What is the best order of books to prepare from?
Some best books you can follow to prepare for GMAT :
- The Official Guide for GMAT Review
- Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction
- GMAT 800
- Kaplan Verbal Workbook
- Kaplan Math Workbook
- Princeton Review Cracking the GMAT
Do as many practice problems as you can from these books and examine the explanations carefully.
How to estimate the time required to prepare?
Familiarize yourself with the structure of the test. Take a diagnostic test, that will give you a fair idea of areas that you shall need to focus on. Based on this, the hours of study can be predicted more accurately. Take more time to master the basics. Once you have reviewed the basics, practice as many tests as possible.
Figure out how many hours per day you would need to prepare and set a fix time everyday to prepare for GMAT. If you are strong in the basics you would need a month to prepare for the exam. However if you feel the need to work on the basics first, you should spend around 3 months for the preparation.
Studying while working: how to get it done?
Working Professionals can put in around 1 or 2 hrs per day for preparation, and you've got all the weekend to study. Considering all this - you must be able to familiarize and prepare on the concepts for around 2 months, using the prep books like Kaplan,Princeton etc. You must then give yourself at least one month for the official guide and simulation tests.
Joining GMAT community will be an excellent way to practice for the exam. You can run through one practice tests during 15-minutes breaks that you can took every two-three hours from your office work. This might sound like 'only-10-questions' but this way, you could go through a lot of questions in a span of three months even with a hectic work schedule. Joining this community and actively participating in the discussions would help you the most.
Whether you are answering questions in the GMAT Question Bank or doing tests keep an eye on your time (the timer feature is great!!)
How to work on your weak section
Start the preparation by evaluating yourself. To do this, begin with a diagnostics. Once you know your weak points, you can easily work on them.
Practice as much as you can, until you can get a score that reflects what you wish to get on the actual GMAT. You should use all the LearnHub resources, including Question Bank, as well as official GMAT resources from GMAC which include access to practice software similar to the one you'll actually be using on the test. While studying, focus on those areas that you are weaker in to make sure you're covered well on all bases.
Keep a record of all the mistakes that you do during the tests and the things that you learn while analyzing mistakes. Every weekend, revisit this document to check if you are repeating the same mistakes. In the last few days, carefully go through this document to see if you have done justice to your preparation.
Teach other GMAT students so that any flaw in your learning will come up to the fore position. Regularly practice mock tests so that your rate of growth will be assessed.
Read extensively (using online resources) so that your speed of reading will help you in the GMAT reading comprehension section. Regularly practice reading articles from New York Times, US News, or Wall Street Journal to help improve your reading comprehension.
How to increase your stamina for the GMAT?
Take a practice test every week using tests from PowerPrep, Princeton Review, Kaplan, and GMAT Prep. These practice tests will help you in building the stamina needed to sit through a 3.5-hour test.
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