Hi,
as everyone can probably see, i am not a new member to gmatclub but want to share my experience, fallbacks and motivation settings; even though i have not taken the test yet. My test date is scheduled for April 1st and i am really looking forward to doing the test (however even a bit scared by now).
I want to give you my test prep motivation and want to share some experience over the last 2 years and will also update the post after my test day.
I roughly joined gmatclub 2 years ago which was also the time starting my GMAT prep. I am 28 years, a non native English speaker (as you can see i am from Germany) and i have currently 4+ years WE in Consulting (specialized in Project Management) after graduating in Business and Management (low GPA 3.1).
I decided to apply for a MBA program but only if i can reach for a Top30 Business School (which mostly depends on the GMAT - even more for me as i have a low GPA). I did all the back round checks, gathered information about what the relevant requirements are and finally stopped by the gmatclub when my test prep has begun. I am normally not a forum guy who stays and registers, but that was different with this one. I have got much information about the prep materials (and still do) and was able to get an full overview about timing, error logs and strategies.
So, why did i start my preparation 2 years ago and still does not have completed the test (at least once)? That is a good question, which i ask myself over and over again. But the explanation is simple and of course only an excuse. I started when my project faced almost finished the implementation phase and therefore I was able to reduce time on work related issues and increase time for the GMAT. After 1 month of doing so (1h a day before work and approximately 10h a weekend) I got a new project and was not able to cope with both workload and GMAT prep. That was the time when I decided to apply in October 2011 and shifted my preparation for a year. I started again with my materials and read through all the strategy book (will list my materials later) and started with the quant part of the test. Unfortunately I lost motivation and did decide to go skiing instead before my new job started (I switched jobs beginning of last year). However over the last year my motivation came back and the dream of studying again and doing an MBA had never gone out. Shortly before Christmas I talked to my direct supervisor about my plans and he totally supported me so that I am now totally motivated and got the support from my employer. I will switch projects beginning of April and got an assistant to help me during the last 2 months (which allows me to reduce work time to 10h/day).
What have I done so far?I worked through all
MGMAT Strategy books and die the GMATPrep Cat (scored 620 at the beginning of my prep). I have probably done hundreds of questions out of the OG12 and here at the forum and identified CR and RC as my bottleneck. So if anyone has good ideas to get the correct answer rate up within 1 month, I highly appreciate it.
I am able to spend 3-5 hours on the prep material during the week and 8h each day on the weekend. Additional to that I will take 2 times one week off. The week after next one will be the first one and then 2 weeks before the test date is scheduled.
Prep Material- OG12 (+
OG V 2nd and
OG Q 2nd)
- All 8
MGMAT- Kaplan 800
- 1000 GMAT Questions (do not know the name right now)
- Kaplan Crack the GMAT
- English Grammar books (from my sister as she is a English teacher) to brush up the fundamentals
What is planned for the next 2 months?Mostly use the 6MGMAT Cats and identify weaknesses so that I can stable this part.
What has helped me best (so far) from gmatclub- The contribution of each and every one and the explanations of some freaky guys (in a positive way) in particular
- Even though it is a tiresome topic, but the errorlog is key to success. I did not believe it at the beginning of my prep in 2010 but do now. It is easy to identify weaknesses and whether it is a minor mistake or whether I do not understand the concept. I mean it is not mandatory to use an
error log in Excel, but I do use one on paper and have some notes (more or less key facts) next to each question
- Questions over questions over questions, prep materials, gmatclub App, School reviews, and and and
Any tips what I should do in the next 8 weeks until my test day? 
close
07 Feb 2012, 03:59
helps. 
