BEGINNER TO ADVANCED- Strategy that worked V31 to V38 to V40

If you came here, it is probably because you want to improve yourself on GMAT.
Don't bother if you've finished the material
Don't worry if you've been struggling


Ohk I'll be upfront with you. Don't waste time in making excel sheet of the hours you've spent studying. It truly is a waste of time given that you get online access to all the OG material, on gmat.wiley.com. The metric option takes care of that for you.
Secondly, AWA is a cut off factor, if you have an AWA of 4.5 or 5, good enough, no one cares even if you get a 6. Something like that goes for IR, the rejection factor, if it comes to the Adcom that a tie between few candidates is creating an issue, they do use IR as a rejecting factor. I've seen two 720 scorers dinged for the same reason. I can say that you can get at least 5 in IR with decent prep. IR 6-8 is good.


Now regarding the practice.
Make sure that you learn every concept in OG properly, Sentence correction can be an issue in which you could benefit from courses such as Jamboree, Empowergmat, manhattan, or magoosh, or any other courses that you prefer.

DONOT USE THE REVIEW

Wait, don't get me wrong, what I'm trying to say is that it is the official material that you'll need to attain momentum before test. So after you're done with OG, take GMAT Prep test 1, remember, you have 6 tests ( empowergmat gives you all the tests codes for free for subscription, jamboree gives 2(test 5&6)). Make sure before you give the test to pace yourself and not to pause anywhere in between the tests, breaks included, take only 8 mins (or less) for break. As soon as you get the score, You'll receive a sectional score and the chart of all questions (I'd not suggest you to see solution if your score is less than 600). If your score is above 600, buy the practice questions from the mba store(official site). It will help you prepare more from official questions. Then after 5-6 days, as soon as you're finished with question pack, give test 2, check your progress. If the score goes near 660- 680 (or more), time to gain the momentum; START THE REVIEW BOOKS, keep practising and finish it within a week or so, best use the online access to pace yourself and to save time. After it's over take test 5, don't be disappointed if you get a lower score than 700, the quant is essentially more daunting than test 1. Brush up your concepts in 2-3 days, give test 6, you'll probably reach a 700.

Now before giving test 3&4, give all the unofficial mocks, not to improve score but to improve speed. DO NOT CARE ABOUT UNOFFICIAL TEST SCORES.

If you're not confident revise the review phase again
Give test 3 and see where you stand.
If you're happy with the scores book a test date 7 days from then
Brush up for two days give test 4.
If you're near your target score. Give the test.
If you're not, practice where you're weak, or feeling weak, gain momentum again and repeat the process.

Now if you're ready to give the tests, just review all the questions of the tests, see where you went wrong, you can practice the EP questions on GMAT Club too.
I suggested not to see solutions of tests initially because you might repeat those tests again if you're still not ready. And when questions repeat, your score inflates. So its better to be safe than sorry.

Sorry for a long post.
If you really think that my post has helped you even partly, a gratitude in form of like would mean a lot to me.

P.S.
Stick to official material during the momentum phase, no outside material should hinder your test prep.
You can/should refer to the other material in practice phase i.e along with OG.
2-3 hours for quant and 2 hours for verbal will be sufficient.

For RC specific Strategy-
https://gmatclub.com/forum/conquer-gmat-rc-327166.html#p2548641
A man's GMAT journey from 710-770 https://gmatclub.com/forum/710-to-770-50q-45v-8ir-6awa-gmat-study-tips-resources-strategies-327622.html
Shoutout to yerbamate2020 Great Guidance and help to all the people.
Disclaimer- Technique worked for a sample of individuals; GMAT has experimental questions too that can inflate/deflate your score on actual test day; luck factor is not covered in this strategy. However, if you're doing all the official material with care, you'll get a score good enough for an ivy league. Score may vary with IQ of an individual.

The following individuals have always helped me during my preparation, check out their posts for extra material
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Bunuel Narenn EMPOWERgmatRichC