Need a solid study plan (for all these books i have)

Question

Ok. Here is a list of the books i have:

MGMAT Series (8 books)
1-Veritas Series (15 books)
2-Chili Hot GMAT by Brandon Royal
3-Ace the GMAT by Brandon Royal
4-The 3 official guides (both the 12th and 11th edition)
5-Princeton Review 2009 
6-Project GMAT Advanced Math (Veritas)
7-Kaplan GMAT Premier Program 2009
8-Kaplan GMAT 800
9-CR Bible
10-SC Bible 
11-LSAT RC Bible
12-Doing Grammar by Max Morenberg

Can you guys help me figure out how i should go about it? Which books to start with and which to keep till the end? Clearly "Doing Grammar" should be the first to lay the foudnation of grammar. But what about the rest?

Thanks!

Hussain15 · Answer

Woww!! That's a big collection. :roll:

Well, I would have opted for the below mentioned combination -MGMAT or Veritas Guides (Any one set is sufficient with CATs) -3 official guides -GMAT Club Tests & obviously GMAT Prep In case of more practice, my option would have been Paper Tests. IMHO, this combination would be sufficient to cross 730.

score780 · Answer

Hey Hussain,

Some i got as a gift, so that's why i have so many. Now i have them all so i need to figure out a way to use them all properly, otherwise i guess i will get lost

Hussain15 · Answer

I have given my opinion, lets see what others have to say!!

shrouded1 · Answer

Thats indeed a lot of books
I made good with just OG12, OG Verbal Review & Manhattan Sentence Correction.
I dont know many of the books in that set, but you should start off with the OG I think and use the MGMAT guides for the specific subjects that you think you need to strengthen. In all probability you wont feel the need for the rest, except as perhaps question banks later

score780 · Answer

Thanks shrouded. Well, i have the books so i will have to use them otherwise its a waste. Regarding the books you dont know, i believe you're referring to Veritas set. These have been put on the market only this year. There are a couple of fresh reviews on them here on the forum.

kissthegmat · Answer

OG12
OG verbal
OG Math
MGMAT or Veritas guides
gmatclub tests
MGMAT tests

It's enough!

score780 · Answer

Sorry what do you mean by it's enough? I already have all these books so i need to use them all. It's not that i am planning to get them and looking for which ones to get

kissthegmat · Answer

Ohh.. so sorry if I left you with confusion! By 'it's enough' I mean the listed books,tests by me are enough to score 700+ on GMAT. Even if you plan to study from other sources please exclude The Princeton Review material.

Posted from my mobile device

Posted from my mobile device

rafi · Answer

Did you take a diagnostic test, yet? if you didn't take one. Check what are your weak areas, and plan accordingly. Nobody here can give you a solid plan without knowing what is your test date, and how many hours you have to study each day.
There are great guides in this forum you can start with to get a general idea.
Good Luck!

score780 · Answer

Thank you! Any advice on which ones i need to start with?
I will also get the GMAT Club Tests based on your reco

score780 · Answer

Hey Rafi, i took a diagnostic test, the Kaplan one (i guess), i got 680. So i still need to improve by 100 points!! thats going to be hard. I have 6 months to study

roshnipat · Answer

Hi score780,

You have a nice collection on books!! As the others have said, it would be good to concentrate on the most commonly used ones especially if you are looking to take the test in a 3-4 months. Having said that, I have been working on a plan of study with some of the books you have. You are welcome to use this as a guideline.

Phase 1 - Pre-GMAT preparation
Doing Grammar/Kaplan GMAT verbal foundations + Powerscore SC Grammar review (upto Page 52)
MGMAT Foundations of Math

Phase 2 - Learning concepts
Quant 
5 MGMAT quant books in the order 1 - 5 as prescribed.
Cover the gaps in these (as mentioned by DanaJ in her amazon reviews) with additional material from this forum/internet
a) Geometry - Overlapping shapes, angles within circles, tangent to circles, trapeziod, polygons with 4+ sides
b) Probability & Statistics - from Veritas guide
c) Arithmetic & Geometric Progressions
d) Digit and symbol problems

