Errors
7. Ron's lecture - RC, short passages

Day 15 - Mar 27

Plan

1. 4GMAT Number Properties Chapter
2. MGMAT SC -Verb Tense, Mood, Voice 
3. GMAT club test
4. MGMAT Geometry  - Circles OG questions - 14
5. MGMAT FDPs - Digits OG questions - 22
6. Triangles and Diagonals OG questions -  15
7. LSAT Test 11

My view on LSAT

LSAT Critical Reasoning is hard. I realized that after completing 200 questions from LSAT CR. For anyone who is reading the passage first and then the CR question, it is going to be double HARD. Listen to Ron. I was able to reduce my errors by reading what I'm looking for FIRST. Then I went ahead and looked for what ever it was I'm supposed to be looking for. Otherwise, the answer choices will trick you into choosing something insane.

Skipped a day

Took time to go over my strategy for CR and didn't really do anything according to plan.

GMAT Prep I

Scored 750 with 48 Quant and 44 Verbal. Made 11 mistakes in quant and 4 in verbal. Score must be skewed as most of the passages were familiar to me. My plan is to minimize the number of mistakes in quant and verbal and gain mastery on both. As this test is the closest indicator of actual performance, I would be taking this test, at least the quant portion, as many times as possible.

Day 14 - Mar 25

Plan

1. 4GMAT Number Properties Chapter
2. MGMAT SC -Verb Tense, Mood, Voice
3. GMAT club test
4. GMAT prep 1
5. MGMAT Geometry  - Triangles and Diagonals
6. MGMAT FDPs - Digits and Decimals
7. LSAT Test 11
8. Ron's session on Reading Comp - Main Idea

Day 13 - Mar 24

Plan

1. 4GMAT Number Properties Chapter
2. Strategies for DS - MGMAT Number Properties
3. MGMAT SC -Verb Tense, Mood, Voice
4. GMAT club test
5. GMAT prep 1
6. Ron's session on CR - Conclusion
7. Ron's session on CR - Strengthen/Weaken/Evaluate the Argument
8. Ron's session on CR - Explain the Situation
9. Powerscore CR - The Question Stem and Answer Choices
10. MGMAT Geometry - Polygons

Skipped a day

I had an unexpected visit from a friend, so I had to skip a day.

Day 12 - Mar 22

Plan

1. 4GMAT Number Properties Chapter
   
2. Ron's recording on Parallelism
   
3. LSAT Test 10 - 2 CR Sections
4. Strategies for DS - MGMAT Number Properties
5. MGMAT SC -Verb Tense, Mood, Voice

Day 11 - Mar 21

Plan

1. The basics of CR from Powerscore CR guide
2. 4GMAT Number Properties Chapter
3. Ron's recording on Parallelism
4. MGMAT Number Properties - Roots
5. MGMAT Number Properties - PEDMAS
6. GMAT Club Test 1
7. LSAT Test 10 - 2 CR Sections
8. Review GMAT Club Test Errors

GMATClub Test 1

I took the first gmatclub test M01 today. I followed the suggestions for timing considerations and I was not stressed out or anything while taking the test. I simply guessed and moved on. When you're clueless about the question, that's the best thing to do. Here are my results.

Test    Correct    Total    % Correct            Percentile
m01     26             37              70%                46%

Day 10 - Mar 20

Plan

1. Consecutive Integers chapter from MGMAT Number Properties
2. OG questions related to Consecutive Integers
3. Exponents chapter from MGMAT Number Properties
4. OG questions related to Exponents
5. Modifiers chapter from MGMAT SC
6. OG questions related to Modifiers
7. The basics of CR from Powerscore CR guide
8. 4GMAT Number Properties Chapter
9. Ron's recording on Parallelism
10. LSAT Test 9 (2 CR sections)

Skipped a day

I skipped a whole day because I wanted to understand the timing strategy for the test, so I spent time listening to the lectures on the psychological aspects of timing on the GMAT. Worth it. If you need details, refer to the "Timing Considerations" session in Ron Purewal's lectures. Link on resources page.

Topics I'm omitting

I've decided to remove Quantum CAT and LSAT RC from my study topics. There will simply not be enough time to do these. Instead, I'm replacing these with 4GMAT and Aristotle RC respectively.

