(if you are just starting out with these GMAT study plans then you might want to check out the intro to the GMAT Study Schedules)
Ready ready for this week’s GMAT study plan?!
Table of Contents
Yep – we are 4 weeks into this GMAT preparation. The GMAT (and this GMAT study plan) has really started to be your life. Your friends and family are starting to wonder where you are. You may be wondering what you were doing with all of your time pre-GMAT studying. All normal stuff:) OK – so your algebra is getting really solid. You are comfortable with a variety of different question types and are starting to feel better about data sufficiency. Take note of strengths and weaknesses. Do extra questions to reinforce those weak spots but don’t obsess on the weak spots. Why?
1. Your weaknesses will most likely improve with overall GMAT practice.
2. There may be some things that will remain weaknesses. That’s fine. Almost all of my students have had at least one GMAT topic that bothered them until their exam. It did not stop them from rocking the GMAT!
Remember that the GMAT is a critical thinking test. So don’t obsess over specific content. Focus on your organization. Be meticulous and methodical in your problem solving. Eliminate careless mistakes.
GMAT Quant
This week we will introduce Number Properties and Inequalities which are really just an extension of all the Algebra we’ve been working on. Be comfortable with odd/even and +/- rules. Understand the properties of zero, divisibility rules, the properties of factors/multiples, and the power of prime factorization. Don’t be afraid to make little charts and helping diagrams especially in the Data Sufficiency.
And guess what? Here comes the first full Quant section! You will do a Manhattan GMAT Quant section. Yep, that’s right. A full MGMAT Quant CAT. You will get to apply all of the GMAT strategies that you have been working during the past several weeks. Nervous? That’s good. You should be a little anxious because you care about this. That’s a good thing. Get used to that feeling. Be OK with it. A few things to help on the Manhattan GMAT Quant:
1. Keep your forward momentum. Skip a question if you’ve been staring at it for over a minute and don’t have a plan. The computer adaptive test can be tricky on the brain – this article on the CAT and GMAT Timing might help.
2. Use your tools. Be methodical. Be organized. Minimize arithmetic errors.
3. With 7 minutes left focus on shorter questions. With 2 minutes left put in a guess for everything.
4. Skip the verbal by putting in a time of 1 second.
5. Avoid the pause button!!!! Let’s make this as legitimate as possible.
How did you do? Well? That’s great!! Not so good? Most people don’t do so well on the first bunch of Quant CATs. Remember – this is about learning how to do well. Don’t worry about the score. This is about practice and review. Also, the MGMAT Quant CAT is a bit tougher than the real GMAT and the MGMAT CAT has some questions that are more time consuming than official GMAT questions. Again, this isn’t about the score it is about learning the GMAT.
MGMAT GMAT CAT Review
It is ideal to review the MGMAT Quant CAT right after you take it. Re-do the errors untimed and without looking at the answers. Also don’t forget to confirm your right answers (so you can confirm your logic) – here is an article on good error log habits. Take a screenshot of everything that you are unsure of – review those questions until you are 100% sure that you have a good way to solve them. Remember when we said MGMAT Quant is a bit tough? Give yourself the leeway to completely throw out up to 4 questions during the review. You are allowed to say: I understand how they are getting to the answer but it is really unlikely that I’m going to think of that or be able to do those calculations in a reasonable amount of time. That’s OK for a few of these overly complicated MGMAT Quant questions but limit that attitude just to these few questions because in the grand scheme of things it will not help you to think this way. This post on reviewing impossible GMAT questions might provide some insight.
GMAT Verbal
In this week’s GMAT study plan we are adding on a new Critical Reasoning Question type: Inference. Some of the toughest GMAT questions I have seen are inference questions. Why? It can be challenging to eliminate incorrect answers that are out of scope. It’s hard to prove that something isn’t an inference. It’s hard to prove the non-existence of a connection. Of course opposite answers (things that are contrary to the facts) are relatively easy to eliminate but many of the wrong answer choices in GMAT inference questions happen to be out of scope (especially on the tough ones). What can you do? Take extra time to read. Focus on organizing the fact set. Try to make an inference before going to the answers. Sometimes you can and sometimes you can’t but at the very least try. If you have a strong understanding of the facts the correct answer should eventually pop out. Often times the inference is very basic. Avoid overthinking and overcomplicating. Stick to the facts!
