Preparing for GMAT is a mental game. In my first attempt, in 2008, I didn't understand this simple fact. And I scored terribly!. just 610.
When i thought of taking GMAT this year, I did a hard nosed research about what it takes to ace the GMAT. Here are few things I collated.
First.
Official Guide(
OG) is the bible. And GMAC's quant and verbal review books are two testaments. One needs to ace it.
Second, it's important to know where you stand before you start preparing. I simply took official GMAT prep test and I scored 650. Not bad but not good either.
Third, I got to know about economist GMAT trial pack for 7 days. And it was simply the best decision about GMAT preparation I ever took. I could pace and structure the quant and verbal sections accordingly. And it taught me great strategies like preparing Initial reading for reading comprehension. The systemic approach that it let me adopt for multiple para and single para RC passages was great.
I tried to maximize my knowledge and strategy quotient within the free trial period. And then even for stuff like an AWA review, they gave it to me for free.Economist is the only one in the market offering this service with personalized reviews of essays , I thought of taking the paid version but stopped as I was doing good. But had my level been around 600 to start with, I would have taken it.
Finally, I did all three
OG books and bought 300 questions from GMAC as service pack for 29$. I avoided Kaplan, Princeton, etc. as they are nowhere real real GMAT questions. Economist was near real gmat in complexity but not quite in phrasing them. Still better than the rest.
Within 3 months, I went for the GMAT. I had prepared for and average of 1 hour per day. After 90 hours of prep, I scored 730! (Q49, V41)
I feel good about my score. From 610 to 730! Thanks to planning,
OG and Economist GMAT!