Now that we are sort of changing generations of test takers, I thought that it would be good to develop a solid study plan together - all suggestions are welcome. I will start and you can pitch in. Don't be shy 1. How Much Time for GMAT? In my experience not less than 3 moths, but not more than 6. This was true for me: If I spent less than 3 months - i would not have covered all I needed to in both math and verbal. I went over the Kaplan's general book with CD and two workbooks. I spent about 1.5 months working with the workbooks - closer to the end of my prep. I felt that just one Kaplan's book was not enough. I did not have much respect for the PR book I bought, so I just used the tests. The reason I did not want to make it more than 6 months was that by the end, I would not remember what I learnt in the beginning. I started studying on Nov 1 and finished Feb 5th. However, I felt I was ready around Jan 20 or 25, but could not get a test scheduled earlier. Also if you study for more than just a few months, there is a tendency to get relaxed and get off track, skip, etc. - takes much more persistence and focus. 2. How Much Time per Week? I spent probably 20 hours a week; I studied in the mornings before work (i started my workday at 10 or noon two days a week) and on the weekends. 3. Where to start? Assuming, you have done your school research and figured out what score you need, you can proceed to material agregation stage - download some tests all-gmat-cat-practice-tests-links-prices-reviews-77460.html 4. What books are recommended? I usually recommend only Kaplan but a few people said Arco's Verbal was quite good. I am unsure as of now. You can see my personal book recommendations above in the previous paragraph. If I were to take the GMAT from a scratch again, and I am glad I don't have to do that, I would get 3 Kaplan's books - one with CD and two workbooks. I would also get OG and got some practice on combinations and probability - thank goodness we have plenty of problems in the Math discussions: https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=7 The reason is that Kaplan is harder than the real GMAT, as a rule, but Kaplan has no probability/permutaiton problems or explanations esp. in the workbooks, so you need to seek that somewhere else. 5. What books/tests should I start with? Start with the Kaplan's book with CD - you will get the basics and the strategy down. Move ahead with the workbooks and you will get advanced practice you need to settle the strategies you learnt from the first book Take a few Kaplan's Full Tests - and go carefully through the errors, writing or printing out your mistakes Study what you are lacking Take PowerPrep Work on the OG - it will probably seem easy after Kaplan, so it is doubtful whether you should get it or not. I did not have it. -=-=-=-=- I will add More in a few days.

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A study plan

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Rupstar

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28 Feb 2005, 14:33

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Like BB one of my major areas where i bomb is probability...it really isnt that hard but can make you spend that extra 5-10 minutes on figuring out a problem which can make a enormous difference between finishing comfortably and rushing through the last few problems...
here is a pretty good website
https://www.probabilitytheory.info/

ssap

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06 Mar 2005, 19:51

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[quote="supraboy888"][quote="thenine"]Also

How did you convince your company to let you come in at noon? I have an amazingly difficult time trying to balance work lifeand the gmat.

Anyone have any time allocation tips on how to balance it all out.

My current schedule is

530 - 8am wake up, gym, commute to work
8 - 6pm work
7-10 gmat
Repeat

Throw in about 8 hours on the weekend for the GMAT
4 hours a week playing in a basketball leauge for life
And helping my GF start her company for some more work

is this ever going to work, or am i going to have to cut something out

Hello All,
I'm new to this forum. But I've been a silent participant for a week now.
I plan to take my GMAT around the end of May (haven't registered yet).
With a hectic job and 2 kids, I seem to have the same problem of allocating enough time every week for serious preparation. To be honest, I have started my GMAT prep and given up several times because I hvn't been able to stick to a strict schedule

. Any tips / gameplans that I can follow. Thanks, SSAP [/list]

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15 Apr 2005, 09:58

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What is OG?

