Hey all

Like many people taking the GMAT, I am aiming for a score of 700+... I just did my first GMAT exam on November 16th 2010. I obtained a 650 Q 47, V 32. I feel I didn't do as well as I could have in both sections but particularly the english, where I was left with 10 questions to guess at the end of the exam! I have no doubt that was the main culprit in what got me a low score. Saying that though, on the GMAT prep test I got 660 so it wasn't far off from my predicted score. The maximum I was ever left with in verbal while doing these practice tests was 7 questions.

I have just registered to take this exam again on December 17th 2010. I plan to apply to LBS for Fall 2011 and their application deadline is on January 5th. I have about 3 years work experience currently, I've done well in my academic life but I feel a minimum score of 700 in GMAT would definitely help my application. I know that I have the ability to get there as well... I also need to spend time on the essays for the application.

The study material I am currently using:

- OG 12
- Kaplan Verbal workbook
- Kaplan Quant workbook
- Manhattan SC (just purchased today from amazon)
- May borrow a friends princeton review book (not even sure which one he has, this is probably not going to happen unless I feel I need more)

I felt my main weakness in the test was not finising the verbal section and I spent way too much time on the sentence correction bits, where a lot of the time multiple answers made sense. I definitely need to spend time on this part of the verbal and improve my strategy. That's why I just bought the Manhattan SC book. I have less than one month to prepare for this exam but I am in between jobs right now so can dedicate my life to this goal... I am also a really fast learner so feel that this should be more than enough time. So far my rough plan is to Study the Kaplan verbal book thoroughly for one week and do practice questions, when the manhattan sc book arrives study that thoroughly for one week and do practice questions, refresh my maths for a few days and do practice questions, all the while using the GMAT timer from walker to improve my pace, I also plan to do all the GMAT club questions during this time. In the final week I plan to do GMATprep tests and the Manhattan tests and any other free test I can get my hands on. I also plan to work on my application essays and get a job before the January before I can apply. What tips would you guys recommend? Is there anything you feel I can tweak to help me get that coveted 700+ mark?

In summary, I feel that I did do a fair amount of studying to get to 650, however, it was only for around one week of serious studying, if I apply myself I should be able to get 700... English has never really been my strong suit as you no doubt have picked up reading this post so this will be the main area I will concentrate on... I am not a native speaker and unfortunately I barely read books (something I'm working on!).

Thanks in advance for your replies.
Ali