Hi Sohamv1,
I'm a little late to this but hope my reply is still useful. I was in the same boat. After taking a live class with
Manhattan Prep for $1700 and self-studying for a month after, I thought I would a rockstar on the GMAT. Needless to say, I was disappointed from only scoring a 640 (44Q,33V) on my first actual exam in July.
I changed up my studying habits. On days I felt that I had low motivation, I didn't study. I knew now that it would be just a waste of time. If I am not feeling it, I would just end up reading things and not retaining it. On days where I felt energized, I pushed on until I'm tired. My second exam I got a 700 (49Q, 35V) in September. I know I can boost this more as I made careless mistakes during the verbal side and didn't put enough time and stamina into RC but R1 deadlines are around the corner.
1st Exam Resources:Manhattan Prep Live - I felt like I wasted the money but my instructor was nice. They focus mostly on Quant in my class and areas that were already my strong suit.
Manhattan Atlas - It wasn't that helpful as well. There's only 3 months of additional access after the class. After that they charge you $50 for an extension. I didn't buy it. You can still view old CATs and results.
Manhattan Prep Books Complete Set - These came with the class and they were amazing. I would highly recommend them. Do every problem set and make sure you understand the basic concepts if you want to improve on Quant.
Kaplan Prep 2019 - Didn't read it. Most of the material is the same as the
OG Guide. I used the CATs. They were okay.
OG 2018 - I kept doing the problems. The first 100 on Quant were too easy. If you are already scoring 40+, I think you could ignore. The remaining ones, practice them.
GMAT PREP and EXAM 3 + 4 - These were a godsend. Error logs just didn't work for me as I got lazy. I made slides instead. I took every question I needed more familiarity with and read the solution. Then I redid it to make sure I understood and also formatted slides out of them. This worked the best for me.
2nd Exam Resources:ESR + Manhattan Prep Books - The ESR is pricey for a couple pages of info that could've been fitted into two, I was one who didn't know my strengths or weaknesses. Using this, I was able to focus on certain areas. I reread the
Manhattan Prep Books. I didn't get to the RC one.
Veritas Prep Exams - Excellent. I wouldn't use these to predict your score but some of these questions showed me tricks in Quant I didn't know about. They were more simplistic than the MGMT CATs and budget friendly. They run deals on them for $10-15 for 7 exams.
GMAT PREP and EXAM 3 + 4 - Don't do retakes to find your score but do it for the new questions that pop up. I knew my score was inflated but I wanted to see what other questions would they throw at me. I made slides on those again.
Thursdays with Ron - For some, they may be more hands on and visual learners. I didn't find out about these until I was close to approaching my second exam date. These videos are amazing and free. Watch them and follow along.