My GMAT Strategy
January 16, 2006
After a good amount of days organizing my new home, I can finally say that I finished my work in that area. The house looks neat and very comfortable, so I am really happy that I don’t have to spend more time on it.
Well back in business, Today, I will start my GMAT preparation again, yesterday I planned my strategy and the time frame for it.
First, I thought that I would take the test on May 27th, but then I realized, that it is too early, plus, taking into account that I am applying for fall 2.007, so I settled July 8th as a possible date to take the test.
I know some people could say that it is a very long preparation period, but the problem is that my math is very very rusty, and I think that the most important part for this subject is to have clear concepts before practicing OG or anything else, so I am going to spend a really good amount of time in this part.
Also, since English is not my native language, there are three skills that I really need to work on in order to make things easy for the test, those skills are: Vocabulary, Grammar and Reading.
So well, here is my strategy for each section:
General GMAT Strategy:
Get an OG´s general approach to each section of the test.
Go through Kaplan’s GMAT Book.
Math Strategy:
Go through Barron’s GRE Math review (is a really good one)
And use the rest of my Math books in order to review the different parts of the test, here is the schedule:
January: Arithmetic’s. I will use my Baldor´s book in order to finish it.
February: From 01.02.06 till 14.02.06: Numbers Theory. I don’t have the materials yet, but I have my book El Diablo de los numeros (the numbers devil, in Spanish) as an introduction, and I hope to get a good amount of numbers theory material for that date.
February – March: From 15.02.06 till 16.03.06: Algebra. I will use my Practical Algebra book from Wiley Editorial.
March - April: From 17.03.06 till 10.04.06: Geometry. I will use my Geometry book from Schaum´s.
April: From 11.04.06 till the end of the month: Statistics. I don’t have a statistics book in English, I have a good one in Spanish, but I think that for this subject I will hire a teacher to help me with this stuff.
May: 02.05.06 till 15.05.06: Combination and Permutations. I don’t have a book in any language for this matter, but I think that for this subject I will hire a teacher to help me with this stuff or maybe I will go through Delta Course Material, which is supposed to be good.
Verbal Strategy:
Get good grammar basis build by using some online material that I got, and also my Grammar in Use book from Cambridge Editorial.
For Vocabulary, I have the Barron’s GRE Vocabulary list. It is a very good list of words, consisting in 3.000 words, some of them I know already, but I want to go trough the whole stuff, I already checked and if I learn 19 words a day, on the way to my office, I will have the whole document ready by the time the test comes.
And for reading, I will go trough The economist (I’ve been subscribed to them for some time now), Mc Kinsey Quarterly (which is supposed to be good) and also Scientific American. And also my books in English: Sophie’s world and the Lord of the Rings (both already started).
The only verbal part that I would like to start before touching OG is the Grammar Building, because for the Vocabulary and Reading parts, I think will develop them trough time.
AWA Strategy:
Create and practice a template for each kind of essay and then write 1 timed essay of each kind every 15 days.
OG and other materials:
After all of these actions, I will start working on the OG eventually I think that for the verbal part at the middle of March and the math part at the middle of May. I will mix OG with other materials that I have in order to get the maximum amount of practice before the test.
For my preparation, I have an approximate amount of 165 days, from 16.01.06 until 30.06.06 I will leave the first week of July for review and relax.
Well back in business, Today, I will start my GMAT preparation again, yesterday I planned my strategy and the time frame for it.
First, I thought that I would take the test on May 27th, but then I realized, that it is too early, plus, taking into account that I am applying for fall 2.007, so I settled July 8th as a possible date to take the test.
I know some people could say that it is a very long preparation period, but the problem is that my math is very very rusty, and I think that the most important part for this subject is to have clear concepts before practicing OG or anything else, so I am going to spend a really good amount of time in this part.
Also, since English is not my native language, there are three skills that I really need to work on in order to make things easy for the test, those skills are: Vocabulary, Grammar and Reading.
So well, here is my strategy for each section:
General GMAT Strategy:
Get an OG´s general approach to each section of the test.
Go through Kaplan’s GMAT Book.
Math Strategy:
Go through Barron’s GRE Math review (is a really good one)
And use the rest of my Math books in order to review the different parts of the test, here is the schedule:
January: Arithmetic’s. I will use my Baldor´s book in order to finish it.
