8/13/2019 GMAT Study Plan - 30days

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How to prep for the GMAT in 30 Days

You scheduled your exam four months ago. You wanted enough time to study diligently, scoreabove the median at your target schools, and tackle your application before the deadline. But

somehow, life and work got in the way. Maybe wedding season had you traveling across the

country every weekend. Maybe you had a difficult project that forced you to spend evenings andweekends at the office. Whatever the reason, youre now in a bind the exam is just a month

away and youre not even sure what is going to betested. What do you do?

Let me be clear that in an ideal world, you would reschedule your test and ensure you have atleast three months to prepare. But lets say that isnt an option you dont want to apply during

the next round, and you cant wait another year. Heres your plan:

What youllneed 1-2 hours each weekday, and 5 hours each weekend day devoted to GMAT studying The Official Guide (13thedition, including Math/Verbal supplements) Access to ManhattanGMATs six adaptive tests The 2 GMATPrep practice exams, downloadable from mba.com Stopwatch Index cards to make flashcards Optional/as needed: Subject-specific strategy guides from ManhattanGMAT, and a style

guide such as Bryan GarnersThe Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style

What youlldoOn your first day, take a full-length test from mba.com. Make sure you complete each section,

including analytical writing, without pausing and take breaks of up to 8 minutes in between

sections. Do not stress if your score is sub-par; it is difficult to score in the upper echelons of testtakers without any prior study. It is possible to improve your score by more than 100 points in

just a few weeks. After a quick break, review the test thoroughly, going question by question and

identifying specific areas of weakness. Make flashcards for questions you got wrong or werent

sure about, and identify the question type (e.g., Geometry, Assumptions, Parallelism).

For the remainder of your first week of study, focus on your weakest area out of the following:

Problem Solving, Data Sufficiency, Critical Reasoning, Sentence Correction, and Reading

Comprehension. First, ensure you understand the basic format of the question type and what isbeing asked of you. Complete as many relevant questions as possible from the Official Guide

books and/or subject-specific guides. Note that questions are often listed in order of difficulty; if

you are already scoring in the 40s in Math, you may want to solely focus on medium and hard

questions. If you have the time, take one section of a practice test (e.g., Math or Verbal), ideallythe section you feel the weakest in.

If your weakest area is in the Math section, make flashcards with basic number properties,formulas, and definitions on them and memorize them. Memorize the decimal equivalents to

common fractions (e.g., 1/8 = 0.125), the squares up to 400, and divisibility rules. Yougraduated from high school, so youve learned this before, and it will come back to you quickly.

If your weakest area is sentence correction, read through a style guide and/or book on this topic.

This section is all about memorizing grammar rules: subject/verb agreement, pronouns, idioms,

etc. It can be tackled using brute force.

8/13/2019 GMAT Study Plan - 30days

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Data sufficiency, critical reasoning, and reading comprehension are a little harder to study for by

memorization alone, but as you do more and more problems, patterns will emerge. Prep books

identify these patterns and can teach you techniques to tackle each one of them.

In weeks 2 and 3, take two full-length practice tests and review your mistakes once again. Focuson the remaining question types in order of weakness, ideally two each week. As you tackle

questions, time yourselfon average, you should not be spending more than two minutes on any

problem. Create new flashcards for problems you missed, and review old flashcards. Set arealistic target score for yourself based on how youve progressed thus far.

Wind down your studying during week 4. Take the second test from mba.com, and review all of

your notes and flashcards. You should have already deep dived into your weakest areas, so you

shouldnt focus on the subject-specific study guides and learn new concepts. Focus on the most

difficult problems from the Official Guide that are within your reach dont spend time goingthrough easy problems that you know you can answer correctly.

The night before your test, do something relaxing and fun that will keep your mind off of the

GMAT and your looming applications. Try not to study. Go to bed early, and get plenty ofsleep.

On Game Day, make sure you eat enough before your exam. If you must, review your flashcards.

Its helpful to read a newspaper or book a few hours before your test to get your mind focused.

Bottom LineWhile thirty days is not typically enough time to study for the GMAT, it can be done with focusand discipline. Prioritization is key, since you wont be able to tackle everything thoroughly.

Relax, and stay positive! Worst comes to worst, you can retake the test and apply in the next

round.

Sunil Parekh is a professional GMAT tutor forVarsity Tutors. He graduated from StanfordUniversity in 2008 with a Bachelorsdegree in Biomechanical Engineering and scored a 770 on

the GMAT.

http://www.varsitytutors.com/http://www.varsitytutors.com/http://www.varsitytutors.com/http://www.varsitytutors.com/