GMAT Study Plan - How to Start your GMAT Prep

hi,
i have exactly two months to go for my gmat. i have taken classes early this yr so i have a fair idea of the concepts however due to my travel i have not been able to study. but now i am starting. my first diagnostic score without any clue of GMAT was 440 on princeton test. before i started classes i took another gmat prep and my score dropped to 350. the reason being i took it after a really tiring day at work.
since then i havent taken any more tests.
any inputs here will help. i will be spending approx 20 hrs per week.
thx.

Welcome - good luck with your prep
I would definitely be methodical and not move past a topic until you have a good understanding of the subject matter. Don't worry about the scores going up and down - they always do that esp if you take tests from different providers.

thanks bb. i always find great value in your posts.
just a follow up ques, considering i have just two months would you recommend doing some specific topics first or any order that i should follow.?

hi,
i have to start my preparation but before that i want to take a test so that i can locate my weaknesses.

Which test resembles the exact GMAT closely??
i donwloaded the tests from official gmat website but dont want to waste them.

please suggest

Hi everyone!
I just read through the entire thread.
This is a great forum and a great help for me like
mentioned before for approximately a thousand times .

I am a non-native speaker (I am from Germany)
and I have just finished my "Abitur" (which is the German
university entrance diploma and it can be compared with the British A-levels).
The point is, I have no Bachelor degree and I have no
experience in business related things.

In school i had an advanced maths course and an advanced english course.
I was really good in maths and physics (best grade somebody can reach).

Where do I have to start?
My question is if i have a disadvantage because i am not familiar with
university related business stuff?

My target is (of course) to reach 700+!
I have about 12 Month to study. I already read about it and I
think I am going to study 6 month for my first attempt.
During these 12 month I am staying in New York City to make
a voluntary year of social service.
That is quite good to improve my English vocabulary or so.

Thanks in advance!
And keep up the excellent work!

all the best,
amadeus

I have MGMAT RC and SC books. Do I need to take any classroom courses from Kaplan or Manhattan..?? I am pretty new to GMAT (had taken CAT, India one time with decent score)..Please assist me how should I proceed for my GMAT preparations, I am a working profesional.

Dear BB, thanks for detailed guide!

I've just started "gmat journey". You gave advice not to use OG at the very beginning.
Repeating MontrealLady 's question - by which books do I have to start?

Thanks.

I'm sure this will come off like a shameless plug, but I can't imagine getting a Quant score above 45without using GMAX and Manhattan GMAT's diagnostics. I am not affiliated with either company but used their products to improve from a Q39 to a Q47 in 1 month of study time.

GMAX's videos are great, especially the Quant w/ Aner, amazing time savers and scoring strategies.

Once you've studied the core concepts, I would then use Manhattan GMAT's tests as a diagnostic of your weakest areas. Then review the videos / OG's on problems that relate specifically to those areas.. 6 weeks with these two tools could easily be the difference between RanDom State University and Ivy League.

David S.
Columbia MBA '2012

Hi bb,

I am familiar with the GMAT, i took it 3 years ago and didn´t score well, i´m now studying for it an plan to take it in 2 months.

I started with verbal using the Manhattan gmat books, i already finish RC and CR and i am about to finish SC. I haven´t take any practice test beacause i don´t want to waste them. Still I want to know how my preparation is working. I have the 6 tests that came with the books and the 2 official practice test form mba webpage. The thing is I havent go to any of the math books and I think is where I need more preparation, so I don´t see the point of going to a full test if I know my math is going to be horrible. What is yor take on this? how should I work on practice test? when? should I take just the verbal part of a couple of tests?

Thanks

Hi bb, i have another question. I already finish all 3 verbal books of Manhattan gmat. I read each book and then went to the OG and solved all questions available for each section, SC, RC, CR. I was correct in 75% - 80% of the questions. Is that usual? or i´m doing something wrong? I´m not a native speaker, and haven´t take any practice test yet. I did took the gmat in 2007 and got 590 (V31, Q41) without any study.

Recommendations? my target score is 680-700

Thank you

This is exactly what I needed to get started. Thank you!

i think thats good considering you are not a native speaker.... i am also at 70-75% accuracy after going through verbal manhattan books...i hope it gets better for both of us..

What is the ideal no. of mock tests one should take before giving GMAT and which ones..?? I am planning to give it in 3 weeks time from now. I will have about 2 weeks before I am done with the concepts..

I have started preparing based on this study plan and book recommendations.
I am glad I came across this thread, else I would have started off with OG.

I have started studying using Princeton Review and Kaplan Premier 2009. Planning to finish in 2 weeks and then start with Manhattan SC.Will start doing OG questions as given in each chapter of SC.

Question - how do you increase your "general knowledge" if most of the test prep materials (like the mgmat books I'm using) are strategy books?

Hi, has anyone tried the Veritas 15 book series? I never see it mentioned in any forum