First I will say I am new to this website and I am excited that I found it. I can't wait to get to know the members here.
I am aiming to have a success story like Hemantsood (570-->760). Here is the deal I recently gave the GMAT on 6/23/2010 I scored a mere 600 (V34 Q: 39) I was devastated I didn't even want to hear the words GMAT ever again let alone retake it! I plan to apply for a PhD in Business (Marketing-Consumer Behavior emphasis). But after extensive research on Marketing PhD programs I found that in order to get into any of the programs I was most interested in I must retake the dreaded GMAT.
So here I am pushing 3 months later (I have not even looked at a GMAT book since then) and I need to retake it. I feel that I am starting over. Here is a little overview of my first attempt: I took a Kaplan course in classroom and I attended every class and paid close attention. However for the first 3 weeks of the 9 week course my online material was not available (apparently system glitch) so I was behind with taking the CATs as well as important study material I was missing although I did eventually catch up I don't feel that it was as effective as it could have been... I must admit I did not put enough time in self study outside of class until about 3 weeks before the test (By then it was too late) So there are a ton of things I feel I could have done differently. I cannot afford to retake the class (they do offer a free retake but within 30 days of the class ending so I am too late.)
So this time I purchased the 8
MGMAT strategy guides and I already have the
OG 12. I have exactly 11 weeks before I have to take the test (Duke is one of the schools I am applying to and their deadline is Dec. 8 which is my earliest deadline, so I want to take it by Dec. 1-the PhD coordinator confirmed that it is ok if my official score is not there by the deadline.) I plan to go through one
MGMAT strategy book a week (order: Number properties, Word translation, geometry, Equalities inequalities & VICs, Fractions decimals & percents, reading comprehension, critical reasoning, and lastly sentence correction). I will take a practice CAT at the end of each week (6 come with the guides, 2 GMATPrep, and some from GMAT Club) in the last three weeks I will review math one week, then verbal the next week, and in the last week I will review strategy. I also plan on using an
error log to efficiently target my problem areas.
So my questions are:
1) Is this a good study plan?
2) Is the order I plan to use the
MGMAT books in a good order, is that strategy even using them properly?
3) With the period of time I have how many hours should I study per day (I have a very flexible schedule)?
4) Is this goal realistic (600-730 in 11 weeks)?
5) Any suggestions, advice, comments, words of inspiration etc. are greatly appreciated.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post and any information you can offer.