OK. Here are some details of my preparations and my experience taking the test:
My preparations. NOT my advice for you!
On Memorial Day, about 7 weeks ago, I decided to apply to an MBA program which, of course, required taking the GMAT. A few days later, I took out some GMAT prep books from the library: Kaplan, Princeton Review and Barrons.
I started by learning the basics about the test, i.e. that there are 3 sections - AWA, Quant and Verbal. Over the next 3-4 weeks I did a few practice questions here and there. Not really studying, just warming up my brain to the way the test works and the type of questions that are asked. Probably did a total of less than 100 practice questions during that time.
The diagnostics indicated that I needed the most work on verb and less on quantitative.
On June 21, I knew I wasn't ready yet, so I renewed my library books for another 3 weeks.
I finally got around to doing more studying around July 1. Still didn't do much (< 1 hour/day) until July 8. After looking at the comments on this site and others, I decided to return the library books and purchase the OG11 and concentrate solely on it for my final week of preparation. I was surprised to find that there was very little in the way of explanation or strategy. OG11 consists primarily of practice questions and their explanations.
On July 9, I scheduled my GMAT for the following week, July 16.
I decided to do 100 practice questions from OG11 for each section (RC, CR, SC, PS and DS), trying for 100 each day M-F and then use the weekend to review all sections.
I did the 3 Verbal sections by Friday and didn't get around to looking at the Quant sections until Sunday night 6pm. I know. You're thinking, "OMG, this guy is nuts."
Just realize that I'm generally a very good test taker (or so I thought!) and I'm very familiar with the concepts in the Math portion. DS was new to me, but it didn't seem too difficult. I do NOT recommend this procrastination strategy. I'm just relating my personal experience.
By Monday morning I had done my 100 questions on everything except PS and I finished those up on the train to the test center on Monday night.
My experience from studying for the GMAT was that most of the questions that I got wrong on the practice tests were a result of my not reading the question carefully enough or, worse, simply mismarking my intended answer. I was convinced I would do well if I simply read the questions slowly and carefully and rechecked each of my answers before confirming.
My brain was ready.
Oh... As far as AWA is concerned, I read the overview of how it works and the strategy in PR and Barrons, which I thought were good. I'm not a terrific writer, but I can organize my thoughts fairly well. I also knew that the AWA portion was not considered as highly as other portions, if at all.
More in next post...