February: From 01.02.06 till 14.02.06: Numbers Theory. I don’t have the materials yet, but I have my book El Diablo de los numeros (the numbers devil, in Spanish) as an introduction, and I hope to get a good amount of numbers theory material for that date.
February – March: From 15.02.06 till 16.03.06: Algebra. I will use my Practical Algebra book from Wiley Editorial.
March - April: From 17.03.06 till 10.04.06: Geometry. I will use my Geometry book from Schaum´s.
April: From 11.04.06 till the end of the month: Statistics. I don’t have a statistics book in English, I have a good one in Spanish, but I think that for this subject I will hire a teacher to help me with this stuff.
May: 02.05.06 till 15.05.06: Combination and Permutations. I don’t have a book in any language for this matter, but I think that for this subject I will hire a teacher to help me with this stuff or maybe I will go through Delta Course Material, which is supposed to be good.
Verbal Strategy:
Get good grammar basis build by using some online material that I got, and also my Grammar in Use book from Cambridge Editorial.
For Vocabulary, I have the Barron’s GRE Vocabulary list. It is a very good list of words, consisting in 3.000 words, some of them I know already, but I want to go trough the whole stuff, I already checked and if I learn 19 words a day, on the way to my office, I will have the whole document ready by the time the test comes.
And for reading, I will go trough The economist (I’ve been subscribed to them for some time now), Mc Kinsey Quarterly (which is supposed to be good) and also Scientific American. And also my books in English: Sophie’s world and the Lord of the Rings (both already started).
The only verbal part that I would like to start before touching OG is the Grammar Building, because for the Vocabulary and Reading parts, I think will develop them trough time.
AWA Strategy:
Create and practice a template for each kind of essay and then write 1 timed essay of each kind every 15 days.
OG and other materials:
After all of these actions, I will start working on the OG eventually I think that for the verbal part at the middle of March and the math part at the middle of May. I will mix OG with other materials that I have in order to get the maximum amount of practice before the test.
For my preparation, I have an approximate amount of 165 days, from 16.01.06 until 30.06.06 I will leave the first week of July for review and relax.
posted by Catalina at 1/16/2006, | 
5 Comments:
sorry to peep in again. You got your total TOEFL score?
Hi Piyu... Thanks very much for your help, I really appreciate it. I will see your thread update. I was thinking the same thing about the word list... The other day I tried on the way to the office and the problem is that I ended up carsick.. (all dizzy) so I figured out that it wasn’t a really good idea, so what I am doing now is that I am hearing audio books on the way to the office.
About math, for me I really need to refresh my math bases urgently, because I am really bad in that area.
I am really thinking more and more about getting Manhattan’s SC....
About the TOEFL, nothing yet =(
I wrote ETS trying to find out what is going on. If I don’t get my results this week I would have to pay 10 bucks in order to get them through the phone...
Thanks for your concern and being such a good friend =)
About math, for me I really need to refresh my math bases urgently, because I am really bad in that area.
I am really thinking more and more about getting Manhattan’s SC....
About the TOEFL, nothing yet =(
I wrote ETS trying to find out what is going on. If I don’t get my results this week I would have to pay 10 bucks in order to get them through the phone...
Thanks for your concern and being such a good friend =)
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Can somebody post me the 1000sc/CR/Rc at abhi1301@yahoo.com.
Regards Abhi
Regards Abhi
1. update the link of testmagic. Its urch.com/forums
2. Take devil by its horn. Start with the most difficult part for e.g probability in quant. Thn you can easily juggle in later months.
3. There is absolutely no need for the Baron's word list. You arent giving GRE, its GMAT. Put your efforts where its needed the maximum. Word list are of no help, believe me. And they takes hell lot of time.
4. Get manhattan sentence correction guide. Though i never used it, the feedback I recieved was really encouraging.
5. Leave test for last 2 months or you will end up with no practise test at the end. TIll thn, go for 1000 SC, 1000 CR+LSAT CR, 3000RC and quant practise questions.
just my inputs. Feel absolutely free not to implement thm , because at the end you need to personalize your own strategy.
PS: Check my thread on testmagic. Added some information about new GMAT (Pearson) since you shall be giving it under them.