Day 9 - Mar 18

Plan

1. Odds and evens from the MGMAT Number Properties Guide
2. Positives and Negatives from the MGMAT Number Properties Guide
3. Pronouns chapter from MGMAT SC Guide
4. Intro to CR from Powerscore CR Bible
5. Questions on divisibility and primes from OG
6. Questions on odds and evens from OG
7. Questions on positives and negatives from OG
8. Questions on Pronouns from OG
9. Ron Recording
10. LSAT Test 9
11. 80 questions on Quantum CAT
12. GMAT Club Test 1

I'm doing only the general questions now. As soon as I complete the advanced chapters, I will do the advanced questions. There are 47 chapters in all the 5 guides of MGMAT quant. My target is to complete the general chapters in all guides (31 of them) and then take one day for each of the advanced chapters.  So, the general chapters would have to be covered at least 2 chapters a day. My target end date is the 31st of March.

Why plans fail

A major reasons plans fail is because once you make the plan, you're all happy and forget about the plan. And one fine day, you wake up wondering where the hell all the time went.

Another reason is because you forget to re-visit the plan and change the strategy according to changing circumstances. Your plan is too rigid. So to avoid these two pitfalls, here's what I'll be doing.

1. Each day, write a blog post on what I plan to accomplish THAT DAY.
2. Re-visit the plan each week and if things are not working as planned, REVISE the plan.

Focus Booster

Discovered a new tool online to help me focus better. This cool tool, focus booster helps plan my study time and time my questions in productive intervals of 25 mins.

Day 8 - Mar 17

1. Completed the parallelism chapter on the MGMAT SC Guide. 
2. Completed 50 parallelism questions from OG-12.

Day 7 - Mar 7

Completed 20 CR and 20 SC from OG-10.

Day 6 - Mar 6

1. Did 32 Strengthen the argument CR questions from OG-12.
2. Completed the first chapter on the MGMAT Number Properties Guide.

Day 5 - Mar 5

Couldn't do much in the morning as I had to leave early to office for a meeting. On reaching there, found out that the meeting was canceled, just minutes before it was planned to start. Anyways, my morning plan was screwed up. Here's what I did in the evening:

1. MGMAT SC - Subject Verb Agreement

2. OG - 12,  Subject, Verb Agreement - 25 questions

Finally, found a way to take snapshots of Ron Purewal's classes. Took snapshots of classes 1 and 2 for Verbal. This made me really happy, since I was not too excited about the prospect of writing down detailed SC and CR questions. Not to mention RC!

Day 4 - Mar 4

LSAT test 7, CR section 4 complete.
LSAT test 7, RC section 3, RC passages 1 and 2 complete.
Reviewed all the incorrect answers in LSAT tests 7 and 15.

Day 3 - Mar 3

Started the day by watching Ron Purewal's "Thursdays with Ron" free session "Sentence Correction - Miscellaneous Topics". I've already completed viewing all the maths topics and taking notes. For anyone out there reading this blog, I've added a Resources page containing a link to the Thursdays with Ron. It has a whole lot of useful stuff and several sessions on Quant and Verbal. Incredibly useful!

Did a bit of jumping rope as part of my exercise routine. I used to swim during weekends, but considering my three month plan for GMAT, I decided not to spend too much time traveling to the pool, and chose skipping as an effective means to keep fit. I'm also cooking everyday, to avoid the burnout and weakness resulting from eating junk food. Nothing fancy, just simple meals to stay healthy.

I also watched "Critical Reasoning: Assumption" from Thursdays with Ron. In my GMAT study list, I completed the following today:

1. LSAT test 15, CR section 3
2. LSAT test 15, RC section 3rd and 4th passages
3. OG 12 - CR, Assumption questions (24 questions)

OG 12

Looking back, I see the mistake that I did while working through the OG. I would just work through all the problems sequentially without any method. And then, today, I was searching on strategies, to cross that 700 mark and I found this link, which immediately made sense to me. Work on one kind of problem at a time. Here's why.

http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/20110623/acing-the-gmat/slides/2

Day 2 - Mar 2

1. LSAT test 15, CR section 2 completed
2. MGMAT SC - Chapters 1 and 2 completed - 19 SC questions from OG done

Day 1 - Mar 1

1. Completed 25 questions from Quantum CAT
2. LSAT test 7, CR section 2 completed
3. LSAT test 15, RC section 1, 2 passages completed

The road ahead

From my earlier experience, I understood clearly that applying to schools is not to be done in a week. It takes months to craft out that perfect essay, get those glowing recommendations and hit the submit button without going crazy. So here's my plan for the coming months.

1. Quantum CAT
2. Aristotle SC, Aristotle RC, PowerScore CR
3. LSAT CR and RC
4. Manhattan GMAT books + OG
5. CATs during weekends

Updates so far

My highest GMAT score so far is 690 (45 Q, 40 V).  I've decided to re-take the GMAT and score above the 700 mark. I didn't have it in me to start another blog, so I just deleted all my earlier posts and would be blogging about my GMAT prep. 

By the way, the GMAT format is changing, so it would be better to take the GMAT by the end of May.