Beside prep books, what else can I do to get a 700+ score?

Question

Hi everyone,
I'm currently studying industrial engineering and soon I will start an accounting degree online. I'm not from USA but my level of English is quite good. I have a Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) from Cambridge and I read a good number of magazines in English and books. My first question is about what else can I do to be prepared enough for the verbal part of the GMAT. Is there any specific kind of literature that could help me to develop my skills in this language? I mean any kind of books or topics that can boost my critical reasoning? 
Second, for the math part, is there anything beside practices that I can use to develop more my quantitative reasoning and problem solving? I mean, something like numbers puzzels or similar things?

About me, I am just 19 years old and I'm planning to take the GMAT in about 3-4 years. My major goal is to get accepted into HBS, so since now I want to start doing practices and whatever is required to get a 700+ score. 
I have plenty of time to get ready for the big day but I'm really serious about this and I want to use this time wisely. 
Any advices would be very appreciated.

PD. Which prep book is the best to start studying by myself?

Thanks a lot!

bigoyal · Answer

Here is the consolidated link with almost all the information on GMAT.

Btw, I feel one needs 3-6 months to prepare for GMAT. I would suggest not to stretch your preparation beyond that, else you would start forgetting the concepts. If you are planning to start now, prepare hard and nail the exam in next 3-4 months. The gmat scores are anyway valid for 5 yrs.

FrankR · Answer

Thanks, I think the best would be start reading classics and increase my vocabulary....

TheSituation · Answer

I second bigoyal's opinion that a 3-6 month allotment is appropriate for study & prep. A good friend of mine scored 720 after 7 weeks of study. To me this is the exception to the rule. Unless your naturally gifted its gonna take good old fashioned hard work.

As for your question, I've begun playing chess outside of my study time. It helps you consider ALL possibilies before making a move and forces you to consider traps/tricks before committing to a course of action. Both of these things you must be good at in order to excel at the GMAT, in particular the quant.

bigoyal · Answer

Oops, it seems I didn't post the link. Here is the consolidated link with almost all the information on GMAT:
everything-you-need-to-prepare-for-the-gmat-revised-77983.html

Below is the link you were looking on books to Read (Improve Verbal Score and Enjoy a Good Read):
books-to-read-improve-verbal-score-and-enjoy-a-good-read-76079.html

JB0B0 · Answer

I'm in the same boat as Frank. I'm 18 and looking to prepare for the GMAT very soon. My goal is to get into HBS or the Booth School of Business, so a 740+ is imperative. Hopefully with assistance from the community and some good strategies, I could attend the school of my dreams!

FrankR · Answer

I hope you do. I was reading a very interesting article about what memories are made of and how our brain works. There is a part of the article that says: “This is why almost all great musicians, all great basketball players, all great anything, all get started very early in life". So I assume that if you and I want to be great at GMAT we must start acting now. I will try to read more books in English, start playing chess (thank you for the advice Currency) and start doing GMAT practices. According to my calculations, if I spend 1 hour, 6 days at week doing GMAT exercises, in 3 years it would be 936 hours of work. BTW I dont think I will start forgetting the concepts. As someone once said: "Practice makes the master". Good luck in this long journey 8-)

bakfed · Answer

hello all, I feel the need to chime in a bit and give some insight. For those of you who are only 18/19 years old, it's great that you already know what direction you want to lead your life into. So on this note, props to you!

However, here's some down-side that you DEFINITELY NEED to think about as a 18/19-year-old:
It seems to me as some of you are planning to take the GMAT in a few months. Now keep in mind that your GMAT score is valid for only 5 years. Assuming that you're going to college, and you're coming out of college successfully at the age of 21/22, you'd still need to work at least a few years before you should be thinking about business school, let alone Harvard Business School. If you're planning to work 3 years post college, which is a typical length of work experience post-college for most top 20 business schools, your GMAT score won't be valid anymore when you apply to business school. In this case, you'd have to prepare AGAIN for a good score for these top schools.

My suggestion is to focus on your college work for now (and you can always start studying bits by bits starting now) and really think about taking the GMAT in your junior/senior year of college. This way you'll have time to gather that work experience post-college and still have a valid GMAT score.

That's my 2-cent...

bigoyal · Answer

Hi Frank,
You really got very good determination, and I'm sure you'll succeed by scoring good GMAT score. But keep in mind that your goal is not to score well in gmat but to get admission in a good b-school. There are multiple factors which determines your chances in any B-schools. GMAT plays a very small role. Some of the broad criteria which I'm aware of are (not in any particular order):
1. GMAT score
2. Academic performance 
3. Extra curricular, volunteer activities
4. Awards and recognitions at work or outside
5. Leadership initiatives
6. Steps taken to reach your post MBA goals.

So my 2 cents is to spend your 3 years in strengthening your profile. Remember, with a very strong profile you can get admission to top b-school with just 600+ score. But with a weak profile you may not get admission to a good b-school even if you score 750+.

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