Practice with Veritas books, forums and MGMAT online question banks

Verbal 
SC - MGMAT SC guide - study 
CR - Powerscore RC bible - study
RC - LSAT RC bible - study

Practice with Veritas books, forums & MGMAT online question banks

AWA - 
Read up templates

Phase 3 - Practice
OG 11, 10, 12, OG additional books interspersed with Kaplan material (Kaplan premier, Verbal workbook, Kaplan 800) just for different practice

Phase 4 - Difficult material 
Verbal 
LSAT Superprep,LSAT papers and forums for RC & CR
GMAT SC - Brutal SCs and additional practice for SC

Quant 
GMAT club tests 
Jack "Challenge" questions

Phase 5 - Tests 
Take as many tests as possible - GMATprep, MGMAT, Kaplan, Knewton mostly - maybe some other ones

This is quite similair to a lot of study plans - its just I have tried to put together something that will work for me- given that I have been out of touch for a long time and would need a lot of time to get a top score.

Good luck!!

shaselai · Answer

wow thats a lot books! i would use mgmat before others since it is so highly effective. I would take a diagnostic, figure where you are then follow some of the study plans listed

kissthegmat · Answer

Start with basics, or before going to basics take a diagnostic test as recommended by other members here. It's good to check where are you facing problem.

Anyhow, most of the people start with Quant as its quite easy (in comparison to verbal) to raise your score on Quant.

score780 · Answer

Roshnipat, thank you so much! I have one more question: if i will be spending much more time on studying verbal, shouldnt i start with verbal and keep Quant for later. I feel that if i start with Quant, i will forget it by the time i am done studying verbal. What do you think?

KapTeacherEli · Answer

HI Score780,

As a Kaplan representative, it should come as no surprise that I recommend the Kaplan books. They contain comprehensive content, great strategies, and a number of CATs.

However, beyond that, I can give you a few specific pointers. First, focusing exclusively on Quant and then on Verbal is definitely a mistake. That being said, don't be afraid to dedicate up to a week at a time to a single aspect of the test; as long as you're regularly taking CATs, you'll need all of the skills you learned and so you are unlikely to forget them.

Speaking of the CATs, don't forget to include them in your study plan. A CAT is good for an entire day's worth of studying. Looking question by question to see what you did wrong--and what you did right!--can give you invaluable insight into your GMAT strengths and weaknesses.

Finally, in regards to the order of the books, save the OG books for last. They are an amazing resource, with questions directly from the test. However, their explanations and strategies are questionable at best; many of their mathematical solutions involve exceedingly complex calculations where a simple shortcut would do, and I've found at least one CR problem for which the explanation of the correct answer is completely wrong. For that reason, it's important that you have a solid foundation of both content and strategy so you can better evaluate your own performance on OG problems.

I wish you the best of luck--here's to 780!

shaselai · Answer

please continue the journey as you take the diagnostics

roshpat · Answer

Roshnipat, thank you so much! I have one more question: if i will be spending much more time on studying verbal, shouldnt i start with verbal and keep Quant for later. I feel that if i start with Quant, i will forget it by the time i am done studying verbal. What do you think?

You are welcome! I plan to do both Quant and verbal simultaneously. One session of Quant and one session of Verbal everyday. Verbal will be something I need to work on, but there is a lot to cover for Quant. This is similar to what I had done years ago when I wrote the GRE. This way, I wont feel that I am neglecting either section!!
After I cover the basics, from Phase 3 in my post, I plan to spend more time on weaknesses.

I hope this helps!! Good luck!!

roshpat · Answer

I agree with Whiplash ...
Pre-GMAT - Doing Grammar
Basics - MGMAT Quant + SC, Powerscore CR, LSAT RC bible
Practice - Veritas books, All OGs and Kaplan books - maybe Princeton

Brandon Royal books - have never heard of them - After you have exhausted all sources, you can consider this for practice.
I understand that Project GMAT advanced Math used to be the goto source for Probability and Statistics, this should be covered adequately in the new Veritas guide.. you could always consider this for additional practice

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