GMAT: Is a Study Plan Important?

Let’s cut to the chase, I don’t have a lot of time to write this and you have less time to read this, so YES a study plan is important, critical, vital, essential. In other words, even if you know where your going (or have navigation) wouldn’t you be better off if you had an idea of where your final destination might be. Especially since my VZ navigation frequently argues with me and recently led me to the middle of an airport in Tulsa where there was supposedly a Radisson (there wasn’t).

The study plan will be not only your road map, but your conscious on those days when you say, “Ahh, I still have plenty of time. I will do double time tomorrow”. You probably won’t. Your next question is where do I start. Usually I would create my own guide for you, but I found a great GMAT Study Plan for GMAT Novices on a GMATClub Forum:

http://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-study-plan-start-your-gmat-journey-80727.html

I believe the founder of GMATClub put it together and it is a great starting place. His initial steps are very good which include familiarizing yourself with the GMAT via mba.com; taking a practice test to see where your skills stand; contacting your schools to see what you really need; and determining your weaknesses before finally creating your study plan.

There is also a sample study plan which you can add to or adjust depending on where you stand and where you have determined your strengths and your weaknesses lie. Just as useful are tips from other users such as using  puzzles and games (i.e. Soduku, Rubik’s Cube, etc.) which can be fun, distracting and really help to train you analytically. Although at some point you are going to have to put some hard, focused study time in to ensure you will not be disappointed with your score.

Finally on this forum, there are some good stats from GMAC that add a “you don’t believe you need to study,but it really does make a difference” factor. Having talked to very bright students who come to me after the disappointment of their first sitting, I would say at $250 a pop can you really afford to take a chance of going in cold.

Good luck on the GMAT and if you have come up with a great study plan or have resources you would like to share please do so via a comment. In case I haven’t said it before my ultimate goal is to share my experiences and the wisdom of my readers with other readers who are facing similar challenges related to b-school admissions.

Thanx again for reading this and I will be posting again soon with your ideas and feedback.