Defeated...

It's not good to try new things on test day itself (or on any special days e.g. wedding). If you think certain supplements or activities (like going for a 10 mile run) might be useful, do try them out for a couple of weeks in advance if they are not part of your current routine.

I agree that it is a bad idea to change your routine just before taking the test. I remember one applicant who was not used to drinking coffee and had it on an empty stomach right before the test. She went from being wired at first to feeling intensely ill by the end of the test.

How many of hours of studying per day would you all say would be a decent amount to make progress? I've been studying at least 5 hours per day on the weekdays and at least 7 hours per day on the weekends...is that enough?

It is all really subjective. Do what you are most comfortable with. In my case, when I set out to study, I say I want to cover this much (say a Math lesson, set of practice problems, Test...). I allocate so much time for each. If I finish it early, I take time out or else, I'll burn the midnight oil until I reach a point of comfort. Instead of the number of hours, you may list out the areas you need to cover and measure if the effort is enough based on your progress, which you can judge the best.

It's hard to say how much time one should spend studying for the GMAT. Everyone is different. In my perspective it is more important to develop an effective study routine than worry about time. Currently I try to do 10 - 15 questions from each section (PS, DS, SC, CR, & RC) every day. I mark down all the questions I get wrong or perform slowly and review them intensely afterwords. If you go through the numerous success stories on this website, you will notice that all of them essentially memorized the questions they got wrong.

Currently, I am doing verbal and quant every other day. That way, I would only concentrate on one section of the test daily. After I am done with the questins, I review them. By the end of the week, I review all the ones that I get wrong throughout the week in both the verbal and quant sections. Do you think this is an effective way of studying? I plan on completing the OG by the end of Nov. Afterwards, I plan on going over all the wrong questions, and then start doing the LSAT materials and participating in the forum every other day.

I think you may be suffering from doing too much and not understanding completely what you have done. I noticed that many people, and this happended to me as well initially, spend a lot of time doing a massive amount of problems from 10 different books BUT they never spend enough time reviewing their mistakes and learning WHY they got something wrong.

Put every single book you own aside and go to OG, learn it, live it and love it. Make it your bible! Forget the 1000 problem sets unless you can pick 20 problems at random from OG and get 100% right. The ones you get wrong go over again, and again. Try writing out why you got the problem wrong, writing out why will make sure you remember the concept and may shed some light on what you are missing.

I know in time you will do well, you just have to stick with it and focus.

do you think studying the entire OG guide and keep on going over the questions is enough? Should I do the challenges as well? Should I go over the manhattan gmat guides again to refresh myself on the fundamentals?

I hate to say this but I think the most important part of studying for the gmat is mastering the OG inside and out, if you check with most of the posts you will see they confirm this. Manhattan gmat's guides and classes are geared to having you know OG inside and out. Once you are able to do every single challenge question from the manhattan gmat guide books, those are the hard OG questions they list at the end of each chapter, you should be ready to do well on the gmat. I'm close to the end of a manhattan gmat class now and hope to raise my current 640 to the 700s when I take the exam for the final time in a few weeks. Personally I did not benefit from the challenges until I knew OG inside and out. You need a strong foundation before you construct a building and OG is that foundation.

Other than the Manhattan GMAT and the OG guide, what other sources have you used? Should the Manhattan GMAT and the OG guide be the only sources that I should concentrate on until test date? I am planning on taking it again around the 17th of Dec.
What do you think of the ETS paper tests? I was told from many people that it's good to also do practice tests to build mental stamina?

Puilunchristin,

Like the others said, don't give up! You can do this. I think focusing on OG is important. I just got 11th edition in mail yesterday. I took GMAT last month and was dissapointed as well. I had been using PR 2005, Kaplan 2005, Kaplan Verbal Workbook, and 10th edition OG. Kaplan and Princeton Review questions aren't that comparable to the actual test, so I think focusing on OG 10th and/or 11th is the best way right now. I plan to take next year Jan/Feb..so keep studying and good luck.

Hello,

Does anyone recommend the Kaplan course...its about $1300USD! I also found this person's study guide & tips online for about $40 called GMAT Secrets. He offers a money back guarantee. Anyone ever purchased?

Thanks!