GMAT Study plan

Once done with the diagnostic test, you might have got more than you expected or too disappointed with the results.

"So what plan should I go for ? A 3 month,  2 month or 1 month intense study plan ?".

"Where should I start ? What books should I have ?S"

If these are the thought lingering in your mind right now, then its time to go for a study plan. There are many study plans available in the forums 3 months, 2 months, 1 months, but I have always believed that following a strict plan wouldn't make good use of your time. You are already cracking 50 in quant so why would spend half the time solving inequalities or you might be too comfortable with RC, you are an avid reader, you shouldn't spend much time on RC as well with that plan. So the best plan is to devise it yourself.

• Start off analyzing the GMAT Prep mock test 1 - diagnostic test which you had taken - GMAT Expert, Stacey Koprince's way of analyzing practice tests part1 and part2
• Breakdown the #Qns right/wrong topic wise - topic wise in the sense not just PS, DS or RC, it should be inequalities, Bold face in CR likewise do for all questions.
• Categorize the wrong answers into three types -
• Careless mistakes - you knew how to solve, yet you made a dumb mistake.
• Technique - you knew the concept, but you need "how to do these problems" guide.
• Concept - you had been staring at the monitor for the entire time taken to answer the question.
• If you have MGMAT mocks, all these things becomes easier with the report generation tool, which will be of immense help and saves a lot of time with all the analysis stuff. [For anybody having other mocks, try to get a hand at MGMAT mocks as well. It will save a lot of time. You get the 6 mocks with any one of the strategy guides]
• Start with the strategy guides and work on weak topics - one or more topics in one section a day, till you learn the concept.
• Solve related OG problems. Say you learn inequalities, solve all related problems in OG. Also solve the related problems in the mock tests.
• Time your problems.
• Take ample time to review.
• Post the questions in forums. You will find expert solutions for every problem. Take notes or shortcuts or prepare flash cards.
• All these will take almost 2 to 3 hours for one topic. Try to finish one section a day if possible or if you have more weak topics then take more time between your mocks and try to cover the weak areas. Its not necessary that you should take one mock every week or 10 days once. So far you have got something to improve, you can work on them.

Take another mock [Third party mocks such MGMAT, Veritas, Knewton], check on the improvement part and start over with analysis and all things mentioned above. With 1 test you won't get much topics to learn, but once you had taken two or three tests you will have solved atleast one problem in each topic and a consolidated data/report will give you a fair idea of your weak areas.

Once you complete 2 or 3 mock tests [other test prep mocks], take a GMATPrep mock test 1 again. Taking GMATPrep mock in the middle is very important as none of the other test prep company mocks are close to GMATPrep, so their diagnosis might go wrong. In short, your diagnosis of weak areas in both GMATPrep and other mocks should be in sync. Different prep company uses different style and none comes as close to GMAT particularly the verbal section. So its better to be cautious and not rely completely on other test prep companies for the entire preparation period. Don't save GMAT Prep tests for last minute. After all the tests are useful only to improve your testing experience (stamina, endurance) and to know your weak areas.

Proceed with studying, if you know your weak areas, you don't need to take tests. Keep on improving. And once you feel you have covered all the grey areas, take the another GMATPrep. If you are close to your target score and to your test date, then stop learning new topics and work on reviewing the concepts/strategies/techniques learnt so far.