We will continue with some tough LSAT practice (here’s a little inspiration article about a student who went from a 510 to a Harvard GMAT Score!) and some general sets from the Official Guide and the Quant and Verbal Reviews. Some of the questions in the general sets will be repeats. Re-do the repeats if you have any doubts. Skip them if you are 100% sure. A few things to remember for this week:
1. For Sentence Correction continue to look for BIG RULES: Agreement, Lists, Comparisons, Modifiers. I know this can be tough sometimes but stick with it! In the majority of GMAT sentence correction questions you will be able to get to the answer with these 4 things. You have to practice finding them.
2. For Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension continue to focus on your READING. Getting to the right answers is about understanding the passages. The passages are there to help you. The answers choices are there to confuse you. Avoid getting stuck in the answer choices – especially in Critical Reasoning as you consider an answer choice be referring back to the passage, the conclusion, and the assumptions.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!!
GMAT Study Schedule Week 4
DAY 1
GMAT Official Guide 13th Edition – Inequalities
Problem Solving: 50, 73, 106, 130, 138, 143, 192, 229
Data Sufficiency: 33, 39, 43, 47, 48, 50, 52, 70, 82, 85, 90, 92, 96, 101, 105, 121, 127, 129, 131, 141, 143, 154, 164, 167, 169
GMAT Verbal Review 2nd Edition – Critical Reasoning: Inference
OG 26, 60, 74, 91, 103, 104
VR 12, 19, 43, 57, 58, 75
GMAT Verbal Review 2nd Edition – Sentence Correction General Set
SC 40-49
Here are a few tough word problems to help test your GMAT organization skills:
GMAT Question of the Day Word Problem 1
GMAT Question of the Day Word Problem 2
GMAT Question of the Day Word Problem 3
GMAT Question of the Day Word Problem 4
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DAY 2
GMAT Quantitative Review 2nd Edition – Inequalities
Problem Solving: 134, 156, 157
Data Sufficiency: 32, 40, 41, 42, 52, 56, 68, 76, 81, 89, 98, 107, 120
GMAT Quantitative Review 2nd Edition – # properties
Problem Solving: 11, 31, 55, 57, 117, 125, 169, 172,
Data Sufficiency: 3, 16, 24, 31, 39, 44, 45, 64, 78, 79, 90, 104, 110, 115, 122
Here are a few questions to teach you some GMAT Number Properties Strategies (we’ll assign more of these later on)
GMAT Question of the Day Number Properties 1
GMAT Question of the Day Number Properties 2
GMAT Question of the Day Number Properties 3
GMAT Question of the Day Number Properties 4
LSAT Prep Test
2 RC Passages
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DAY 3
GMAT Official Guide 13th Edition – Word Problems Continued: Algebraic Manipulation/Algebraic Translation
Problem Solving: 182, 184, 198, 203, 205, 224,
Data Sufficiency: 132, 147, 150, 153, 156, 161, 168, 171
GMAT Official Guide 13th Edition – General Set
Problem Solving: 80-109
Data Sufficiency: 65-94
GMAT Verbal Review 2nd Edition – Sentence Correction General Set
Sentence Correction: 50-59
LSAT Prep Test
1 Logical Reasoning Section
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DAY 4
GMAT Official Guide 13th Edition – # properties
Problem Solving: 5, 32, 40, 44, 77, 87, 111, 116, 117, 122, 127, 155, 163, 170, 174, 176, 195, 196, 212, 219, 225
Data Sufficiency: 7, 13, 14, 27, 31, 32, 46, 48, 63, 69, 72, 75, 80, 111, 133, 170, 172
GMAT Official Guide 13th Edition – Geometry Continued
Problem Solving: 165, 166, 175, 197, 202, 206, 210, 211, 213, 228
Data Sufficiency: 129, 130, 145, 149, 152, 155, 165, 166
GMAT Official Guide 13th Edition – Sentence Correction General Set
Sentence Correction: 40-59
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DAY 5 GMAT HOLIDAY
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DAY 6
Manhattan GMAT Quant CAT + Review
LSAT Prep Test
2 LSAT Logical Reasoning Sections
2 LSAT Reading Comprehension Passages
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DAY 7
Manhattan GMAT Quant CAT + Review
LSAT Prep Test
2 LSAT Logical Reasoning Sections
2 LSAT Reading Comprehension Passages