Evaluate my Study Plan

Hello everyone,

I am currently finishing up my Master's in Biochemistry (thesis is under review) from McGill University and plan to graduate sometime this June. Although certain aspects of academic research were interesting, I really did not enjoy the academic lifestyle and the career path that followed. I therefore have no intentions of getting my PhD anytime soon or working as a researcher for any pharmaceutical company. I am essentially at a cross-road in my career and I'm looking to transition into business. My ideal job right now is consulting for three main reasons: I enjoy problem solving, the approach to problem solving is very hypothesis driven and similar to academic research, and I'll be exposed to a wide variety of industries and get a strong sense for business.

With this in mind I want to take the GMAT and break the 700 barrier, ideally getting a score around 730. I want to get a good score for two reasons: it will help me get into a good consulting firm, and since the score is good for 5 years, will help me get into a good MBA program (which I plan on doing regardless if I get into consulting or not). Since I'm done writing my thesis, I currently have the time and energy to focus on studying for this exam. I plan on taking the GMAT before the new GMAT is implemented, giving me a solid 3 months to prepare.

Here is the material that I currently have:
-OG12
-OG Quant Review edition 2
-OG Verbal Review edition 2
-MGMAT 8 Strategy guides

I haven't purchased any CAT exams but plan on getting the 6 MGMAT CAT exams as well as doing all the free exams that are available to me. This should give me about 12 CAT exams total.

I have taken the first free GMAT Prep Exam after zero studying to get an idea of where I stand. I scored a 600 with Q:41 and V:31. I also did the GMAT Club diagnostic test and did very poorly on it. I'm currently reviewing it and have realized that I have a big timing issue! I've used this to create the following study guide for myself:

First month will focus on the quantitative aspects of the exam. I plan on systematically going through the 5 Quantitative MGMAT strategy guides, taking notes and reviewing basic foundations that I have forgotten. I will also be doing all of the practice questions they refer to in the OG guide and keep track of my errors using the error log. I won't be doing the OG Quant review questions yet as I want to save them for the end of the month and use them as an overall review once I'm done all sections of the quant. Hopefully I will have a strong understanding of my weakest areas in quant by the end of the month and I'll be able to practice questions in those specific areas.

The second month will focus on the verbal aspects of the exam. I will go through the 3 booklets and do all the practice questions that are mentioned in the book. I feel like this is the area that can give me the most significant improvement on the GMAT. I will focus first on the SC booklet and then try to develop strategies for the CR before moving on to RC. I plan on doing a CAT exam each weekend starting in the second month just to keep the math material fresh. I also will try to do quant problems targeting my weak areas.

The third month will focus on CAT exams and problem areas. I plan on writing a few AWA essays as well just to get a better overall feel for the exam.

I expect to be able to spend up to 4 hours a day studying, maybe implementing a rest day here and there.

So there it is, my study plan for the next three months. A 130 point increase is ambitious, but I feel like I have the time, motivation, materials, and all the support I need (through this forum) to reach my goal. I was wondering what you guys thought about this plan? Do you have any additional suggestions for me? I heard that the MGMAT Verbal material wasn't the best... is there an alternative that has proven helpful for you? All suggestions are very welcome!

Cheers,