This is for anyone out there who feels like a total dolt at math and worries that they won't be able to pull of the 700+ score with a decent split.
I signed up for the GMAT knowing that if I wanted a chance at admission to a decent MBA program (leaning toward schools ranked 10-20) then I needed a stellar score in order to offset my sub 3.0 undergrad GPA in a fine arts major from a mid-tier school...yeah.
I haven't taken a math class since my junior year of high school (which was pre-cal and I got a D-) and I'm in my early thirties, so school is well in the past for me. However, I generally do well on standardized tests and don't have a tendency to freak out while testing, so I figured a lot of hard work would get me there.
I put in close to 500 hours (tracked every bit of it) over three months. I own my own business so I freed up the time and sacrificed the holidays. I know that 500 hours may not be realistic for most--and I may have overdone it--but if you want the best chance at a strong score then you better know your stuff. I didn't...at all.
Here's a breakdown of what I studied in rough chronological order (the items often overlapped a bit but you get the idea):
MGMAT GMAT Roadmap guide / day or two
MGMAT Math Foundations / a solid week+ (I had to relearn everything, from long division, to dividing fractions...everything)
MGMAT Verbal Foundations / three or four days
MGMAT 1 Fractions & Decimals / couple of days
MGMAT 2 Algebra / couple of days
MGMAT 3 Word Problems / couple of days
MGMAT 4 Geometry / couple of days
MGMAT 5 Number Properties / couple of days
Kaplan GMAT Premier book (old 2010 version) - I used this as a general review of GMAT content then took all quizzes / about a week
Veritas Prep Stats and Combinations book / three days
Kaplan practice test - non CAT / 640 Q41 V40MGMAT 6 Critical Reasoning / a few days
Kaplan CAT 1 / 670 Q39 V50
MGMAT CAT 1 / 720 Q44 V45Magoosh Videos - All quant / a few days
GMAT Club quant tests / took 2 and did horribly (mid 30s)
Magoosh quant questions - 1 at a time with immediate response easy difficulty first / a couple of days
Official Guide 13 - all quant questions using
MGMAT OG Archer 1 at a time / a week
GMATPrep CAT 1 / 720 Q47 V42Magoosh quant questions - all remaining / three or four days
MGMAT CAT 2 / 720 Q50 V37
Kaplan CAT 2 / 690 Q50 V35
MGMAT CAT 3 / 740 Q48 V43MGMAT Advanced Quant / four days
Official Guide 13 - critical reasoning / couple of days
Economist GMAT Tutor Free Test / 740 Q50 V42 *range*MGMAT 8 Sentence Correction / three or four days
Kaplan CAT 3 / 770 Q53 V52 *my Kaplan CATs were older ones apparently - from 2010*
Kaplan CAT 4 / 700 Q46 V45GMATPrep Qpack all quant and a little verbal / four days
GMATPrep CAT 2 / 720 Q48 V41
MGMAT CAT 5 / 730 Q45 V45
GMATPrep CAT 3 / 770 Q49 V47
GMATPrep CAT 1 *retake* / 740 Q47 V44Prepped for AWA -
Magoosh AWA videos and guide as well as gmatclub forums / couple of days
*My first attempt at the GMAT was nixed by a catastrophic glitch that crashed the exam right after I began the quant section. The exam couldn't be revived and Pearson/GMAC made me wait 30 days to "retake" the exam. I drove 6 hours to take the exam (I live in the middle of nowhere) and had to do it again a month later. Needless to say, I'm still furious. I didn't have much free time available to study over the last month and was pretty burned out so I got in maybe 5 or 6 hours. I did retake GMATPrep CAT 1 a few days before my rescheduled exam and felt relaxed -- I scored a 740.
**Actual Result / 740 Q49 V42 IR7 AWA6Study materials note: The
Manhattan GMAT guides are great (most would agree) and truly helped me but I'm a big fan of
Magoosh. The quant videos for the most part are solid and having a short video explanation for each and every practice question on the site helped me big time.
Magoosh is a great deal if you ask me. The GMATClub quant questions can be brutal and didn't really boost my confidence so I didn't end up taking too many. The GMATPrep CATs and question pack were essential, along with
OG 13 of course.