GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep

hi bb,

need sm help,i m new to ths club n js strtng wt GMAT prep,in 1st jan i gave trial test to see whr i stand n i scored js 350

m strtng wt Kaplan premier program today ....plz let me knw in hw mny daz i shd target to finish it n wht next.......plz advice wht shd b my preparng strategy like i m targetting ISB...........

plz rpl

Just want to say hi to everyone here. I just started preparing for taking my GMAT again...didn't go so well the first time around. Hope to solve some problems with you all soon in the Math and Verbal forums!

Good plan. Start with the Kaplan Premier to get your bearings and then take a few of the Kaplan tests when you are done to check where you stand. Then you can decide what to focus on based on time and energy.

Hi Everyone,
I am new to the club and actually it is also my first time replying to any forum! I want to say this place is great; fills with people who are dedicated to do well on GMAT and it also provides advices and directions to people who are lost studying for the test.
I started my GMAT study about one week ago - before joining the club. Even I bought the right book (voted best book - GMAT OG 12th) but I have already made the common mistakes with GMAT preparation – starting with OG means wasting the official questions. I took the OG diagnostic test and its interpretive guide showed all 5 areas are (barely) Above Average – but I haven’t tried Prep Test 1 yet to know my score (plan to do that next). I want to take as many practice tests as possible (yes, I’ve discovered “all-gmat-cat-practice-tests-links-prices-reviews-77460.” – sorry, they don’t let me post links yet). Besides improving the score, I also want to ensure I can finish on time.
After reading “best-gmat-books-reviews-recommendations-for-your-prep-77703”, I plan to soon purchase one Manhattan GMAT study guide (mainly to get the 6 free tests) and Kaplan GMAT 2010 Premier live online (for more practice questions before going back to OG). And I won’t forget all the tests I can get online for free.
Thanks in advance for any feedback and good luck to all.

Hi BB and everyone on this forum,
I'm new to this forum, and I find it extremely helpfull. I began to read on some GMAT prep material and taking some exercizes a manth or so ago, untill I stumbled onto this website.
I read a thred about taking the GMAT prep test to assess my "GMAT skills"...made 660 (Q:44, V:37)...made a bunch of dumb/simple mistakes(both PS and DS) in Quantative part and answer the ones more complicated...In verbal--the mistakes came mostly from the RC and CR
So, I guess, my question to you guys is should I follow the novices study plan or follow the "650 to 700+" approach?
I bought following:

GMAT official guide,12th Edition
both GMAT official quant and verb reviews
Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction
Manhattan GMAT Reading Comprehesion
Power Score Critical Reasoning Bible

Planing to spend 2.5-3.5 months for preparation. will be using error log, and timer (although had no problem of completing the GMAT prep on time)...
Please advise on the prep schedule...any suggestions will be appreciated
Alex

Alex, you are in a great/fantastic shape! My first test was 540. If you are able to eliminate a few of your simple/novice errors, you should be close to 700, so definitely welcome to pick the higher level one.

BB,
thankyou for the quick response...will start to prepare next week.

hi guys
can you advice me a plan for praparing for the gmat in 13 days??
i know it is reallu hard but i need to get at 650 and I hope to be able to score it.
i dont know how to deal with it...
if you have some material or for some advice you can reply here or to my personal email:pacciablond@hotmail.it
\
thank you for advice!

Here you go: GMAT Cramplan
Also get some practice tests such as GMATPrep or MGMAT.

Hi to all!
First of all, I am new to this site & slowly getting fond of this site. Great work done bb and all other who contributed.

Now coming to point, I have some questions to ask and some suggestions for my future plan.

1) I am an engineer currently working as an System Integration Engineer for Motorola (not a direct employee). I have 2+ years experience in Wimax (Radio Access Network). And wanna change my Career Path so what would be your suggestions regarding this. actually I wanna move to management as mostly in my profession people move to management ultimately. And I really don't know in which area of management I should move keeping my background experience in my mind.

2) I have 2 years to study GMAT (plenty of time) as I plan to go for MBA after 4 or 5 years of experience. So, I'll be starting from scratch, reviewing basic concepts first then move to more hardcore preparation. My target is 700+ ( desired 740+ ) minimum 680+. I know! I have high hopes but it's not impossible so gotta practice a lot. And, I can manage to get most of the time to study on weekends and may be 3 to 4 hours on weekdays. So my question is what should be my schedule?

3) Keeping all of this in mind what books you'll suggest for me to start from and then adopt after getting a firm grasp on basic concepts. By the way! I don't wanna waste money .

Why don't you take a diagnostic test and we'll talk then.
You can always focus on verbal if you feel your quant is very good.
MGMAT SC
MGMAT CR
MGMAT RC

Hey guys,
I plan on starting my GMAT studying this month.. once I purchase my books and all that.

I've been reading the 3-month study plan posted here but I just have a quick question. It says that you should first take a GMAT exam to see how well you score, and study accordingly from that so you know what to improve on etc.

But when you take that first GMAT test, should we be taking it cold or review some basic material beforehand?

Thanks for the help! I'm so glad I found this forum. :D

It does not matter. You have to walk 100 steps, so whether you measure the distance when you stand at point 0 or at point 10, the total distance does not change, just the remainder of distance still to be walked.

That is a very profound statement, lol, thanks. I think I'll review a bit before I take my first test.. taking it cold will definitely skew my score lower.

Great u r really doing wonderful job. Thanks this site is kiosk 4 GMAT. I hope I can take my score 550( q46 , v20) to 700 in next 4 months.

bb! thanks for your suggestion & reply ( highly appreciated ). Actually it's been along time since I dealt with basic stuff, so I think I gotta review a bit before I take GmatPrep. May be I am afraid that I would do badly on them ( as I've been totally out of them, I don't even remember basic formulas such as perimeter of a circle). And, I am an international that's why, not that much into CR etc.
I think I should take a week to have a look at them ( or how much do you suggest? ). What do you suggest? Any suggestion would be really appreciable.
Thanks again!

And yea is it possible that I may take only Quant portion of GmatPrep and then take Verbal when I feel like? What books would u suggest to just have a look on basic stuff before I take GmatPrep ( so that I can recall them ).