There are certain things which you will realise in the actual course of your preparation. But by that time you might have already lost some of your precious time. And that's the precise reason I thought of writing this, so as to keep you guyz from making the same mistakes as I did. In this article we will talk about the right approach, which the winners follow, the mistakes you should avoid and how to schedule your preparation accross 3 months.

calcium? It's a tough nut!

what winners do

  • Pick a date and register. I made a big calender for myself and stuck it before my study table. And obviously I highlighted the test date with a horrible colour :-D Also I put up stick-ons all around my place (mirrors, refrigirator, with dates on them) It's not getting psyched about it...but it really helps!!
  • Practise a lot with the GMAT Prep software. Its an exact replica of the actual test (Look Wise only!!).
  • Guess and estimate when you have to, but make educated guesses!
  • Its always better to finish off the section by making logical guesses than to leave the section unfinished.
  • Try your best on the initial questions. For a rocking performance keep the momentum going till the last question.
  • Some questions are not rated, but that doesn't mean you know which ones! So answer all questions properly.
  • Took advantage of every break during the GMAT. Take a bathroom break, some washed their face to wake up, got fresh air.
  • Visit the test center before the day of test. Many did so a week or two before.
  • Read the test intructions carefully and make sure you have everything you will need to bring to the test and what you should expect at the test center.
  • Make a special effort to improve your weaknesses along with strengthening your expertise during practice.
  • Take mock tests seriously. Try to emulate the environment as much you can. Do not take extra breaks during simulated tests.
  • Review all prior mistakes along with explanations.
  • Learn the most typical problems and answer types.
  • Review and study one section of the test at a time.
  • Record all mistakes on wrong questions and revisit them no sooner than 5 days. If still getting wrong, then zero on the subset's and go for more help.
  • Always read the explanation in the book to see why you get it wrong and take enough time to really understand the concept.
  • Go through the OG atleast 2 times. Learn everything the book offers you. Especally the explanations part.
  • Practise writing essays for AWA in the mock tests.
  • Prepare for atleast 3 months.
  • Build your stamina. Always do it the way you are supposed to do at the actual exam. So always do your exercises in a block of 2 hours and do atleast 80 questions in one sitting. This is VERY IMPORTANT. If you are not able to do this, you are not fit to take the exam.

Block methodology

  • A block is a lot of around 50 questions. You are required to have a small notebook, in which each page represents one block. The heading will have date, time, page no. of the book and topic name. Then the question numbers. After you have done one block of exercise, the page will have:
    a nswers against each question number, the second choice (incase you had a doubt) a small description of the error you found (or flaw in CR). And finally your accuracy level and what you learnt from the whole exercise.

  • This will build your physical stamina and build longer periods of mental toughness and focus.

  • Check the explanations for each question (even the ones you got right). Make sure you are in perfect alignment with the explanations. It’s really helpful to ask yourself that will you be able to give a precise explanation of the answer in case you were teaching a class? And never pat your back if you got a fluke.

  • Make a note of the reasons why you got the answer wrong. Whether it was a careless error or a conceptual error.

Performance GRID

It can do wonders for your preparation...trust me. It's a simple grid which can have columns for the question number, your answer, right/wrong, a brief description of the concept used (e.g. idioms, modifier, parallelism...for CR it can be Strategy...likewise). I would suggest you to make an excel and get like 50 print-outs with 100 questions per page. You can group them according to section/book. I would prefer a section-wise categorization. Generally you would do 50 questions per session. So at the end of 50 questions you can have an accuracy meter or something. I am sure all of you are creative enough to make such a chart which you can refer back to assess your difficulty areas.
This chart will help you filter out the tougher problems. So in the next round of solving the same problems (Yes!! next round...you have to solve the same questions again till your accuracy level goes up!! Atleast you would like to make sure that you are totally confident in the question types you have in your material).

Books!!

  1. The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition
  2. Kaplan GMAT, 2010 Edition: Premier Program
  3. Princeton: Cracking the GMAT with DVD, 2009 Edition
  4. NOVA's GMAT Prep Course (With Online Course)

VERBAL:

  1. Sentence Correction GMAT Preparation Guide (Manhattan Gmat Prep)
  2. The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition
  3. Kaplan GMAT Verbal Workbook
  4. The PowerScore GMAT Sentence Correction Bible(VERY GOOD)
  5. The PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible(VERY GOOD)
  6. Princeton Verbal Workout

MATHS :

  1. Kaplan GMAT Math Workbook
  2. Princeton Math Workout
  3. The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review

This is very important guys. I mean surely you wouldn't want your preparation to be going on a wrong line. Some books aren't just complete in their content. Some don't give you those "tips" which anyone aiming at a good score would want to have. So it finally boils down to having a set of materials rather than having just one book or one study material. But the question remains...which ones?? Read this article which will guide you in buying the best material.

Your days are numbered

DAY 0

Preferably on a weekend
1. Arrange all the books on your table. Get a bundle of blank sheets for all the rough work. Get one diary/journal to keep a daily log of your scores. And use your notebook (thin) for taking down all the notes while you are learning. Get a pen (not a pencil), preferably black ink, and a sketch pen to make charts. Also get a tiny bundle of post-its and a white and a black chart paper.

2. Read all you can about the GMAT exam on the official website and the introduction part of any of the GMAT guide (Kaplan GMAT or Princeton GMAT). Educate yourself about the CAT methodology of the test. Look at the different types of questions that come on the GMAT. See how each section looks like. Familiarise yourself!!

3. Finally take a diagnostic and feel good even if you didn't do well. Take a break and think how was it! Go over the analysis section and see what was the toughest/easiest section.

Week 1|Week 2|Week 3|Week 4|Month 2|Month 3

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