GMAT Journey 530 to ??

Greetings everyone. This website has been a valuable resource for me so I figured as I use it as a study aid and continue my studying that I'll write my store to encourage others along as they go too. Maybe the mistakes I make will help others out.

For starts my MBA/GMAT journey started back in 2008. I was working full-time hadn't graduated college yet and due to having a liberal arts background and no business background when I started off in business I found myself to be at a disadvantage. Decided I needed an MBA and planned on applying to schools ASAP so I could start immediately. I was in a hurry and purchased OG 11 and the Quant Verbal books. I ignored them for some time because I ended up getting a new job that was going to send me to Germany for a few months of training. I decided while I was there it would be a great time to study. Using the OGs I started studying and on the GMATPrep software managed to score as high as a 610. I knew I could do better but was in such a hurry to take the test an apply that I signed up for the GMAT the day after I got back from Germany.

DO NOT TAKE THE GMAT WITH JET LAG!

A no brainer right? You would think...but there I was taking it anyway, and I ended up dosing off part way through one of the quant sections. End result...

Q30/V34 4.0AWA - 530

Needless to say...I didn't apply to any schools.

After a period of identy crisis moving for work, getting engaged, buying two houses, etc... here I am a few years later getting ready to take the exam for real. I have a better idea of what my career goals are and understand better now than before that an MBA doesn't automatically = getting a good paying job. Not all MBA's are created equal. I have also in the mean time found this webset and some others...I've purchased the MGMAT books and have researched a study plan.

For the next month I will be studying Quant. I've already started working my way through the MGMAT Number Properties book and already it helped me solve one of the MGMAT Challenge questions after just a few days. By the end of the month I'll be doing questions and reviewing mistakes I've made.

After that I'll work on my verbal. In the limited amount of prep I've done in this I know that SC is actually my strongest area here and RC is my weakest. I will study the MGMAT and PowerScore LSAT RC (I have this from when I considered law school for a bit...so I might as well use it) in order to improve on these areas. While working on verbal I'll continue to practice and analyze my mistakes in quant.

In month three I'll start doing CATs starting with one of the GMATPrep tests and then working in the MGMAT and Kaplan and other tests. And then shortly before the actual GMAT I'll take the second GMATPrep and see where I stand.

My goal is to hit 720 and be at least 80/80. This is a stretch I know, but I know my verbal is pretty close to being at that point already, just need to brush up on some things and I should be good. I was always good at math just haven't done it in forever so hopefully with a solid review I should be good to go there as well. My goal is to take the GMAT by June 15.

I'm not applying until Fall 2012 so this will get the GMAT out of the way, and if necessary give me sufficient enough time to retake again before needing to be heavily focused on apps. It will also help me identify if the schools I'm targeting are realistic or not. This way once apps are released I can start working on essays and put all my time into them and not feel rushed or overwhelmed due to studying for the GMAT.

Nos