Strategies to crack GMAT

Hi All,

I have been preparing for GMAT on and off since January 01, 2010. I wanted to take my GMAT exam in mid-may but somehow could not...I lost my track somewhere in March and when I realized it it was already the ned of April, hence I had to start all over again before I could think of fixing a date.

Anyways, I'll now be taking GMAT in mid-Spetember and its just 3 weeks form now. In this bolg, I would like to discuss two things:
1. Strategies that I adopted for the preparation
2. Suggestion that any of you can provide in terms of how to go ahead with on the preparation part.

Let me start with an advance level basics first ( I wont be starting from scratch as this particular blog is for the last moment strategies only)...As most of the GMAT takers know that the entire course can be classified into three parts: AWA, QUANT and VERBAL

I wont be talking about AWA as I dont think if I have right capability to discuss this portion

Let's me start with Quant...Quant is basically divided into three parts...Arithmetic, Geometry and Permutation, Combination& Probability. Arithmetic is inclusive of following:

1. Algebra
2. Time and Work
3. Ratio and Proportions
4. Profit & Loss
5. Speed, Distance and Time
6. Work and Fluid Flow
7. In equalities (Very Important from DS point of view)
8. Simple and Compound Interest
9. Set Theory
10. Number Theory (Very Important from DS point of view)
11. Sequences and Progressions

Geometry consists of following:

1. Straight Line and Polygons ( Triangle is most important polygon in GMAT followed by Circle)
2. Angles
3. Mensuration
4. Co-ordinate Geometry

Permutation, Combination and Probability are self explanatory.

Coming to preparation part of this, to prepare quant section, one has to identify his/her strenghts and weeknesses. As far as I am concerned, i am very confident in Arithmatic, I can hande P&C and Probability part but I am scared of Geometry. I don't know how I can improve my Geometry skills that too considering I have just 3 weeks in hand...( ANY SUGGESTIONS HERE)

After Quant, verbal is the section and it has always been a challenging section no matter what is your first language. The verbal section is again divide into 3 parts:

1. Sentence Correction (SC)
2. Reading Comprehension (RC)
3. Critical Reasoning (CR)

In sentence correction, GMAT nevet test your general english but it tests the very Basics of your understading of the language. It tests, grammar,tenses, pronouns, idioms, parallelism, subject verb agreement and to some extent punctuations.So, one had to learn the basics of the grammar and need to crictically analyze each sentence before marking any choice.
Reading Comprehension on the other part tests the ability of the candidate, whether he can flow with the passage or not and still maintain his mid active on why the passage was written and what can be interpreted out of it. Again a huge amount of practice is required to master this

Critical Reasoning is my favourite section and I am more confident in this then the other two sections. Here, you will be preented with an argument and will be asked to find the flaw in that argument or to find the point the point that can support the argument. Different kind of questions are there but one thing is common in all and that is...Analyze it critically meaning keep asking why and what?


I satrted preparing seriously from May (my second stint) and decided to take th exam in September. I used to study for 2-3 hours daily and since I am working, I can't get more time than this. I decided to complete all my course by August 20th and keeping the last few weeks for the preparation part only. I';; now be focusing on following parts:

• Pace
• Accuracy
• Error Arears
• Week Parts ( Geometry is one of them)

I'll be taking as many test papers as are available and will keep an eye on all the above areas. IF ANY OF YOU HAVE A SUGGESTION, please suggest me on how to prepare for the D-Day.

Thanks in Advance,
Prashant