• Working full time, around 40 hours a week
• Active social life
• 2 hours every day during the week, and perhaps 10 over the weekend during the initial prep
• Final 3 - 4 weeks: 6 hours a day during the week, 15+ hours over the weekend
• Buy this set: http://www.manhattangmat.com/storeitems ... 29&catid=1

• Hard work
• Timed tests until you can solve most (90%+) of the problems in under 2 minutes
• Hard work!

• July and August 2009: Kaplan/Princeton Review
• September 2009 - June 2010: MGPrep (If you have a real plan and work towards a deadline, allocate 2 months)
• June and July 2010: OG11
• July and August 2010: CATs (as many as you can), GMATClub timed tests
• Weekend before: GMATPrep tests (took each 2 times), error logs review
• Day before: GMATPrep (took each one more time)
• Day of: GMATPrep Quant, one more time! I did this to get my brain going. My exam was at 11:00 am.

• Manhattan Prep: Start to finish, without skipping a single word. I did not, however, attempt the OG problems listed; saved them for later. This series is crucial, perhaps the most important of all resources I used. I was a cheapskate and got these from the public library, which worked out well in a way. Since there are so few copies available, I could only get 1 at a time and had exactly 21 days to finish and return; so good to have deadlines! I bought one towards the end to get access to the 6 CAT exams. I made lots of notes (5 - 6 pages per book) (attached in later posts) while reviewing each book. I definitely recommend this: reading is one thing, writing it down completely another! MGPrep is the real deal, and should command 100% of your attention!
  
• OG: Once I finished all MGPrep books, in early June, I started working on OG11. I didn't time myself but tried to be as fast as possible. I referred to the answer key page and split each chapter into column based problem sets. Eg. SC has 35 answers in each column, so I would attempt to solve 35 each day. I worked on 3 such columns every day, mixing and matching math and verbal: some method to madness! This took around 2 weeks. I maintained an error log, nothing too fancy, just a sheet with the problems that took too long to solve or those that I got incorrect. I also made a small note next to each regarding my mistake. This was great as I realized most of the SCs I were getting wrong were due to Idiom mismatch. Bottom line, use error logs! CR and RC were not a problem for me (see other tips).
• Kaplan/Princeton Review: These have some interesting tips and pointers. Since I had used these the first time around and remembered most tips, didn't refer back. If you have to, use them at the very beginning to start building a base.

• GMATCub tests: 25 Q and 6 V, buy them; these questions are awesome! http://gmatclub.com/tests/ They helped me most in getting my brain to solve most problems in under 2 minutes. The variety of questions is unbeatable! Of course, save these for the end, until after you are confident of your math and verbal foundations.
• MGPrep - 6 CATs. Scored 660 - 790, with consistent improvement from the first to the last test.
• Knewton - scored 730
• GMATPrep - took each test 3 times; scored 730 - 750

• When you get a question wrong during prep, don't look at the solution; try solving it again! Only look at the solution if you cannot solve it even after referring to your notes.
• English: Read The Economist, Slate, NYT, WSJ, etc. regularly; helps with CR, SC and RC. Towards the end, I would laugh when I found an error in one of these articles! But seriously, reading helps a lot.
• Food: I had a heavy breakfast at 7, and then ate a special sandwich at 9:45: spread nutella on toasted slices of whole grain bread and added a sliced banana. Yummy! Plenty of carbs to last you through 4 hours of exam + 1 hour of travel. After the AWA, I gulped down a 5 hour energy drink (not sure if this helped at all, but doesn't hurt. However, try this before to make sure your body reacts well). After quant, I ate half a banana and munched on some candy.
• I made a playlist of songs that pump me up; listened to these on my way to the test center!
• I didn't sleep well at all the night before, but had plenty of rest leading up to the exam.
• Wear comfy clothes, and layer up if you get cold easily. I wore my glasses instead of contacts! Even the smallest detail can make a difference.

All's well that ends well...

GMAT debrief

All's well that ends well...

GMAT debrief

All's well that ends well...

GMAT debrief

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Losing Motivation? Michael Jordan | Nick Vujicic | Adversity
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If you like my post please click +1 kudos on my profile - Thank you!!!
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Losing Motivation? Michael Jordan | Nick Vujicic | Adversity
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