Starting GMAT Preparation

Hi

From my humble experience, I would take a test CAT straight away and before you open a single book.

This is for several reasons:
- Get acquainted with the question types you are most comfortable with (you can spend less time on, say, geometry and exponents if this was your strongest area.)
- Determine a baseline score including AWA, IR , Q and V
- Identify weaknesses and tweak your gmat prep strategy as you go along

Your sources are all excellent, especially MGMAT for SC and POWERSCORE for CR. EGMAT is also a good source.

I would suggest you take CATS in months 2 and 3. You can either purchase the GMAT PREP CATS or you can use the MGMAT CATS. This is important because you want to compare your results here with your baseline score. Don't forget that getting a good score here will also motivate you especially in the last few weeks.

When you take the CATs make sure you take it complete in one go. Take the 8 minute break in between the sections and dont pause only for emergencies. I did the mistake of only doing the Q and V sections during the prep and got high inflated scores. The AWA and IR are manageable sections but they seem to wear you down significantly. The key here is to practice, learn to skip questions strategically, and increase your test stamina.

I hope this helps!