I am a scientist with a Ph.D. in EE. I just tried the power prep software and the only thing that seems hard to me is the sentence correction (I am not a native english speaker). What material would you recommend? I plan to start my EMBA in 2006 at Wharton, Columbia or NYU. Right now my preference is Wharton.

thanks.

krisrini

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25 Apr 2005, 23:12

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I have just joined this forum a month back, and was a passive reader, trying to work out a gmat study plan for myself. I thought I shall share my study plan with the forum here. But before that, a brief background about myself. I am a software project leader, in India. I have a masters in computer applications, and with a work experience of 9 years. I think I should start looking at EMBA to move myself up the ladder.

I am looking at joining a good business school in India, and I am looking at IIM (Indian Institue of Management) and ISB (Indian School of Business) as the first choice. I know they are very premier institutes in India, and I need to have a score of 700+ to get in.

I plan to take my GMAT by end october or early November in 2005. I should be registering for my exams by end july. I think I have a good time to prepare, but I need to balance my preparation, with my work and home. I have the following books to help me.
1) Arco
2) Princeton Review
3) Kaplan
4) OG
I am bit confident about Quants, and verbal is where I have to concentrate a lot. I have also bought a book "High School, English Grammar and composition" by Wren & Martin. People in India, would be very much aware of this book, it gives you a very strong basics on English grammar.

I have been concentrating on Critical reasoning for the past 15 days, and Arco has been very good in this aspect. I have now started to work on the exercies in CR, and I am slowly getting confident in this area.

In the month of May, I plan to work on comprehension and basics on Math.

June I plan to get into the advanced topics of math like probablity and permutation - combinations.

July I plan to spend one full month for sentence correction. By this time, I would have also enrolled for the exam.

From hereon, I plan to review whatever I have learnt, and start taking practice test by September.

I shall keep this forum informed on my plans, and I am sure, I shall be able to get my questions answered, whenever I have them.

I know, I have a ambitious plan on hand - Where there is a will there is a way. Isn't it.

Thanks to all of you. And I hope to help all those, wherever I can. All the best to each of you.

regards

Shower

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26 May 2005, 15:29

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Can anybody advice me how to prepare for GMAT.I have finished my Bachelors a month ago.And with a month preparartion ,i sat for GMAT exam -ended up with just 500 (Scale scored 41/Q ,19/V).
I am very depressed. I am planing for MS in finance in Oct sem 2006, for which i need to score 700.
Plz guide me how to prepare in a month.I have not attended any coachings.I am self preparing with the books -OG,Kaplan,PR and Barron.
I am mostly weak in verbal part.
I am not working so can study whole day.Waiting for suggestions.

Hermione

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30 May 2005, 09:25

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Hi everyone,

I'm new and starting to gather all the resources I need. How to I get info/ access to the delta course you mentioned above?

Thanks.

himjhamb

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19 Jul 2005, 12:28

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Hi,
I just downloaded a bunch of practice material (it came in ps.zip, ds.zip, cr.zip, sc.zip, rc.zip) from gmatclub website. The zip files contain various sections and each section contains a timed set of questions. For example, the ps section 1 contains 20 questions to be done in 30 minutes.

I just wanted to know how good are these for the exam prep - I was thinking of charting out a plan of study and was considering putting these in the plan - has anyone practiced with these?

Thanks!
- HJ

nidhibkk

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15 Sep 2005, 13:27

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Dear Friends ,

I have only a month to prepare for GMAT.Please advice me the schedule.From where should I start preparing .I have OG 10TH Edition ,PR , KAPLAN , Barron's.Plz suggest me whether these are sufficient for preparation?

Really urgent plz reply soon.

y2kat2003

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05 Jun 2006, 13:17

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What exactly is powerprep and where can I get it?

chudik

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10 Jul 2006, 13:10

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I think Cracking the GMAT is also good in the beginning. Barrons is not bad - why not?

I study 1-2 hours every day(after work 1 hour rest and then 1-2 hours study), weekends -try 3-4 hours per day (mostly tests). I am planning to take one week of vacation before the test and practice, study as much as possible also before the test.

Take 1 day before the test as relaxing day - otherwise you will explode!!!

