{"id":18676,"date":"2020-03-03T13:46:29","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T13:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/?p=18676"},"modified":"2020-03-03T13:47:11","modified_gmt":"2020-03-03T13:47:11","slug":"top-3-gmat-study-mistakes-and-how-to-fix-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/blog\/top-3-gmat-study-mistakes-and-how-to-fix-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 3 GMAT Study Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GMAT<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

GMAT Study Mistake #1: Not Creating and\/or Following a Study Plan<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cRead books, practice problems, take test.\u201d This, I\u2019m sad to say, is not a study plan. This is…really just a series of facts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A plan is actionable (these statements are not). Creating a good plan means you should never need to ask, \u201cAm I doing the right things?\u201d You already know! The right things were part of your plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

A GMAT study plan includes the following elements:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Benchmark. <\/b>Take your first Computer Adaptive Test (CAT). This is not meant to predict your final score, so don\u2019t set unrealistic goals and then judge yourself for not meeting your (unreasonably) high standards. Instead, use it to understand how much improvement you\u2019d like to make to reach your final goal score. You should research your top school choices to settle on a goal score that works best for you.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Set a consistent schedule<\/b>. Consider how much you can study each week – be realistic! \u201cWell, I work 40 hours full-time, and I have 12 children, and I volunteer 10 hours a week so I can study…40 hours per week?\u201d No! It\u2019s much better to get ahead in your studying than to fall behind.\u00a0<\/span>In total, most students study about 100-150 total hours before taking the official exam. This, along with the number of hours per week you can study, will help you determine when you should take the official exam.<\/li>\n
  3. Focus on your weaknesses. <\/b>We all like to study for our strengths and ignore our weaknesses, but in the GMAT this will not yield success.\u00a0When you take a CAT, pay attention to your section scores (1-51)in Quant and Verbal. Focus your study time on the section in which you achieved the lower score, because you have more opportunity to improve. Many CATs will also list your performance on specific topics in a section. If that\u2019s the case, focus first on topics that had the largest number of questions and <\/b>that were lower-difficulty problems. Don\u2019t jump into the pool without your floaties!<\/li>\n
  4. Focus on quality over quantity.<\/b> You\u2019re creating a masterpiece, not working on an assembly line!<\/span> Do not exhaustively complete practice problem after practice problem, hoping to \u201csee it all\u201d or \u201cbe a hard worker.\u201d Instead, spend at least 30 minutes evaluating each problem you see.\u00a0<\/span>When you evaluate:\n
      \n
    1. Analyze other approaches you could have used and decide if yours could have been better.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Identify patterns you saw in the problem, errors you made, and what you can take away.<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Physically write down<\/b> how you can recognize and use what you\u2019ve learned on future problems.<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. Return to past problems every 2 weeks to insure you internalized the lessons.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    5. Re-assess and adjust your plan. Every great plan allows for adjustments along the way. Take CATs about every 10 – 14 days, depending on your schedule. Use the results to adjust your focus. Did you improve significantly in number properties, but didn\u2019t see improvement in critical reasoning assumptions? Focus on those problems next!\u00a0<\/span><\/b>You can\u2019t sit down and \u201cstudy for the GMAT\u201d in a single session. Your best chance of improving overall is to focus on specific areas, one at a time. Don\u2019t forget to maintain in sections you\u2019ve already covered.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      GMAT Study Mistake #2: Avoiding Timed Computer Adaptive Tests (CATs)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

      The GMAT is a test of your management skills, including time management.<\/span><\/p>\n

      For the quantitative section, you can spend about 2 minutes per question to reach the end of the section. For verbal questions, you only have about 1 minute 20 seconds per question.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      While you can master content without taking CATs, knowing that you can complete a problem is a far cry from knowing that you can complete a problem<\/span> in 2 minutes or less.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

      CATs will help you master timing on the exam, as well as learn the strategies you should use to catch up\u00a0 if you\u2019re falling behind in a section.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Still not convinced? Read this article, \u201c<\/span>Everything You Need to Know about Time Management, Part 1<\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

      GMAT Study Mistake #3: Not Setting an Official Test Date<\/strong><\/h3>\n

      \u201cI\u2019ll study until I\u2019m ready\u201d is a common adage I hear from students. I always ask, \u201cHow will you know when you\u2019re ready?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

      I can practically guarantee that you will not wake up one sunny morning thinking, \u201cToday is the day that I will ace the GMAT.\u201d Even if that morning does arrive – you won\u2019t get into the testing center without an appointment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself is a deadline. This will help you to set daily and weekly study goals and it will increase the likelihood that you hold yourself accountable to those goals. Procrastination is much less appealing with a looming deadline on the calendar than without one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      When setting your test date, consider your study plan, application deadlines, and personal\/professional schedule. Choose a date that allows you to study sufficiently (150+ hours), occurs about 2 months before applications are due so you can re-test if needed, and doesn\u2019t fall in the midst of hectic times for your personal or professional schedule.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      RELATED: <\/b>How and When to Register for the GMAT<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

      You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free! We\u2019re not kidding. <\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

      \n

      \"Tiffany<\/p>\n

      Tiffany Berkebile<\/a> is Manhattan Prep instructor located in Los Angeles, California. <\/i><\/b>She realized her personal love of teaching while getting her M.A. in Communication Studies and teaching undergraduate college courses. She has over 10 years of experience teaching including ESL (she also speaks Spanish). While not tackling the GMAT, Tiffany enjoys doing Logic Puzzles, reading, and thinking about nerdy topics like space travel and how the pioneers lived.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[929],"tags":[53163,57617,353,429],"yst_prominent_words":[55423,57616,55420,56723,53635,54156,57614,53777,57612,53856,57613,53704,53787,56206,54116,57615,55352,53637,55755,55034],"class_list":["post-18676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat-prep","tag-gmat-study-mistakes","tag-gmat-study-strategies","tag-gmat-study-tips","tag-how-to-study-for-the-gmat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18676"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18691,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18676\/revisions\/18691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18676"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=18676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}