Took the test this afternoon - 730. (48Q, 42V). Thanks to everyone who has posted their experience in this forum - it is always helpful to hear different perspectives. Here are my practice scores and notes:
Princeton I : 640
Princeton II: 680
Princeton II: 690
Kaplan Online: 690
GmatPrep I: 720
Thomson / Petersons: 650
Thomson / Petersons: 48 (just took Quant)
Princeton IV: 700
GMATPrepII: 680
Actual: 730
General Study guidlines:
Start with a diagnostic test to see where you stand. Princeton review is a good book for its questions and basic review but its strategies are horrible. Use Kaplan for strategies but do not use Kaplan questions. The one Kaplan test i took was so far from the real thing in terms of wording and content. The
OG should be one of your main study books but should not be the only book you use. I did every question in the book except for readin comp. The
OG is extremely helpful for critical reasoning practice. In terms of practice tests, be very careful because the questions are generally not difficult enough and the tests not adaptive enough. One of the things i noticed 5 minutes into the test was that it was much more adaptive than the 2 GMAT practice tests.
Notes on Math:
Math is much harder than anything you see in
OG in general. The test was very focused on number properties, especially in the form of data sufficiency questions. Get one of the Manhattan number properties books for a review. timing was always my issue on Math. I got stuck on some tricky algebra around question 4 or 5 and was behind the entire test. I ended up looking up and seeing 10 minutes left with 10 questions left. not good. At that point i decided to pick my battles - I worked through DS questions on quick hunches and logic and blindly guessed on 2 or 3 questions. The rest i cranked through as quickly as possible. I would not consider myself a math guy and the questions definitely didn't get any tougher after 11 or 12. Thought I bombed it.
Notes on Verbal:
OG was the best practice. 3 reading comps that weren't too tricky, SC and CR very similar to
OG.
Good luck to everyone.