What does the perfect study plan look like?
The most common question asked on GMAT forums is how to create good study plan. Although this is not a very difficult question to answer for someone who has prepared or has helped other people prepare for the GMAT. It is still a mystery for most students.
In this post, I will be listing the most important elements of a perfect study plan:
1. Concept mastery – concept mastery is the first step towards getting a good score. Even though there are a lot of resources that can be used by the student of GMAT for his or her preparation the most important thing to remember is that the official resources provided by the test maker are always going to be the best resources for understanding and mastering various concepts. Concept mastery does not mean practicing endlessly the same kind of questions. The likelihood of a student getting the same kind of question as is given in any of the GMAT resources is very slim as a result of persons should look at how to tackle a certain kind of problem but beyond that you should not try to completely memorize your approach towards solving a problem, because that hinder your preparation, space-time and will actually lead to a lower score if you only have a single approach towards solving certain kind of problem. The mastery of a concept in my opinion means that I understand the concept and I know a few general approaches towards solving the problem but nothing so specific that it would actually narrow my ability to solve the problem. A master always has more than one approach and nothing is really written in stone.
2. Timing strategy – the GMAT is a timed test that just happens to be adaptive. This means that not only are you required to know the concepts you are also expected to solve the problems within a certain time limit. I would not like to limit your choices by a mentioning the specific timing strategy rather I'm welcome you to look at the BTG forum and try out the various strategies given by the experts in that forum stick with one particular strategy that you really like and make sure that you practice all problems under timed conditions. This means that you should practice each and every problem in a timely manner. I do not recommend looking at a long every few minutes rather you should solve questions insects of 10 or 15 and find out the average time that you take to solve 15 problems. Next you need to determine what is the time limit beyond which you will guess and move on, which brings me to my next point.
3. Quitting strategy – the GMAT is not a test of your ego rather it is a test of management abilities. As a result the test makers have made the test keeping in mind that a lot of people like to stick to a problem and not leave it until the problem is solved. This kind of approach can actually hinder your score on the GMAT and should be avoided whenever possible. On the GMAT you want to quit as soon as possible. Suppose you do not know how to solve a particular problem and you already know that you do not have a backup method in order to solve the problem as well, would it not make sense to actually guess on that problem and move on? Let us take another sinner, suppose you know how to solve a particular problem or at least you know the approach, but it has already taken you more than two minutes to solve the problem and it will likely take you a little more time to get to the answer. Now let us suppose that you do get an answer in the fifth minute, and after the test you realize that your solution was wrong. Would it not make sense to have set a certain time limit beyond which you would just guess and move? It actually does make sense. And this is the hardest lesson that the GMAT has to teach. Again, I welcome you to search for the term "quitting strategy" on the BTG forum and pick the most effective strategy. I recommend that not only should you practice while keeping the time, but also ensuring that you follow quitting strategy for your question set.
4. Stamina – another often overlooked part of a study plan is the mysterious field of test taking stamina. All test-takers should remember that the GMAT is for our long test and by the time you get to the verbal section if you have not practiced putting your mind through stress for a considerable amount of time you will have a very bad experience. If you do not have the stamina you will likely under-perform on the last questions of the quantitative action and of course on the verbal in the verbal section. The way to develop stamina is really simple – learn to say and carry out mentally strenuous activity for at least four hours every weekend or once a week also make sure that you take a practice test regularly. Depending upon your requirements and the amount of time that you want to give yourself for GMAT preparation you can practice taking the full text and a serious examination conditions this will only build up your stamina and test taking stamina will not remain a mystery any more.
5. Practice test analysis – the final piece that completes the jigsaw puzzle is the practice test. Ideally, you should not take practice tests every week. There should at least be a gap of three weeks between two tests unless you have a test within the next 10 days and you want to test yourself and gain confidence that way. A lot of people ask the question that which practice tests are the best – I'm not going to get into advertising more but I will only say that you must practice using the official and free GMATPREP software. If you can find the older version of the software use that as well. The older software is called Powerprep and is available for download on BTG. Finally, you should buy a practice test that will allow you to thoroughly analyse your mistakes.
All of these components are required in order to create the perfect study plan. Most people only focus on what books to use, what tests to take, etc. Together all of these components will give you a psychological advantage as well, which is something that I have continuously advocated for in the past. Use the above tips well.
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