What you think about it?

saumster

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06 Aug 2006, 19:11

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Hi all,

I've just finished my PR book and want to move on to a Kaplan one and I'm stuck. I have 2-

a. Kaplan Primier Program 2007 Ed
b. Kaplan GMAT 800 2006-2007 Ed

Which book should I go to next? I've heard some mention a third Kaplan book: "Kaplan 200x With BD". Is this the same as (a.) above or an entirely different book.

I've also read some say (a.) above is not worth spending time on...?

Thanks for your help,

-Saumil
saumster@yahoo.com

ArvGMAT

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06 Aug 2006, 20:23

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I believe that anyone with an engineering background should focus more on scoring as high as possible on the quant and less on verbal. Preparation will not help much in increasing the verbal scores beyond a point. I usually spend around 15 hours a week on GMAT which includes 1 or 2 full length tests.

Amit05

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17 Sep 2006, 12:05

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Hi All,
I took a GMATPrep test today and scored 620. Can anyone suggest the what could be further strategy. Q - 22/37 , V - 25/41

Regards,
Amit

GMAT1900

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03 Mar 2007, 17:13

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I am studying for the GMAT and I realised that i am doing good on the RC and CR but the sentence correction gives me the most trouble. Does anyone have any recommended strategies for this ? I am using Kaplanbut the OG problems seem harder. Seems like Kaplan books doesnt cover all concepts.

marooooned

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19 Mar 2007, 12:55

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Good heavens, I have to face the music in less than three weeks. I'm relying completely on Kaplan Planner CD. Let's see what's going to happen. Today I took Kaplan Diag. test and got 640 (Q - 39, V - 40) though Q score doesn't show my actual Q potential. With this, SC was 100% up to mark and RC was pathetic. Long way to go.....

marooooned

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20 Mar 2007, 01:40

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tlntd177

With all my vast experience with SC, I can say that this is the most scoring section of Verbal and the easiest one. I don't see any reason why people should make phobia out of it.
Do 10 questions of SC at a time and try to narrow the choices from five of each question to 2 or 3. If you do mistake, analyse the mistake and make a category of it. There aren't many miskate-related concepts in SC. But remember to do your homework of analyzing. In addition, SC is all about practicing and identifying the incorrect ones. The more your practice, the faster you'll identify.

marooooned

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20 Mar 2007, 01:48

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Amit05

Hi All,
I took a GMATPrep test today and scored 620. Can anyone suggest the what could be further strategy. Q - 22/37 , V - 25/41

Regards,
Amit

You should make strategy for both Qunat and Verbal if you're aiming for 700+. I'm sure you've just started your preparation so you still have a long way to go. Recently I brought Kaplan Higher Score CD. Firstly, they will take your Diagnostic test to see where you stand. Then they'll make a study plan for you, that means step-by-step preparation, giving more importance to your weaknesses.
With this, OG is still the Holy Grail. Explanations are helpful and questions are very close real GMAT ones.

marooooned

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20 Mar 2007, 01:55

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ArvGMAT

I wouldn't disagree with you, though I've one more reason. Corporate world has a typical penchant for people who are great with numbers. No wonder AdCom, while anaylzing the application of a candidate, show more focus on Qunat score than on Verbal score. Low Verbal score can be overshadowed by High Qunat score but not vice-versa.

GMAT1900

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20 Mar 2007, 12:21

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Hey thanks...
I figured out what I was doing wrong... I was forming answers in my head before looking at the choices which the princeton book said not to do(Got the princeton book b/c a lot of people here seemed to mention it for SC) Now i am over 80% correct on most sc... But still doing homework.. Thanks for your help

GMAT1900

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20 Mar 2007, 21:04

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Hey all Took a GMAT practice test today scored 650....(Q45, V34) I realised I am need to finish the quant faster and I also need to concentrate more (I.E) cut down on simple mistakes I missed some easy questions on the quant... Any last minute tips.... ?

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